text: A Nerd's Country Journal: Spring Ranch Update
  ah happy happy joy joy.... then BAM!!! the tax man cometh
  I think if Diane and Donna hear me say the words "wild flowers" they're going to run screaming from the room! HOWEVER, the wild flowers are blooming, and they look great. I especially love the bluebonnets -- they grow in craggy, rough soil, and they grow wherever they want to grow. That patch of blue is just a show stopper. Our Carolina Jasmine is blooming, and those little white flowers smell great in the evening and in the morning when I walk out the back door to go to work or school. I love the spring time because it seems the air is crisper somehow, and the greens and blues are more vibrant. That contrast between the blue, blue sky and the green, green grass is most striking now, especially when there's a lake or pond nearby that sparkles like a diamond in the morning. I wish I was in Louisiana to see the azaleas and crepe myrtles blooming there. That's a real show stopper. And, of course, we can't mention a Louisiana spring without mentioning crawfish! I have a hankering for some crawfish etouffee on the porch at Pat's in Henderson. Cher, dat's some good eatin! I am consoling myself with the CD Peggy made for us at Christmas -- right now, I'm listening to "Zydeco Hew Haw" that's just great! Spring is great no matter in the south because it prepares us for the hell known as summer!
  Denise, I am glad you are having a green spring.. we are having a brown spring with awesome blue skies and no rain.. I am however winning the greenest lawn on the block contest that my neighbors have no idea they are involved in.
  Those are the best kinds of contests, aren't they! Whenever the kids don't get around to mowing the lawn, we just claim we're starting a wildflower sanctuary and going back to ecological methods to save the planet, such as not cutting grass too short. One year, we had 6 different kinds of wildflowers in the front yard. Here in Houston, it doesn't matter the weather. Everybody and their brother has either a sprinkling system, a water hose or, the Texas method of watering your lawn -- the guys "mark" it, just as Jeff mentioned in another blog posting!