What does it say about me that I like containers? My day was made by the acquisition of a big ole 38# Sticky Bun Smear bucket. It was just sitting there waiting to be taken home and I grabbed it. Yes, there was plenty of Sticky Bun Smear left inside that needed to be washed out but the smell of it was so overpowering in the car that I wasn't tempted to clean it out with my tongue. It's all cleaned out, empty and drying next to the kitchen sink and I'm just waiting for the reason to have it in my house to make itself known.

A few nights ago I noticed an antidepressant TV ad that mentioned the possibility of suicidal thoughts in teens. Yahoo News noted that the fella who shot the kids in Minnesota was on Prozac just days after it happened. The line between cause and effect is getting shorter and more pronounced, thank God.

A few years ago a friend offered me a piece of comfrey root for my yard. She warned me that it is invasive and would take over what ever area I planted it in. I thanked her and planted it in among other plants in my front walk bed. Every year since then has been a battle against spreading comfrey. Not only does it take up space, it's a water hog. The roots are tuberous so denying water only triggers dormancy until more appears. I have been digging and digging and digging and will continue to dig.

Something similar happened with Honey. When he was homeschooling his earlier years, he was free to manufacture his own universe. We do have family rules and expections in terms of basic education, but for the most part he was able to determine his own life. Then he went to Government High School. A year and a half was long enough for him to be strangled by Other People's Expectations. After he came out of GHS, he was working on an essay for a class. Hours later I checked with him and he was stumped; "I'm still working on the outline." Screw the outline, I said. Just start writing your thoughts. I found out today that he is doing Algebra II even though he loathes the subject. He's doing it because everyone else he knew was doing it and he felt that he needed it to be successful in life. Groan. What happened to all my lessons to him about finding what you enjoy doing and building on that? Wiped out by 1.5 years of Government High School peer pressure and bureaucratic expectations. I've been snipping these off when I run into them but I have a feeling I will be digging and digging at these insidious middle class tentacles for some time to come.

We had a few weeks of true Spring with temps in the 60s and 70s - so much Spring that the apricots started blooming and pollen was in the air. What's on the ground now? 8 inches of snow. It's undeniably Spring, though - you can't belie things like the moon being much further north, the sunshine in the back yard which is in shadow in the winter, birds singing and chattering like crazy and big buds on the lilac bushes. In this place, Spring sets out and moves along, then is halted by a couple of big snow storms. Once the snow melts though, there is no holding Her back.

I had a nice long walk with Roxie today up to the lake via the open space trail and the dog park. Her little legs did a good job of leading me most of the way.
You wouldn't know that there was a fire there a few years ago except for a few burned trees. The whole ecosystem is back in place, probably better off that it was before. There must have been 20 meadowlarks singing in the grasses. The lake is full and has been all winter and that is cause for joy after going through those awful drought years.

Sugar and Sweetie are working on finishing the fence. After years of begging for one, I finally got it this year.

Sweetie didn't go. Lots of change occurred in this family but Sweetie didn't go.