Monday, March 13, 2017

Urban Spring


Olga took me on a long, mysterious walk yesterday morning. She followed her inner compass, or scents on the wind or voices in her head or something, to an area near Child's Hill where we haven't been before. I just let her lead the way, and darned if she didn't find a park!

Because I'd been negligent and left the Kong at home, she monopolized another dog owner's game of tennis-ball-fetch with his labrador, Spidey. (The guy was very nice about it, and fortunately had multiple tennis balls with him.)

And we saw all sorts of signs of spring, like pink trees (above)...


And flowers...


And bunny rabbits. Well, spray-painted ones, anyway.

I had a busy weekend, doing some spring cleaning. On Saturday I cleaned out and organized our garden shed, and threw away a big bag of stuff. (Nothing chemically dangerous -- I got rid of all that a few summers ago!) We have some awkward items like broken long-handled tools that won't fit in the trash bins, and I haven't yet figured out what to do with those.

I also found a huge bag of peanuts we bought for the squirrels and birds. The peanuts look OK -- maybe a little buggy, but probably still suitable for wildlife consumption.

Then I purged our kitchen pantry drawer, where I found two bags of flour that expired in 2010! We moved to England in 2011, and we didn't haul any expired flour across the ocean, so this is a bit of a mystery. I think they were given to us years ago by the parent of one of Dave's students when she cleaned out her pantry in preparation for returning to the U.S. They must have already been expired at that point. Anyway, they went in the trash, along with a rusty can of condensed milk that I know we've had at least five years. I'm not a strict adherent to expiration dates, but 2010 is beyond the pale.

The foxes left our garden alone last night. Maybe after all that digging they realized there are no bones there. Or maybe having Olga streak into the darkness after them gave them a fright!

11 comments:

e said...

Why o why do people dump their crap in the woods? I'm glad Olga found a park and a temporary playmate.

Yorkshire Pudding said...

That was fun - allowing Olga to lead the way. I guess her enhanced sense of smell drew her to that little park.

Ms. Moon said...

What a smart, good dog!
Is that a redbud, do you suppose?
We have a friend who is adamant that eating food beyond the expiration date is fine. He's our partner at Dog Island and he gets so mad at me throwing things out that are years expired that he now brings home any food that he doesn't eat when he visits the island. Once he took home a whole bunch of things that Glen was going to throw out and he still proudly will tell you that he ate it all and did not die.

ellen abbott said...

I'm not a stickler about expiration dates but if something has been in my pantry for years and I haven't eaten it, then obviously I'm not going to eat it so I get rid of it.

Sharon said...

I like that idea of letting Olga lead the way and it sounds like she did a pretty good job of finding a great place to play. I love the pink trees the flowers and the bunnies but, that washer/dryer or whatever is a little disconcerting.

Red said...

Now is the old discarded washer a sign of spring too?

jenny_o said...

I seriously love those bunnies; they are so darn cute. Good girl, Olga, for finding a new place to have fun!

Catalyst said...

It seems . . . OLGA RULES! (I always knew that anyway.)

Elizabeth said...

I love the washer photo -- so cool!

Steve Reed said...

E: It's easy!

YP: Probably, though I'm not sure what she might have been smelling. Soil? Open space? Other dogs?

Ms Moon: That might be a redbud. We do have them here. I usually agree with your friend about expiration dates, unless they're WAY, WAY expired. It also depends (obviously) on the item that's expired. I wouldn't hesitate to use expired flour for a year or even two past its expiration. But mussels I wouldn't eat the next DAY!

Ellen: Well, that's a good point. If we hadn't cooked with that flour by now, would we ever?

Sharon: It is disconcerting, but for me it also made the photo!

Red: Spring cleaning, maybe!

Jenny-O: Aren't they cute? I haven't seen a real bunny in ages. Too many dogs in London, I suspect.

Catalyst: Definitely! Queen of the household!

Elizabeth: Thanks! We like our urban decay. :)

The Bug said...

Our washer almost suffered the same fate - although fortunately my brother's died right about the time we were moving so we brought it to him instead of dumping it in the woods (note: we wouldn't really have dumped it in the woods - ha!). I like the pink bunnies & the flower graffiti.

I'm with Ellen about expired things - I'm not too fussed, but if it's really old & we still haven't used it then it's just taking up space.