Sure feels like spring these days. True, it was rainy and chilly today, but there was no real bite to it. Winter never lasts long around here, and the plants are hurrying above ground or bursting into bloom with great rapidity. Two weeks ago my geranium was flowerless. Now look at it! And the freesias are getting thicker by the day. I'm terribly excited about them. I've never tried growing them before, but they're one of my favorite cut flowers. They smell divine.
The euphorbia has gone copper at the ends. The new growth is a beautiful ruddy hue which contrasts nicely with the dark purple-bronze leaves. I'm pleased to see the columbine is throwing out leaves like mad, right next to the dicentra. The monarda which died an ugly death of mildew last year is irrepressible and has shoots all over the place. I can only hope it makes it to maturity this year. I love bee balms, and I was terribly disappointed that mine didn't bloom last year. I'm afraid it takes over the place, but I honestly don't care much for that section so it can colonize all it wants as long as it blooms. I expect I'll change my mind about that when it's too late.
We saw a nice little house in San Bruno last week, and we're going to see another this weekend. I'm very cheerful about buying in San Bruno. I like it up there. It has a lot of smallish, older homes in slightly run down but respectable neighborhoods, and I've done a bit of shopping in the area with my friend Denise who lives about 10 minutes away. The real issue for us in San Bruno is probably going to be size. Most, if not all, of the houses in our price range are only about 900 square feet. That's a two bedroom, one bath place with a regular size living room which the front door opens directly into, and a small dining area just off the kitchen. Storage space? None, unless the garage has been converted. Yard size is likely to be good, though. I think we need to wrap our mind around living without our books for awhile. If we didn't unbox our 10,000 books we could probably do it.
The median house price in Redwood City, where we were looking last year, has now gone up to $425,000 according to the Palo Alto Daily News. A mortgage payment on that is well over $3,000 a month. Just thought you'd like to know.
Meanwhile, it's time for the last walk of the evening with Dixie. Ten years ago this month we brought her home from the Humane Society. In those ten years she's been walked three times a day every single day. That's approximately 10,500 walks. Even discounting 500 of them as being given by other people such as pet sitters and boarding facility personnel, John and I have gone on a minimum of 5,000 walks apiece. I wish more people thought about these kinds of statistics before deciding to get dogs. It's a big responsibility. Luckily, it's one I enjoy. Especially now that spring's here.
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