spring signs

The night before Valentine's Day it snowed about an inch, but by afternoon it had melted off.

So I walked down the hill (as I'd been meaning to for a week) to see if any daffodils were up yet.

They certainly were. What's more, a few had opened already. Look dead center for a spot of yellow.

I picked all four that were fully open and brought them home.

dog art?

One of the dogs at my second job created this scene. I just took the picture, and laughed.

valentines

That's two birds you see there. The macaws are in love.

Don't they make a heart if you look at them at the right angle?

And they have an egg!

They don't seem to be sitting on it, but they're rolling it so they must think it's viable. Exciting!

cooperation

These two rescue Collies have just been neutered.

Since they can't chew on themselves through their E-collars, they're chewing each other's itchy ears.

Brotherhood.

birthday orchids

These were part of my birthday present at the kennel (along with doughnuts and coffee; they know me) and this is how I arranged them when I got them home.

One on the dining table, one beside my favorite reading chair, and one on the kitchen counter where there isn't enough light for a good picture, so it's posing on a stool.

beginnings

Here there will be little oranges after a while.

Reason tells me that this branch will have leaves again, but it looks more as though it's trying to grow claws.

I do not remember what leaves it had before it dropped them all, but not like any of the leaves around it.

This giant root is also beginning to put out a few leaves.

Now an orchid portrait just for pretty.

bigger birds

Here's Booger! (That should be a Johnny-Carson announcing "Here.")

Her foot is in focus, but the rest of her is moving very fast, coming to see what that shiny thing I've got in my hand can be. Booger's an Amazon who is a permanent resident at my second job. We all refer to her as she, but she has not, as far as anyone knows, laid an egg.

I've realized that I get such good expressions from the birds because the back of the iPod is shiny.

Shiny, I tell you!

The two macaws also find it fascinating.

They examine the shiny...

...from several angles.

I find the large birds more and more fascinating, but at my age I have no intention of getting too interested in creatures with lifespans averaging greater than forty years. (Aside from the feather allergy.)