So exciting!

My red-headed woodpeckers are back! Yay! They are the most beautiful birds ever. I just found out they're on the threatened species list, which makes seeing them even more exciting.

The humming birds are back and flocking to the feeders like crazy. Their little territorial dance is cute, but annoying at the same time. Didn't their mammas ever teach them to share? It's not like there aren't enough feeders all over the lawn.

Spring is most definitely here. (I'm avoiding the fact we may have a few snowflakes in the air tonight, so, shhh!)

Everything is so green! Have you ever noticed how everything looks so much of a brighter shade of green in the spring? I swear, it is! Ok, so maybe it's just me and it's the same shade all summer long. :-)

There needs to be a seperate measure of time for gardeners. I need something like 80,000 daylight hours in a week. Yeah, that'd get me close to getting everything done. Not! I was actually really ticked off the other day to have to drop everything and do the laundry. Apparently people become disgruntled when they run out of clean undies. Grrr...I think domestic duties should be banned from May 1st until October 1st.

I can't stop smiling over the woodpeckers. If you ever spot one, you'll understand what I mean!

Priorities

The vegetable planting is overtaking any kind of flower bed preperations.

D decided we needed the garden situated in a completely different place this year (actually more longated in another direction). Moving almost a whole garden bed is a lot of work.

It's turned into a 'plant as soil is prepared' marathon. I totally don't recommend this and I know it isn't quite the correct or proper way to do things, but I never really adhered to any of the garden rules. I'm such an obstinant gardener! It would be so much easier to do raised beds, but that's nowhere near being in the budget.

So far we've gotten everything in the cole crops in except for the brussel sprouts. Poor things! At least they're patiently hanging on until we can make a little more progress.

I finally had a tulip show its pretty face today. Yay!

My WSed jugs aren't really doing anything this year. I think most of the seeds rotted with the really crappy spring we had, but thanks to Don, (thanks again you wonderfully generous man!) I got to resow a lot of the seeds I think I lost. He sent me a lot of his leftover seeds and it was one heck of a welcome sight to see that envelope in the mail! I wonder if the neighbors think I'm nuts when I do the happy dance...

Thank God I was smart enough to leave back 2 or 3 of some of the seeds Kim and Sissy sent, but I certainly won't have what I would have of them.

I'm dying to start those yummy warm weather veg seeds Kim sent, but I'll be a patient gardener and hold back for the crappy weather that's sure to show up at a most inopportune time. Isn't that always the way in CNY? Low temp last night was 31, so, uh, yeah...I'm waiting.

A friend down the road is ripping down their log cabin and said we could take the logs if we wanted. Moving them is going to be nigh-on impossible, but I'm estatic! We're going to use them to see if we can build some flowerbeds around the base of the house and stop the wind from wipping in so bad in the winter. I can't imagine a cozy house during a blizzard and no snowdrifts under the wall edges! Another friend of D's gave us some oddball sheets of foam insulation to put against the wall first, and then we'll protect the insulation and walls with plastic before we fill. Now I just have to figure out where and how to get some dirt.

It's another massive project to monopolize our summer, but what's new. A warm house? Lovely new flower beds? Imagine! I can definitely handle that.
:)

Let The Weatherperson Water Your Lawn

Seriously!

I can't trust my weatherman to get tomorrows forecast right (and they said no rain today...would they like to look at the drops falling out my window?) much less trust him to water my lawn! But Rainbird is heading toward exactly that technology.

Lawns watered when and exactly how much they need at any time depending on the current weather and forecast for each area.

Hmmm...how much do you trust your weatherperson to say if your lawn will need watering this week?

Getting Jittery

Well, shoot!
Every other zone 5-er seems so far ahead of us this year. Heck, I'm still WSing! Thank goodness, because I think every container rotted in this awful weather.

We seem to be stuck in some localized long-gimme-a-break-drawn-out-forever-it's-never-going-away winter. There's still snow on the ground :(

The peonies are barely jutting from the ground and finally (yes!) saw some daffodil blooms. The tulips are pretty much still sitting in limbo...they know it ain't quite over yet. Smart boogers!

Sunday, we got peas, broccoli, onion and cabbage planted - wet soil be darned.
The poor koi are still sitting in 40 degree water :( Grrr. And we expect another freeze tonight.

My clematis' have itty-bitty green leaf tips showing. I hope they'll be ok. Hostas are still nowhere to be seen. Poppies got up about 3 inches and stalled - maybe they know something.

But, of course, that freaking chocolate mint and its bishop weed buddies have sure made an appearance! How stupid was I?!

Here's hoping next weekend will bring us some better weather, because the forecast until at least that far ahead looks like total crap.

There Are No Words

There are now words to describe the sorrow I feel today - what all of us in the area are feeling today.

One year ago we said goodbye to Police Officer Joseph Daniel Corr, (End of Watch: Monday, February 27, 2006) the incident at VT was a total shock to the system, and today we were saddened beyond words to have to say goodbye to Police Officer Thomas Lindsey (End of Watch: Thursay, April 12, 2007).

God speed...