In the early morning.
This morning it was kind of dark and foggy outside yet the forsythia seemed lit up from within.

Up close and personal with a 75-300mm zoom lens.

Taken lying on my back with a wide angle lens.

Also taken on my back with a wide angle lens but this time from underneath the bush.

I woke up the other morning around 5:00 a.m. and could not get back to sleep. This is not an unusual experience for me. I usually hate just lying there waiting to drift off into a little more slumber before I need to get up. But on this morning I found it rather pleasant. The neighbor’s rooster was crowing every now and then; the peepers were still singing; and an owl was hooting in the woods. We don’t normally hear owls so it was extra special to hear it.

And what about those crazy peepers? We don’t normally hear them until late April/early May but for the past week we’ve been hearing them and they are getting more numerous by the day. Yes, Spring certainly is eager to get going this year.

While out in Mia we could see the pinkish-red fuzzy blur of the popped maples everywhere we went. In our woods there is an ever-so-slight tinge of green from the undergrowth starting to leaf out.

The forsythia bushes have clusters of plump buds just waiting to burst open in an explosion of yellow happiness.

I took advantage of the warm weather yesterday to rake part of the big flower bed where the forsythia is planted, and also to clean out all the leaf clutter from the day lily bed in the rock bed by the pool.

Here is a before, during, and after photo of my hard work on the day lilies.

The rest of the large bed and all the ferns in the rock bed still need attention, but at least it’s a start. I might just get out there this afternoon and do a little more. They really need the extra attention this year as last year I had injured muscles and was unable to do much yard work so the beds were left pretty wild.

The warm weather has also brought out the cherry blossoms in Branch Brook Park a few weeks early. Here they are last year. I hope to talk Rick into taking a long lunch on Friday and going there for a few hours to get some photos since it’s supposed to be a pretty nice day. I love the cherry blossoms!

Look what I noticed this morning in my front yard! The maples have popped!

Such a welcome sight! And temperatures in the high 60’s today!

Now the next welcome sight I hope to see today is my name not on the list of reporting jurors for tomorrow!

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Addendum this afternoon: YES!!!!!!

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Superior Court of New Jersey/Passaic Vicinage

Jury Reporting Information

For Petit Jurors On

THURSDAY, MARCH 15, 2012

JURORS DO NOT NEED TO REPORT FOR JURY DUTY ON

THURSDAY, MARCH 15, 2012

YOUR SERVICE IS COMPLETE FOR 3 YEARS.

Neighborly crocus!

I struggled with what to call this entry. It’s a mishmash of stuff really. I’m sure you are wondering how it all goes together. Truth is; it doesn’t!

Alex continues to improve daily. Tomorrow I don’t think I am even going to give him the same amount of pain medications.  Tonight I will start weaning him off and within a few days he will no longer need them. I don’t think he needs them now but I don’t want to stop him, shall we say, cold turkey.

I won’t be here tomorrow. I have to report to jury duty!*** Blech. I’ve never had to do this before and I am not looking forward to. Especially since I have to drive down to Paterson (not a pleasant place) to do it. I will no doubt spend the day in the selection room with a bunch of other potential jurors waiting around. I hope they see something in me that they don’t want in a juror and sent me packing. I am taking my iPad and a good book.

I am doubly not happy as the weather is truly glorious and will continue so during this week. Not a week I want to spend inside a stuffy courthouse!

Not in my yard but neighbor Luke’s. I love the striping.

My guest room do-over is now on hold until I know about this jury thing. Last week it was Alex; this week jury duty. Excuses, excuses. But really, I can’t move forward unless I am home. Very frustrating but I’m sure it will all sort itself out.

If you live in the U.S. and have been watching the news lately, you are familiar with the term “pink slime.” It’s a by-product of beef that has had the fat spun down out of it and ammonia added in to the whole (rather) digesting mix. This process is widely used (who knew?) in ground beef aka hamburger.

Now, I have to admit that one of my favorite meals is a really good hamburger. I might have to rethink that. When we make our trips back to Colorado/Wyoming for our cabin trips we are always struck by just how good the hamburger we buy at the grocery tastes. Like real beef.

With that in mind we set out to grind our own chuck yesterday. We bought a chuck roast at the Market Basket in Franklin Lakes (stomping grounds of the Real Housewives of New Jersey), unearthed the meat grinder and ground our own “hamburger.”

In the second photo please notice the dog (not in focus) in the background. You can just make out the blaze. It’s Alex.

The whole grinding process got attention. (Bella in front; Alex in back)

No pink slime here — guaranteed! The hamburgers were delicious! None of my photos came out and I think that was because I was so excited to eat it that I didn’t have the patience to get the shot right. You’ll just have to imagine in your mind’s eye how wonderful it looked and how good it tasted.

If you don’t hear from me for a few days you’ll know I’m being held captive at the Passaic County Courthouse!

***Actually as I am typing this entry I don’t know for certain that I will in fact have to report to Jury Duty tomorrow, but since my Juror number is 0004 I am guessing they won’t cut it off at Juror 0003. It’s a given I will have to show up.

My amaryllis (or is that amarylli?) are outdoing themselves. The new one I just bought is on its second huge bloom.

And now the oldest one I have (given to me in 2008) is blooming as well and has another flower stalk coming up from the base!

The other one I have had since 2009 also has a flower stalk coming. I had given up on both of the older ones, thinking that they didn’t have it in them anymore. But they do.

And so does Alex. He has bounced back from Terrible Tuesday in ways that make my heart glad. This morning as I came downstairs and took the baby gate down from the stairs he whipped past me before I even knew what was happening and ran up the stairs and jumped up on the bed with Rick. Good grief. He really shouldn’t be jumping on things just yet. But, this is his morning routine and he decided not to be swayed from it.

He also picked up a toy and carried it around for the first time since his surgery.

We are cutting back on his Tramadol over the weekend to see how he handles that. Frankly, I’m not sure he needs it anymore but I don’t want to stop too soon. It’s only been a week after all.

We are getting ready to do some grocery shopping and I don’t think he’s going to let us leave the house without him. We’ll gently lift him in the truck and back out again, but I think he’s ready for a ride.

How wonderful is that?