Intimations of spring

The condo yard men came and cleaned up practically everything. Rabbits are nibbling above the cans I have protecting the tulips. Goldfinches are gold! Cool! Robins omnipresent.

Temperature still cold, cold cold. The slough has not thrown off its winter coat, but I can see buds swell on the forsythia, as well as the rhododendrum.

Crocus are above ground. I had given them up for lost. Oregano activity. Chipmunks about. Squirrels playful. One has the sense of a great many things happening out of sight and ready to burst into view. March is always the worst month, and a cold start to April is depressing, but soon, spring will come.

And we'll all be ready.

If The Dog Could Blog

Friend of a friend took off from Gerlach, NV for Soldier Meadow, NV, a place of beauty and isolation and even danger, for the land is wild, the snakes are big and plentiful and coyotes and mountain lions are always stalking a ready meal. (MRE).
http://www.soldiermeadows.com/

The friend of a friend took his dog along, as one would. The dog is a 40 pound dog, a pound dog, formerly a city dog, then a suburban dog, not a farm or ranch dog. The dog had been to Soldier Meadow before, which may or may not account for his behavior, which was to take off over the hills after a rabbit. Doggy doings.

Except he didn't come back. And when the dog's master and friends called and whistled and searched, the dog was, like, gone. After a harrowing search, they finally returned to the West Coast, minus one pet. Of course all sorts of horrible images came to mind. Big ugly rattlers, stealthy cougars. Hungry coyotes. Innocent suburban dog.

This was about a week ago, maybe longer. Today I heard that the dog, hungry and tired and undoubtedly footweary, had appeared at the ranch. If animals could blog, that dog would have some story.