Green day 2012

When life gives you bigger piles of brush, build yourself a bigger trailer.

A bigger pile of brush.

It came and went without comment Saturday, (May 12). I noticed it while driving to Anchorage but neglected to mention it given everything else that was going on.  The green hue showed in the canopy pretty much on schedule despite the warmer than usual April we had.  Then we had a couple of cold, rainy weeks so that may have slowed it down some. then the sun came out, and the green burst out of the buds.  Already the birch leaves are the size of a squirrel's ear which according to our favorite garden columnist means it is safe to plant outdoors.  I've had a few pea plants out there but I am going to give the rest of the plants  another day or two of hardening before putting them in the ground, though, just to be safe.

Meanwhile this is the most free time I have ever had since I moved here and I have been cleaning years and years of leaves and brush out of the woods, moving in segments away from the house and making the place look like somebody lives here who cares about it at least a little. Both the owner and I like the wild look, and I am not going to take out any of the wild rose bushes.

As noted in the pictures, the piles keep getting bigger and bigger which meant some adjustments to the four-wheeler trailer.  That was the project today.  Now I can haul bigger and bigger piles of brush and leaves.  Such small pleasures.

On the road yesterday after another go round at refinishing a room in my daughter’s new house I am pretty sure I saw the old Canada goose I called Fred when I was commuting.  At any rate two geese were standing just a few yards off the road right where I used to see him and once saw him with a mate and some little ones.  If that was indeed Fred, she would have been the same female too, most likely, as they mate for life. They could have been protecting a nest in the weeds.  Some day when I have the time and inclination I might go try to photograph them, I hope, before the brush gets any higher and thicker and I can't see them any more.  Nice to find some constants in the world.  No swans showed up again on the pond this year.

So now with the birch leaves the size of a squirrel's ear, this gardening is about to become serious again.