Season First

It was a complete surprise to look up and see a female Rose-breasted Grosbeak perched in the garden this morning.  I have never seen a female this early; and have never seen a female until usually a week after the first males show up.  And while she was perched there, I heard a familiar song being sung from the other garden - a House Wren!  And even more surprising, he had a mate with him.  Again, usually the male shows up first and starts singing to attract a female.  And this is early by a few days for the House Wrens.  A sign of changing weather patterns or maybe just favorable winds.  A friend a little north of me saw her first hummingbird of the season, so lots of migrants showing up right now.

Nice FT with my parents this morning.  Dad is having a small surgery done this coming Thursday so I'll be on pins and needles.  I firmly maintain that there is no such thing as a "minor" surgery when it involves someone you love (or yourself).  

Jax was horrible yesterday afternoon and again this morning.  Yesterday afternoon we were playing ball in the yard when he caught sight of the neighbor's dog and took off.  They have a big fence and Jax was just. racing up and down the fence, wanting to play with their puppy who is still pretty young and quite timid.  I had a hell of a time getting hold of him, even with the neighbor's help.  And my right hand is now all bruised from the leash once I finally got him.  Then this morning I was heading out for a walk when he spotted Louie, the other neighbor's Great Dane.  They like each other so I went over to say hello and Jax was just out of his mind, leaping into the air, acting like a complete jackass.  Never mind that Louie weighs 150 pounds, either!  Slobber was flying everywhere and at one point, I stumbled and went down hard on the driveway.  So, needless to say, I am very happy that our trainer is coming over this afternoon to work with him for a while.  He's really a good natured dog but he also loses control when he sees other dogs - all he wants to do is play.

In other fun (not) occurrences today - I put Jax out on the deck for a few minutes and suddenly he started barking ferociously so I went out to see what was going on.  And spotted that same huge black bear that was here a few weeks ago.  He was right at the edge of the woods, looking at us.  I got hold of Jax and got him inside then grabbed my camera hoping I might get a picture.  Then I realized he was heading towards my neighbor's yard and I could hear their kids outside, so I yelled that a bear was headed their way.  We can't see them from our house, but I am capable of some volume so they heard me and got kids and dogs inside, yelling "thank you" as they collected everyone.  Life in the country.  I was really hoping this bear had moved on, but obviously he hasn't.  And the real worry is that he does not appear to be afraid of humans.  So caution will be the word of the day.  

I think dark with ginger today.

xo
Debbi