February
This seasonal transition month can bring everything from Arctic cold to balmy breezes. It seems this was our year to catch a break and experience many beautifully comfortable days in the Pinewoods and surrounding area. There were a couple of stubborn autumnal hangers-on if you looked in the right spots, however...
Also the weather was conducive for a little catch up painting; this time Denise tackled the storage building. As usual, there were several iterations on the door. She has since changed the trim around the door to white, but this is enough to show that it is definitely an improvement.
You can see in the background that the "rat shed" is developing quite a lean. I'm afraid the replacement is a project whose time is due.
Instead of shed demolition, we continued to clean up old fenceline growth in the yard. All of the little marginal clearing projects have had a nice cumulative effect. We still have so many trees in the yard, though; it would be hard for a newcomer to envision the jungle it was when we too over.
A little bonus for all the work is the oak firewood that will come in handy for the squirrel hunt next year...but it has to be split (never ending).
I also took advantage of the nice weather to go down to Johnson Bayou and help Nat G. fence off what's left of our property down there. Luckily, he's done this kind of stuff before and had the tools and the help to get a lot done on the day I went.
First we laid out the posts..
Then we drove them into the ground...
Then we strung the wire and nailed it to the posts.
We got 1/4 mile done that day...he had to go back to North Dakota for a few weeks, but he did the rest (north back into the marsh, then east down the property line) when he got back. While we were working that day, it looks like one of the renegade neighbors decided to catch the marsh on fire. Luckily the wind was not blowing our way.
We also have a new water meter and water line at the old campsite. A little driveway work and an electricity drop, and who knows...we may once more have our own little camping spot down there.
February was also Superbowl month, and even though we were out by ourselves we did it up right with elk backstrap and nachos.
While we were rooting in the freezer for superbowl fare, I spotted eight doves that looked like they were begging for a good pot roasting...I had to oblige.
We took a couple of Sunday afternoon fishing trips to see if we could catch a couple of February fish for the freezer. We ended up with several specks and about 17 flounder, with a few large crabs that we just had to keep for a little taste.
Very full and very tasty. mmmm
Man, those flounder make some nice fillets!
The second trip was even better with 10 nice specks and 33 flounder. Needless to say, I was really glad to catch the start of the spring flounder run after something of a drought the past few years.
Serenity on the water...a nice warm February afternoon.
The speck haul was nice, and they were very clean and easy to fillet compared to flounder. I was glad to catch a break there.
The ones on the left were destined for fillet, and the 16 smaller ones on the right got the broiling/stuffing prep treatment.
We'll leave February with a couple of mental pictures...to catch the redbirds enjoying the landowner's largesse...
...to catch a thief...
...and to catch some rays while the spiderworts are still down.
March
We started the month in relaxation mode as we marshaled our energy for the spring tasks on our list of never ending things to do. Roux chilled by the fireplace waiting to catch the opportunity for a snack.
Here she is hoping (intently) to get the last bite of that graham cracker.
We got a call from Chris to see if we could bop up to Illinois to watch the girls while he and Gabby took a trip to Montreal to investigate job offers (the wiley Canucks must have made an irresistible pitch, but that's a tale for their blog). Just before we left, someone dumped these two well-bred pups off on our porch.
Check out the underbite on that little Bubba. We fed them for a couple of days and kept them on the porch out of the cold, but had the dog catcher sheriff deputy come and get them before we left on our trip. He seemed to think that since they were small dogs and pretty young that they would get adopted out. I hope so.
On to Illinois for 10 days. C&G left the day after we arrived and we plunged into the day-to-day care of a first grader and a pre schooler. While Maggie was off to school, we got a good chance to spend time with Bea. We were able to catch a warm spell (for Illinois in early March) and got in some driveway time.
Of course there were princess dresses involved.
...and we practiced Easter egg decorating.
...and fingernail painting...
(check out the Thibodeaux genetics in that pinky finger!)
It wasn't long before she was asking for "Dan". I didn't know what she was asking for, but it turned out to be her way of saying "Gran". I wonder if she told her preschool teacher about "Papa and Dan"? ...and if so, if there was any speculation about a non-traditional grandparent situation going on. I guess not, because the authorities never came by to check on it.
All was not roses, as there were several occasions when I would catch the "stink-eye" from Beatrice for some perceived transgression on my part.
Maggie tried, but could not quite catch Beatrice's authenticity or intensity.
All in all, the sisters were a pleasure to be around, but we had to eventually come back south.
We arrived home to find that spring had sprung and we were in time to catch the last of the azalea bloom (and the peak of spring pollen allergy season).
A week later (and after catching a bunch of rain), the grass was busting out with the leaves on the trees, signifying the onset of our long mowing season.
Scott and I took advantage of a break in the rainy weather to go out the night before Easter to see if we could catch a bullfrog or two. I knew the sack was getting heavy around 4:00 a.m. -with good reason - we had 22 of the amphibious delicacies at the end of the night.
There were 6 medium to small frogs, but the rest were quite large and we caught the biggest ones in a real honey hole on the way back home at the end of the night. We left several croaking behemoths behind (slippery devils!) to perpetuate the species in that location...we'll go back to catch them another time. I think we got plenty for a couple of old timey frog fries!
April
The rain continued and intensified as the season matured. With the Illinois trip and the Easter doings in March, we had not gotten out to take advantage of the epic flounder run. We had some visitors at the start of the month who had heard the tales and were eager to catch a few of their own.
Vince came down, and while all we caught were undersized drum and a croaker or two, we did go to the Friday night all-you-could-eat crawfish feast at Coushatta. We did get a belly full of crawfish and we were each able to catch some good hands at the 3 card poker table - so the weekend was not a total loss.
Next up was Joe and the kids. We did a little better fishing, but the catch was not a match with the legendary stories with which they had been lured. Alice thought she had a big flounder right off the bat at our special spot, but no...
The girls would not give up, especially after Joe broke the ice with something we would actually be glad to eat.
It's a good thing they persisted. While that was the only eater that any of the adults were able to get to the boat, the kids enhanced the catch with Jack having another flounder and a redfish, Alice getting 2 redfish, and Audrey taking the honors with three redfish. Jack practiced his fish cleaning skills after some instruction from Joe, and they went home with enough fillets for a couple of meals so it wasn't a total bust.
Before we go, let's catch a peek at what's happening in the yard with all the rain. The spider wort patch has taken off...
We finally have blueberries on one of the original plantings.
It also looks like there will be a good batch of hybrid blackberries this year.
...and one of the Owari satsumas is growing well and promising a few delicious orange beauties for next fall.
Our Johnson Bayou irises have finally produced a bloom after a long hiatus...
...while the ditch irises Denise dug up on one of her Houston walks with Ol' Buck have reliably welcomed full blown spring as well.
Even though there's a lot going on, there's always time to sit on the front steps with a cup of coffee and catch a little sunset color.
I hope to catch up with you readers again soon...we have a crawfish boil blowout on tap before the month is out. Keep checking; you never know when you will catch an update.
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