“The sun was warm but the wind was chill. You know how it is with an April day.”
The sunshine is sharp on this lovely day. Bright rays pierce through spaces left between the pine branches. The air is clear. I can see every gnarl on the tree trunks, and the buds on the oaks and the maples are shining in the light.
Today I’ll visit the garden center. I want flowers for my deck boxes. They look forlorn standing there empty, and the deck needs color. The plants I pick will have to be hearty as this is a neither season. The days aren’t really all that warm yet, and the nights are still cold.
My body aches from all that hauling and standing yesterday. When I get up from a chair, I look a bit like a question mark until I stretch. I think it’s philosophical.
Gracie jumped the six foot fence and got in the back neighbor’s yard. He and his dog were out, and she wanted to join them. I had to race around in my car to get her. The neighbor thought it was funny. He kept asking me what I fed her and said she was about the most athletic dog he’d ever seen. I was not amused. Yesterday we added another foot to the fence by nailing boards every three pickets apart. The boards and the spaces between are uniform so it doesn’t look as awful as I thought it would. I’ll have to see if Gracie can beat her old record of six feet.
The deck is now in the sun, and I swear I hear it calling my name.
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keepthecoffeecoming.blog 
April 20, 2010 at 11:35 am
Isn´t it funny how we don´t think things our dogs do is amusing, when we think that it is when other peoples dogs does just the same thing 🙂 🙂 🙂
I don´t feel it´s any use going to the gardencenter yet, last night the temperature dropped to 21F. It didn´t get especially warm today either so I´ve had a fire in the stove all afternoon.
We had sunshine all morning but I could smell the rain in the air all morning and it came, but not to us. It rained around the village but not here 🙂
Have a great day now!
Christer.
April 20, 2010 at 6:07 pm
Christer,
I agree-our dogs aren’t funny to us, just annoying or mystifying.
The garden centers leave out the flowers overnight so I know the nights won’t do them any damage.
It stayed sunny all day!
April 20, 2010 at 4:29 pm
Kat, you will definitely be happy when Summer arrives full force. So will Gracie and yes, she will find a way out, she always does. Go Gracie Go! We are getting those days with wonderful breezes off the ocean and you can’t help but love it down here right now. Our Summers are hot, hot, hot and last through November.
April 20, 2010 at 6:09 pm
Z&Me,
I refuse to buy my third fence in two years. Each has cost me over $2000. I checked and they have 7 and 8 foot fences. I’ll hire a few people to dig the moat. Wonder where I can but alligators.
I wilt in hot, hot, hot.
April 21, 2010 at 6:34 pm
I can send you alligators. . . trust me . . I can send you as many as your little heart desires. Just let me know when.
April 20, 2010 at 5:32 pm
oh kat i am jealous! i went to the garden center and walked briskly through because it is too early for us here, my phlox is gorgeous and the wisteria is blooming but i know better than to tempt fate with any annuals yet. i am with zoey&me , go gracie go…its what keeps her fiesty i think! listening to the band today and remembering the good ole days!
April 20, 2010 at 6:09 pm
It’s getting cooler here now 18C last night (I don’t know what that is in American degrees) but the days warm up and are still enjoyable. Frost doesn’t happen where I live. I have two corgis, both girls, and they are not absconders, I can leave the gate open and they make no attempt to leave the yard. Many years ago I had a boxer, Pam, and her aim in life was to reach the horizon as often as she could without being observed. I’m planting now for a bit of winter colour, pansies, marigolds, calendula, cornflowers and getting some bellis ready for when it cools down a bit more, it will be too cool for petunias until about August. Where would we be without our gardens?
April 20, 2010 at 6:19 pm
Bob,
I looked it up and 18° translates as 64° here which is about as warm as our spring days have gotten so far. We still go down to 3° or 4°C at night.
None of my other boxers were absconders. They were quite content to stay in the yard though Shauna did get loose a couple of times, but, unlike Gracie, she always came when I called.
I am not a gardener but I love my garden. I pick out the best flowers every year and my landscaper plants them where I want. I already have a list of the plants I want this year. They’ll bloom throughout the summer and into the fall.
I love pansies.
April 20, 2010 at 6:11 pm
splendid,
I figured if the garden centers leave their plants out all night they must be hearty.
My pansies have been out for a few weeks and are just fine.
If Gracie jumped the fence and came when I called, I wouldn’t be as upset. She runs in the other direction, and it is difficult to catch her. I have to all out the neighborhood troops.
April 20, 2010 at 8:12 pm
Years ago we had an English bulldog named Gordon. Our neighbors had a retirever who always found ways to get out of their fence. The retriever loved to come by our backyard and open the gate so Gordon could get out. However, when we would come home, old Gordon would be sitting on the front porch, looking worried. He was not a traveller. By the way, we are having blackberry winter down here. It has not been out of the fifties for a few days and the low tonight will be around 40.
April 20, 2010 at 9:47 pm
Bob,
I love that Gordon stayed home and was worried about not being secure in his yard. My friends have two English bulldogs so I can picture him and his look. A blackberry winter is new to me so I had to find out what it means. It’s a wonderful description.