Not bad for a Thursday
May. 4th, 2006 08:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
altivoFirst red-headed woodpecker of the season, out on Millstream Road about a quarter mile from home as I was returning from work at one o'clock. Shortly after, around 1:30, the first hummingbird appeared, buzzing busily around the feeders in the yard.
Apples, pears, plums, and cherries are in full bloom and the smell is heavenly. Knowing that lilacs will bloom very quickly now (starting to pop open today) and then the black cherry, blackberry, linden, and catalpa will follow. For those of you who think "Eeew! Plant sex!" and start sneezing at the very thought, none of these are wind pollinated. Their pollen is too heavy to fly around in the air and make you sneeze. It's the non-fruiting trees, like maple, oak, and pine, that throw tons of pollen into the wind every year.
Besides, they are sooooo pretty. All the shades from dark, luscious maroon to snowy white. It only lasts a week or so, but it's just glorious, almost as good as a nice autumn color.
I'm almost caught up on the stuff that piled up on my desk while I was off for two weeks. And I got my notice of the annual pay increase today. Usually it barely matches inflation but this year I got more because I've officially assumed the job of "network manager" in addition to the other things I've been doing. At least I've mostly gotten away from standing at a desk checking books in and out. The pay for a small town librarian is not great, that's for sure, and I could make (and have done so) two or even three times as much, but the stress and pressure that comes with that simply don't suit me. I am not a type A personality and don't aspire to be one.
Tess continues to appear normal now. I think we caught the danger fast enough, and it was small enough, that she will suffer no permanent hurt. Tomorrow I'll start tapering off the bute so she doesn't go cold turkey on it, and by Saturday night she'll be off it. We'll continue the isoxsuprene as directed for another full week. I think that one is a vasodilator mainly, and perhaps a mild tranquilizer, though I haven't noticed that effect particularly. The main thing is she is moving about freely and showing no lameness, alert and attentive (and demanding sometimes) as usual. I was so frightened on Monday...
Oh, and today was the first two-egg day of the season. We have only two hens left in the duck yard, so two a day is the most we can expect (that's plenty when there are only two of us to eat eggs, even two a day is too many.) We've been getting one egg most days for the last couple of weeks, but the two hens were alternating. This morning both left us an egg.
Sheep shearer is scheduled for Saturday again. Hope he makes it this time. I already have people asking about fleece to buy.
Apples, pears, plums, and cherries are in full bloom and the smell is heavenly. Knowing that lilacs will bloom very quickly now (starting to pop open today) and then the black cherry, blackberry, linden, and catalpa will follow. For those of you who think "Eeew! Plant sex!" and start sneezing at the very thought, none of these are wind pollinated. Their pollen is too heavy to fly around in the air and make you sneeze. It's the non-fruiting trees, like maple, oak, and pine, that throw tons of pollen into the wind every year.
Besides, they are sooooo pretty. All the shades from dark, luscious maroon to snowy white. It only lasts a week or so, but it's just glorious, almost as good as a nice autumn color.
I'm almost caught up on the stuff that piled up on my desk while I was off for two weeks. And I got my notice of the annual pay increase today. Usually it barely matches inflation but this year I got more because I've officially assumed the job of "network manager" in addition to the other things I've been doing. At least I've mostly gotten away from standing at a desk checking books in and out. The pay for a small town librarian is not great, that's for sure, and I could make (and have done so) two or even three times as much, but the stress and pressure that comes with that simply don't suit me. I am not a type A personality and don't aspire to be one.
Tess continues to appear normal now. I think we caught the danger fast enough, and it was small enough, that she will suffer no permanent hurt. Tomorrow I'll start tapering off the bute so she doesn't go cold turkey on it, and by Saturday night she'll be off it. We'll continue the isoxsuprene as directed for another full week. I think that one is a vasodilator mainly, and perhaps a mild tranquilizer, though I haven't noticed that effect particularly. The main thing is she is moving about freely and showing no lameness, alert and attentive (and demanding sometimes) as usual. I was so frightened on Monday...
Oh, and today was the first two-egg day of the season. We have only two hens left in the duck yard, so two a day is the most we can expect (that's plenty when there are only two of us to eat eggs, even two a day is too many.) We've been getting one egg most days for the last couple of weeks, but the two hens were alternating. This morning both left us an egg.
Sheep shearer is scheduled for Saturday again. Hope he makes it this time. I already have people asking about fleece to buy.
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no subject
Date: 2006-05-04 07:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-04 11:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-05 03:54 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-05 03:54 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-05 06:21 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-05 07:33 am (UTC)However, when I told you that so long ago, I had never lived in close quarters with a mare. I still cannot smell or detect anything physical in Tess herself, but... When cleaning the stall out after she has been in overnight, I can smell it. To me it is much closer to lavender, herbal rather than floral.
And in fact, we did have this discussion a year or so ago. Once Dawn was gone and there were no other distractions in the barn, I noticed it.
no subject
Date: 2006-05-05 08:32 am (UTC)and more nicely scented a spring then I remember in recent years. Its
nice, enough that I notice and feel the need to just wander and sniff
and gawk.
no subject
Date: 2006-05-05 09:13 am (UTC)I'm amazed to find that the Bradford pear I planted back in 2000, which was just a six inch twig with a couple of roots, is now so tall you can see it over the top of the house when standing on the other side. And it is a mass of white flowers, despite being mostly in the shade.
no subject
Date: 2006-05-06 11:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-07 04:30 am (UTC)The honeysuckles are opening now, apple blossom still lingering. I found three old apple trees blooming in the woods yesterday. Probably 15 or 20 years old, I'm guessing that they grew from seeds where someone tossed an apple core or something. We've been here nearly eight years and are still discovering new things.