Of kittens, buzzards, bees and flowers

Our Carolina jasmine bush

Tomorrow is March, and although I know very well that in Texas March can do anything to you that February can, Mother Nature seems to have graced us with spring. 

Every sign is here.

This morning when Jerry left the house just as the sun was coming up, he went a few feet toward his cart and then stepped back into the house.  "Come here a second," he called.  I went outside and he shushed me, saying, "Listen."

It sounded like the vuvuzela drone in the World Soccer Championship last summer--thousands of tiny bees hovering around the Carolina jasmine bush, which this year, as last, is covered with so many yellow blossoms I wonder it doesn't just topple over from the weight of them.

Then after lunch I noticed that my ginger root, which I keep in a basket on the top of my kitchen counter, had sprouted.  How the heck does ginger root sitting in the dark kitchen know it's spring? I wondered. 

Jerry preparing his spring garden

As an experiment I took it out and buried it in the deep warm soil of our kitchen garden, just to see what happens.

I headed for my office in the Granny Charger and stopped to say hi to Anita, who was just turning into the Village Circle.  I asked her about the baby kittens born three weeks ago during the ice storm when we just had to let the skittish little gray stray mama in from the bitter cold.

"Come on and see them," she said, so I turned around and followed her back to Teresa House.

Anita, not a cat person, holds the babies

The moment she opened the door, mama kitty shot through it as though pursued by a pack of coyotes.
"Looks like mama needs a little break from motherhood," laughed Anita.

How well I remember that feeling!

The kitties were nestled in their little box under the bed in the weekend staff room (so far no complaints from the weekend staff over this novelty).

After I headed back toward the office, I noticed the buzzards were back hanging around the dry pond across from the pool area.  There were about 20 that I counted, which is just a whole lot of buzzards. 

As an aside here I naturally had to go google, trying to find out how to denominate a "whole lot" of buzzards--you know, like an "exaltation" of larks or a "gaggle" of geese.  Didn't find anything for buzzards.  This will have to be pursued in due course.



Buzzards hanging out by the pond



St. Austin's volunteers

At the office I saw some volunteers working in the community garden, and dropped by to meet several 8th graders from St. Austin's Catholic School in Austin (fittingly enough).  I thanked them for helping out, and walked through the cool spring air back to my office.


Let me know if you're in the market for a kitty.  They'll be ready to go in about five weeks.