A Fine Weekend

It's one of those Saturday nights where I'm so grateful it's just that. I don't have to do a darn thing tomorrow and I can completely relax tonight in the peace and quiet of my home and sleep in as late as I want tomorrow. Of course "sleep in" usually means 7:30 at the latest. Still, it's a luxury knowing I don't have to get up.

Actually I am going to do some things tomorrow. I'm planning to make pancakes for brunch, which will go well with the butter I churned today, and at some point in the day I plan to bake a pumpkin pie and two loaves of bread. But since I consider those to be incredibly joyful activities I don't really consider them "to do" items. Baking will also make the place nice and cozy. We're supposed to get some sloppy wet snow tomorrow and I have no reason to venture outside.

Today was a really fantastic day in terms of weather. With the exception a few arctic blasts that put us in the deep freeze for a few days, it has been a really warm winter, with most days being sunny and in the 60's. We've even had a few days in the 70's. This morning Gerard and I got up early and hiked into the mountains just outside our door. It was a crisp, sunny morning. Gerard even wore shorts. We both noticed right away the first sign of spring: the birds are back! Seems a bit early to me, but maybe they're getting a jump on spring with all the warm weather. Robins, flickers and all kinds of song birds were flitting about the mountains and singing in the trees. We even saw the first Steller's Jay (one of my favorites) since last year. We also came across something else fairly exciting today. Near a nameless peak west of Mount Sanitas we found what appeared to be the remnants of a mountain lion's kill. It was the hoof and lower leg of a very young mule deer. The bone near the detachment point had been snapped off and knawed. It was pretty cool, though slightly unnerving since lions tend to stay in the area and guard their kills. We looked around but couldn't find the rest of the carcass and thought it likely that a fox or some other critter had scavenged a kill and left this tidbit near the trail.

The rest of the day was mostly spent loafing. I did manage to get out to the farm to pick up a couple dozen eggs and a few winter squash, and I prepared smoked pork chops and mashed potatoes for dinner which was followed up with an evening walk downtown. But otherwise I had a perfectly, wonderfully unproductive day. As for the rest of the evening, I think I'll try to decide on my next book selection and see if I can't get a couple of chapters in. I'm going to try to resist reading Animal Vegetable Miracle again.