Too Wet, Too Busy – May 19

We enjoyed a few days of clear, dry weather here, but rain has returned with a vengeance. I never seem to have enough time, whether clear or raining, to do all I should do. Same old story.

Jane and I are thwarted in our riding ambitions after several nice days.

On Saturday, Harry and I attended a celebration of life for a dear friend, Jerry Garrett. He had been a docent at Bellefontaine Cemetery, so friends gathered there to share stories of Jerry, who really was a unique and interesting man. We were to gather under the Osage Orange tree, brought by Lewis and Clark, cuttings of which were sent to Thomas Jefferson, and grow in Virginia to this day. Alas, the rain drove us into the Hotchkiss Chapel, which was lovely, and appropriate for the many reminiscences shared of a man we were all lucky to know.

Then, on Sunday, a gathering in Chesterfield at Don Wiegand’s studio was delightful, completing a busy weekend.

The sun came out briefly yesterday evening, and I went out to see how wet everything was.

Bart had some cowbirds in attendance. The birds used to follow the bison herds, but now they make do with the company of domesticated grazers.

Speaking of cowbirds, here are some more bird pictures…

Today, we had a difficult morning, traveling to Washington (Missouri) for bloodwork, and the orders were lost. After phone calls and emails, we finally succeeded on our mission, and returned home much later than expected. To our surprise, there was a beautiful book about sculptor Carl Milles in the mailbox that had arrived from friends in Sweden, posted in December. The package looked like it had endured some adventures, but it will be treasured now, after its long journey of nearly five months!

One last item… I have, for more than twenty years, protected a plant that I thought was a native milkweed. I have the PlantNet app, and when I bought some “native milkweed” recently at the nursery, it was quite different from the plant I thought was milkweed. I used the app to identify it, and to my dismay, it is Indian Hemp, not milkweed! Furthermore, it is very toxic to horses, dogs and cats. So, aided by rain softened ground, I dug up an entire wheelbarrow of Indian Hemp, thanking my lucky stars that there has been no poisoning. Here it is… beware!

And that is all the news from here, for now.

Be safe, be well, be kind and be grateful. Stay strong. Slava Ukraini! Peace…