BLOSSOMLESS

The spring blossoms have all perished, thanks to the recent snowfall. This area of rural Tennessee is officially blossomless.

Today the temperature has soared to 73 degrees (that's Fahrenheit, for those of you in Madagascar). It's warm and muggy and feels like June.
BUT
here comes the inevitable "but"....

freezing temperatures are predicted again by this coming weekend. That puts the kibosh on any chance of seeing spring blossoms. They can't tolerate this insane temperature fluctuation (and neither can I). I'm used to California and Texas, where April was almost summer.

So how was my Easter? Boring and painful. A grey, chilly, cheerless day.
I'm always in pain with my "bad" back, but I made the mistake of lifting some heavy things and sustained a major strain.
How major?
Major enough to make me limp, wince, and undulate like Quasimodo.

I only threw in "undulate" because I hardly ever have an opportunity to use the word.

On Sunday night I opened the window in my bedroom to get some air, and  immediately got an incredible allergy.
For the next several hours I sneezed and undulated. 
Don't attempt to visualize that.

Change of subject

For the past few weeks the readership of my blog surged, over a thousand hits for every post. I figured it was a mistake. My charm couldn't be that irresistible. Maybe.

Then I wrote the post about the cows and my readership dropped to nearly zero and has stayed that way. I'm not seeking an explanation. I'm only stating a fact.

So what's the deal with the header photo that I used? 
It's a picture of my cat Scratch eating the Easter tulips when I lived in Texas. I posted it several years ago but figured I'd use it again.

I'm starting to bore myself, which is a sure sign that I should say au revoir for now.

TREADING QUICKSAND

Don't read too much into the title. It's simply how I feel most of the time.

Last Saturday, St, Patrick's Day, was so warm and beautiful that my heart (or what's left of it) soared. Temperature in the 70s (Fahrenheit). Purple and pink blossoms starting to appear on trees. I had no doubt that spring had finally arrived.

Then the temperature dropped. Somber clouds and sinister fog obliterated thoughts of spring. The final blow came this morning, when I heard that snow is predicted by mid-week.
I kissed spring goodbye.

Same thing happened last year. There was a flurry of early spring blossoms and sudden frosts killed them all. 

I'm presently going through an extremely bad crises in my life. There are times when I'm hardly able to cope. There are other times when I no longer want to cope. 

Enough said. I'm not looking for sympathy. I'm just establishing a fact.
This, too, shall pass.

I initially planned to share some poetry in this post. Then I remembered my previous musical post and said "Hell, I'd better not. I don't want to lose the two readers that I have left."

I'm being bitterly sarcastic, simply because I'm in a foul mood.

How about some boring photos?

Blossoms are appearing everywhere, but they'll vanish in another day or two when the snow arrives.

Everything was green and lovely on St. Patrick's Day.

Nearby hills.

I let my eldest cat Scratch wander around outside today.

 Gloomy clouds today and a chilly wind.

Thunderstorms predicted for tonight.

Can a blog post get more boring than this??? 

 

SCREAMS AND BAPTISM BEFORE THE SNOW

A burst of sunshine and wonderfully blue skies two days ago. The meadow came alive with the illusion of early spring. A perfect time for yet another walk in the company of nature.

Far on the horizon of the above photo are bales of hay, and beyond that are the cows. (closeup of the hay below).

I'll wait a moment, until you recover from the excitement.

The lovely weather had no intention of lingering. Friday was cloudy and cool. Rain is expected to turn to sleet on Saturday night (tonight). It will snow on Sunday and turn bitterly cold.

Pine cones near my bedroom window.

I chose the sunny morning to do some work on my car. I had the door on the driver's side open, while I was doing other things. When I slammed the door shut, an ear-piercing scream scared the jeeters out of me. Squinting in the bright glare of the sunlight, I saw my cat Scruffy bounding away in a blur of panic.

Where the hell did she come from? I didn't even know she was anywhere near the car. I initially thought I'd slammed her in the door and I was terrified. I tried to check her for injuries but she wouldn't let me come near her.

Finally she went in the house and started eating - so I assumed she would live. Later, I was able to thoroughly check her and she was completely intact. 
Did I accidentally slam her tail in the door?
Her tail seemed to be fine.
My only guess is that she was under the car and got scared when I slammed the door.

It's a very boring story, I know, but I was really worried. 

Baptism??
Prepare for another pointless and inane cat story. 

I drove into town Friday afternoon to stock up on supplies before the snow arrives. The treacherous trek always unnerves me and renders me exhausted. I don't like shopping and I don't like piloting endlessly winding mountain roads.

When I got home, I laid down - hoping for a brief but peaceful nap. Bosco (my other cat) jumped on the bed, got as close as he could, and stared at me with his huge yellow eyes. Kinda unnerving, because you never know what he's thinking.

Suddenly, he let out a tsunami of a sneeze, blasting my neck with a very generous spray.
Holy Jeezus!! I was baptized in cat snot!

After I regained consciousness, I thoroughly disinfected myself and seriously considered exchanging the cats for something less trouble. Like an orangatan. 


What an embarrassingly bad post! If I don't come up with more interesting things to write about, I'm going to lose my three readers. Or is it four?

When I actually start boring myself, it's time to worry.

I'm seriously considering re-posting the notorious interview that I posted nearly two years ago on my old blog Lone Star Concerto.
It's (aptly) called The Long Interview and reveals a heckuva lot of juicy personal things about myself.

What? It doesn't interest you??
Well, it's slightly better than cat tails. I mean cat tales.
...or cat snot....
 

Gloomy trees in the back yard, awaiting the first snow of the year.