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| A robin's nest in a lilac bush. |
In the leafy treetops, the birds sing “Good morning.”
They’re first to see the sun.
They must tell ev’ryone.
In the leafy treetops, the birds sing “Good morning.”
In my pretty garden, the flowers are nodding.
“How do you do?” they say.
“How do you do today?”
In my pretty garden, the flowers are nodding.
When I was a child, I loved to sing that Primary song. I still do, and I find myself singing it a lot lately. One of the finest things about this time of the year is the dawn chorus of the birds. May is generous with its light. With the lengthening days, it starts to get light well before 5:00 a.m. And as soon as the sky starts to brighten, the birds begin to sing. I am a morning person. I love to be up before sunrise to get the day going and one of the benefits of being up so early is hearing the birds as they welcome the sun. The first birds I hear are not wild. I have four roosters, Copernicus, Pedro, Lek, and Lola’s Child. They each have a distinctive voice and they all start to crow when the sky is just turning pre-dawn gray. Once they start, I hear the roosters at the neighbor’s across the way answer. The dialog goes on all morning. The first of the wild birds to sing are the robins, followed by the mourning doves, the red-winged blackbirds, the brown thrashers, and then all the various sparrows – song, tree, white-crowned, and chipping. The orioles arrived two weeks ago and they are the last to join in. The full chorus goes on for a few hours and then quiets down as the birds move on to other things. There is still plenty of singing throughout the day, but it isn’t as wonderful as the dawn chorus.
In the evenings another chorus begins. Many of the birds sing again at sunset. Robins have a distinctive evening song. Brown thrashers seem to sing more as night approaches. But the big noise at dusk are the frogs. Peepers in the beaver pond and the pond over at Goodenough’s start it with their high chirping. Then the little tree frogs join in with their long trills. The last to sing are the bullfrogs with their bass twang, like very big rubber bands being plucked. At dawn and dusk it gets noisy around here and I love it.
The birds are singing in the leafy (just barely) treetops and in my pretty garden the flowers are nodding. When I was a child I thought the song said the flowers were naughty instead of nodding. I knew how being naughty applied to children (I had extensive personal experience), but I couldn’t figure out how flowers could be naughty. Right now my tulips are at the peak of their beauty. I’m so happy I even have tulips this year. I plant some every fall and usually the deer eat them in the spring before they can bloom. I used a granulated deer repellant this year and it worked. I have flowering tulips.
Other great garden events are underway now, too. The first asparagus has appeared. I will pick the first batch tomorrow. The yellow currant bush is blooming. Its powerful and delicious clove fragrance is one of my favorite floral scents.
They’re first to see the sun.
They must tell ev’ryone.
In the leafy treetops, the birds sing “Good morning.”
In my pretty garden, the flowers are nodding.
“How do you do?” they say.
“How do you do today?”
In my pretty garden, the flowers are nodding.
When I was a child, I loved to sing that Primary song. I still do, and I find myself singing it a lot lately. One of the finest things about this time of the year is the dawn chorus of the birds. May is generous with its light. With the lengthening days, it starts to get light well before 5:00 a.m. And as soon as the sky starts to brighten, the birds begin to sing. I am a morning person. I love to be up before sunrise to get the day going and one of the benefits of being up so early is hearing the birds as they welcome the sun. The first birds I hear are not wild. I have four roosters, Copernicus, Pedro, Lek, and Lola’s Child. They each have a distinctive voice and they all start to crow when the sky is just turning pre-dawn gray. Once they start, I hear the roosters at the neighbor’s across the way answer. The dialog goes on all morning. The first of the wild birds to sing are the robins, followed by the mourning doves, the red-winged blackbirds, the brown thrashers, and then all the various sparrows – song, tree, white-crowned, and chipping. The orioles arrived two weeks ago and they are the last to join in. The full chorus goes on for a few hours and then quiets down as the birds move on to other things. There is still plenty of singing throughout the day, but it isn’t as wonderful as the dawn chorus.
In the evenings another chorus begins. Many of the birds sing again at sunset. Robins have a distinctive evening song. Brown thrashers seem to sing more as night approaches. But the big noise at dusk are the frogs. Peepers in the beaver pond and the pond over at Goodenough’s start it with their high chirping. Then the little tree frogs join in with their long trills. The last to sing are the bullfrogs with their bass twang, like very big rubber bands being plucked. At dawn and dusk it gets noisy around here and I love it.
The birds are singing in the leafy (just barely) treetops and in my pretty garden the flowers are nodding. When I was a child I thought the song said the flowers were naughty instead of nodding. I knew how being naughty applied to children (I had extensive personal experience), but I couldn’t figure out how flowers could be naughty. Right now my tulips are at the peak of their beauty. I’m so happy I even have tulips this year. I plant some every fall and usually the deer eat them in the spring before they can bloom. I used a granulated deer repellant this year and it worked. I have flowering tulips.
Other great garden events are underway now, too. The first asparagus has appeared. I will pick the first batch tomorrow. The yellow currant bush is blooming. Its powerful and delicious clove fragrance is one of my favorite floral scents.
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| The first asparagus! |
Most of the week the weather was mild. I sprayed the orchard for the first time on Wednesday. I use a holistic spray, a mixture of neem oil, liquid kelp, black strap molasses, Dr. Bronner’s peppermint soap, and mycorrhizal innoculant. The trees love it. Most of the fruit trees have buds now – a lot of them. If the weather stays mild, we will have a good harvest this year.
We had more thunderstorms during the week. A big one roared through here on Thursday with an hour and a half of thunder and pouring rain. Another storm came through yesterday with more thunder and steady hard rain. With all this rain, everything is lush and green.
On Thursday, during a lull between storms, I took a walk up to the woods to see what was blooming. The trees have not fully leafed out yet, so the forest floor still gets enough light for plants to bloom. There were trilliums, violets, trout lilies, spring beauties, may apples, cohosh, and Dutchman’s breeches in bloom. When the trees have leaves, the shade is too deep and there will just be ferns, no more flowers.
We had more thunderstorms during the week. A big one roared through here on Thursday with an hour and a half of thunder and pouring rain. Another storm came through yesterday with more thunder and steady hard rain. With all this rain, everything is lush and green.
On Thursday, during a lull between storms, I took a walk up to the woods to see what was blooming. The trees have not fully leafed out yet, so the forest floor still gets enough light for plants to bloom. There were trilliums, violets, trout lilies, spring beauties, may apples, cohosh, and Dutchman’s breeches in bloom. When the trees have leaves, the shade is too deep and there will just be ferns, no more flowers.
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| Up in the woods. |
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| Spring beauties. |
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| Three kinds of violets - purple, white, and yellow. |
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| Red trilliums. |
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| Blue cohosh. |
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| Dutchman's breeches. |
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| Trout lily. |
The Thayns came up to spend the weekend with us. It is so nice that they live close enough that they can visit often.
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| Dinner with the Thayns. |
Today is Mother’s Day. This evening around 6:30, Josiah is going to Skype to talk to his mother. Missionaries are only allowed to call or Skype twice a year at Christmas and Mother’s Day. This will be the last time he will Skype with us before he comes home in September. We’re always excited to talk to him. The Thayns are staying long enough to be here when he calls. I’m sure the rest of my children will also call or Skype sometime today to talk to their mother (hint). My wife is a great mother, a thing all her children will attest.
Later this evening I will Skype with my mother. My mother will be 90 years old this year – a fact I find impossible to believe. My parents celebrated their 65th anniversary on Wednesday. Many tender sentiments are expressed by people on Mother’s Day. I have a wonderful mother. I always have a difficult time putting in words a suitable tribute to her. I owe her my very life. Her teaching me, nurturing me, and loving me all the days of my life has made me who I am. She is a beautiful and a righteous woman. "Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her. Many daughters have done virtuously, but she excellest them."
Later this evening I will Skype with my mother. My mother will be 90 years old this year – a fact I find impossible to believe. My parents celebrated their 65th anniversary on Wednesday. Many tender sentiments are expressed by people on Mother’s Day. I have a wonderful mother. I always have a difficult time putting in words a suitable tribute to her. I owe her my very life. Her teaching me, nurturing me, and loving me all the days of my life has made me who I am. She is a beautiful and a righteous woman. "Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her. Many daughters have done virtuously, but she excellest them."
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| My parents on their wedding day. |
We’re home from church. We’ve had our traditional Mother’s Day lunch – sandwiches and chips. We always thought that it was Stacey’s favorite meal because that’s what she asked for on Mother’s Day, but she informed us that she likes it because we use paper plates and there is nothing much to clean up after the meal. Her favorite meal, she informed us, is tacos. That’s what we’ll be having on her birthday this Thursday.
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| Our beaver pond adventure today. |
After lunch we went on a little adventure to visit the beaver pond that sits just out of Gold on the road to Genesee. We saw an osprey while we were there and lots of swallows swooping over the water. Now we’ve settled in for the rest of the afternoon to wait for Skyping time.
