Oh Man! That Could Have Been a Lot Worse!!

If you look at the picture to the lower right, you may be able to see the black under the pine tree. If you are thinking,
"Well, that isn't right." You would be so right. Friday I used the weed burner (fun little contraption that meets all the little boy pyrotechnic needs of us guys) to burn off the dead grass out front and on the side yard. Worked great, but I caught a few of the RR ties on fire. I thought I had put the fire out with the garden hose, but when I awoke Saturday morning, I saw smoke and all the pine needle ground cover (some of which I spent twenty minutes raking out of the drive way to pile under the tree) charred into black ashes. Pretty well wiped out the tulips which had just begun to bloom. Dirty Rack of Bricks!! The bad part is that the pine needles did a pretty good job of keeping the weeds down, now I will have to spray for them. Also burned out a couple sprinkler heads that will have to be replaced. I am very thankful that the flames did not get up into the crown of the tree. The trunk did get burned, but that bark is the tree's natural line of defense against forest fires and does not easily catch fire. It worked. I hate to think if the crown had caught fire and where the fire would have gone next.



The picture to the upper right shows the pond doing its daily thing. Gunk from the bottom keeps coming up to the top and I have to skim the surface every day or two. The frog is completely covered by algae and is no longer even visible. I am thinking that he is a dead frog. But the water is still freezing cold.


The picture of the current air temperature tells you why Papa Coyote has not donned the waders and gone wading in the pond to take out all the lilies, grasses, and irises to transplant and to clean out the pond. Papa Coyote is waiting to play a trick on grandson M to get him to wade into the pond to clean it out. Maybe he will fall for the old, "Why, Son, there is gold and dead frogs at the bottom of the pond and all you find is yours. Just pile that gunky overlay into the wheelbarrow right here like a good boy." I am certain he will fall for that old, but good trick:) If his Mom doesn't go and read this to him, he will never know. hahahaha!

Mowed the lawn yesterday--that would be the 19th of April. This is significant because I could have let the lawn go another week. In past years I have mowed the lawn just before leaving for spring break (the 3rd week of March) or usually after returning from spring break vacation (the first few days of April. Then I would have found the grass really tall and thick and hard to get through. Our spring is much later arriving this year than in the recent past.

Look for the next posting to see pictures of the broken table and to learn more of Papa Coyote's Journey and how he saved $85.

Yeeeeoooowwww, it is windy and cold outside,
Papa Coyote