Sunday, March 18, 2007

Ahh, Spring.

San Antonio is very pretty right now. Spring has sprung and all the little trees and bushes are getting their feathery new growth, while the infant squirrels and birds are testing out their baby legs and wings.
Yesterday I visited my friend Susan at her beautiful house in Alamo Heights. We sat on her enormous second story balcony and watched a little hummingbird suck nectar from a flowering Mountain Laurel for what seemed like hours.
Then we saw a new family of cardinals making the rounds. Looked like a dad, a mom and an aggressive teen son. The dad was overseeing his little family and we spotted him on a fence railing, lecturing the wife and kid on some bird-related issues.
In the tree closest to us, we observed an enormous nest way up high. It was the size of basketball and I laughed and said it might be a condor or an eagle's nest. It turned out to be a squirrel's nest- at least we saw a baby squirrel going in, but he may have been looking for a little egg snack.
Unfortunately, I no longer have time to mess around in my yard. The guy next door is rehabbing from a serious hand injury and he's become my unofficial gardener. He also sometimes washes my car without telling me. He's about 30 and lives with his parents, but he's very savvy about the world and strangely liberal considering he was reared by Jehovah's Witnesses.
Anyway, the neighborhood is turning green and lush.
The neighbors on the other side of me that I had so much trouble with last Fall are very quiet lately. We ignore each other, which suits me fine.
When I'm sure the cold weather is gone for good, I plan to go out and buy a mess of large pyracantha bushes and begin my shrubbery cold war with them. I wish I could find a way to electrify it. :)

What are you planting this spring?

1 comment:

Lulu Maude said...

Wal, Zippie, it's a little early for me to say. While I was on my journey for peace (see blog) a well-meaning new neighbor cut through our clematic vine with his snow blower. So I guess we'll be planting a new clematis.

We're going to crank up the veggie garden this year, and I'll do my usual flower mania.

But spring doesn't really come to Vermont till May 1. We're back in winter as I write this, with mud season to come after that.