Hey. April 16, 2020

Well, good morning, reader.  I hope your umpteenth day in captivity goes well.

Calling it "captivity" sounds ungrateful.  Truth is, I'm loving it, except for being chained to the cookstove.  And even that sounds ungrateful, doesn't it?  At least I have things to cook and a place to cook them.

The plumber worked on my toilets again yesterday.  The tanks had continued to leak after the first fix.  He came back yesterday and replaced the whole guts in the tank, not just the flapper.  I think that did the trick, for I am not hearing the toilets hissing and groaning today. 

But the septic tank is full AGAIN.  We had a bodacious rain over the weekend, and the leaky toilets didn't help the situation. The plumber told me he can built a gravel pit in my yard that will catch the rain water before it gets to the septic tank.  I have told him to put me on his list.  I just hope this doesn't cause our whole yard to collapse!

The plumber told me to call the line locator people to come out and mark the paths of our utility lines, so I did.  Less than two hours later, a dude was out here with a beeper machine and a can of orange spray paint.  At least there's some color in my back yard now.  ;)

After The Husband left for work this morning, I strolled my second cup of coffee around the yard.  The narcissus are blooming, almost a month earlier than usual.  These narcissus were here long before I was.  The Husband's great-grandparents had their house just outside of what is now our yard.  Apparently, the great-grandmother planted these bulbs.  When we prepared to build our house, my father-in-law came up here with the tractor and plowed and disced and smoothed our yard (that had lately been a horse pasture) so that we could plant some grass.  I guess he's the one who scattered these narcissus around.  There's one here, one there, a clump over yonder, and some down the hill in the gully.  For years, I've said I need to dig up those plants down in the gully and move them to the yard, but...snakes, poison ivy, mud...you get the picture.  Now, I'm 'bout to get too old and stiff to make the climb back up the hill.

The little head-high plum tree that I planted about three years ago has a few little plums on it.  It bloomed for the first time two years ago, but I never saw any plums.  It was just a little stick then.  Last year it bloomed again.  No plums.  I was beginning to worry that it needed a mate to produce fruit, and that would've been a problem, for there is no place to put another plum tree.  We also have a smallish apple tree that has never had fruit.  I planted it when I planted the plum.  It blooms later than the plum, and I was thinking maybe it needed a mate, too.  It's too early to tell if there will be any apples this year, for the blooms are just now withering.

The roses are budding. 

Phlox are a foot tall, or better.  So are the daylilies. 

Solomon's Seal has dangling blooms.

Birds are nesting.  I have put out a basket of thread clippings for them to use to build their nests.  Yesterday, I saw the wren get some and take it to her house.  I wish I could see the nest up close.