Ah spring. I’m so happy you’ve arrived. It’s good knowing the seasons have officially changed even if the weather hasn’t yet caught up with the plan.

The mountains of snow are a quarter of the size they were a few weeks ago. Thaw has revealed all sorts of things — some good and some ghastly. Lots of sticks too. My old puppy wanted a stick the other day. Even in her dotage she wanted it. Labs are bred to have OCD. Their obsession to retrieve something, anything, is what makes them fine hunting dogs. She was wearing herself out trying to pull this frozen stick from the snow. Thinking I’d help, I kicked what I assumed was melting snow and learned the hard way that it was actually a mountain of solid ice. I do believe I’ve broken my big toe. lol

Ya gotta laugh or you’d cry.

I’d planned to finish all the assorted calking and sealing today but that means bending this toe. We’re expecting rain today. The toe confirms this. In fact, the toe is adamant about it. I might just take the morning off and put my foot up.

I had to walk the dogs on their leashes yesterday. My toe was shooting daggers of pain up my leg. Ouch. I don’t normally leash walk them but we had strangers in the labyrinth. My husband and I have always felt if people found our labyrinth and walked it, they were meant to. An hour passed and they were still in the labyrinth. The pups couldn’t wait on these people to leave. Dogs are all about their schedules you know. The little dog is like a clock. She knows what time it is and woe to you if you forget it. You’ll be herded and pushed around the house until you get back on the clock. The old dog could easily go anywhere… inside or out. She really doesn’t think about it anymore, so I have to. Hence the schedule.

Anyway…as I limped my way around the yard I saw up close what an ugly post-winter mess it is. I saw a single snowdrop off my front porch. I normally have bunches but I think the winter’s polar vortex was too much.  My bower roses took a winter’s beating too. And then there’s the damage from the deer…

We’re surrounded by habitat and in it we have five distinct groups of deer living at five key points around my house. Of the five, we have “yard deer” — front yard deer and back yard deer. The yard deer are the deer that treat the small space we occupy in this vastness like it’s theirs. They have no respect for our hostas and gardens, and I can count on both hands the fruit trees we’ve tried to grow and eventually gave up on. Deer have always been a presence here. Tracks even suggest they walk around the house and peer through windows.

One morning several years back, I got that goose walked over your grave sensation that I was being watched as I stood pouring myself a cup of coffee.  I turned to the patio door to find a doe with her sticky wet nose pressed against the glass watching me. She pretended she’d just come to eat the sunflower seeds I’d left out for the birds. This was a very odd-looking doe with her wide flat head and short thick neck. A facial deformity or perhaps genes from a deer park escapee had given her a head that looked more like a roe deer than a white tail deer. Compare the deer above to this one.
<<< In profile, her head was shape like a jug.

The next day Jughead came back with her daughter. Two days later she returned with her daughter and her younger twins: a little buck we called Bucky and another little doe. They came back often until little Bucky started growing his antlers, then he stopped visiting. Jughead and older daughter were regular visitors for three years and then Jughead was gone. The daughter returned once more, then she too had moved on. Perhaps bored with watching us.

The signs around the yard tell me the deer have been on the patio again eating last summer’s dried hosta leaves and peering into the house. It makes me wonder if they’re Jughead’s descendants or just some other rude animals.

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Another 100 Things Blogging Challenge! For 100 days, I’ll post something from my chosen topic: Words on the Verge of Extinction. There are 22 entries to come.

Here’s one for today:

Antipelargy (noun 1656-1731)

reciprocal or mutual kindness; love and care of children for their parents

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I’ve temporarily cut back on blogging for my put-my-life-back-in-order spring cleaning — a project known far and wide as the Annual Purge. Thanks for stopping by even if there isn’t much new to see. I have no time for blogging right now, but the extinct word of the day is updated daily.

I’ll be blogging full bore in April with the A to Z Challenge. My list is growing. Only K, X, Y, Z left. Topics will mostly cover fascinating aspects from history with a few science wows thrown in for good measure. I have a healthy sense of wonder. I promise your imagination will fly with mine.  🙂
My imagination is already flying and I haven’t written my posts yet! What a wondrous world.

Coming soon to my satellite blog ~
All authors have non-fiction lives outside of their novels. I certainly do. That’s why I haven’t been blogging much. For being a shy wallflower, I’ve done some pretty strange things in my life. Most of these I lay squarely at the feet of the interesting man I married. You might say he’s the outboard motor on my life’s boat.  lol Were I to list them you’d see things like fire-walking and old house restoration, black-powder competitions and meditation, French Intensive gardening and pounding bronze on a forge, Reiki and wilderness canoeing. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. It appears I’ve lived several lives simultaneously!  😀

For ten days in April I’ll be participating in the Authors in Bloom blog hop over on http://calliopeswritingtablet.blogspot.com/ . This blog hop is all about showing the many facets to an author’s life. One of the more unusual things I’ve done in my life with this man of mine was lead wild foods programs for Chicago’s Field Museum. For this event I’ll be sharing my recipes. I hope you stop by. You may have delicious ingredients waiting in your backyard.

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I’m participating in The Romance Reviews’ Anniversary party. My particular part in the contest is over, but the celebration runs all month long and there are a lot of prizes to be had. See what I have up on my newest satellite blog:
http://ifollowthemuse.blogspot.com/

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See what’s happening on the blog today
http://romancebooks4us.blogspot.com/