Another two weeks have passed, without much change in our daily lives. Still minimizing our time out in public, still focusing on what we can get done around here. Perhaps the biggest difference is seeing all those people out there wearing masks, even in places where there are no threats. Like on their bicycles in the middle of nowhere. Ah well, whatever it takes to make you feel safe.

The weather has been unusual this spring – very warm, very windy. Right in the middle of the heatwave, we had a hard frost that killed everything that had been lulled out of dormancy. Two mornings with temperature below 20° put an end to all that life – Sumac, Virginia Creeper, Mullberry – all toasted brown leaves when we went out in the morning to feed the horses. We had covered the early sprouts on one of our potted Hibiscus, and it came through okay. But the rest of it – so sad. Now though, ten days later, nature returns with another set of leaves and buds. Late but not dead.

The annual hummingbird invasion also began early. I had 5 or 6 feeders up and around and one of them froze solid on that coldest morning. There was no evidence that it affected the birds though – they’re tough, particularly those that winter in the Sonora Desert where it does get cold overnight in the late winter. Once the sun was up, they were back at it, looking for their morning carb-load. Now all the boys are fighting and showing off for the girls with their strange, 20-foot diameter half-circle rise and fall. It seems like they just left.

This week, the spring winds continue which puts a big dent in my bike riding time since there are few things less enjoyable than an hour ride into a headwind. I try to time it – out before the wind and the temperatures pick up, but that puts a crimp in other morning activities like walking. Yet I’ve managed a few hundred miles this month and I’m sure things will improve.

The wind also pushes out our planting season, particularly with tomatoes since it beats the heck out of the little plants. We wait until the winds finally calm down and then we go after the biggest plants we can find in the nurseries. We’re not sure how that will work out this year since those businesses are still constrained. But catering to tomatoes doesn’t mean gardening is entirely on hold -the raised beds have been refilled with amended soil and roto-tilled and now it’s just a matter of getting the irrigation going and the seeds put in. Compared to years when we travel, we’re a few weeks ahead of things. We even have the first of our carrots poking their heads out of the soil. So things are moving along.

Pretty soon it will be time to sit out back at sunset and listen to the plants grow.

And finally, the next edition of Where We’re Not! – Tibet