T. G. I. F. !

Beautiful day to be outside. Sunshine was hazy. Not too shabby for the second day of Spring.

Neil took a half day off so he could tackle this mess in the back yard. We recently had our very old and very large black walnut tree cut down. Neil wanted to keep the wood to cut up into firewood. Big chore.

He found this wire coming out of one of the larger pieces of the trunk. Our house was built in 1927, and I wouldn’t be surprised if this tree had been growing there since then. We’ve been told that the lady who lived here way back when kept animals in the yard. I think she had a donkey. And probably some chickens. She most certainly maintained a veggie garden. At some point, fencing was stretched around parts of the yard, right up against this walnut tree, which grew around the wire as the decades rolled by.

The wire goes straight through the trunk and out the other side. Neil is glad he discovered it before he cut into it with the chain saw. It’s a weird sight. I remember seeing a picture once of an abandoned bicycle that a tree had grown around and the bike became a part of the tree. Mother Nature rules!

The buttercup sticking out the top seems to be shouting, “Look at me! Look at me!” When they cut the big walnut tree, those huge limbs and trunks fell onto our buttercups and buried them. But some of them survived – until I picked all of them that I could get to around all that heavy wood. I see it as a rescue effort. I figure I may as well enjoy them where I can see them.

[Aerial view of my pretty yellow bouquet]

Grandson Elijah walks over here after school each day. He was very excited, telling me that he and his dad are going turkey hunting Saturday, and he turned around and found me snapping his picture. But he’s used to his granny doing that to him. This turkey hunt is for kids only, so he’ll be the only one with a gun. I hope he gets a big one.

Here’s Neil with granddaughter Shelby and grandson Elijah at the D.Q. this afternoon. We were celebrating the awesome grades they made on their report cards. Elijah got 4 [or maybe it’s 5] E’s and 2 G’s. Shelby made all A’s. She was thrilled to finally get that A in math, bringing it up about six points from a B. So HOORAY! for these two and their excellent efforts in school. We are so proud of them! [Neil and I did not make good grades, but we got treats anyway.] Happy TGIF, everyone! Hope your day involved treats of some kind.