Monday Miscellany

Sun peeking through old barn wood:  twas a nice sight along my morning walk as I passed by the old Lockwood place with camera in hand. 

On my way back, a school bus and two cars passed me.  The second screeched to a halt; the driver rolled the window down and asked if I'd seen the elk.  

She said they were about a mile down the road in the field near the road---about 30 of them. She offered to pick me up, but I told her I was walking on purpose.

I thought about hopping in the car once I arrived home and driving down to take some photos but then figured they'd be gone with all the Monday morning traffic. I've heard the elk have been showing up in fields along our road lately.  

My friend Janice posted a photo of them taken from her home, which is located just across the road from the photo above.  

One of these days maybe they'll make it down our way. 

In the meantime, even without elk herds the mornings have been cold and glorious as spring continues to unfold in our neighborhood. 

We seem to be getting a jump on the usual routine, and I wouldn't be surprised if leaves start popping out on trees and bushes soon. 

The weather has been great for getting the yard and garden cleaned up. I haven't enough fingers to count all the cart loads of dead grass, needles and other assorteds that have been raked up and taken to the garden for burning. 

That project will be completed today, and it won't be long before the lawn-mowing program begins.  I'm probably going to have a new mower this year. Tony, our repairman who also runs PAC West Parts, has talked me into buying one of those "zero turn" riding mowers.

He says they're much more efficient than my Craftsman, and I'll have to take his word because the Craftsman is running on borrowed time after eight years of intense Marianne mowing.  

Should be a fun new era in the yard-work department.

Today is the day we deal with the news I received via a telephone call while standing on one of the Cliffs of Moher a couple of weeks ago:  paying that big tax bill. It stings but we have no choice; will just have to write the checks and forget about it. 

As I type, Bill is talking on the phone to someone about resolving the three charges that appeared on our gas credit card while we were in Ireland. Only problem was we did NOT use our credit card in Ireland.  

Someone in Kansas and Oklahoma used it, or there's a big glitch.

Can't figure out how they could do that since we both have our cards and the company sent us new versions in the mail. 

Fun and games of this new world of credit card compromising, especially with the amount of time spent resolving the issue on the phone.

Guess that's enough babble on this beautiful Monday. Have a great day.