Spring Is In The Air

 

 

In his recent post about Spring, housman takes a drive, fellow blogger Steve Cotton left us with a poem by A.E. Housman. Not wanting to be outdone, I offer the following prose.

Spring has sprung, the grass has riz, I wonder where the birdies is?

Yes, alright, I was outdone. And the birdies is in an enormous tree growing directly behind the wall encompassing our back yard. From their constant vocalizations I would venture a guess that there are about a hundred of them there at any given time. This is likely why Scooter, in the picture above, is positioned on that very wall.

Spring has come to the Bajio Mountains of Central Mexico and with Spring comes the rainy season. And with the rainy season come the mosquitos. It is still very early on in the rainy season, we have experienced only two rains and una gran tormenta, a fierce and wonderful thunder storm. The mosquitos, however are already firmly entrenched.

The doors and windows of our rented house here in San Miguel open outward, which makes having mosquito screens a little difficult. Up until now we have had to rely on “bug plugs”, the little gadgets that plug into a wall socket, heating up a small cardboard plaque inserted inside, and emitting noxious fumes, killing an insufficient number of mosquitos and leaving me wishing I had a gas mask.

Then Todd discovered the Raid Automatic Advanced Multi Insect Control System. Now that’s a mouthful! But it really works. Every seven minutes this little unobtrusive cylinder spritzes out an odorless spray that kills mosquitos and just about any other insect species within it’s range. Got cucarachas? It kills those too. So far I haven’t seen any scorpions here, although another blogger friend Barbara, Siege of Scorpions, has had issues in her house here in San Miguel. I’m not sure if it would be effective for scorpions or not, but it would be interesting to know if it is.

 

Raid Automatic Advanced Multi Insect Control System

 

Another thing that comes with the rainy season is an abundance of flowers. Our little back yard is transformed by an infusion of colour and sound.

 

 

 

The enormous tree is home to numerous Great Tailed Grackles with their loud, raucous calls. Also vying for position are the Inca Doves, Pigeons, Barn Swallows, House finches, Sparrows, and occasionally a Gold Fronted Woodpecker, voices all raised in a great cacophony.

 

 

Vermillion Flycatchers swoop by, hopefully eating mosquitos, while bees creep among the bougainvillea and Violet Crowned and Broad Billed Hummingbirds hover about the canna lilies.

 

 

It’s 4:26 PM and as I sit here I am noticing that the sky is clouding over. It’s that time. It is unlikely that it will actually rain again so soon, this early in the season, but it looks as though it could. I hear a little distant thunder. Not only does the precious little rain we get here in the desert revive our lawns and gardens, it reduces the dust in the air and leaves the incredible smell of damp earth that comes only in the Spring when the land has been so dry for so long.

 

 

Between rains the scent of Jasmine permeates the yard. The air is still and heavy. It definitely could rain.

 

 

Although the cacti don’t require as much rain as some of the other plants, they definitely respond to it with a riot of blooms.

 

 

 

It’s hot now, 31 degrees C. and actually humid, a rarity in this climate. I think Spring is my favorite time of year, a kind of renewal after so many long dry months. If the colour and life in my back yard today are any indication, I think that this year is going to be a very good one.