Tiny Volunteer

I know John well enough to know that while he is an avid weeder, he was rather charmed by these tiny plants growing out of whatever dirt is lodged in the cracks in the edge of the deck and left them to see what they would do. He did this once when a giant weed-like plant sprang up in a garden bed that we didn't see much of, but was right across from our neighbor's front door. She kept asking John when he was going to pull that weed. She tended to bring out the passive-aggressive in him and he let it grow to see what would happen. When it got to be about four feet tall it suddenly produced a stalk full of bell shaped purple blooms and revealed itself as a healthy foxglove (digitalis purpurea).

But I digress...this little plant, a common buttercup (ranunculus californicus) is growing an extra long stem as it reaches for the sun. I've put a picture in extras to give it a little more scale.... 

The weather has changed again as I suppose it is wont to do in the spring. It has been overcast, grey and cold all day and is supposed to rain in the next day or two. We managed a trip to Spring Lake after Pilates this morning. We saw a family of mother and dad, both with fishing lines in the water and two kids wrestling one another on a blanket on the ground. Mom was keeping one eye on her fishing pole and one eye on the kids. We also passed two different women who asked if Spike was blind and said they could tell because they too had had blind dogs. A couple sat on a bench gazing out over the lake and suddenly broke into an argument about which bench they should have chosen and who got to sit on it. We passed another woman who had a tiny dog peering out of a pocket in the front of her jacket. 

The wildflowers are beginning to surface above the lush grass and I've put a shot in extras of one little patch making a pretty carpet around a bench. There will be more as spring progresses, or at least until they mow the grass.

I had a routine appointment with my doctor today. They have yet another new computer system and she explained to me that it would record our conversation so that she didn't have to sit there typing into the computer and could actually talk to me. She can also access all of my records in the system which is how it was supposed to work back in 2010, or whenever it was that they started transposing all the handwritten files into the computer system. She still seemed to spend quite a lot of time looking at the computer.

I called the vet again when I got home and the receptionist said he had a lot of people to call, but she would leave another note for him saying I had called...again. Since we can't give Spike tick medication until we've talked to him I combed him after our walk and attempted to trim his ears...it's a bit like cutting off the legs of a table since I can't ever quite manage to see both ears at once....