It is three weeks before the official growing season starts up here in the 2nd Alaska. My grass however started growing as soon as the ice pack was done thawing out and turned green.

Now my last lawnmower (electric) met an untimely death two seasons ago when I ran over a few things I had no business mowing over...you know poles and rocks, to the extent I shattered the magnet that holds part of the motor and the blade into three pieces. Yeah...I'm not exactly gentle with power tools.
It still sits in my brother in law's workshop as a reminder to him not to loan me anything with a motor. LOL

So last season I borrowed a...

1/27/08 picture of RBG Action Figure Dude as he demonstrates his skills at playing the Dejimbe..

For background on this breaking story!!http://www.assatashakur.org/forum/blogs/mamazen/24-adopt-doll.html

It was a perfect day for an afternoon tea and doll showcase here up in the second Alaska, where my friend and I discussed politricks, drank tea and looked at my growing inventory of dolls here in the balmy 65 degree weather...balmy for up here that is.

She asked if I had any male dolls. I dug to the bottom of my bin for RBG Action Figure Dude.

Her eyes lit up when she saw him "And he has the pan-African colors too!...

In my last blog entry gaiamon mentioned that my squirrel problem may just be something else...http://www.assatashakur.org/forum/blogs/mamazen/34-draptomania-here-some-squirrels-babys-coat.html

"As to tree damage,something else is going on thats prehaps you are not observing;ie woodpeckers and other wood borers,for most animals donot destroy their base(land,water,food source etc,unlike humans do....."

The brother was not lying.

As I walked out to survey the latest winter storm results once again I saw wood shards all over the snow banks under the maple tree.

I looked up and OMG..



This is a very good size red-headed woodpecker....

As I prepared for the next upcoming winter storm this morning and trying not to bust my ass walking in the melted slush (it was 42 degrees this morning) I noticed that I had chipped wood all over the snow banks under my maple tree in front of my house.

I had no clue of where all these wood chips were coming from until I looked up and saw a squirrel looking down directly at me out of a hole that was newly chewed into the tree.

Now this is a very old 60-75 foot tall tree which has definietly see better days....

Today is my youngest ones' birthday. He had been looking forward to this day for weeks but yet when I told him happy birthday this morning he was genuinely shocked.

"How did I turn Five?" He asked.

I looked at him. He is the one out of my two boys who asks the types of questions that make you scratch your head not because you don't know the answers to them but you're trying to figure out why he is asking them.

"Um....a whole year passed. That's why...