Spring is come, the flowers is riz.... and WHAT THE HELL IS THAT BY THE COMPOSTER? So, last night I had a little window of non-raining time in which I could garden. →[More:]I spent a little over two hours in the front and back gardens at Swan's End. At the end of that time I had a bag and a half of weeds and dead growth and both gardens were about 98% weed-free. I had a mental list of what I needed to buy and plant. And I was recovering about as well as could be expected from the discovery of a VERY LARGE VERY DEAD LIZARD by the composter. The thing was 12 to 14 inches long and had departed this cruel world flat on its back with its mouth pathetically agape. I dug a hole nearby and lifted the poor thing into its grave with the shovel and many a shudder. Nature is ugly just as often as it's beautiful.

That deceased lizard takes the cake for the most remarkable thing I've ever seen while spring cleaning the garden. My neighbour from two doors down tells me she once found a 1915 nickel in her garden. No such luck for me.