D-day

March 28th. That's the day it begins.

About March 25th, I noticed the Virginia Creeper leafing out. My jonquils were blooming, the ferns were coming up and I might have missed a dogtooth violet bloom from the corms I planted last year.

A few days later, I thought, "Hey, Virginia Creeper and Poison Ivy are really similar plants!" and a chill passed over me. I put on my Poison Ivy eyes and, sure enough, at my feet were the first tendrils of a new vine. Brush-B-Gon time in my back yard. I have this great jug with a super-squirter attachement

So, for the past few weeks, I've been doing a poison ivy walk through my back yard. Especially the area I named "Poison Ivy Corner" a couple years ago, and where I have my deciduous azaleas now. When I spray that area of my yard, the three, golden Chows across the fence go into a frenzy. One sneaks around and stares at me, one barks, and one comes right up to the fence and whimpers for affection. I usually reach through and pat him on the nose, before continuing to spray any P.I. along the fence line. Last time I did that, he sniffed where I had just doused some P.I. He looked at me, then did a little drenching of his own.

Funny, that IS what it would like to a dog, but I never thought of it that way.