April 15: Storm, goldfish chase

It's pretty awesome to wake up and find only a leafy oak twig and a scattering of sopping hickory flowers on your car... when it could have been an entire tree. We had deadly storms Thursday night, typical for April. (Though nothing seems typical if your home is blown away.) We had plenty of warning to be on watch. Ahead of the hail, I was able to pull my plant pots in under the eaves. Weather forecasting may not be perfect, but at least in the area of predicting severe weather, it has improved a lot over the past couple of decades.

In the fountain pool later in the morning, I noticed the goldfish behaving unusually: swimming really fast in a line around the pool, here and there, back and forth, occasionally spiraling into a cluster where one would splash the surface of the water. It looked like a couple of the fish were leading a chase. Either they're feeling spunky after the storm, or... maybe it's goldfish mating season? I can only hope!

April 16: Buttercups

Buttercups are covering the fields in the hills now. It's one of my favorite parts of spring: the green is so green a ms fresh, the yellow is rolling over like foam.