Dear Beth 26
April, 03
How do you hi-rise city dwellers
know when it’s Spring? There is the
calendar, the weather reports, neighborhood images by the roving reporter, and
the Kentucky derby, always run the first Saturday in May.
Out here in
the Yakima boonies, spring is not a calendar event tho it’s never more that 2-3
weeks off the traditional dates. This
year, the butter cups were in bloom the first week of March and they’re long
lasting. They were overlapped and
followed by a colorful continuum of wild flora that will go into mid-summer,
some lasting but 2-3 days.
Next door, the pear orchard is in bloom and the 60 acres of
apples will follow in about 10 days.
Earlier, the lone family cherry tree and apricot tree bloomed.
After my morning hike with the dogs,
I frequently refer to the Sagebrush Country- a Wildflower Sanctuary for
the names of the flowers I’ve seen. By
now I should know them all-but I don’t-and Andy Anderson, our old high school
biology teacher, would be disappointed.
Poor memory for wildflowers I guess.
From my youngster days, I still remember Indian Paint brush which I don’t have in my backyard and lupine which I do.
Over the years from my hikes thru the brush, I’ve added only Balsam root, Large headed clover, Phlox, and Desert parsley.
From my
hikes on the wet side-out of Seattle-I know the Columbine and Trillium, neither
of which we have here in the sagebrush.
On this mornings hike, I spotted a
flower just blooming which for now, after checking my book guide, I’m calling
the Camas. It looks like the so called
Death Camas and I’ll want my homo sapiens expert to look at it.
The Camas, as do most wildflowers, comes in a
number of varieties and only the Death Camas is poisonous. Utah’s Kamas, my mother’s home town, was
named after the flower. Here in
Washington, we also have a town named Camas.
Our spelling is better. Neither
named after the Death Camas, which I’m guessing by looking at the latin names,
is a very different species than the more beautiful flowering Camas which is
not deadly.
And when you think Spring, don’t
overlook the bugs that also take on new life and vigor as the days lengthen and
warm, such as the wood tick-here called the dog tick. An ugly little creature. I’ve been warned about ticks since the first
day I crawled into the sagebrush-about age 2.
There was always the anxious ritual of mother and dad inspecting your
naked body for the little crawling creature with much talk about dying from
Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. And of
course a discussion of how to force the little varmint to let go if he had a
grip. Dad was for the lighted cigarette,
Eva for the turpentine. It is no wonder
some grown-ups still panic when they see one.
If the ugly little tick can cause such fear it is a good thing the
dinosaurs are long gone.
Both Lynn Poulsen and Elmer Fellis
attended Mt. Pleasant’s Pioneer Day luncheon. The program was improved from last year but
the luncheon entrée was still a sub sandwich-however unlike last year, it had
been thawed. Elmer said he’s told the
food committee no more subs or he is gone.
Lynn, a former president of the group, never comments on the food. He may be packing in his own lunch. The church has a large modern kitchen and I
may get a group together including you to prepare next years meal. Old fashioned meat stew-maybe Venison with
dumplings. Sharpen your spud peeling
skills so you’ll be ready.
L.R.
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