I wish I could bottle the first week of June and keep it for January. This is the time of year when the green that hits you as you walk out your door almost hurts your eyes. The vegetation makes me think of the tropical forestation in Hawaii or Mexico. So lush and thick and so, so green. The air even looks green.

A Little Lake We Found

We were puttering around the house yesterday. Mr. FixIt was preparing to put another coat of paint on the man door to the building and I was going through an old tub of papers, photos, and mementos from Colorado. He took a break and checked his phone.

“Hey, here’s a camper someone is selling right here in town. Wanna go see it?”

Late Afternoon at the Cemetery on the Hill

Yesterday was a perfectly beautiful day. We slept in, which is always nice. We stopped for breakfast on the way into town, then picked up my bonus daughter and son-in-law. They didn’t know where some of the family graves were, so we took them with us. Every year it’s the same thing. We know where all but one of the graves are in this huge cemetery. We walked around for a good forty-five minutes when I had the bright idea to look at the picture we took a couple of years ago of the headstone we were looking for. We all studied the photo, then fanned out and our son-in-law had it in less than a minute. Thank goodness it wasn’t as hot as it was out there last year. 

The Square Cap on the Chimney Keeps the Swifts Out

For the last couple of years, we’ve had chimney swifts nesting in out chimneys. And each year, it seems they brought more and more of their friends. While it WAS fun to sit out on the deck of an evening and watch them dive and swoop and chatter through the sky above us, sitting at the dining room tables was noisy. The birds nested down in the chimney and we’d hear them in there fluttering and chattering for hours. Then, when they started finding their way into the house last summer, I’d had enough of their fun and games. Chimney swifts cannot land and perch horizontally. They rest on vertical surfaces they can cling to making the inside of masonry chimneys, hollow trees, and old abandoned buildings perfect for nesting. You aren’t supposed to handle them yourself. You are supposed to call the experts to come get them. I didn’t know that at the time so I did carefully let them out through the door in the family room. Besides, we live way out in the country. There aren’t any bird experts near who could come rescue a swift.

My Bubby turns 70 this fall. We’ll be traveling to Colorado to help him celebrate. My dear sister/friend texted me yesterday telling me her husband will soon be 75. Mr. FixIt will be 70 in the early New Year. And I’ll be 68 next month. I told my friend, “How can this be possible? We were just laying out with baby oil and Sun-In in our hair...like, five minutes ago!” And now? Wow!

I still get notifications from 911 in Garfield County where I used to live in Colorado. Not that I need them for me, but my brother lives there and I like to keep up with what’s happening. I got a notice yesterday afternoon of yet another accident on I-70 that was blocking the road with no estimated time to reopen. I’ve seen a huge uptick in fatal and near fatal accidents come across my notifications and I began to wonder what on earth was going on. Then, I read a couple of articles that said people who stopped driving or seriously cut back on their drive time during the Covid crisis are actually having to re-learn their driving skills. We get rusty when we don’t practice something. I’ve noticed it in myself and consequently, I’ve backed off the gas pedal a good deal to compensate for my slower response times.

Grandma’s Peonies

While Mr. FixIt busied himself fixing the door into our pole building, I headed to the farm to bring some more stuff home. I have to admit...I stretched out on Grandma’s bed for a half hour before I packed up the truck. Soaking up the atmosphere. It feels good. I really don’t have a whole lot left out there...but I don’t pack the truck too full with each load. It gives me more trips to the farm! I canceled the Dish Network account out at the farm this morning...thus ending a 23 year run with them. It will be interesting to find out how long that phone number has been in the family!

A couple of years ago, we were inundated with little black ants. They were everywhere, including places they were certainly NOT welcome...namely, my kitchen! Ugh! One morning I walked in to start my coffee. I left a box of cereal on the counter the night before and there was a black line of ants marching to and fro...in a direct line from the box to the corner of the window. It reminded me of that song we sang as kids... “The ants go marching one by one, hurrah, hurrah!”

Pumpkin

For those of you who’ve followed a while, you’ll know I lived in my camper for a few years and vowed never to have pets again. Mr. Virgo’s little dog died just three months before he did and it was all just too much. I didn’t want to lose any more beloveds. Then, when I came off the road, I inherited a farm cat I dubbed “Boy Cat”. When I was gone on a trip over Thanksgiving, I came home to a tiny little kitten with exactly the same markings as the long-haired big boy except he had a short, sleek coat. I named him “Kitty Boy”.

Shredded Documents

We’ve been checking things off the master list of things to do here at the Ponderosa this spring. And, I’ve got to say...it feels pretty good. The end of the house that we painted and put a new storm door on looks great! The electric line over to the deck is going to come in very handy. We had the kids over Sunday evening and plugged a fan in and it made all the difference sitting out there. Plus, the market lights are so pretty.