April Showers - - - (And, Red at Night - - - )

 - - bring May flowers - or so they say.

We've already had quite a few flowers of the early spring variety and relatively few actual showers. The other day it was snowing and raining. A few feet/yards/meters makes a big difference here. The yard closer to Lake Huron retains heat and so snow, if it falls now, melts -

And the soil a few yards/meters back behind the house isn't quite as warm so light snowfalls linger.

I've been doing a lot, A LOT, of work outside this spring and I actually welcome the few days when it's too cold and/or too wet to work outside because then I can rest and catch up on neglected indoor stuff like bill paying, cleaning, laundry, and review old episodes of Game of Thrones. I also just got the complete Inspector Morse detective series - the old one, not the current Endeavour.

Red at Night, Sailors' Delight, Red in Morning, Sailors Take Warning.

Because of air pollution, that old adage cannot be relied on as effectively as in the past. It is frequently red in the morning and that doesn't necessarily presage a rainy or stormy day. Today it just drizzled - most of the day. So indoor work. And, BUT, I love it when there's a gentle and long rain immediately after I transplant a lot, A LOT, of old plants and recently planted NEW arrivals. (Clicking on photos will enlarge them.)

Each late winter or early spring when the ground water thaws, Sans Souci (aka the pole barn) floods a bit. This year's thaw was worse than previous years and once things had dried out, I had to do some major cleaning which required some furniture moving. Over the years Kathy has brought up some books. Before I moved, I donated 80% or more of my life's accumulated jetsam and flotsam from the shipwreck that had become my life. Being lighter was a godsend. I don't want now to start all over again collecting stuff but books (and magazines) are another matter and their numbers have begun to increase. So this morning I called the Harbor Beach library in beautiful downtown Harbor Beach and asked if they wanted donations for their periodic book sales to raise money. They did so I trekked north with bags full of perfectly good and barely used books.

I like Harbor Beach. There are many attractive homes and well kept yards there; there's a long history and it shows in the care people take of their homes. There are a couple of buildings for sale and it's very tempting.

On the way back from the library I saw several turkey vultures perched in a small tree waiting their turn at some carrion. Their V-shaped winged flying silhouette is welcomed by me at least and I'm glad they're back after their winter in warmer climes. We have a healthy supply of road killed animals waiting for them to raise their young on.

For a brief time the tree swallows had returned too and were making swooping passes at newly cleaned out bird houses but a temporary return of cold weather made them disappear for a few more days.