Buttercups, Etc. TBT

 

Dear Weed Haters,

Let me speak in favor of buttercups.  We know you view them as noxious and a nuisance. 

Some of us, though, embrace them as beautiful and symbols of rural nostalgia. 

We love the time of the year in between late spring and early summer when those yellow buds start popping out along fences and water tanks and barns.

These weeds with pretty yellow blooms never bother anything.  Yes, they do take up space where grass could grow, but they also provide a brilliant and lovely contrast to white fences or black water tanks or lush, green grass.

Occasionally, the fields do have to have a few flaws amidst the perfect plots of grass for animals to gobble, and buttercups seem to be the most harmless and the prettiest. 

Daisies come in second, but sometimes they get so out of control that you can't see the grass for the daisies, and that is not a good thing.  

But buttercups----they know their place, and they do their best to just put out some early summer beauty reminding us of scenes from "Little House on the Prairie."  

So, let's give them a break.  Feel free to spray all that ugly hawk week you wish, but leave us a few buttercups for the good of our rural souls.  

Thank you for hearing my plea,

A lifelong buttercup lover. 

  

Thursday Throwbacks:  a grab bag from the photo library with Canadian and deck memories.  Used to be we'd go to Canada any ol' time we wanted, often making the loop from Creston to Nelson and back via the Kootenay Lake ferry.  

Now, we wait.  

Bill and I still have firm plans to have that gas tank full for the day we can drive 60 miles cross that border.

Hope it's soon. 

As for the deck, we've had many a deck party since Amos Walkington built us a new one back in 2013. Later, when he built the roof, our gatherings could extend well after dark or on rainy days. 

One deck party includes the Baker clan of two brothers and one wife who came through and stayed with us on a biking excursion from Washington to Maine where they planned to celebrate with lobster.  At our house, they celebrated with barbecue and enjoyment of Sandpoint in general. 

The other deck party pic involved family in the first official deck party after construction.  It's easy to see that some things never change:  Foster is a seasoned beggar.