Homework

The thing about projects around the house is that they require exquisite timing. Also, they are never as simple as they seem, and related projects crop up like weeds. But this is going to be just a few words about the former kind of problem.

Wooden steps peel like fair-skinned sunbather. It wouldn't be madness to repaint my back steps every year, but I've got to move fast. It's got to be a mild day, and clear, needless to say. I must locate paint, brushes, scrapper, and sandpaper. But the real trick is grabbing that mild day before the trees start dropping flower and pollen bits. This year, I just made it. As I finished the last strokes, two or three bits of something floated out of the oak tree. Wait a few hours, and the green-grey paint sports the first thin layer of spring pollen and two blops of bird poo.


Random Round-Up

We enjoyed the first in a series of talks at Maymont, co-sponsored by VCU. On Thursday, we learned how Americans shaped the land in the thousands of years before Columbus: terracing, aquaducts, draining swamps. Cool stuff.

Some kind of urban trail ride, lead by the mounted city police, went down our street around 2 this afternoon. Ah, here's the scoop: generate excitement for Strawberry Hill Races; benefit Richmond mounted police.

Wedding site.

Bird List
Pump House and North Side Trail (River)

double-crested cormorant
great blue heron
canada goose
mallard
red-tailed hawk
mourning dove
belted kingfisher
yellow-bellied sapsucker
red-bellied woodpecker
downy woodpecker
northern flicker
eastern phoebe
blue jay
carolina chickadee
tufted titmouse
carolina wren
winter wren
ruby-crowned kinglet
american robin
northern mockingbird
starling
palm warbler
yellow-rumped warbler
northern cardinal
song sparrow
white-throated sparrow
red-winged black bird
house sparrow
american goldfinch

Also: the new bears at Maymont, one pacing, one high on top of the quarry