From the yard and garden this weekend

We're still seeing an occasional monarch butterfly (pausing to refuel at the loquat blossoms), and admirals and various sulphur butterflies still appear. Morning glories and lantanas have been cold-touched where not sheltered. The clockvine (thunbergia) continues to bloom where sheltered by the house or the fence. The serranos in pots bloom and set fruit, though they've been indoors for the night a time or two. Years ago we dumped a pot of forced paperwhite narcissus in an inauspicious place and we've had flowers ever since. This year there are already seven buds showing. Geraniums are still loving the weather. In places that the squirrels haven't ransacked, there are seedlings of delphinium, California poppy, various true poppies, and other flowers that will later divulge their identity. Some creature has wiped out the sweetest lettuce and is working on the second-sweetest and a bit of the spinach. More Dutch iris is appearing, but we've seen no hyacinth leaves yet. The Grand Primo/Montopolis/Bastrop narcissus is making a strong showing, but no buds have yet appeared. Sunday morning was as quiet as could be until some idiot fired up an electric leaf-blower to toss around a few pecan leaves. The frequencies eimitted by those things are unpleasant in the extreme. We put on our ear-protectors and moved to another part of the house until the aural assault had concluded. Recently we read that people aged 45 are showing signs of deterioration in hearing that used to be characteristic of people in their mid-seventies.