Spring has Sprung
I was planning on doing a brilliant Holy Spirit 101 for my post, but gosh darn it, the weather was so outstanding today that I decided to just talk about spring.
One of my favorite things about this little part of North Idaho is how early spring comes. I’ll be out pruning trees over the next week and working in the garden by the first of April. The lilacs buds are swollen and some of my early tulips are already coming up.
This year we have had an unusual number of Cedar Waxwings flocking in our yard. By unusual number I mean over a thousand at a time and by yard I mean about 3 acres of gardens and 2 acres of fields. They love the tiny crabapples, but most of all they love the juniper berries. While watching them this morning, I discovered the reason they loved juniper berries so much was because they were inebriated. My drink of choice when I was still an active alcoholic was a martini, so I can sure understand why they would be going nuts over the junipers.
The robins have also arrived and are busy looking for places to build nests. Which brings up the subject of cats. Our Erica is quite the little bird hunter. She’s a tiny little cat but I’ve seen her snag birds that are bigger than she is. When we bought this property it didn’t have one single tree and we have planted over 200 trees in order to enjoy the birds. In trying to find a solution for this problem I stumbled onto the “CatBib”. This thing really works. Erica is happy doing her stalking thingy but she can’t catch them. The bib throws her timing off just enough so that when she actually tries to pounce, she misses.
One of my favorite things about this little part of North Idaho is how early spring comes. I’ll be out pruning trees over the next week and working in the garden by the first of April. The lilacs buds are swollen and some of my early tulips are already coming up.
This year we have had an unusual number of Cedar Waxwings flocking in our yard. By unusual number I mean over a thousand at a time and by yard I mean about 3 acres of gardens and 2 acres of fields. They love the tiny crabapples, but most of all they love the juniper berries. While watching them this morning, I discovered the reason they loved juniper berries so much was because they were inebriated. My drink of choice when I was still an active alcoholic was a martini, so I can sure understand why they would be going nuts over the junipers.
The robins have also arrived and are busy looking for places to build nests. Which brings up the subject of cats. Our Erica is quite the little bird hunter. She’s a tiny little cat but I’ve seen her snag birds that are bigger than she is. When we bought this property it didn’t have one single tree and we have planted over 200 trees in order to enjoy the birds. In trying to find a solution for this problem I stumbled onto the “CatBib”. This thing really works. Erica is happy doing her stalking thingy but she can’t catch them. The bib throws her timing off just enough so that when she actually tries to pounce, she misses.
I’ll be rushing my order off in the next few days for several more CatBibs, because sometimes her safety collar comes off and she loses her bib. Hopefully, we may be able to find last year’s bib after the snow completely melts and before the plants are completely leafed out, but if we don’t, we’ll be prepared. If you have a kitty who can’t resist going after birds, check into the CatBib. This is the Catholic cat version of social justice as seen through the eyes of the birds.
