Fetching carrots

The idea of going out in the rain didn’t hold much appeal, but it was suggested to me that:

“Unicorns like wet weather!”

The man can summon all sorts of creatures, apparently on demand, so while I doubted catching sight of that legendary creature, it is true that inclement days often produce results, so out we went.

“There’s always the chance we might see an elephant.” I said as we drove off.

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Not quite what I meant, but it is an elephant.

We’ve driven past there often and never noticed it before, yet it’s obviously not new.

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For almost 40 years now, I’ve worn a gold penguin suspended from a chain around my neck, but before that, for many years it was a jade elephant.

People thought it meant I was a Republican but it was simply that I love elephants.

Back then I did not support a particular party, voting for whoever I thought likely to do a better job. I am still an independent, but without question I shall never, ever again vote for a party that sold its soul.

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We’d passed the elephant before I could snap a picture, so I made the man turn around.

No, that’s not right. He can’t be made to do anything, but he pulled over by the cemetery to let another car pass and decided to swing around and go back, since we had no fixed destination.

Then we crossed the main road and kept going until another car caused us to pull over. Oh yes, it happens a lot! It’s a toss up whether Grant hates more following a slow moving vehicle or having a fast one behind him. When we are sightseeing, he therefore pulls over whenever he can, or turns off.

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Turning off onto previously unexplored roads has led us to plenty of fine discoveries. Yesterday, however, we just pulled off and as we waited, Grant noticed a cluster of what turned out to be pussy-willows.

The first real sign of Spring.

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Otherwise, it’s almost as if Spring has stalled and beneath a grey sky everything looks quite drab, though there is a hint of colour in the red maples and I imagine a warm sunny day would change things dramatically.

To avoid the power lines, I got out of the car to take the above masterpiece…

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Which is how I noticed this dead tree.

Well appreciated by generations of drillers.

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A brief sunburst the other day brought out a hungry friend.

After the first sighting that sent us running for carrots, the groundhog was seldom to be seen and the carrots remained uneaten except for those bits claimed by chipmunks and squirrels that have acquired the taste.

But in recent days there has been more activity…

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…which is really why we went out in the rain yesterday:

To fetch another bag of carrots.

We couldn’t disappoint the poor lad, now could we?

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