It’s either feast of famine! All winter the branch barely ran. The spring fed creek has gone on a rampage and left big logs laying out in the pastures. Sugar Creek Road was closed a few days.

When I stopped at the fruit stand to see how Dale Roney wintered, he tells of lots of tests, doctors and medicine, but seems like no better, no worse.

As I was gathering up feeders and water getting ready to set up for baby chicks, I realized I was talking to Roy Ross. Most of this equipment came from his farm sale.

Do I talk to dead people? Oh yeah! I don’t do it out loud but I definitely told Mabel Miser how tired my wrists were getting when I trimmed theforsythia bushes she gave me 30 years ago, and wish she would come help me find some sassafras root. I talk in my mind to Lillian Clausen about the surprise lilies, Irene Randolph about the hollyhocks and Eva DeVault about the hen and chicken plants that finished freezing out this winter.

This is the time of year that skunks are looking for romance. Our dogs don’t seem to learn to leave them alone. I don’t believe the dogs realize how offensive that odor is. They want to hang out as close to us as always.

The squirrels are looking for romance, too, and tease the dogs unmercifully.

In a conversation about his twelve baby chick chores, I mentioned that they only deeded three things to stay alive, heat, food and water. Then the conversation turned to, maybe that was all we needed too. No, an argument was bound to peep up. Humans needed a shelter, a way to build a fire, a way to cook food.

This conversation could run on for hours and I didn’t want that, so in order to change the subject, all I had to do was ask who won his ball game last night, knowing I would get a complete rundown.

We both enjoy just watching the babies. The tiny little fellows get in the open feed pan (I couldn’t find the top to one feeder) to scratch and throw feed clear out of the pan. The pen is six feet long and just today they’ve started to play at funning full speed of the pen, flapping their wings just for the exhilaration of being alive.

Spring bulletin: I washed and packed the winter coats away. I had to get them out again! I did that with the heating stove for years. I’d always take it and the stove pipe down early, for spring cleaning and regret it later.

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Editors note: Edith Lammey has been a resident of the area for nearly 40 years. She can be contacted through The Times at 451-1196 or prtnews@ nwaonline.com.

Opinion, Pages 4 on 05/04/2011