The Run Around

Today is the day I've reserved for running all my errands. Miss Gracie gets her stitches out this afternoon, but I'm going to have to make two trips into town. Sometimes I leave her in the car for a few minutes so that I can do something quickly, but I have a little too much running around to do today to subject her to that. She can stay home napping on her favorite quilt

while I do the rest of the errands, and then I'll load her up this afternoon and take her to the vet.

Whenever I finish up quilting a quilt, I feel a little like a shut-in who's been set free...a shut-in of my own making, to be sure, but pale from lack of light just the same. When I finished quilting the Rubber Duckies yesterday, I went outside with my little furry pal. He is loving his special catnip garden. He's managed to restrain himself from eating it down to the ground. He likes rubbing on it almost as much as he likes chewing on it.

We filled the birdfeeders and then walked around to see what's new. The azaleas are starting to open up now. I expect they'll be completely open by this weekend. We're expecting some beautiful weather between now and sometime next week. The flowers love the warmth.

This next one is at the front door.

Also, I checked the greenhouse and found that two of the three varieties of lettuce have germinated. Here's a little baby red leaf lettuce.

Here's the green leaf. Its seed is still attached to its little germinating body.

Although the sun was shining, it wasn't terribly warm outside. I decided to sew the binding on my quilt before I did anything else. Life is short, you know.

And today is a new day. This is what I saw from my window this morning.

After I'd read my email and checked in on Facebook, I started hand-sewing the binding. I just love the way a freshly sewn binding looks. It's like fresh-baked bread from the oven.

My friend, Deb picked that striped binding. She also purchased the blue duck fabric. They wanted their quilt in greens and yellows, but we had a hard time finding duck fabric in those colors. Deb found the blue duck fabric, and then spied that stripe in a remnant bin. The rest of the fabrics are from my stash, and I chose them based on the colors in the binding. It all works without with a little perseverance.

So today, I'm going to make a quick trip to the grocery store. I have enough leftovers to get me through the weekend. I just need to supplement a little. Also, I need to pick up some medicine, and stop off at the post office. Then I'll head over to the feed store to pick up some scratch grains for the ground feeding birds. We've always put the scratch grains out for our friend, the pheasant.

Back in February, I wrote this paragraph:

Speaking of birds, it's about time for the pheasant to show up. We haven't seen or heard him yet, but he's been coming back each spring for years. Two summers ago, we noticed he was limping, and we worried that he might not survive the winter. When spring rolled around there he was, right on schedule. We usually hear him ruffling his feathers before we see him. So far, nothing. I think it will be sad the first year he does not return. Hopefully, it won't be in 2015, but nothing and nobody lives forever.

And I'm sad to report that the pheasant has not made an appearance this year. It's getting a little late. I'm afraid we may have spent our last season with him. We haven't given up on him yet, but our hope is waning. There are still lots of other birds that like the scratch grains, and so we'll keep putting them out. A few years ago, we attracted a covey of quail. We only saw them that one year, but we keep hoping they'll return too.

Yesterday, I spied the first Goldfinches of the season. It seems early, but there they are.

So...lots to do today, and I'd better get a move on. What's your plan for the day?