In my soil experiment (clay vs. worm castings vs. compost) the clay is already losing. Look at that sad lemon tree in the foreground.

Spring is inevitable! But the DC area is notorious for its late winter snow storms.

I'm learning about pawls (a pawl is a "pivoting springloaded finger") as I try to sharpen the blades on my used, but new to me, push mower.

I found online instructions for a quick way to sharpen blades. I studied them briefly and then thought, confidently "I can do this." So I ordered lapping compound, 240 grit, figured out how to take off the E ring and wheels and pinions. And then came the removal of the pawls. The instructions didn't note that you need to remember the direction of the pawls before you remove them. I paid no attention to the direction of the pawls as I removed them. Uh oh.

Time for plan B.

From wikipedia:
Ratchets consist of a gearwheel or linear rack with teeth, and a pivoting springloaded finger called a pawl (or in horology a click[1]) that engages the teeth. Either the teeth, or the pawl, are slanted at an angle, so that when the teeth are moving in one direction, the pawl slides up and over each tooth in turn, with the spring forcing it back with a 'click' into the depression before the next tooth. When the teeth are moving in the other direction, the angle of the pawl causes it to catch against a tooth and stop further motion in that direction.

One person does not need to drag this much around the house.

For Lent (which I never observe, and why would I? born into protestanism, which I rejected at about 14, interested in recent years in Low Church Buddhism), I'm going to try to give up hauling piles of reading material, bills, notes, lists, and calendars around the house.

A new experiment. Lemon seeds grown in three types of soil.

From top to bottom these 2-inch lemon trees are in compost (small clay pot), worm castings (green pot), and mostly unenriched clay soil (larger clay pot). I'll know by the end of the summer which medium works best.

I love getting these free books in the mail, via PaperBack Swap.com.

I didn't know about this book by Thoreau. Nice cover and interior drawings.

Getting ready to plant indoor seeds. In a few weeks.

Anabelle. Two years old in 2008.

In this picture she's a perfect blend of her mom and my sister, her grandmother. But that impish look reminds me of her second cousin, my Rebecca, shown with fingers in ears at about 4 years old, 1988. How many times have I said I had to get a scanner?

Must have been a tasty one.

We're over the hump. But that doesn't mean we can't get a big storm.

Into the wind.

Paperbark maple I think.

Acer griseum. From the park near the pond.

I keep my Keith Richards bobble-head near my aspirin & knitting & reading glasses & bandaids & hand lotion. Where do you keep your Keith bobble-head?

Well duh. That's what you get when you put out raw meat. No vultures today. Just a pair of hawks.

It's probably not an ecologically sound thing to do, putting out those hunks of suet, with generous slices of red meat. Bunnies are probably dying because I'm drawing hawks to the yard. Oddly, the little birds are not frightened off by the hawk. When he takes off from the feeder the little ones come scampering right back, even though the hawk is clearly nearby. Maybe they know they're safe as long as that hunk o' meat / suet is there.

Vultures are Big.

I bought this beef suet at the local Amish market. I put a big hunk out on Thursday night and I awoke Friday to a scene reminiscent of Hitchcock's The Birds. Vultures. Huge, swooping, quiet, clumsy. The one that landed on the suet feeder had a hard time balancing his huge body on that relatively little platform. I couldn't get a shot of him. The hawk was there too. He visited at least three times yesterday: 10 am, 2 pm, 5 pm.

So here's the deal.

He, the hawk, is keeping one eye on the crows in the next tree who are protecting their nest. Then he swivels his head to watch me as I take pictures of him. And finally he swivels his head to watch the chickadees at my bird feeders. As my husband pointed out, it's like that scene in Casino: "Since the players are looking to beat the casino, the dealers are watching the players. The box men are watching the dealers. The floor men are watching the box men. The pit bosses are watching the floor men. The shift bosses are watching the pit bosses. The casino manager is watching the shift bosses. I'm watching the casino manager. And the eye-in-the-sky is watching us all."

Pretty so much of the year but it's time for them to go.

A reminder. Never forget the gloves when you cut down ornamental grasses. I use hand clippers. I've done it with the evil hedge trimmer before but I prefer this quiet way.

Cicadas. Fully intact (although dead) cicadas, abandoned cicada "husks" [AKA exoskeletons; thanks to an alert reader] and cicada tunnels.

These are from The Great 2004 Cicada "Infestation." I didn't think of it as an infestation, with all those negative implications. I was thrilled to have them swarming all over the place, making racket and littering the sidewalks with their "husks." (Note to Pam: find out what the correct word is for "husk.") And here's a question: is it a Tchotchke if it stays in a drawer? Shouldn't a true tchotchke be on display?

For other C entries check out Chesapeake Lady and Nyack Lady.

A final word: I will try to be more original in the future, but when God Bless Y'all posted her Bugs for the B challenge I knew at that moment that I had to share my Cicadas.

Happy Birthday cyradaria! Do you remember this birthday card?

You gave this to my dad about 8 years ago. He doctored up the front of the card in his usual style. It's one of my treasures and the reason my house will always be full of boxes, bags, and drawers of paper.

Gus. He likes to help me quilt.

Clump the Sussex Spaniel (ahem, I mean Stump of course) wins! A sweetheart. And 10 years old. A senior citizen.

Giant schauzer. Last one.

Toy Brussels Griffon, sixth of seven.

My my that's one homely little dog. And this Google image is particularly undignified. I don't think he'll win the show.

Sussex spaniel. The fifth of seven.

Four of the finalists in the W.Dog Show. I'm rooting for the Puli.

From top to bottom: Puli, Scottish deerhound, Scottish terrier, standard poodle. All images swiped from Google images. These are not the actual finalists. (Although they could be I guess.)

Snowdrops in my yard. It's only Feb 10 but spring is here.

I think I would have tons more of these if I could stop pulling up what look like weeds but are probably these.

I like this color. Lichen green. A touch of blue.

Relatives? Could be.

On the drive to the Monocacy Aqueduct.

Snowdrops? Is that what these early white flowers are called?

Unidentified bugs (or beetles) at the aqueduct at the mouth of the Monocacy River.