Aerie Report, April 8, 2010

Spring arrivals continue to...well...arrive. Chipping Sparrow on the deck today along with lots of Purple Finches and a Rufous-sided Towhee on the ground beneath the deck where I've been spilling the seeds in the evening to keep the raccoon off the deck. I've seen the Chipper for a few days but this was the first Towhee to show up at the Aerie this year.

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Terry and I spent some time cleaning up the gardens today. I picked out as many of the dead strawberry leaves as I could and pulled weeds while I was at it. She plucked and pruned the perennials along the driveway and tossed stones that had gotten into the beds from snow shoveling/blowing. Everything looks nice and neat now. Most of the plants in the driveway beds look to have survived the winter and are starting to send out new growth. The daffodil bulbs are also sending up shoots...some even have stalks with flower buds on them.

Meanwhile, up on the hillside, the crocuses, hyacinths and daffodils are all coming up and flowering. Some wild pansies are also flowering in the lawn at the base of the deck steps. The shadbush trees have been in flower down in the valley for a few days and today I noticed one of our trees along the power line right of way has burst into bloom. Another will open in a day or two. Those white blossoms are a treat in the spring.

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Today was a gorgeous day with lots of sunshine and temperatures in the mid 70s, but that is about to change. There's a cold front coming through and, like many cold fronts in the summer (and it has been like summer lately) there are thunderstorms embedded along the front. There have already been a few distant rumbles and Julie and Shadow are looking for places to hide. This front will bring more seasonable temperatures which should mean we'll be around 50 for a high tomorrow. Hey, it IS spring!

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Got a confirmation email from the Good Sam Club today. We are on for the Alaskan Caraventure that starts in Dawson Creek, BC on June 22. (They had to cancel the second trip that would have started two weeks later due to lack of participants.) Terry made a follow-up call today when we hadn't heard anything since last Wednesday's phone call. The gal at Good Sam said the dog ate their computer or something to that effect.

Still no word on the trailer yet.

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Terry got a phone call from the Mansfield University swimming coach this afternoon. She had mentioned to the owner of the Black Swan Cafe that she was interested in getting some swimming lessons but the Univeristy only offered them to kids and not adults. Well, the Black Swan owner has a membership at the pool (just $200 per year) and goes over there every afternoon for a dip. She took Terry's name and phone number and passed it along to the folks at the pool. The coach, who really wants to justify the $$$ spent on the pool, agreed there should probably be something for adults but until there is...hey, why don't you come down and we'll evaluate your ability and provide some free lessons. So Terry has an appointment(!) with a private swimming instructor for Tuesday of next week.