Mild & Sunny

Wow, what a great weekend. I can see now that once the really nice weather arrives, my poor old blog is going to suffer from some neglect. I will try to be better and make time for my blog because I don't want to disappoint my faithful followers (Mom & Dad, this means you!)

We had a lovely weekend and after mostly just messing around on Saturday, I had to get caught up on my household chores yesterday (laundry, vacuuming, etc.) Definitely my least favorite activities. I forced myself to do the indoor chores before I could go outside and play. I did, however, hang several loads of laundry on the clothesline, so at least there I could combine inside with outside time.

I did take the time to put out my birdhouse gourds. The low, single ones for the tree swallows and all 12 of the martin gourds. On Saturday I had purchased some cedar shavings to use as nesting material in these gourds. Previously I have used dried white pine needles, but this year I decided to try cedar shavings and see whether the birds will accept those. Cedar shavings also have insect repelling properties, so they should work in the gourds.

This is a gourd for the tree swallows. They really like these and have nested successfully in them for the last several years. I have 4 of these in the backyard. The tree swallows seems to prefer these gourds over my Peterson bluebird houses.

I haven't seen any tree swallows or purple martins yet, but my mentor in Rochester says his martins come back every year around the 16th of April. I've put the gourds up, but will keep the holes plugged until the martins arrive. I made the mistake one year of letting some tree swallows set up housekeeping in one of the gourds. Wow, they really hated the martins and kept chasing them away! Fortunately, those tree swallows hadn't laid any eggs yet, so I closed up the martin gourds till the tree swallows found another nesting cavity. It only took a few days, and then everything settled down.

Here are my martin gourds. I have 12 now -- 6 plastic Supergourds and 6 natural gourds. The martins seems to prefer the natural gourds. It will be interesting to see which ones they choose this year.

This will be my fourth year of trying to become a successful purple martin landlord. I've always had martins come to live in my gourds, but they've never been able to nest successfully (the eggs never hatched). Maybe this will be the year.... Whatever the outcome, they're fascinating birds to watch and I love hearing their bubbly song.

We took a motorcycle ride this afternoon and ate supper at the Los Gables Mexican restaurant in Fountain. It was very good. The motorcycle ride was a little chilly for me, but Rick was fine.

You really don't realize how stupid people drive till you're driving a motorcycle. Rick was riding ahead of me and almost got hit when some stupid chick (probably talking on a cell phone!) took an S-curve too fast and crossed over the center line right in front of him. Fortunately Rick was paying attention and was able to swerve out of the way quickly. (You don't even want to know what words came out of the mouth of this sweet Midwestern girl!) And don't even get me started on how fast people drive! We were coming out of Stewartville and my bike speedometer said 75 and there were people passing me -- in minivans, no less. Where is everyone in such a hurry to get to??

OK, I'm off the soapbox now. Enjoy this great spring weather. I'm guessing we'll be hearing the sounds of lawnmowers next week.

P.S. And the really great thing about going back to work today was that I found out I'm getting a 5% cost of living raise! Retroactive to last Monday! Woo-Hoo! But wait, there's more.....if my job lasts till next year, I also receive an extra 5 days of personal time (or vacation, as some people call it). Woo-Hoo again!!

Turkey Heaven

We got up early this morning to go birding (with turkeys being the main bird we were looking for). We weren't disappointed.

The following pictures were taken "at an undisclosed location" in rural Olmsted County. (These pictures aren't real clear because I was taking them through the windshield.) We came over the hill and could see there were turkeys in the road. As we approached the driveway, we could see several toms and hens in the driveway.

We pulled off the road so I could take pictures and these guys didn't even run. I guess they have other things on their mind.

I think one of them is saying "Mine's bigger than yours!"

Rick decided to drive ahead a little bit further so we could get off the road a little more and this is what we saw down in the valley.....Turkey Heaven! This is somebody's backyard. Unfortunately, there wasn't a "For Sale" sign at the end of their driveway. There were turkeys everywhere. I think we counted at least 9 toms and twice as many hens.

The one good thing about this place is that it's almost directly across from a State Wildlife Management Area where public hunting is allowed. Hopefully some of these birds will still be around when our bow & arrow turkey season arrives in the middle of May.

It was so cool; I'm pretty sure we're going back there tomorrow.

Oh yeah, I did see lots of other birds too, tons of cardinals and robins, but for spring birds, there was the Ruby-Crowned Kinglet and Field Sparrow.

Happy Birthday Daisy

Still Daisy's favorite chair!

When Daisy was a baby -- we had to help her into the chair then.

Today is Daisy's birthday and she is 14 years old. She has been an amazing dog. When we got her 14 years ago, I never thought she would live this long, especially at the pace she's usually going at.

Rick & Daisy enjoying a nap.

We got her from the "Sportman's Kennel" in Hayfield (no longer in business). She was always busy -- even as a puppy. We had to keep her on the leash for about the first year and a half that we had her, because if you weren't watching her every second she would get into some kind of trouble.

Armfuls of Daisy

She has always been a super high energy dog. She is a very good pheasant hunter, but she's always had difficulty working in close to us. We got really spoiled with Candy who always worked in close right between me and Rick and if she got too far out ahead, she would always stop and come back to us. Daisy is just the opposite -- we've always had to keep up with her. I guess that's the difference when you get a dog that's been bred specifically for hunting.

Candy & Daisy

A few years ago we almost lost her. We were pheasant hunting in southwestern Minnesota and the day was dry with temps going into the 70's. Daisy was hunting really hard and then she collapsed. She just couldn't run anymore. Rick carried her back to the truck and we tried to get her to drink as much water as we could to get her rehydrated. On the way home when we stopped for a bathroom break, her urine was the color of blood. That's when I got really scared. We called the vet as soon as we got home and she came the next day to check Daisy. The bloody-colored urine was the result of over exertion and dehydration and cleared up in a couple days (no permanent kidney damage). However, the incident had damaged Daisy's heart and she has a heart murmur to this day. We still take her hunting, but for much shorter periods (a couple hours at the most) and also try to limit her activity level when it's really warm outside. She just doesn't know how to slow down!

She always had a good personality, but it took her a while to become the "people dog" that Candy was. Daisy wasn't much of a cuddler when she was younger, but she has become much more attached to us as she's gotten older (and especially after Candy died).

We think Sophie has been a big factor in keeping Daisy more youthful and active. They spend all their time together and even though Daisy hasn't been able to teach Sophie much about hunting, it's fun to see them out together in the field. They work especially well together when they're in hot pursuit of a streaked gopher or bunny in the yard.

Sophie & Daisy

We had a special birthday supper for Daisy with her own treat from John Hardy's Barbecue in Rochester. They love John Hardy's and as soon as they smell it when you walk in the door they just go crazy -- barking and running around. It was a lot of fun.

Yes, our pets are extremely spoiled, but we just love them to death and they love us right back. We are thankful for every healthy and happy day we have with them and hope for many more joyful years together.

We Were Warned!

Well, once again, the weatherman was right! It started snowing last night around 7:30. It snowed all night, but not too heavily, so there was probably only about a couple inches when we got up this morning. The drive to work was slow as the highway was pretty slippery, but at 5:15 a.m. there aren't too many cars on the road, so our commute was uneventful (only saw 1 vehicle in the ditch).

It snowed all day, and snowed, and snowed. The flakes are huge and there's some pretty good drifts in spots. I'm going to estimate that we've gotten about 6" so far (as of 2:30 this afternoon when I was refilling the birdfeeders).

I checked the NEXRAD radar (via WeatherBug) several times during the day and it looks as though the center of the precipitation is just sitting right on top of southeastern Minnesota and going around in a circle.

I know it doesn't do any good to complain about the weather, because it's out of my control, but this JUST SUCKS! I'm totally depressed and saddened to think about all the birds and wildlife that are adversely affected by this spring snowstorm.

I feel so bad I'm going to start another knitting project. This will be my reward project for finishing the socks.

It's called the Irish Diamond Shawl from Cheryl Oberle's "Folk Shawls" book and I'm going to make it in the pretty dark red yarn shown. I know starting this shawl will make me feel better; maybe I'll start a nice cheery blaze in the fireplace too.

I hope this is the last bout of winter weather we're going to have to endure this season. This snow can't last too much longer. The forecast for Friday through Sunday shows mostly sunny and highs in the 40's. Maybe our spring will get back on track (and we can think about sitting out in these chairs again one of these days.....)

Winter Storm Warning?

Yes, it's true, we're in a winter storm warning from 7 PM this evening till 7 PM tomorrow night (maybe 5-8" of snow). Crazy April weather. I'm sure this month will go down in the record books. Instead of dwelling on that, I'm going to show you some things I found in the yard yesterday afternoon when it was nice and sunny and still felt like spring.

While picking up "doggy deposits" from the lawn, I came upon this scene of a grackle murder under a pine tree.

The grackles like to sit in the tops of the white pines between us and the neighbors and it looks like maybe the Cooper's Hawk decided to enjoy one of my fat and sassy grackles for an afternoon snack. All that was left was a bunch of feathers and a couple of small pieces of bone and tissue. Fortunately there are plenty more grackles to take the place of this one.

While I was taking the photos I could hear a snapping sound from the nearby Scotch Pine tree. Oh yeah, I remembered that from one warm day last spring.....the sound of pinecones popping open. It has to be a warm, sunny and calm day in order to hear this. I think what's happening is the pine cones are warmed by the sun and as the sap warms up and gets soft, the little sections on the cone snap open.

Here's a couple pictures of pinecones that have partially popped open.

A lot of last year's pinecones have already fallen off the tree. Here's the comparison of a Scotch Pine cone and a White Pine cone. I usually try to pick up as many of these as I can and give them to Sissy -- she uses them to start fires in her backyard firepit. It's better than running over them with the lawnmower.

I think I got this Scotch Pine from my dad quite a few years ago. It's a nice big tree now -- probably about 40 feet tall. According to my "Trees of Minnesota" book by Stan Tekiela, Scotch Pines are one of the more popular Christmas trees grown. This tree was easy to identify by its needles: "clustered needles, 2 per cluster, 1.5-3" long, each needle is stiff, twisted and pointed." Stan's book also says this pine has a "single trunk that is often crooked, with spreading irregular crown." This isn't the prettiest evergreen in my yard (shapewise), but it sure is popular with the birds. While I was listening to the pinecones snap open, I was serenaded by a Red-Winged Blackbird in the top of this tree. Before my other White Pines got big, this Scotch Pine was the one used most frequently by Cardinals flying back and forth to the feeders.

If you remember the pictures I posted earlier in this blog (March 18th) of the snowy pheasant eating from the bird feeding tray, it was under this pine tree. It's a beautiful tree when it's covered with snow and it sounds like I'll get one more chance to see it that way this season!

It was a Happy Easter

We had a nice Easter Sunday. The weather was mild and sunny and it was a good day to celebrate with family.

Rick and I got up early and drove out to a rural area to look and listen for gobbling turkeys. We heard a few gobbles, but I was really excited to get a photo of this little weasel. I could hear him rustling around in the underbrush, but it was Rick who noticed him, commenting that there was a "little chipmunk" to my right. As soon as I saw it I knew it wasn't a chipmunk, but he was so quick in and out of the underbrush that at first I thought it was a red squirrel till I saw the black tip on his tail. What a cutie! I saw a white one once many years ago when we were still snowmobiling, but have never seen one since.

The Easter dinner was held at our house. Everyone had more than enough to eat and the dogs were happy because there were lots of plates to lick off. Here's Daisy doing her best to clean up a dessert plate. She's going to be 14 this coming Thursday, so she's earned the right to sit at the big table now.

Later in the day, I got a picture of this song sparrow in the tray feeder outside the kitchen window. They usually don't sit around in one place too long and this picture isn't the best because he didn't want to move away from the edge of the tray, but I think you can see the wonderful streaking on his breast and also his striped cap.

Here is a picture sent from Brother Phil in California. He says this dove nest is in their backyard and the dove seemed to think they had put the planter out just for her to nest in. This is nice - she won't have to worry about her eggs rolling out of the nest.

This is going to be an interesting weather week. The National Weather Service has issued a winter storm watch for us for tomorrow. I'd best get my birdseed bins filled up today so there's enough on hand for the next few days of bad weather again.

Odds & Ends

Sorry I didn't get a chance to post anything yesterday. It turned out to be an uninspiring day, so I'll overwhelm you with a variety of things today.

The only exciting thing that happened was Penny caught a mouse but she is an inefficient mouser and would rather let them go and chase them till they go under some furniture or kitchen appliance at which time I have to put out traps for a few days. This time I got Sophie involved, since she's a good gopher catcher, she quickly adapted to the mouse catcher role. Those little mice are quick and before Sophie knew it, the mouse had escaped under the dishwasher. Oh well, I'll just set a trap there for when the mouse comes out..... Later in the evening I was sitting in bed knitting and here comes the mouse into the bedroom and under the bed! Oh crap, now I have to go and find some more traps. During the time I was downstairs getting traps, Penny went into action and when I came back up again, Penny was pursuing the mouse downstairs. I called Sophie into action because Penny had dropped the mouse downstairs and it ran under Rick's recliner. I tipped the chair forward and Sophie saw the mouse run out. "Get it, Sophie," I urged her (she works better with verbal encouragement). Within about 40 seconds, she had caught that little mouse -- one good chomp and the mouse had become a crow treat for morning.

But wait, the story doesn't end here.....I put the dogs out at 12:30 and on the trip back upstairs, I see there's another mouse cowering in the corner on the top step. "Oh great," I thought, "what do I have downstairs to catch this little critter?" I finally decided on an almost empty jar of Skippy that I keep on hand for baiting mousetraps. The poor little mouse was petrified, so I just put the jar over it and slowly slid the cover on the jar as I pulled it off the step. Then I was able to release the mouse outside. I'm not sure where these little mice are coming from -- they're definitely not full grown, so I don't know if there's a nest somewhere in the house or maybe they're just sneaking in from outside since it's gotten so cold again. Never a dull moment at our house!

Here's Sophie looking for mice outside.

It's still cold and windy today. At noon it's still only 25 degrees with a windchill of 9. At least the sun is out -- it makes us think it's not so cold. I feel bad for the insect eating birds. This morning I had a chilly-looking robin pecking around under the feeder. Maybe she will find some grubs or something to eat. When I worked at Wild Birds Unlimited, we had a customer who put out sunflower hearts for his robins. I think I'll try putting some out on the ground and maybe the robins will find them.

I visited my friends at Wild Birds Unlimited this morning to take advantage of their 20% off coupon in the last newsletter. I've had my eye on one of their great big windchimes since right after Christmas and today was my big day. I had set aside some money to attend some birding festivals but now that gas has gone up to $2.69 with predictions of $3.00 by the end of the month, I decided that I'll probably be spending a lot more time at home this summer, so I might as well indulge my chime addiction instead. It's a beautiful, big, midnight blue sparkly chime. It probably weighs at least 20 lbs. and boy, does it ever sound nice! It's hanging below the dining room window, so I can hear it chiming even inside the house. Wow!!

While I was walking to the backyard to hang the chime, I noticed a killdeer fly up in the yard. Could it be I have a killdeer in my yard this spring? That would be so cool. After hanging the chime I got my camera and walked out to the far hill. Sure enough, just over the hill there it was. It would walk around and then peck into the ground, stand up straight, and bob its head a couple of times before moving on to the next spot. Poor thing, I hope it's finding something to eat out there. I would like to keep it around for the summer if possible.

The killdeer was on this hillside I've decided I'm not going to my anymore. I'm planning to just have 3 trails mowed to the get to the bottom of the hill. This will give us walking paths to the bottom and also enable the bluebirds and killdeer to find more insects on the mowed trails. The highway right-of-way next to this part of the yard is very steep and never gets mowed, so there are lots of wildflowers, blooming weeds, and some bird-planted shrubs. The red-winged blackbirds like to nest in this area and last summer I had a dickcissel hanging around here too. I would like to encourage this to become a better meadow area and I'm going to try planting some common mullein and milkweed here too. Not mowing this acre is going to save me almost an hour in mowing time and also probably half a tank of gas. Watch for later updates on this project once summer arrives.

I've been reading some inspiring blogs posted by other knitters and decided since it was still going to be cold for a while, I should really try to finish that other wool sock I've been working on since November -- especially since one is already done! Here's the work in progress. I only have about 3 inches to go till it's done, so hopefully I'll have a new pair of warm socks to wear on Monday since I think they've already turned the heat off at work.

And one more thing before I go -- my siblings will appreciate this. While posting today's blog, Club .977 The 80's Channel (one of my favorite internet radio stations) played "The Love Shack" by the B52's and that reminded me that while I was in Mills Fleet Farm last night "The Love Shack" was playing on their store sound system. I was groovin' in the ladies clothing section, but I wondered whether the majority of the Mills Fleet Farm shoppers could even appreciate this fine musical selection. I guess you had to be there, but if my Sissy had been along we would have had a great time singing along and dancing to this classic tune.

Mealworms & More!

My mealworm shipment finally arrived. I ordered 5000 last Friday from New York Worms (www.nyworms.com). Then our weather turned cold again so I got a little bit worried. They were being delivered to my house by Priority Mail. Shipped on Monday, 2-4 days for shipping, oh yeah, it's gonna be cold when they get here. There was a very real chance that my worm investment would get frozen before I got home from work because the mail is usually delivered before 10:30. So, I put a little note in the mailbox for my "Postal Delivery Person" asking them to please put the box of worms inside a big picnic cooler by the front door. No worms yesterday, but today when we got home, Rick noticed right away there was something in the cooler. Sure enough, the worms were here, but the shipping box was so big the cooler lid didn't close tight. Oh-Oh, I thought, frozen worms for sure.

I took them in the house and let them warm up for a little bit while I got my big, covered worm container out and cut up some potatoes (worms are always really hungry after traveling long distances!) And by the time I got everything ready and started unpacking the little squirmy guys, they were looking pretty good. What a relief. Now I won't have to ration servings for the chickadees anymore and I'll still have plenty of worms available when the orioles start arriving in a few weeks.

These are some good looking worms -- some are almost and inch and a half long, and fat too! Look at them all here enjoying their worm supper. I know they like potatoes, but I also had some cabbage in the refrigerator and they seem to like that too.

I remember back when I first started working at Wild Birds Unlimited, I could barely even open the container of worms to show customers. I'm sure glad I got over that phobia, because mealworms are some of the best treats I can put out for my birds. I could hear the chickadees outside chirping grace: "Rub-a-dub-dub, thanks for the grubs, yea Ruthie."

And now, here's the "More" as mentioned in today's title. My phone rang at work around 8:00 this morning and it was my sister calling to tell me she had pictures of a Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker in her yard, at the suet feeder. Very exciting and also unusual as this is considered a summer bird for us in Minnesota. I asked her if she would let me post a picture on my blog and she drove out right after work and we downloaded this picture off her disc.

She lives right in town, but there are lots of mature trees in the neighborhood and in her yard. Last summer she also had a pair of Red-Headed Woodpeckers that stayed the whole summer season. I'm still working on trying to convert her to my Purple Martin discipleship. There's a purple martin landlord about 3 blocks away from her place with a couple of T-14 houses full every summer and her front yard would be the perfect spot to put up a gourd rack because she has a nice open flyway between the street, driveways, and her house, plus a couple of overhead lines for perching. Think about it Sissy.....we've still got time to get that pole cemented in the ground before martins start arriving.

Cold & Windy

Wow - we're back to winter today. I keep a weather radio by the bed and listen to it every morning before getting up. Today at 4 AM (when Rick's alarm clock goes off) the temperature was 19 degrees with a sustained NW wind of 30 mph giving us a windchill of . . . 1 degree! (at least it was still above zero) I'll tell you what, it was really a struggle to get out from under the covers knowing that's what we were facing for the day. To top it off, we had snow flurries for most of the day. The weatherman predicts that we won't see temps near normal (50 degrees) till the middle of next week.


This flag across the highway is my "windvane." At 6 PM this evening it's still standing out almost straight!

Poor birdies! I walked up to the cafeteria and credit union and saw a poor robin sitting in a crabapple tree in the courtyard. She looked soooo cold. On my way back to the office (about 10 minutes later) she was still sitting in the exact same position. There wasn't even any dried up fruit left on the tree for her to eat. I watched a couple of robins in our yard this afternoon digging around in the leaf debris trying to find something to eat. I think all the worms are frozen back in the ground.

However, I did spot a yellow-shafted flicker in our yard while eating supper. I know some folks around here had them all winter, but this is the first one I've seen so far this spring, so that was a good thing.

All the rest of the birds are spending most of their time on the ground -- too windy to fly. Here's a look at the feeding frenzy that's taking place under the tray feeder.

The tube feeder closest to the dining room window is finally empty of the "cardinal blend" that the grackles love. Now I'll be filling it with safflower seed to discourage those black pigs. The house finches really like safflower seed -- looks like I'll need to find a larger tray to accommodate more guests. The house finches also like the window feeder but only 2 can eat here at a time.

Maybe the sun will come out again tomorrow. This time of year the sun is pretty warm if you can get in a sheltered area. Hopefully the birds will get a chance to warm up a little too.

An Ugly Day

It's not a nice day today. I'm glad I got my tree planted yesterday. Today it's gray and drizzly and really windy -- sustained NW winds around 20 mph with gusts to 45 mph up here on top of the hill.

It's a good thing I've got most of my hanging birdfeeders wired up because otherwise they would be horizontal and I'd lose all the seed. The chickadees can barely hang on to pick up their mealworms! And there's SNOW in the forecast again (curses!!) I'd better remember to plug in the heated birdbath again for the predicted overnight temps in the mid-20's. The thing that makes it really hard to take is that only a week ago (3/26) we had the record high temp of 81 degrees.

If you look real close at the center of this picture, you'll notice the green coated clothesline wire going from the center of the pole out to each feeder.

Because it's an ugly day, it's a good day to post the pictures of my neighbor's ugly yard. My dad was worried that I might be setting myself up for trouble by posting these pictures, but I assured Dad there was nothing here that would reveal my neighbor's identity and unless you know where I live, you couldn't figure it out either. Because our yards are big and long, the views you're about to see are visible only from my yard.

Here's the house -- if you look real close you can see the patio door but no deck. The deck was rotten and they took it off 2 years ago; it's never been replaced. The red truck is one of several abandoned vehicles parked in their yard.

A little background . . . I put up the cheesy little wire fence probably about 10 years ago when the previous neighbors were living there and let their dog run loose. I was sick of their dog coming over to our yard to bug my dogs and because their dog was kind of stupid, the fence was enough to stop it -- even though the fence doesn't go the entire length of the yard. I was glad the fence was there when the current homeowners took over because they have absolutely no concept of respect for the the neighborhood or the neighbor's property lines. Hence, all the s*!# piled up along the fence.

Here are their burning barrels. The first time they burn when I've got laundry hanging out I'm turning them into the PCA! The shed was started about 5 years ago. The finally got the roof on last summer and wrapped it in Tyvek. This winter they got the doors put on. Maybe next year they'll put some siding on . . .

Out my kitchen window the view of their place has been completely obscured by a double row of white pines. Along the fence, I've planted some elderberry and viburnum shrubs, but they're taking a while to grow. I'm going to have to do some serious fertilizing this summer. There are some "bird planted" grapes growing on the fence and I may have to find a few more grape plants to plant along there also this summer.

I live with the hope that once the shed is completed, maybe they will move all this crap inside!

The really sad thing about their whole place is that the owner is self-employed as a "home improvement specialist." He's stupid enough to leave his trailer (advertising the name and phone number of his business) parked in front of their place. (I'm not including any pictures of the front of their house because it's so horrible and you would be disgusted and also saddened seeing his two dogs chained out in front of the house.)

To the far right of this picture and the far left of the picture below is a huge pile of construction debris. A couple of years ago he had another pile like this that they burned one Saturday night. You can bet if he does that again this year, the sheriff's department will get a call about whether there's a legal burning permit. (I am definitely the neighbor you never want to piss off!)
I fantasize about the day we move away from here and I'm going over to their house to ring the doorbell and when they answer telling them that they were the WORST NEIGHBOR I'VE EVER HAD and then driving away. The other fantasy I have centers around winning the lottery, buying their place, evicting them and then tearing everything down and turning the entire 5 acres into wildlife habitat.

For now, I'll just concentrate on turning my 5 acres into wildlife habitat and planting enough trees and shrubs to eventually obscure this ugly disaster of a yard.

The Manpower Tree

I have been a Manpower employee for almost a year now. I have a pretty good job and the pay is OK (enough to pay my bills with a little left over for birdseed and yarn). The nice thing is that Rick and I have the same hours, so we can ride together to work and have lunch (and sometimes even breakfast!) together. Because we both support manufacturing and his area receives the parts I work with, sometimes I have to call him for help or clarification on some parts that his area has received.

Although Manpower is very watchful of their budget and people can be let go at anytime, so far I've been lucky. I'm hopeful I'll have a job at least till Rick retires (November 2008). Because the people who were in this job before me were hopelessly stupid (from what I've heard), almost everything I've done since starting has been outstanding. I heard quite a few horror stories from my office mate who had to try and train these hopelessly stupid individuals, so I made an extra effort (and took lots of notes!) to make sure I didn't make the same mistakes and disappoint or aggravate the IBM people I support.


Because I've done a pretty good job and the IBM people have sent notes concerning this to my Manpower supervisors, I've received a couple of "thank you" awards from Manpower. These consist of a gift card/certificate for $25 from a participating merchant. I used my first gift card at Cabelas, because I needed some warmer clothes for deer hunting. For my last quarter gift card, I decided to try Home Depot because I know they sell plants in the spring.


Because I know I'm going to be planting some trees this spring, we stopped at Home Depot yesterday morning after getting groceries at Target (since both stores are in the same shopping center). Wow! They had a wonderful selection of trees: crabapples, maples, birches, and of course, the weeping willows I was looking for. I picked out a nice weeping willow for the very nice price of $19.99. Even with tax, I left the store with a little bit left on my gift card (to use for flowers or maybe another tree someday). We got the tree into the back seat of the car (because the trunk was full of groceries), and drove home.





I wanted to plant it yesterday, but it was too nasty outside (chilly, windy & misty). Today it wasn't too bad and by the time I got home from work, it was actually pretty decent. I rushed to change my clothes and plant my new "Manpower tree." I hope it will grow fairly fast. The label attached to the tree says it "will reach 40-50' tall and 40-50' wide in about 25 years." I guess that's about 2 feet a year, right? Oh well, it's a start. This tree is going to get a lot of TLC this summer to get it off to a good start. Especially since it's got to grow to block out the environmental disaster behind me.




And speaking of environmental disasters, be sure to check this blog tomorrow when I'll share some photos of my next door neighbor's yard!