WELCOME SPRING!!!

The OFFICIAL First Day of Spring!!!

What a fantastic day it was too.

Kermit and I made a nice Sunday breakfast, I worked on the yearbook a little in the morning.

Being such a nice day, we had to go on an adventure!  Opened up the Jeep, and off we went.  We took CiCi and Sofie to "Heart of the Monster" in Kamiah for a walk and some tracking training.  CiCi trained, Sofie played.  It is so cool to see CiCi when she's in tracking mode.

Came home, and did a bunch of yardwork.  Pulled up the leaves on the perennial beds and put them in the HUGE PILE to be chipped and shredded over Spring Break.

Transplanted my strawberries to a new place, We're going to be replacing the raised beds this year, so I needed to clear the bed under the pile of bags in the foreground.  Picture in the gallery below.

The bunnies both got to play in the yard today.  I only took a picture of Walter though.

Did some minor upkeep on the beds.  Sat and thought about what I want to change this year.

I dug up the hollyhocks today.  Their leaves never looked great, and they were too tall for where they were planted.  I was just done with them.  Shorter plants will be but in their place as not to block the view to the rest of the yard.

Mike grilled chicken for dinner and I sat by the pond, watched the fish, petted the dogs.

Now I'm back inside writing this.  I did finish a background for the yearbook.

ENJOY SPRING!!!

...

Welcome to Spring!

After the snow and cold dispersed, it was really wet.  So I haven't had time to really play in the dirt.

That all changed today!!!

So for my gardening soul, Spring started today, no matter when the official start is.  

I turned over and separated out 3 compost piles.  Took the matted leaves out and sprinkled them in an empty bed to dry out.  When the leaves get a little crispy, I'll put everything through the chipper shredder, add manure, and hopefully it will compost fast.

Prepped my new strawberry bed.  Will transplant tomorrow.  My raised beds need rejuvenating, so I won't have as many veggies this year as a rebuilding year.  Might redo the raised beds in a more artistic manner.  Lots of ideas from Pinterest.

Plants that have come and gone already:  Crocus, Snowdrops.

In Bloom:  Daffodils

Budding in serious mode:  Crab Apple, Lilac, Roses, Weigela, Willow.

Item that has taken over the yard, and it's OK with me:  Leaf Celery.  It's nice looking, only grows in clumps, digs out nicely.  So I let it do what it wants within reason.  I wonder if the rabbits can eat it.  I'll look that up.

The Crabapple tree has been such a joy since its addition.  The squirrels feed off it, the rabbits eat the dried trimmed limbs.  It is the perfect size for the site.

Here are some pictures of the squirrels feasting this Winter.

I should start taking enough pictures to record the color markings like they do on National Geographic.

I am so glad they eat all of these! 

{Le-sigh}  WELCOME SPRING!!!