Waiting for warmup

I am waiting for the world to warm up a little (my part, at least). Had a couple of comments about the black flies. Seems like all my readers have them and they all want to share. No thank you, have enough of my own. Someone tells me that a few nights of 60 degree temperatures are supposed to end them, but Google says live with it thru June. I don't know. I do know that the black flies will be followed by the mosquitos and then the deer flies (they are the best biters of the bunch). Someone asked if we had black flies when I was a kid. Well, it is ancient history and yes, we had them. Of course we did not have any repellent of any kind but my parents were convinced that hard work would keep them away, and they (the parents) provided plenty of hard work.

I have set a few plants in our flower bed out front, probably early, but they survived a light frost this morning, so may be ok. I certainly won't set out any tomatoes until it gets considerably warmer. We also planted beets, carrots, lettuce and onions in the raised beds. I don't worry about the cool weather bothering them too much. I have started tilling my main gardens, but I hate to get too serious about it this early. The price of gas is making me cautious. I explained to Shirley that it costs about $8 to mow our lawns, but I don't think I have managed to curb her enthusiasm for this project. My new apple trees are budded out nicely and I am optimistic that I may actually succeed with them. The strawberries are in bloom and the raspberries are looking good.


Our lilacs are blooming nicely, and the white lilac, which is just a little behind the purple ones is trying to show off. My plum tree finally blossomed (after 8 years), but the blossoms were sparse and I don't know if it will set any fruit or not. I got the trees from Herb Todd, so of course neither Herb or I know what variety they were. Research tells me that some plums need another blossoming tree nearby and other are self-pollinating. Time will tell, if I last long enough.

We had a shooting on the Porter-Lynch road last night or early this morning, lots of police activity. The shootee is reportedly now in Burlington in critical condition. Speaking of shooting, I had a shooting in my back yard yesterday. I was working out front and heard my chicken flock (all three of them) raising hell. When I looked out at their pen, a fox was doing his best to get in to them. I went and got my trusty 12 gauge and the stupid fox was still hanging around when I got back outside. I can assure you that he will not bother my chickens (or anyone else's) ever again.


I will sign off for now. I am considering writing about local politics, a subject near and dear to my heart, and if you have any opinions about this let me know.