The deer have returned

and now it is the beginning of another cycle.

Spring is officially here and although we are still having frosty mornings and even got a dusting of snow the other day the cycle has begun.

The deer will go through their spring reproduction cycle and one or more f the does will give birth to a fawn in my back yard like they have been doing for years. Sometimes when I am home and the doe gives birth I sneak down to take a quick peek at the little fawn before it climbs to its feet and starts to walk.

I've seen the miracle a couple of times and it is something really beautiful to behold.

This is my 60th spring and I want to have this spring and summer as a summer of birds, bees and flowers.

A couple of flowers are already showing up and the decorative grasses that were planted last summer are showing signs of coming out of winter dormancy. I guess they made it, which is surprising as they were planted pretty late in the summer and I wondered if they would take root.

I think that this years annuals will be marigolds and petinias. The marigolds will probably be the safari mix that is so colorful in its yellow and gold. We'll see.

I just finished wrapping the garage casing door in aluminum coil, which is the stuff they generally use as either flashing or fascia trim. I dragged out the brake and went to work and it looks pretty good and will last for years unless some jerk comes along and tears it up. As I get older I try and set things up so they are a little less maintainence so I don't have to bust my ass in my later years to keep the house up.

The other sign of spring is that I pulled the rack and sandbags out of the pickup because it looks like I won't need the traction as spring has arrived. That is a good thing.

Right now as I write I am scheming some kind of a way to skip out on winters here as they are no longer a source of joy. Life in a tarpaper shack somewhere warm seems to me to be a lot nicer than life in this part of the world in the winter so maybe I can get my kid sister to find me some back woods nook somewhere to park a camper for the winter provided that it is not too snake bitten. (Fat chance.)

Still, spring is here and this afternoon I plan on hanging out a bunch of bird houses and figuring out what plants to buy so as to have a nice summer. I'd bet that inside the next three weeks it warms up and the birds start moving right in and laying eggs and raising little birds.

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Well, now the neighbors want to string me up.

I was looking at the cash flow the bird houses would generate and decided that I will not make as good a return on my investment as I had expected, as there is somewhat of a housing glut due to the bad economy and the housing bubble bursting a while back.

I decided to cut a deal with Uncle Sam and let them be used as Section 8 subsidized housing, which ain't a bad deal because the government will guarentee I get my money and on time.

Of course, the neighbors are predicting that the birds that move into the bird houses are going to drag the bird neighborhood down my throwing their empty bird seed hulls all over hell and crapping all over everything. They are not too happy about this.

I have tried to tell them that everything is going to be OK because the government will take care of everything. Maybe that will placate them.

We'll see.


my other blog is: http://officerpiccolo.blogspot.com/ http://piccolosbutler.blogspot.com/