a grape slushy......

Spring has sprung,  arriving FINALLY to my backyard!  Has it in yours?  I truly hope so, for your sake.  Was this not a winter to remember?  Jeepers creepers, it would just not give up-I began to picture the Death Eaters from Harry sucking up all warmth that attempted to circumvent all of those cold air masses.  Certainly, any tiny tendril that crept up for warmth received icy shock therapy.  How does the saying go.....a picture's worth a thousand words?

April '14

March '14                        

If your counting, here's a few more to add to the current count of three thousand and eighty.  They are of a tale of a small gnome, 16 fish, and a backyard pond.   Large ice pellets blasted us one Sunday afternoon, intermittent with snow and rain.  What ensued was a very icy pond.  It looked like a giant grape slushy! I had a "Glee moment" as Mossy splashed by me to stick her face into the icy mixture.  Why, indeed would she even consider doing such a thing?  I wasted my breath and asked.  And to no one's surprise, received no answer.   What she did do, however was whoop and holler like a banshee on fire as she raised her face from the icy depths!   Coming up for air, she  plunged waist deep back into the pond.  What a sight!  As her top half became submerged, her legs went straight up.  Short & squatty they are, with a tendency to look like tree stumps.  I could only stare!   Suddenly, I realized the issue.  Several inches of floating ice was secondary to the antics of her beloved finned friends.  They were escaping.  Yes, as ice, snow, and rain battered my Pandora (backyard) the boundaries of the pond were loosing ground.  Leaving with the boundaries were Mossy's finned posse.   It was an Alcatraz moment, this time!   Shivering from the heaven's onslaught,  I watched Mossy dive, chase, and slide to collect her chicks (well finned friends not feathered)-all 16 of them.   I knew the dangers.  As quickly as the waters rose, they would dissipate, leaving stranded the finned: beside the potted pine, upstream behind the falls, peering up below the glider........  You see the problem, too, don't you?  Have you every held a fish?  Experience tells me that this is not one of their favorite activities.    Mossy's fingers I can only describe as cousins to her legs, so add frozen to their condition and lets just say this round-up took a while!  In fact, I truly wish that I had had the wherewithal to snap a pic.  It looked as if not just ice had fallen from the sky, but fish.   Small fish, large fish, orange fish, white fish, spotted fish......sorry,  I digress.  Dr. Seuss would be proud, though!

 Wow, I'm afraid I truly digressed,  for what Mossy & I truly wanted to say is HAPPY SPRING!!!!!!    

Flipper

Time for a confession......I'm addicted to Pinterest!  A serious PINHEAD!  Give me an extra few moments at any time and BAM!  I'm  searching for home design, a new juice recipe, or how to clean a water stain,   I'M SERIOUS!  Nary a day passes that at least one pin does not appear on my boards.   With 127 boards and close to 14,000 in number of pins its like the ultimate mag!  One that is totally tailored to your favs!  Well, or so I thought until I found a board I did not create.  The issue with that statement is that's it under my account and bears the name of such Koi that swim the waters of my backyard pond.  Hmmmmm.......

 mosSSSSSSYYYYY!

 The dastardly little minx is pinning!
 Who gave her my password?   Can a gnome pin?  Does it surprise me she would choose to pin her buds, Yellow Boy, Red-Head and Iron Man?  Nope.  She loves her Koi crowd.   I can only liken it to humans fascination with dolphins.  From Sea World to Atlantis, we want to touch, swim with and document it all with a pic.   Disney's 1964  Bottlenose dolphin, Flipper enthralled a certain 7 year old with tales of angst and victory.  They called him Flipper, Flipper, Flipper, faster than lightning.......  comes to mind just as quickly 49 years later.  Fact, Jack......Flipper could overcome any obstacle and save the day on land or sea!  Now here's another fact, Jack.......look out Mossy the Pin-ster,  I'm on to you!!

For a blast from the past check out:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EifnM3pRLdQ