Bumper Crop

April 24, 2005

It's said that one never gets a second chance to make a first impression.

With that in mind, last Sunday, after I spread the last of the 10 yards of mulch around the house, I looked at all the naked flower pots lining the walk and the front porch. Of the 6 pots, three are rather large and all that empty dirt seemed to be calling for flowers.

I do after all, want to sell this house, and I want to get out of Dodge as soon as possible.

So I decided to take a chance, we were in the 6th day of 70 plus degree temperatures and the forecast for Monday was to be more than 80 degrees, quite unusual for this time of year. So I decided to splurge on flowers, and instead of buying flats, this time I went out and bought 2 flats of pansies to be mixed with 6 pots of pansy arrangements, each arrangement costing about 15 bucks.

The effect was nice, and monday as I took the afternoon off to work on bagging all the debris from cleaning the beds (15 bags) I took a shot of the flowers.

But that was then, and this is Michigan after all.

And it also appears that I spoke too soon in my previous entry, about how great the spring has been here in the Detroit suburbs.

And besides, in another week it will be May first. And those of us who were living back in 1923, just might remember the May 9th snowstorm that dumped about a foot of snow, just north of Detroit.

Wait, I wasn't living in 1923.

I've always kind of thought that the end of the snow in Michigan came somewhere in the early weeks of April, the 8th to be precise, since that's my brother's birthday. I do remember seeing flakes on his birthday from time to time.

But this is different.

It's 29 degrees outside (-1 C) and I don't care if pansies aren't, I fear for my flowers.

Besides, the forecast is for an additiional 4 plus inches today, with a winter storm warning in effect till 11pm.

I think we have already had about 3 inches, because that's about how much snow is piled up on the coldest surfaces of the deck, and it appears that there won't be any real problem with accumulation on the roads since they were so warm from the last week of sun.

So now, the path to the hot tub, and it's cover have already been shoveled and that's where I'm headed.

Because the pansies have been wheeled into the garage, where I hope they weather the storm well, tucked in right next to the bumpers.