Changes in the neighborhood, changes in the park

We have known changes were coming.

Driving through the neighborhood and walking a few times we have noticed some signs (my fingers keep wanting to type "sighs") of change:

     Piles of sand and dirt in the park
     Moving van at Mohawk dog's house (followed by construction and painting crews)
     Trees and grass and weeds peeking out of their dormancy

So some of what we saw today was no surprise.

Mohawk dog's home appears a different place. We don't remember the old color, but we do remember and miss the vocalizations of our three friends - a boxer, a Great Dane and a Pyrenees/St. Bernard cross.  The house is lovely, but empty-even the "beware of dog" sign is gone.

In the park the earthen hills have been dropped and moved and moved again. We found a park worker a week or so ago who calmed our fears a bit. Initially it appeared there could be more paving planned and there is enough pavement in the park. But all that sand and dirt is in aid of increasing the irrigation system for the playing fields. It must be the uncertainty of rain and the underestimation of the park's water needs when the first system was installed that have caused this change.

It will be ugly and messy for a while, but that is the nature of nature too sometimes.

We skipped the manicured ways for the dirt path. Meadows have been mowed and the new growth is coming out. The road was full of ruts - someone must have come down during the one or two muddy times of the winter/early spring. They could have picked the wrong weekend to shred the meadows. Equipment is heavy.

In the dim morning light the birds flitted across the path just ahead of us. The melodies of the dawn singers were punctuated with the "haws" of park crows as we headed down the road. The dogs heard noises in the woods only they could hear and they would stop and wait before being encouraged forward. We knew there were animals about as we had seen a black cat prowling when we entered the park.

We walked on as quietly as possible, leashes rattling, DH's shoes squeaking, and walker murmuring to the pups to "come on."

And we were rewarded - two deer were feeding on the new growth in the center of the far meadow. They started and stopped. Then they were joined by others of the herd. Six deer jumped and ran, stopped and stared, bounded and bounced across the meadow giving us more than our share of joy this fine morning.

We spoke or waived or nodded to a few neighbors on our way home - a shirtless man getting his paper, a runner, one cyclist, and two motorcycle riders. We irritated more than a few dogs and we disturbed one Siamese cat - pawing in a garbage can.

Iris bloom, the redbuds almost shout at us from the landscape with their showy masses of tiny pinky flowers. And we have seen flowers from some plants we have never seen bloom before - our hen and chicks and an unknown plant given me by a friend. But we cannot rely on any of them to announce spring. Many plants can be fooled by our weird weather, but not the pecan. It is not spring until the pecan trees bud.

We await our new neighbors. We wait for the pecans.



A FINAL NOTE:

Hug your animals. Keep them safe. I post a sign I found while cleaning the trash from the yard. My heart goes out to the child who lost his puppy and for the lost dog.





Lost Dog  Back and Brown  help me find it  it is my dog. )-: