Snake Pit

Today is Memorial Day and I was outside for a while, watering plants, putting out trash, checking the pool.* Here are 4 different snakes I encountered, plus there were at least 2 more  that  slithered away before I could get their picture. I have a theory that the aluminum mobility ramp is serving as a snake incubator; they can safely hang out underneath it and then come out and bask in its reflected heat.  I can only hope they eat ticks, as last year, as pictured somewhere on my earlier blog, I plucked at least 17 off, with at least 3 inflamed sites and 1 positive diagnosis for Lyme Disease. This year's count is 1 tick on me, so far, that I know of.
  It seems each year I buy a new garden hose, the lightweight type that supposedly retracts itself. (Don't believe it.) They need replacing because they are of fabric. The hose holder attached to the front of our house is metal, so I think that may be the reason why the hose deteriorates. So this year,  I again invested in a new hose, but decided to not coil it around the metal hanger, but just lay it on the concrete block. I have to admit that almost every time I walk past it, I get an adrenaline rush. Hoses, snakes---they can appear to be the same.

*By checking the pool (which Joe has opened) I mean looking in and maybe turning on the filter. Today I saw 2 bumblebees floating on the surface,  each separately clinging to a leaf. I had the thought of using the pool skimmer to rescue them, but decided against it, letting nature take its course. That immense, all encompassing Nature, which cares about nothing. Don't personify it by calling it Mother; it has no feelings or humanity.

It's almost June 1

Dorothy's peony

Snake on the Ramp

It shakes its tail end like a rattlesnake, but I'm told it is an impostor.

JENGA!

    For the last month or so, when in Troy, I've noticed a white wall being built behind the Stewart's at 10th and Hoosick Street. I wondered why the wall was being built. Sonic is at the top of the quite steep hill behind Stewart's. Driving past, it looked as if the wall was being built of tiles.
    Today, I drove past, and the whole of the construction has tumbled down the hill. It looks as if some of the blocks either hit or narrowly missed the back side of the Stewart's building. And now that they're down and visible, each block appears to be about half the size of an automobile. It looks as if the base for the construction was a pile of sand, but maybe that's just the resulting avalanche.
    Just don't call it a retaining wall.

Lilac Legacy

    My mother's lilacs were (and still are) the most spectacular in the area. These are their descendants---all I have.

Formal Schroder Men

Self Flagellation--of a sort

  Not the act with a whip, but of immersing oneself in extreme criticism.
If an ex- FBI Director can use it to his advantage or as a means of finding peace, why should I not engage in the same pursuit.
  I have in my house an automatic bread-making machine. They were very popular some years ago, but lost popularity, in the fashion of  the Milkshake Duck.
  It seems no one wants a bread making machine anymore, so before throwing it in the trash, I decided, hey, why not give it one more try at producing a loaf of home baked bread.  Like Oprah, I too love bread.
   I have a distant memory of having used the machine once before, with so-so results. There was nothing special about the bread. I seem to recall that maybe there was some issue with the ingredients. The yeast may have been too old, or, more likely, I'd used all-purpose flour instead of the recommended bread flour. 
       This time, for its swan song, will be different. I bought new yeast packets and, for the first time in memory, invested in bread flour. I carefully followed all directions, cleaned and inserted the kneading blade, loaded all ingredients into the bread pan, selected the basic program, and pressed Start. The machine turned on and after the designated time of something over 3 hours, the beep sounded, signaling the bread was baked and ready.