With the fire today, I thought I smelled smoke and it was only that I changed the dry rub to smoked paprika instead of sweet Hungarian paprika. I drove the roads today thinking it was snow or fog, not even thinking it was smoke from a fire in the valley.
Recently Spring is in the air. Instead of grooming the trail beside us, it’s been plowed. The robins are back, but it’ll take the next season (Mud Season) for the rain to force out the worms and onto the trail for our red Robins’ feast.
There are red-winged Blackbirds in adjacent trees that call out an alarm whenever Zoe and I walk by. She’s a herder, and doesn’t even register birds, but they yell at us anyway.
I just tried to add a photo and even Eocene Crane sounds but it didn’t work so I’ll have to try again. As for other strange things in the neighborhood, photographers were having their day with a bikini-clad model, barefoot and in a bikini in 40 degree weather. Yes, that’s a day in our neighborhood and they want to kick us out for having a dog when porn movies with snowboarders and bikini models are being filmed right under their noses.
Yes, that is the HOA, life’s reason for having a real home. We love that there our sounds outside, bird calls, and I love watching them, binoculars and camera at times. I did clean the outside dryer vent because when the barn swallows return they’ll try to nest in that dryer vent, and dive-bomb my head if I go out to our upstairs deck.
So that’s it for sights and sounds. I did prep some ribs for tomorrow but we went out to our local place for great pizza (Maxwell’s) and I’ll say goodnight now. Cheers, Dee
Cooking with Dee 
We love smoked paprika! What did you put it on? Tomorrow’s ribs?
In Buffalo, our robins are back, also. Your sand-hill cranes sound neat…we get blue herons, but not those. Cool to hear what Spring is like in other places. I am waiting for the forsythia to bloom soon.
We also had a “challenging” neighbor a few years ago at our ski house …we ended up moving because she was not in reality and it wasn’t worth it to put up with her. Good luck with your situation. Can your landlord go to bat for you? Why can they have a dog, but not you?
The ribs were great! Simple rub of salt, pepper, paprika and sugar, roast for 1.5 hours in a low oven, then grill (see newest post) five minutes on each side with grill sauce of choice. I tried a maple-chipotle sauce, brushed it on and it was great! Dee