Spring...no kidding...

Spring doesn't just spring...it pounces! There's so much to do on the farmstead!!


We ended up having a really nice weekend, despite the forecast for rain (which held off until late Sunday night - take that, NOAA!). Most of our weekend was spent doing an outside spring cleanup: picking up a zillion sticks, shoveling a winter's worth of dog doo, plotting and prepping garden areas...the usual springtime fun. We're also taking down a lot of old fencing, putting up new fencing, moving some critters, and prepping for some exterior remodeling/repairs.

Very soon it'll be time to get the potatoes and onions in the ground. Potatoes are planted when the daffodils bloom. Garlic gets the mulch scraped off when the daffodil leaves are up a few inches (should've done it over the weekend but forgot). Many people plan their planting by the calendar, but the calender really has no idea what the weather is like in any given area. Nature's indicators, like daffodils blooming or oak leaves budding, in my experience, always yield better results.

And then there's Easter! We'll be coloring eggs with the grandkids (hopefully) this weekend, and then an egg hunt, possibly indoors if the weather is very wet. Of course we don't hide the real eggs indoors, although I'm sure the dogs would find any we missed. Not that I want to deal with egg-dog-poop-er-iah any more than I want to deal with lost and found once they are rotten eggs. So we just stick with the plastic ones for inside.

We'll also make our traditional bunny cake. As for Easter weekend, it's still wide open, unless the grandkids have a change in plans and come then instead of this coming weekend.

In the meantime, I'll be returning to work. Later on, when the weather is clear, I plan to bike the three miles to work, then the three miles back home, to be followed by an afternoon of hauling firewood. I'll either be in super shape or dead by the time summer comes. Personally, I'm hoping for super shape and not dead; it's been years since I've owned a string bikini, and I'm not getting any younger, so I figure it's now or never.

When I complain to Eöl that I've gotten pale and plump over the winter, he just smiles and says, "Don't worry, Luv. Soon you'll be a brown stick."

He's probably right.

Happy Vernal Equinox!

Wow! Today was gorgeous!! I don't know exactly how warm it got, but the high was forecast in the upper 60's, and I'd say we hit that at least.

We had our very first cookout of the year today! I know...I get excited over really small stuff. But after being buried under so much snow, it was nice to be outside enjoying life.

Rumor has it that we'll get one more big snow before the warm weather comes to stay. Noooooo!!!! I think I've seen more than enough snow for one year, thanks anyway!

It's nice to learn something new

Here are a few things I learned today:

• There is a direct link between papering a ceiling and developing Tourette's Syndrome.


• Long hair can easily become sandwiched between ceiling and paper, in effect papering my friggin' head to the friggin' ceiling!


• Gravity is not a friend to wet ceiling paper.


• Any project involving painful neck manipulation will take exactly four times longer than it should.

I can't see the forest for the...

...seedlings.

I really can't take credit for the lovely seedlings. I taught Little Sis how to care for them, and she's done it daily.
Here are a few tips for starting seeds indoors:

• Water: keep them moist, but don't overdo it. Rainwater is best, if you have it.
• Turn: if seedlings are in front of a window, they'll stretch toward the sun. Turn them a few times a day. They get a nice back and forth work out, and don't get so leggy/spindly.
• Brush: brush your hand back and forth across the seedlings (very gently) a couple of times a day. This helps build strong, healthy, stocky stems; outside, a breeze would do this naturally. You can also turn a fan on them a few times a day (don't blow them off the table!).
• Timing: if you start your seeds too soon, you'll need to re-pot them once the roots fill up their starter cells. I started mine early on purpose; maybe I'll have a few extra plants to sell.

A glass of wine and random rambling

• Thursday, I said we had heard nary a peep. Thursday night, the peepers started peeping. Just a few at first, but now a full chorus of spring peeping frogs lull me to sleep at night.


• PMS and a chainsaw could be a bad combination...in the wrong hands. Bwahahaha!!!


• My fortune cookie says, "A day without smiling is a day wasted."


• Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland is AMAZING!! Especially in digital 3-D!! WOOT! Johnny Depp is super hot even as an orange-haired, googly-eyed madman.


• It's amazing how quickly two feet of packed snow can become two feet of boot-sucking, slip-sliding, butt-busting, stinky, wet shlorp.


• If Country Life and Farmville are such fun, why do I keep getting hits for a bot to run these games? In the real world, animals poop, blueberries don't grow (quickly) from seed, and bots don't run farms. Go outside.


• I love Trader Joe's and wish we had one here.


• Goat cheese smells like a stinky sock, but tastes much better...I think.


• A spider on my keyboard will send it crashing to the floor and me shrieking like a little girl. Ick.


• I now return you to your regularly scheduled program.

Nary a peep

I'm still waiting for those peepers to start peeping. They were already singing by this time last year. But then, this time last year, we didn't have snow on the ground.

Yesterday was sunny and warm. I don't know the official temp, but the car said 62 degrees at one point, and it sure felt like it outside. Today is also sunny and amazingly warm for this time of year. NOAA predicted rain every single day this week. Sometimes it's good when they are wrong. ;)

Most of our snow melted yesterday. It was really odd: I was out yesterday morning, hiking through two feet of snow, and then last night I was slogging through swampland...all on the same path. The shady areas of our field still have a solid foot, but soon it will all be gone. Hooray!!!

The honey bees are foraging like mad. Nothing is blooming, so they have settled for the feed corn in the chicken pen. Lucky for them, the chickens don't seem too interested in bee snacks.

The windows are open and we have a warm breeze wafting through the house. Ahhhh fresh air!!

It's such a gorgeous day, I'm not about to waste it sitting here. I'm off to explore the marshlands.

The first buzzard of spring has been sighted!!

Eöl spotted the first buzzard of spring today!! YES!!! I am EXCITED!!!! Never mind the two feet of snow oozing all over the yard, or the boot sucking mud that will take it's place...spring is coming!!!

The sun is shining, the birds are singing, and I feel more energized than I have in ages. I must be solar powered. *snicker*

Drawing a blank

Do you ever have those days when you walk into a room and can't remember what you went in there for? You are standing in the fridge and can't remember why you opened it to start with? Or you have a great idea for a chapter in your book, sit down at the pc, and then...nada..."What the heck was I going to write about?" Blah. Today is one of those days.

Doesn't help that I'm currently waking up with my eyes swollen, sneezing constantly, and can't breathe. It's winter, what the heck can I be allergic to? **Casts suspicious glances into Little Sis' Pet Shop Boudoir**

A likely suspect

Also making things difficult is the feeling of being watched. Have you ever noticed it's hard to concentrate when someone is staring at you? **Looks out window**




Ack!! Evil SnowGoons!! No wonder I can't get any writing done today!!

I guess I'll go work on papering the den ceiling instead.

Setting records

Turns out our total Feb. snowfall was over 49 inches. That breaks the old record of around 25 inches. Pretty cool, huh? (Pun intended.)