Feeling Crabby

Not yet sunup, the coyote pack, the beastie boys, ran singing and yipping under the full moon this morning.  I love waking up to their wild, free song as they run through the hills in the dark.

I've got to get the trash down to the big road this morning.  The other night I had the last whole crab in the freezer and the carapace and leg shells are beginning to make their presence known.  Don't get me wrong, I'll eat crab in any shape or form, but there is something so decadent about eating a whole crab, melted butter dripping from fingers and chin, cracking the shell and picking out every sweet morsel.  It seems every group or organization that wants to raise funds up here throws a Crab Feed, always well attended.  I used to think that crab was meant to be eaten in company, a shared experience.  I'm here to say that devouring a crab alone just means it is all for me!  I don't have to fix side dishes or worry about being neat and tidy.  I'm left to wallow and I'm happy as a hog to do so.

A friend on the other side of the valley told me she has been transplanting lettuce and beet seedlings into her garden.  The snow last week told me it is way too soon for such activities up here.  I'm not even ready to rake off the blanket of leaves from the herb garden.  Daffodils are pushing up leaves, and a few paper-white narcissus are blooming.  More and more anemone buds are appearing and some are in full bloom on the deck.  While it still drops down to freezing at night, the last few days have been warm and the urge to get outside and do something has been strong.  The hedge in front of the bedrooms has been left alone too long.  Wasps had made nests in the hedge last summer and I wasn't about to get close with the clippers then.  I've never forgotten how those evil insects swarmed and stung my mother when she did that very thing, cut into a nest while trimming a hedge when I was a kid.  I figured the cold weather made it safe, so that was my chore yesterday.  Before my Kids yell at me, I only used the two-step ladder to reach the higgledy-piggledy branches on top.  For me, it's a two-day process; do the trimming one day and the cleanup the next.  It's a good excuse to be outside and get some exercise after days of cold and wet.  The hedge looks pretty good, too.