Ah spring with all its new life and daily challenges! We've had over 7 inches of rain in the last two weeks. It's come in 2-3 inches at a time which results in runoff and mud. We have pools of water which are breeding the biggest hungry mosquitoes we've seen since before the drought. Not pleasant to be outside!!!! With the ground wet, the armadillos and snakes are on the prowl and digging everywhere. We watched a rat snake try to catch a bird the other day. The bird survived the hunt!
Speaking of birds, the purple martins returned a week or so ago. It looks like 4-6 couples moved into the martin house. I'm surprised as we were unable to make the yearly repairs. It truly is a slum property! The hummers are eating me out of house and home and the swallows can't build their nests fast enough. I had been knocking down 6-8 nests every 2-3 days. Now I'm knocking down only 2-3 every couple of days. I'm hoping that they will give up and we can have the back porch for ourselves and not as a nursery for their babies. Not to be outdone, there's a mockingbird couple that has built a nest in one of the baby live oaks. To get under my skin, the daddy mockingbird sings all night long. He also sings all day long! I have enough trouble sleeping, so the continuous limited repertoire of songs really is aggravating!
Raquel finally went to the vet to have her feet checked out as her limping was horrible. She stayed a few days at the vet and now is back. I can't see much improvement in her gait but hope she will mend in time. Calfie and Red also went to the vet to have their elf hooves trimmed. No one is sure what causes this condition. It would be an interesting investigation to figure out this problem.
The hay fields look great and if the rain continues after the first cutting, we may get that second elusive cutting. The local water district has lifted the water restrictions so I'll be able to water baby trees if I need to this summer. I think I've said we've lost about 20% of the trees we planted due to the drought.
More storms are due in this afternoon and evening. Knock-on-wood, we are spared any sever weather!!! We'll take the good stuff.....
