Spring Green

With a bit of rain and lots of warm weather, early flowers are beginning to bloom and the lawn is turning green. Easter came and went. Most of the week’s work was routine; I have a photo or two to share. There is a new cat video this time around, featuring Elmo, with appearances by Stirling and Vienna.

Midwest temperatures were well above normal this week and a few flowers began to pop. Hyacinths bloomed in the east flower bed near Glory the goat. The annual [unidentified] small blue flowers popped up in the oak tree bed.

We started early season yard work. Pam raked all the flower beds and I cleaned around all the fence lines. A load of yard debris, mostly consisting of leaves and small twigs but including our old Christmas tree, was taken to the dump as the first load of the year. The yard is looking pretty tidy right now.

Pam put out a few of our outdoor decorations, including the Board Buddies at the front of the catio. I removed the wind screen tarps from the west fenceline, and uncovered the AC unit for the season.

Celebration of Easter passed without a lot of fanfare for us. Pam made a tasty pork chop meal for Easter Sunday and hand-decorated a few hard boiled eggs.

I picked up a used air compressor which I found on Facebook Marketplace. While it is an older unit, it seems to work fine. My old compressor is just a motor and pump from an old Chevy air conditioning system. I have a portable tank which I had been using to check tire pressures and such but the old system did not put out much volume to run my other air tools such as impact wrenches. (I use these to remove tires for brake jobs and other tasks.)

Last year, when I went out to The Lot, I had to borrow a compressor to pump up the tractor’s tires and add air to The Box’s tires. It was just luck our neighbor was up on his lot and had a small compressor I could use. This year I will take my old compressor to Colorado and leave it there for use when I need it, hence the desire to have another compressor at home.

Contractors, contractors — what a pain. The roofer who said he would be here, first on the 3rd then again on the 10th, failed to show both times. I made overtures to a different roofer and I’m waiting to see if/when he, or his son, can arrive and give us a quote. This is frustrating; an option going forward is putting a “Help Wanted-Roofer” sign in the yard. Below is one of the photos I sent to the “new” roofer to give him some idea of the tower we want re-shingled.

That covers the news of the past week. It was an active time for us and we enjoyed time spent outdoors in the improving weather. We have to pace ourselves, though. Factoring in rest periods, after a long winter, is part of the dynamic.

As promised in the opening, here is a new cat video. This one features mostly Elmo but there are appearances by Stirling and Vienna. As per my regular tactics, there is no audio track as I did not want to disturb the action. Run time is 3:57.

That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!

Pam’s Penny

A week of domestic pets: 1) JoJo had a gimpy leg and was “limping on three” this week. Doggie ibuprofen for arthritis seemed to do the trick. 2) Bru has about 2/3 of her [warm weather] grooming completed. I can only keep her on the table for an hour at a time, and I hand cut as well as shave her coat. The process takes days. Once Bru is trimmed, it will be JoJo’s turn. 3) Elmo visited the vet for his “age three” shots, and actually behaved himself. Unexpected. 4) The Terrible Two are now working on stripping wallpaper in the library. I guess that means I will put off wallpapering in the parlour until Vienna and Stirling grow out of this phase.

Farm animals: The detour from Elma to Cresco (Cresco being the location of Elmo’s vet as well as Himself’s physical therapy) features 8-10 massive hog operations. The “aroma” on that route is already truly indescribable, and the seasonal heat has just begun.

Happy Trails.