We had a second sunny day in a row. Unbelievable! But not to worry. It will rain tomorrow. Probably not until the evening. The rivers are full and they are expecting rivers to flood.
I am trying not to think about it, hoping the sump and the pump are up to the task. And our French drains are not clogged with leaves and the gutters are still viable. And the roof doesn’t leak.
The tree in all her glory
It has been raining … major storms … several times each week and the rivers are cresting. And guess who lives in a river valley?
Amazing colors!
I went out and took more pictures of The Tree. Because after tomorrow’s storm, it won’t have any leaves left. Count on it.
I have save more pictures because I’m going to need them.
It was a beautiful day. Actually sunny from earliest rays of the morning until sunset. I went out to clean up our front walk — the dogs, you know — and everything looked bright. We didn’t get much in the way of reds or orange, but the woods are quite yellow and the oaks are beginning to turn to bronze.
I went in to grab my camera and took a few pictures.
Photo: Garry Armstrong – Aldrich StreetPhoto: Garry Armstrong -The oaks are changing colorFred the Flamingo is still in the garden – Photo: Garry ArmstrongDown the driveway – Photo: Garry ArmstrongPhoto: Garry Armstrong – West past the shed into the woods
I live amidst the trees. Sometimes, I think the trees live amidst us, too. The bug and mouse guy was here yesterday and reported that we have fewer than maybe a dozen still active mice and no visible bugs, except for a mosquito he found in our bedroom.
I said that mosquitoes are just one of those things, but what are those things that keep coming out of the drain and he said they were “drain bugs.”
I said “they don’t seem to do anything” and he said, “mostly, bugs don’t do anything.” I’m not sure how to feel about that.
Under the stars
But meanwhile, he pointed out that we live in the woods, so we’re going to have mice because the amount of room they need to climb under a door is about the width of a dime.
Snow
I said I sympathized with their desire to find a warm place for the winter, but not here. And he said, “This is the place they are looking for.”
Proudly announcing, we are the winter spa for mice.
I went out and I was absolutely SURE the daffodils would be blooming.
Nope.
The oak trees are thinking about blooming
Everyone else’s daffodils are blooming. Everywhere I look, I see azaleas and blooming trees. Apple and cherry and all that. But not here.
Bud on the Rhododendron
I went out and I took pictures. The trees are beginning to put out leaves and we have some violets and those little purple flowers and there are at least half a dozen buds on the Rhododendron. But nothing else.
I’m sure it will burst into some kind of frenzied blooming any minute now, but not yet. Definitely, not yet.
Yesterday it was cold and rainy and they promised today would be better. Not merely is it better.
Old hawk’s nest high in the oak tree
It’s just BEAUTIFUL. Warm, sunny, with a very light breeze. Spring arrived. Finally. I don’t know for how long it plans to stay. We’ve been teased before, but maybe this time, it’s the real deal.
Budding oak woods. You can see the damage from all the storms.The budding of the oaks
Abrupt? Well … yesterday I was seriously considering turning up the heat and today, I’m thinking “air conditioner.” Is that abrupt enough?
Gate, from inside the yardMy carefully cropped front gate from outside … and Duke, of course.
We are not yet blooming, except for our forsythia which are in urgent need of trimming back. They are finally so big, they barely bloom at all.
Just about to bloom Japanese maple
They are huge and if not cut back soon, I think may march right into the house and take up residence here along with the flowers and dogs and us.
Inside, looking onto the deck. I’d open the doors, but Duke would be through that screen in a nanosecond.
I should mention that you really should wear shoes if you are going to walk on the path recently clipped of thorny roses. Ouch!
The story of the cat in the tree is part of our family folk-lore. While not a major, life-altering event, it’s a good story with a happy ending.
Tom and I were scheduled to leave for London the following day. It was summer. Both of our young adult children were living at home with us. We were relaxing after dinner when we heard a cat meowing from outside the house. Our two cats — we also had three dogs — were exclusively indoor cats.
Tom, me, our kids, David and Sarah, and our three dogs at our wedding in 2002
We commented that we hadn’t realized our neighbors had cats. After a few more ‘meows’, we decided to do a head count and make sure that both of our cats were where they were supposed to be. One cat, Hillary, was missing. Shit!
So all four of us went outside and started to frantically search the fenced in backyard for our missing cat. We were worried she might be injured since she lived on the second floor of the house. The only way to get from there to the back yard, was off our bedroom deck and roof, which was pretty high up from the ground.
We searched and searched. It started to get dark so we got flashlights. When we called, she would answer us, but we couldn’t pinpoint her location. One minute she’d sound like she was off to our left. The next minute, she’d sound as if she was on our right. We got increasingly confused. We were also beginning to panic. We had to find Hillary if we wanted to leave on our trip the next day!
It eventually occurred to us that cats can climb trees. We might be looking in the wrong place for Hillary. So Tom took the flashlight up to the bedroom deck and shined it straight into the giant evergreen tree right outside our bedroom. There she was. Contentedly sitting in the tree. We figured she must have started to slide down the slanted roof and caught her fall by jumping onto the overhanging tree branch.
Tom said he’d climb the tree and get Hillary. The rest of us were afraid Tom would kill himself so we tried to dissuade him. Tom convinced us that it was an easy tree to climb and that he was an expert tree climber. So we agree and Tom climbed up to the second floor level and tried to grab Hillary. She got spooked and moved higher up the tree. After this little dance continued for a while, our daughter, Sarah, decided to step in.
Who do you call when your cat is stuck in a tree? The Fire Department. Sarah called our Volunteer Fire Department. She explained that both her cat and father were in a tree and needed help. The operator then asked Sarah if it was her father or the cat’s father who was up in the tree with Hillary.
Hillary
The Fire Department actually came. You might think firemen rescue cats from trees all the time and would know how to do it. This was true — fifty years ago. Not, however, these days. The firemen asked USwhat we wanted them to do. “Get a ladder.” Tom answered. So they brought out a tall ladder. But it was not tall enough.
The fireman then yelled up to Tom, “The ladder’s too short! What do you want me to do?”
What Tom did was creative and brave. He grabbed Hillary, hung upside down by his knees on a branch and handed the cat off to the fireman at the top of the ladder. Victory! Everyone gathered around the rescued cat – and completely forgot about Tom, still hanging upside down in the tree. One fireman finally went back to the tree and asked if Tom could get down on his own. Tom was hot and sweaty and exhausted, but he managed to climb down safely.
Before the firemen left, one of them phoned in a report to the office. This is what he said: “One cat and one adult male in tree. Successful recovery.”
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