unfazed and only slightly daunted

To ease the absurdity of taking spring’s late arrival personally, Jude and I took

yesterday off and circulated.  We drove the length of the community to Carol and

Robert’s.  They couldn’t live any further from us and still be on land.  We returned

a bowl they left at our end-of-spring party.  We toured their garden and workshop

addition.  They asked about Jude’s job, and sympathized with Roameo.

It’s not that winter didn’t go away.  The problem is that spring refuses to claim what

is rightfully hers.  The past 2 weeks has featured rain, snow, sleet and frost, but lots

of contradictory sunshine.  Would neither season own this stretch?

Unfazed and only slightly daunted by this conumdrum, we pressed on to Jay, Sonia

and Chelsea’s to return a platter and get ideas for our chicken coop.  They have a

dandy one:

Check out this snazzy feature for easy egg collecting:

Only the dogs and horses were home, so we pressed on to some other neighbours.

They raise chickens, too.

The oyster shells aid digestion and strengthen the chickens’ egg shells.

Our last stop was at Greg, Jolie, Mowat and Maese’s.  They have an impressive coop,

with insulation, that Greg built.

Jolie showed me the secret to a skookum coop — linoleum.  It keeps the floor dry

and makes it easier to clean out.

Jolie and Jude secured a tarp to keep the chickens out of the compost.

Then Jolie showed us their praying mantises.  Mowat has this eerie ability to catch

bugs.  He snagged two flies in a plastic egg to put in the cage.

Then Jude hugged Maese goodbye . . .

. . . and we took Mowat to the bay to release some crabs he’d been studying.

Robert and Carol had given us some sockeye salmon for supper, so after we took

Mowat back to his house, we headed home.  On the way we saw Paul and stopped

briefly to review the highlights of the Canucks’ playoff victory Friday night.  The

salmon was superb, as was the entire day.