“Whipsaw: n 1. A narrow two person crosscut saw. v 1. To cut with a whipsaw, 2. To defeat in two ways at once”
It was a lovely day today at The Havens. Last week, after several days of pretty cold temperatures (sub zero at night), it snowed. Then it warmed up enough to melt the thin layer of snow on the ground. This was followed by some days around freezing accompanied by gusty winds. Finally it warmed up and the wind blew like a wind tunnel testing a jet airplane.
This morning it dawned clear and cool and totally calm. It would have been ideal to burn off the labyrinth right then, but we had a date at the kid’s house for home made waffles. So we went over there (a matter of walking half a block) at the appointed time and thoroughly enjoyed our breakfast with the family. It is really lovely to have our grandkids so close. AND their parents… I must not leave them out!
After our repast, we came home, got busy, and burned off the tall grass that had accumulated in the labyrinth over the last summer. It was a perfect day for burning, and still hadn’t gotten so warm that tending the fire was onerous. There have been times when it was sort of like an introduction to Hades, what with a warm day and a brisk breeze. Today it was just damp enough that the grass burned well but not like an inferno. No wind to speak of, so the flames crept their way through the paths and rocks desultorily. We had to use the flame thrower a few times to encourage them to do a complete job.
There are lots of rags and tags of grass tops, as well as things like the stems of goldenrod, little white asters, and primroses spread in the paths. They really need to be raked up but I decided to do something else instead. If I leave them long enough they will blow away or compost in place, maybe.
After unhooking and draining the hoses we had deployed for fire safety reasons, we rolled them and coiled them back up on their supports. Winter is not over yet and we have had enough of frozen pipes.
Speaking of frozen pipes, the contractor man has been here since Wednesday repairing the utility bathroom. We picked out new floor tile for it, auditioning a style that we are considering using for the Great Bathroom Remodel, which is scheduled for a future date yet to be determined. We LOVE the tile and lucky for us it was on sale so we bought the necessary quantity and have stashed it in the sauna dressing room. The bathroom should become functional early next week.
Of course, there has been a daily (except for Thursday) pilgrimage to Springfield to visit the Ailing Mother. She came through her popliteal bypass alive (barely). There were a few rough days, and once the hospital figured out that she really needed a blood transfusion, she rallied enough to be moved to a rehabilitation hospital. Since then she has walked as much as 70 feet during physical therapy and can get up out of her wheel chair and move to the bed “unassisted” (meaning two people stand nearby at the ready to make sure that she does not lose her balance and fall during the painstaking process). But her appetite has returned, and her mind is once again active. She has been working on her tatting project. Aside from the open incision around the bypass site, she is looking fairly good. There is still a lot of ground to cover, but we are no longer in fear of her life.
And my sister was released from the hospital today, after fighting infection from the cat bite she got while she was neutropenic from her latest chemotherapy for her leukemia. Thank God for small favors.
With both people that were in so much danger moving towards safety, maybe I can actually get some sleep tonight.
Anyway, back to today. Instead of raking the labyrinth, I cleared the old dry tops out of the asparagus bed. While I was engaged in that chore, I noticed that the bees were out foraging. Then I started wondering if they still had enough honey to keep them going through the rest of the winter. (Despite the lovely day today, winter is FAR from over.) Presently my curiosity grew so much that I went into the house and prevailed on Jim to make a wellness check on the colony. He suited up and opened the hive and we determined that they have LOTS of honey to eat, they seem very healthy and active. Without disturbing them much more than that, he put the hive back together and we watched them continue about their bee business.
This activity made me wonder what on earth they could be finding to forage this time of year? It didn’t take me long to remember that yesterday while I was walking Ruby I noticed that the witch hazel out at Bennet Spring was blooming. I have a few witch hazel trees here at the Havens, so it wasn’t much of a leap to wonder if perhaps our bees had found them.
I went to look, and lo and behold!
The bees have indeed discovered that there is a source of pollen out there for them. While I was playing bee paparazzi, I saw a couple of tachnid wasps out there too. They declined to be photographed, so I can’t prove it.
Then I went out and weeded the strawberry, blueberry and raspberry cage. It was very healing to dig out all that henbit and chickweed. The whole cage looks great! While I was working, I could hear the hum of the hive on the other side of the fence.
Maybe I will have some time to work on my art journal this evening. That would be very good.
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My mother died on May 5. I took this picture of her on her front deck on April 24. I had gone out to visit her because she had sent out an email letting us know that the arterial bypass in her lower leg that was done back in early February had failed. She opted not to have her leg amputated, and since there was no circulation in that foot the tissue died and the necrosis killed her.
The opportunity presented itself for some play… I really don’t think the following pictures require much explanation. The audience was my cousin and his wife, my brother was the photographer.
the havens 