Dandelion Flowers, Green Grass, and Cabbage Butterflies

April 7, 2010.  Wednesday.

Situation:  Yesterday afternoon I did finally end up mowing some of the lawn, just the lower portion where the grass was getting high.  In the front yard and the side yard, I left whole areas of Pennsylvania bittercress untouched.  It’s amazing how, once you name something, you see so much of it around.  I take Mway out about 1:15, so I have time to rest up before going to work tonight.

State of the Path:  Mway runs through the chicken flock then heads down toward the summer house.  I decide to take the reverse path, but as soon as I do, Mway is not around, and I have to call her to come along.  At the edge of the lawn, I see two dandelion flowers.  I manage to get through the soggy ground around the ridge without much water seeping into my boots.  The weather is too warm for my long-sleeved shirt and wool cap – normally by this time of year I would no longer be wearing the cap, but I’ve been favoring it, for bird viewing purposes, over the wide-brimmed safari helmet.  The water in bug land is turning an oily color; in the feed channel, where Moi’s sweet flag are growing well, the water is almost orange.  The foot holds are drying up, so it’s getting easier to cross the feed channel.  Lots of trout lily flowers, and I see what I believe are the blue flowers of gill-of-the-ground.  I hear a splash in the creek again – the frog.  Along the seeps of bug land, I try to walk on the new grass coming up, so that doesn’t end up getting too high.  May apples seem in abundance – I notice a new area of them coming up near the two anthills on the path along the old orchard.

State of the Creek:  There’s still water trickling into the creek from bug land, but around the wigwams the water is drying up.  Behind the big log of the log jam, there is a slight scum on the water, but I no longer see the huge piles of cow piss froth as I did when the spring waters were rushing along.

The Fetch:  Up in the clearing, I see two what I assume are cabbage butterflies.  One fetch.  On the way back toward the walled garden, Mway drops the stick to sniff something on the ground.  I end up carrying it back to the house, and laying both sticks against the side of the house.