Fire danger is low, but higher than it might be due to all the dead and standing bracken and tall grasses left from last summer.  The creek is rather low, but still has plenty flow.  Curiously, the outflow of the pond seems to be carrying quite a bit of soil.  The river also still looks a bit muddy.  The wetland is not so wet any more due to the property owner clearing out nearly all the underbrush, but the soil is saturated, and the little black flies over there that like to fly right into one's face are numerous.  The apples, dogwoods, and lilacs are in bloom, and nearly everything is fully leafed out.  Our solar panels are performing poorly, due to a coating of pollen. I'm planting the garden, step by step, and so far, have only needed a little water to keep things growing, but it looks like the weather is warming and drying, and I need to get the irrigation set up.  Soil works readily, and seeds sprout in the newly worked soil right away - whether desirable plants or weeds.  The deer are back in the vicinity of my gardens -  I think they may like to be closer to the road, perhaps the predators stay farther from traffic.  Birds are active - nesting, claiming and guarding territories.  I was startled this week while pulling weeds by a buzz that reminded me of the buzz of rattlesnakes (which are unknown around here). It turns out that it is a warning by a ground nesting bird, - I think perhaps the spotted towhee.  I also saw a scrub jay yesterday, which have not been common here, as our forest is heavily populated by Steller's jays.  However, a lot of the old-growth redcedar is dying - some say because of drought - others say it is root rot -, and perhaps that is decreasing the preferred habitat of Steller's jays.  Insects abound.  We are appreciative of the efforts of our hummingbirds and swallows, but they are hardly making a dent in the abundance.  Rodents have had babies, and the barn cats are having fun.  In former years, I've seen lots of banana slugs, and the non-native red slugs, but this year I am seeing more of the leopard slugs.  Sword ferns are still waving last year's old fronds - the fiddleheads of new fronds aren't coming so fast yet.  Red elderberries have a good bloom.