Spring Weather/Good News

 Thank goodness we have a rainy day today! Yesterday was so nice I was outside probably more than my winter-weary body needed, so today I'm a bit stiff and sore. My recliner and catching up with the latest JPA newsletter, the Cabot Chronicle, and Northstar Monthly seemed like a good plan. We have light rain, barely 40 degrees, and while we probably need the rain and it will help green things up nicely, it's chilly and dreary here. With a fairly persistent wind and a drizzly rain, it's not a good day to be outside.

But yesterday - totally springtime! Jamie and Marie were out getting the buoy markers back in place - they get moved off point by the ice during the winter - and Jamiefound that some repairs are needed, so he was going to tackle that today. The buoys will be out soon; in the meantime, if you are out in your boat, you will not see the usual buoys, just the winter markers, so be careful and keep a sharp lookout. He will have everything shipshape and in place shortly.

I had a cranky smoke detector yesterday. It turned out to be the one in the stairwell to the basement. I replaced the battery, and about half an hour later, I came in from working on the porch and it was complaining - not the usual spaced beeps, but a raspy continuous sound about half as loud as a normal alarm. I went through the process again, draining power from the unit, resetting, inserting the battery -  thinking I'd done something wrong, but within about 15-20 minutes, it began squawking again, so I decided it was probably old and tired and not going to work right again. After a quick trip to Larrabee's in Danville, I now have a quiet, fully functioning smoke alarm in place. But trouble-shooting the darned thing took up most of the morning. And caused some unladylike mutterings on my part.

While I was cleaning up around the lawn yesterday, I found the rhubarb and the lovage I had transplanted last year is doing well. The plantings came from the spot near the garage that was going to be dug up for the new foundation. I gave most of both those plants away, but I later found some small surviving pieces that I decided to try to save - and now I need to prepare a better bed around those plants. I literally just stuck them into the ground next to the big rocks in the back yard. So much for cutting back on garden spots to take care of! 

Some good news: Friends of Carolyn Hamilton will be happy to know that I Carolyn had another operation and is now doing much better. That is really great news. Marti Talbot said in her email this morning that Carolyn thanks everyone for their cards, concerns, and love, but she still isn't ready for text messages or phone calls. It's been a rocky road for her and it's wonderful that she has finally turned a corner. There are lots of kind thoughts and good wishes going her way from Joe's Pond folks. 

My friend, Mary Whitcomb sent some very nice photos she took recently of birds. She didn't say exactly where she was bird watching, but somewhere in Central Vermont.

 

Broad-Winged Hawk

 

Belted Kingfisher

Canada Geese

Starling

 

And this last one is a South Carolina Wren that Mary said she had never seen before in our area. Such a pretty little bird - this one was apparently at her feeder at home. Thanks for the great photos, Mary, as always, they are lovely.

I hope everyone has had a fairly restful weekend. The weather for this week look pretty dismal except for maybe Tuesday - but it's early yet. This is still spring weather - we're just still getting April showers in May!