First thing I saw this morning:

I think it's like those 3-D pictures, where you can't see it, can't see it ... then suddenly you can see it and you wonder why you couldn't before. Or maybe it's just a good year for deer. Let me know if you get bored with the deer reports.

Some spring greenery at the pond:

Garlic mustard report: I almost stayed home this morning because of the rain, but I hated to waste a nice cool spring day, and in the end I got in several hours of work with only a few brief showers that didn't slow me down. The ants, on the other hand, were quite subdued by the weather -- very helpful. The GM removal is going well. In fact, I think I'm ... dare I say it? ... nearly done. Of course I'm aware of the First Law of Garlic Mustard: "There's always more." Still, it's looking a whole lot better all of a sudden, and I think in another day or two I'll be ready to focus on something else. I've also been uprooting some dame's rocket, tansy and a little dog-strangling vine now and then. There's no danger of running out of work.

A stand of garlic mustard:

I must say, it's an attractive plant.

Meanwhile, over at the river ...

... a little more wildlife:

P.S. If anyone can tell me how to force Blogger to accept my paragraph breaks I will pay you a million dollars. I've read the FAQs, the help forum (where others have the same problem), tried everything I can think of ... and still my spacing is completely at the mercy of the Blogger gods. I finally added some "p"s (in pointy brackets) and things look okay to me now. If you're seeing weird gaps or paragraphs all stuck together, let me know.