Happy as a 25.8 pound pea.

That would be Michael Ray.

Michael has decided to get those daffodils out of the way since their blooms are gone (note to future self.....what a crazy winter, what a crazy spring....in a couple days 90 degree weather starts.....and it's still March!!!!!).

Michael's passion is to take down the peonies as soon as he can every year but this year he seems to be pacing himself since there are so few clumps of stalks coming up. Looks like some time will be spent flattening the daffodils while he circles the peonies and calculates when his intolerance for them is at its peak.

I'm not going to get mad at him. First, this has been going on for years.........decades even. But this morning he did something nice. It's that transitional time of year where the turtles can go outdoors but still too cold for them to be out there 24/7. If the temperature is warm enough in the morning, I put them out. At night I bring them in and let them find their sleeping spots in the house (who wants to sleep in a stinky basement if they don't have to?). So this morning, I was looking for Michael and found him in the back room, under the printer...but he had moved a big plastic bin from somewhere that I had forgotten about so completely that I did not even recognize any of the clothes that were in it. But they were clean.......and heck, completely new outfits I did not have to shop for, and when I tried them on, they actually fit.

So I was happy as a pea (but substantially more than Michael's 25.8) and when I drove down the street on my way to work and saw a police officer on his motorcycle at a crosswalk.....I waved.

That is just reckless behavior, I knew that after I waved, but it was such a pretty day....why should anything happen?

Within a minute, flashing lights were right behind me.

Why oh why do police officers always introduce themselves with a "Do you know what you just did?" Errrgh. At least his question was preceded with a statement that it was not my driving speed......turns out it was my front license plate. It was missing.

Well, of course it was. I had no idea where to attach the front license plate when I bought the car and I was not about to start drilling holes into it. I had him point out where I should put the plate and then asked him whether I needed a drill bit for metal or if I was drilling into plastic, what size screws, etc. etc. Poor Officer Whipple was dealing with a crafter and he soon focused on getting me on my way and out of his. I was written up with a non-hazardous/no fine violation.

When I was talking with Jeff at work about my interaction with the police officer, we both had to wonder why police officers never say hello, they always start out with a "Do you know what you just did?" Jeff said he heard a comedian make a comment on that one time. The comedian said he liked to run red lights when it was raining. And when the cop would stop him and ask him, "Do you know what you just did?," the comedian would reply to the officer standing in the pouring rain, "Yes. And do you know why?"

Well, today there was no rain...just beautiful sunshine. However, yesterday it did rain......even though there were no clouds in the sky. If I wanted to get back at a police officer by making him stand in the rain, it was not going to work if he was standing in sunshine at the same time.

Spring this year has just been too darn pretty. Turtles can't quite take down all the peonies when given the opportunity. Police officers can't quite write a ticket for an infraction (albeit a very minor, minor, minor one). Too much prettiness. And every day, it just gets prettier.

It's been an out of the ordinary spring resulting in out of the ordinary behavior and I'm loving it.