I’m convinced that no one likes springing forward except dogs who get to eat an hour earlier. Here are a few thoughts about other spring events taking place hither and yon.

Blackberry battles

This is the time of year to battle blackberries, at least in my yard. I swear they know when I’m coming. Somehow, the word gets around a couple days ahead and they secretly confer in the night; then the morning I arrive, they commence to tangle my feet, pluck at my shirt, and rip any exposed skin.

When I really got started — big clippers in hand — I saw that the range they’ve conquered since my last attempt at eradication is massive. Their strategy is to send new runners that shoot out from impenetrable root bases, also called crowns, but these “runners” actually fly. I find them shooting out high over my ceanothus, winding up and around my buddleia and climbing roses. My plum and apple trees are all tied up too; basically anything in range gets covered. I was on a rescue mission.

Yes, it must be spring: neighbors across the street have had their big hedge trimmed. Meanwhile, my whole yard needs a make-over. I’ll get right on that.

Hydrangeas & potatoes

It’s also time to prune back the hydrangeas. I texted with my garden guru, Rachel Gana, in the middle of January. She said wait a month or so. A couple weeks ago I started clipping off the old dried bloom remainders. As Rachel said, “The best way to prune is to cut out the smaller stems all the way to the ground and remove any crossing or damaged branches.” I’ve also been taking out any stems that block my pathway to the compost bin.

Clean up is always the next step and just a quick reminder that you can take lawn clippings, leaves, and other garden detritus to Peninsula Landscape Supply at 15289 Sandridge Ave. — although if these are in small enough pieces they are great for layering over food wastes in your compost.

I’ve also got several batches of potatoes — some purples and some goldens — that I purchased last fall. At that time spring seemed so very far away, but here we are. Now’s the time to put these in the ground. As Rachel advises, “I have planted potatoes any time between St. Patrick’s Day and Good Friday with good results.” They don’t need anything special.

I remember years ago when Sandy Bradley bought a massive poundage of potatoes. She volunteered to help anyone plant them. She’d arrive with cardboard to cover any grassy spot and then return in a week or two to put potatoes in that cleared plot. We had bumper crops that year.

Senior Activities Center

Another cheerful happening: the Senior Center was full to bursting last week when John Vale and his crew put on a Saint Patrick’s Day spread: corn beef, soda bread muffin, steamed carrots, mash with veggies, and cake with green frosting. How Chef John does it is still amazing to me — their breakfasts and dinners are one of the best meal bargains on the Peninsula. A Senior Center membership helps support this great organization but is not required for the various services offered: from special meals, to yoga, line dancing, card games, quilting meetings, yard sales, and veteran gatherings.

And by the way the new building expansion is completed and is fantastic. (There will be an official celebratory opening in May.) Director John Vale says, “What’s kind of strange about our new space is we’re still sort of forgetting that it’s there! The other day we were trying to figure out how to have a memorial for one of ours but we needed to have our other classes too. Where are we going to put line dancing? Then we just remembered and we set up the new gallery — we had a buffet table and we opened up the space to share two rooms. We had fifty people there.”

John continues, “The Donuts for Vets [the third Thursday of the month at 8:00AM] has also been so popular that we’ve given them the whole new addition. They can even leave from the side door — they don’t even have to come through the main room. We’ve added 1,800 square feet and four rooms for classes or meetings. So we’ve got space for new offerings. Jean Nitzel is going to start a weekly art lesson on Saturdays. In fact we’re thinking that every Saturday could be devoted to art. We’re also going to move our library — we’ll put book cases in the new gallery and tables and chairs up against the windows so people can puzzle all day long. Then our tiny office space can move into the old library room.”

I asked John how they managed to make sure the new addition blended in so well with the current building. “Erik Fagerland designed our original building and we used him again for our expansion project. For instance, he made sure that all the windows matched, and that they were placed at the same height. We also used shake siding again — so everything fits together so well. Eventually we’ll have landscaping. We have a member who is a professional landscaper and she is working with us to design a patio and plants. We still have a few little things to finish, but we have kept some money aside for those.”

Ground breaking happened nine months ago — and the whole project was completed on time. A rare event in terms of construction. Of course, the organization has still incurred some ongoing costs. Donations are always welcomed.

U.S. of Administrative Chaos

As the country sprang forward, the White House seemed to want to drag us back to the 1950s. Aid for life-saving overseas projects has been choked off. IRS staff have been cut just as tax season begins. (And by the way effective March 31st, 2025, the Social Security Administration will require individuals to verify their identity online or in person for benefit claims or direct deposit changes. This will put even more pressure on remaining staff.) Doctors who sent birth control pills to women in need out of state may be taken to court, or even booked in jail for their actions. Our health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., thinks we should let the bird flu spread in commercial chicken flocks (to identify birds that are immune), against the advice of science and health experts. (Two cats died of bird flu in New York — look out childless cat ladies!)

Three planes full of supposed gang terrorists (this is widely disputed) being deported were required to return to the U.S. after a court order by Judge James Boasberg. But the flights continued on to El Salvador. It appears this judicial order was ignored and will be litigated in court. Federal judges have also ordered the Education Department to reinstate some grants that were cancelled. (Trump is threatening to dismantle the entire department without the approval of Congress.) Another federal judge blocked the administration’s ban of transgendered people serving in the military. There are a torrent of lawsuits challenging Elon Musk (an unelected Canadian citizen) and his dramatic DOGE firings and cost cutting measures. And this is all just the tip of the iceberg of unlawful actions being implemented by our current president.

So it goes. Democracy evidently hangs in the balance of our judicial system as many of these cases make their slow way to the Supreme Court. Hold your breath (or not).

‘Disaster’

No, this is not my comment on our national state of affairs, though it sure could be. This time it’s the title of the latest Peninsula Players musical comedy — “Disaster” — featuring hit songs from the 1970s. Set in 1979, New York’s hottest A-listers are lining up for the opening of Manhattan’s first floating casino and disco, but a night of boogie fever changes to panic as the ship succumbs to earthquakes, tidal waves and infernos.

Sounds like a great distraction to me. Check it out: River City Playhouse, 127 Lake Street, in Ilwaco. Fridays and Saturdays March 28, 29, April 4, 5, 11, 12 at 7 p.m., and Sunday matinees March 30, April 6 and 13 at 2 p.m. Tickets, $25, will be sold at the door, or call/text 360-244-3517.