Signs of Spring

With flowers blooming, trees pollinating, temperatures warming, and longer days, we know that spring is more or less here.  This week I've had a couple of other signs of spring, too.  On Friday I put up the hummingbird feeders and on Monday I had my first "customer".

A friend gave me a new bird house last week and I put it out almost immediately.  It's an unusual-looking thing, and I was wondering if it would have takers.  This morning I looked at it and saw a chickadee (Carolina) poking his or her head out the opening, and I've seen that kind of behavior once or twice more today so far.  No pictures of the bird there, but here's the feeder.

Today's other spring sign is the return of Mr. and Mrs. Mallard.  I'm reasonably sure it's the same pair as last year, because when I spoke to them softly and gently approached, seed can in hand, to enrich the seed supply they were scarfing up under the feeders, they didn't flee.  They just backed off a little and gave me room,  mumbling their little mallard mumbles.  If it is the same pair, they will probably appear off and on for a couple of weeks, glaring at the back door if there isn't enough seed available, and then disappear for another year.

Springtime in Crownsville!

And Down She Comes!

Back in February I wrote about a house across the street beside my house.  It had been damaged in 2003 by Hurricane Isabel and had been under tarps since then.  That's a LONG time to go without repair, and as time went on the condition of the house deteriorated with storms and snows and heavy rains doing a number on the tarps.  By February of this year, this is what I could see from my deck or my yard:

Then came some heavy rains and winds, and it got worse.

In early March I was told the house was to be demolished the following week, but it didn't happen.  FINALLY, this weekend they began to move in equipment to take care of it.  When I left for church at 10:30 this morning, the house still looked like the picture above.  When I got home at 12:30, this is what I saw:

It just got better and better:

 Note the cheering neighbor in the bottom left corner.
By 1:30, this pile of rubble was all that was left.  Amazing!

Super Moon

When the news reports came out that the moon was to be super-sized in appearance this weekend, I rousted out my trusty tripod and the more powerful of my two cameras and headed out to practice night photography.  I live about a ten-minute walk from the Severn River, which is east of my house, so I walked toward the river to see what I could do.  It turns out my camera is just not powerful enough to do justice to that moon, but I had fun anyway.  These were my best shots, and one of them is not even of the moon!  It seems people down that way have a penchant for lighting their trees at night.  Poor trees must be very confused, but the effect is pretty. 





I was trying out a new-to-me tripod, and I like it better than my old one. 

The moon is not to be this large, at least in appearance, until 2028.  By then I may be too old to care, but I surely enjoyed it this time.

Trip to NC

With family in North Carolina, I make pilgrimages to the area on a fairly regular basis.  Spring was in the area (and in the flowers) when I went last week.  It was a nice time to be down there even with trees pollinating like fury.

One of the newer babies in the family is my mother's first great-great grandchild.  Bentley is a little less than a year old and is much loved.  Here he was caught napping with Grandpa R.C. It may look a little precarious, but at the slightest twitch of the baby, Grandpa's eyes were wide open.  He was "just resting his eyes a little".

Bentley is a live wire when he is awake and very interested in the world around him.  Here he is with his mother, Megan, and his father, Brandon.

And let's not forget Grandmother Nancy.

He'll have a bit of competition now because Cousin Chase from Wisconsin arrived today. Chase is almost three, so he may not even be interested in a baby. We'll see.

It will be interesting to see how the dynamic has changed when I go back down there in a few weeks.  Meanwhile, it's nice to see a bit of spring here.

Progress

In my last post I spoke of a house in the neighborhood that is in dire need of removal.  Today I heard noises over there.  People were hauling stuff away from the inside, although I can't imagine being brave enough to set foot in there.

The word I got is that this mess will be bulldozed next week.  Hurray!

Sometimes it Pays

Sometimes it pays to let your voice be heard.  There is an uninhabited (except, perhaps, by wildlife) house in my neighborhood that can be seen from my deck and my yard.  A huge tree fell on that house when Hurricane Isabel swept through in Sept. 2003.  Since that time the house has had a tarp of some form on it, but no noticeable repairs.  The original damage was mostly in the rear of the house, although you could still see some of the tarp draping.  We had a 21-inch snowfall in December of 2009, followed by two 20+ inch snows in February of 2010.  The second February snow took down the tarp setup and the front wall of the second story.  About a month later the owners cleaned up some of the debris and set up a new jerry-rigged tarp set-up.  This new rig looked awful and was very much in evidence.  Then at the end of January this year we had a seven-inch snow--not very much, but very wet and very heavy--and the newer tarp setup was ripped to shreds.  And there it sits.  It has been several weeks, and the owners, I know, have been notified, but no more action has occurred.

Enough is enough!  Yesterday I notified the county inspections and permits department of this situation, figuring that nothing much would happen but that I would feel better for having tried.  A courtesy copy to the community association president got forwarded to the community relations person for the county.  By today I have received responses from all concerned.  I'm feeling much better about our county government!!

Apparently a permit application to bulldoze the place was submitted in November but there were problems with the application that have, to date, not be satisfied.  It seems the local fire department got involved on Monday and they are pushing the issue.  After seven and a half years, I think it's about time!

A Birthday Weekend in PA

Already?!  Yes, it's true.  Grand-niece Elizabeth, aka "Lil Bit", turned five this month, and I was able to join in the celebration.  It was a great weekend.  For once the weather (mostly) behaved and I could travel easily. 
We celebrated on Saturday.   Elizabeth got all kinds of neat things.  I think one of her favorites was the Barbie guitar.  All of those youngsters are music lovers, so this just added to her repertoire.

Jake and Ava played the piano at various times, but Jake's favorite is drums.  He would like a drum set, but the potential procurers have declined so far, so he is reduced to using whatever he can commandeer--pots, tables, or whatever presents itself as available.

Cousins Emily and Abigail joined in the celebration.




















It was also Super Bowl weekend, and the family gathered to root for their favorite (or preferred, if not favorite) team.  Even Abbie got into the act, snuggling with Bob as she watched.

While the predicted storm turned out to be mostly rain, there was plenty of snow still on the ground, and children who would have preferred to play outside were forced to stay inside and just look out and wish for spring.

Patience, little ones.  It's a whole lot closer than it has been (we hope)!