May 7, 2014

It hailed a little while ago.  Yes, hailed.

Apparently there is a funky weather pattern out there that is moving through our area and messing with the early morning predictions of a partly cloudy day with a 72-degree high.

It is no where near 72 degrees.

I was so focused on an imminent phone call from my prospective employer (just to clear up a few lingering issues before proceeding with the more formal interview in DC) that the hail didn't register in my brain for what it was.

I was sitting at my desk and heard what sounded like very heavy, large rain drops...or...as I considered it further, hail.  

When I looked out the window, I confirmed that it was dime-sized hail pummeling the ground.

But at the point of confirmation, things just did not connect in my brain enough to remember that my 4Runner was sitting just outside the garage, most recently parked in the driveway.

Argh.

The 4Runner has seen hail only once before. 

Mom had flown to Texas to drive home to Wisconsin with me on my 40th birthday.  We had been driving toward a ferocious looking "wall cloud" on a highway in Iowa, when Mom commented, "I sure hope it doesn't hail." 

Before the last word of her expressed concern ("hail") even passed over her lips to enter the air outside of her mouth...it started to hail.

I blamed her.

I still do. 

I blame her, even though I realize that particular hail storm was more at the hand of Mother Nature than my Mother.

We took cover off the first highway exit, under a concrete shed. I think the shed was used to store highway equipment.  

Any shelter in a storm, as they say.

We have laughed about that story for the past 13 years, and will still.

My 4Runner is a 1998, but I still love it dearly, as if I just bought it yesterday.

I don't think the hail storm was of a duration (or size) to do much damage, but I'll know that for certain soon enough.

The phone call went well and we are making plans for me to travel soon.

Sigh.  

That...was a sigh of relief.

.....

I completed the installation of the last (and final) device in our quest for mole eradication.

The Transonic Mole (electronic mole & gopher chaser) boasts a three-in-one sensory assault on moles and gophers, the former being our concern.

It vibrates.

It flashes a light (only visible during darkness.)

It emits a quite annoying sound every 30 seconds.

I assembled two of them, dug holes (preferably in a burrow), and pushed them down into the ground as instructed, so that the head of the device protrudes from the surface of the lawn, allowing the flashing lights to do their trick when darkness falls.

The final chapter of our assault.

The seemingly "annoyed" animals pictured on the package.

Certainly, by the addition of this last device, we have created a "hostile" enough environment so that the little guys will choose to go elsewhere.

We remain hopeful...

.....

I continued my improvement projects around the house and lawn yesterday by cleaning up an area where an old shed was taken down some years ago. 

The shed was used to store firewood used in a wood burning stove in the basement that supplemented the furnace heat years ago. It also stored some tools and various miscellany. 

It was brought to the ground, but not dismantled, nor was it carried away to the junk yard.

I spent four hours sorting, hauling, raking, shoveling, sweeping and piling.  

The remains of the shed.

The wood from the shed is decayed, but there are huge nails in the boards that held it all together.  I don't know if the wood will dry out enough to burn, but it's worth a try because otherwise we will have to pay a fee for disposal at a dumpsite.

The metal can be hauled away by my brother-in-law.  That can be taken for recycling and he'll be payed for the materials.

Of course, that was what was supposed to have happened years ago too.

Tools of the trade.

Perhaps I should suggest of split of the profits to compensate for all my hard work in sorting, hauling, raking, shoveling, sweeping and piling?

Worth considering.

Oh, and...I did not sustain any injuries during those four hours. 

Well...ones worth mentioning, anyway.

.....

Along with all the brightly-colored blooming spring flowers around the yard and pond, have come the brightly-colored birds.

I trimmed out a large, old, dead branch from the apple tree where the bird feeders hang because it would surely only take one strong wind to bring it to the ground anyway. 

Mom had pointed out that same morning, that we had a new bird at the feeder.  One she had been expecting for the last week. 

Obviously, the birds have seasonal migrations and appear in her yard in phases, according to the calendar.  

We had gotten used to the bright red of the Cardinals and the vivid blue of the Blue Jays, and even the amazing markings of the two kinds of Woodpeckers - the Red-headed Woodpecker (who almost seems to be dressed in a neatly pressed tuxedo) and the Downy Woodpecker (with its black and white speckled wings.) 

They were the winter birds.

Now the strikingly-yellow Finches are joined by the Rose-breasted Grosbeak (sporting a deep rosy breast patch).  

The Rose-breasted Grosbeak.

The Grosbeak's song, according to the Reader's Digest North American Wildlife Guide (an illustrated guide to 2,000 plants and animals) has a cheery, lyrical quality, with almost the swing of a march. 

I counted 10 Grosbeak at the feeders while Harry played outside, imagining that the back deck was his "boat" and the garden hose his "fishing line".  He tossed the garden hose over the railing with exaggerated movements and then when the hose came to an end, proclaimed that he'd caught the elusive "glick" before he started to haul it back into the boat, one swift yank after another.

What is a "glick"? 

An imaginary sea creature, of course.

He did this three times, before moving on to another imaginary scenario that involved stringing the garden hose off the deck, around the yard and into the garage.

There was another new bird at the feeders this morning. 

When Mom caught sight of it, she hurried down the basement stairs to retrieve a special feeder that was quickly filled with cheap Concord Grape jelly.  It seems it is the favorite of our new guest, the brilliant orange Oriole.

The Oriole.

It was only moments, really, before one of the 3 or 4 Orioles flitting around the apple tree perched itself on the side of the dish for a taste. And only moments more before another Oriole was inches away awaiting its opportunity at the grape jelly-filled perch.

Cheap grape jelly that Orioles love.

At any one time, there might be as many as 25 finches, 10 Grosbeak and several Oriole (I've just counted 13). The apple tree and the feeders are speckled with the incredible colors; the yellow, the orange and the deep red of those birds. 

Mother Nature's stunning palette...right outside our kitchen window.

.....

We are closer than we have ever been in the last 12 months to Harry and I having our new home and our own routine.  I just wanted to mention one small note of gratitude...the one that has kept me focused on the goal.

I am so blessed to wake up every morning to see this amazingly precious child...in the twin inflatable bed, right next to mine.

Harry and his friends.