An Early Spring

I am a week behind in posting. If I am not too busy to write, I am too tired. Spring Break was not restful, nor was it really productive in getting things done in the garden. The Head Gardener, while he is retired, really isn't. He works at his his former place of employed 3 days a week, which will end July 13th. On his off days, he helped his childhood friend who farms 285 acres, doing tractor work. So working six days a week for two weeks, kept him out of our own garden. So last Saturday I went out on my own. I cleaned up the garden around the back patio, fed everybody, took stock of what I needed to move, and pruned and fed the roses. And, reluctantly, started the garden hose. While we have well water here at The Garden Spot, the irrigation pumps won't be turned on until April 2 and neither rain nor snow are in our near future.

In fact the Weather Man on channel 9 said last night that March 2012 has recorded the least amount of moisture since 1887. Can you believe it? March is supposed to be our wettest month. Our first daughter was born March 27th during the worst blizzard in 40 years, as the old timers told it (like the new grandma).

So here we sit anxiously awaiting a spring that really has arrived much too early all over the country, but with little fanfare because it is so dry. The spring bulbs are up, but I noticed that the couple of daffodils that are blooming seemed to have forced their blooms much too soon and they are misshapen. There is little that we can about the weather, but curse it, hope for moisture sometime soon, and get the out the garden hoses.

A Spring Welcome to The Garden Spot

An unfinished project that could be today's project.

Daffodils making their premier appearance, but as dry as it, I am afraid that they won't be very showy.

A new frog by the pond. He is quite heavy, I hoping that Little Miss Mother Nature doesn't decide to make him her friend and drag him off.

Favorite tool: Pinchers of Power: a line from the movie Goonies aptly describes this cool garden tool. My mother in law worked at the Goodwill and bought this bargain for us. It is just the handiest to grab fallen leaves and all of dead stuff that I cleaned out of the garden.

Another garden favorite: my little cement bunny sprinkler. It is essentially a frog-eye that stays put because it is so heavy. Badly cracked, it still works without leaking. 

Finally, a sure sign of spring: A lone lady bug crawling around under the mulch in the rose bed.

Today, we have more projects and chores in the garden, but it is a bit over cast and cool yet. Tomorrow wind, lots of wind. I hate the wind. March came in like a lion and will leave in the same temper, bequeathing her ill mood to April, I am sure. 

Spring semester at the university is winding down. We have 6 weeks left and as Robert Frost wrote: "I have miles to before I can sleep." I say, stacks of essays and research projects grade before I can garden. I wish you all a happy week and happy gardening. 

Spring Break

In a week-- March 19 at 11:14 PM (Mountain Standard)--Spring makes her official arrival at the Garden Spot as the Vernal Equinox happens, so in preparation for her arrival the head gardener and I began our own spring ritual:

 A trip to Bath Nursery and Garden Center in Ft. Collins. Their yard is pretty bare right now, but in a few weeks it will be ablaze with color.

Look at these little beauties begging fore a new home, but I resisted the urge to buy on impulse. I need to do some serious prep work in the garden before I start adding plants.

After selecting our seeds, we wandered around for bit. Look at these wonderful flowers fashioned out of glass plates, bowls, votives, and other unusual pieces of glass. They were quite stunning. I didn't look to see how much they were or if they were made by a local artist.

The geraniums in the background were spectacular. I wanted a bunch.

The green house show room is pretty stark yet, but soon it will be crowded with anxious gardeners. Better shop early because the good stuff goes quickly.

We came home with a handful seed packets. I especially like the morning glories in the very first packet. I love the unusual coloring in the center. Oh and the white sunflowers next to the Teddy Bear Sunflower. They are new. Can't wait to see what a white sunflower looks like.

Hubby and I got an assembly line going marking the containers, punching holes in the bottoms, filling with potting soil, planting the seeds. They are now in the basement. We have very large windows with good sunlight, so we are hoping that the basement is a good location to start the seeds. We may end up adding a grow light. I'll report on the seeds' progress.

The Garden Spot is tiled and ready to be planted. This week we will plant peas and sweet peas and maybe lettuce and spinach. March is supposed to be our wettest month, but local farmers are saying that it may be a dry spring. 

I am on Spring Break this week. The week is full. Hubby works 3 days a week at his real job and will run tractor for his farmer friend Tuesday and Thursday, so some of my projects that require his help will have to wait. I have a doctor's appointment, a dentist appointment, and an appointment with the tax preparer, so the week will go by quickly, but if the weather holds I will get out and do some garden clean-up. So what plans do you have to welcome Spring in your area?  Well, I hope you have a great week.

Choices and Priorities

We all have choices in life and life requires that we make priorities. Sometimes the choice is a no-brainer; other times there isn't much of a choice if we are to avoid consequences, if we are to meet our obligations, if we are to be true not just to ourselves or to others, as well. 

And sometimes we procrastinate.

So to clear my head, I went on a walk about the Garden Spot today, where I did find a bit of Spring:

 The first tulip bud; the daffodils are not far behind. In fact the ones we planted last year have been peeking through the soil since mid-January. I tend to think that because they were planted in newly tiled soil, they had little trouble pushing through. . .

 . . .I found the Head Gardener tiling the vegetable garden. 

We will plant sweet peas and green peas St. Patrick's Day. I helped him sort and organize gardening supplies and tools on the golf cart. . .

. . .I found a glorious day. Our first day when we could be outside without a coat--mid- 50s, 

but the Garden Spot is brown, brown, brown. . .

. . . I found one of the neighbors hiding in the windbreak: a little black goat. 

I wanted to get a picture of him and his friends, but they got into the wind break 

before I could get a good shot. I did a walk about to pick up trash that had blown into the pasture. . .

. .  . Not a new discovery, the wounded pine that suffered major damage from the snow storm we had last October that devastated the trees, not just at the Garden Spot, but all along the Front Range. It will take years for trees to recover. We spent over $1,000. having our trees pruned a couple of weeks ago. This once full and beautiful pine tree will never recover.

Back to the choices. 

And I am finding that the super market has some bulb good choices: Iris (a variety that I don't have), Anemones (which I have never planted before), and my favs, gladioli. 

So while the choice in deciding which bulbs to buy was practically a no brainer, the priority for the afternoon was grading 75 annotated bibliographies for research papers in my college research class. Oh long deep sigh, followed by a gutteral groan.

I procrastinated. I am procrastinating now. Shame on me. Fortunately, I have the day off tomorrow and while the stack of 75 projects looks awfully intimidating, the assignment is fairly easy to grade and I have all week to get them done. 

It felt so good to get outside today, to sort the gardening stuff, to walk around to see what's coming up, and checking out to see what projects need to be done--everything from clean-up to digging up and transplanting, to pruning and Preening (the weed pre-emergent). I have one more week of school then spring break. I really am ready for a break.

Some of you asked by the vase in my last post: Hull or McCoy? Hull. It is my mother-in-law's. She is now in a nursing home, the lovely vase lives here where I like to use it. It does have a small chip on the inside lip, but it still is pretty.

Well, I have my week planned out for me, and I hope that you all have a great week. Go find Spring then report back.

Waiting

Is it Spring yet?

I am getting ready.  Elaine at Rosebank Ramblings wrote this week about sweet peas. Hers were so pretty I was inspired to by some sweet pea seeds today and some zinnias seeds, too, as I browsed the the fruits and veggies in the super market.

Then the cut hydrangea called to me: "Take us home with you."  So I did.

The cut little curly chicks called out too.

 At Big Lots, a favorite bargain spot,  I found new gardening gloves and don't you love the rubber clogs that I found at Jo Ann's?

Spring is just weeks away. Patience, my dears. Patience.

Have a happy weekend.

A Weekend with Mother Nature

She calls herself Mother Nature. And we have to believe her. Today in the car we had a discussion about working at Mac Donald's. I told her that perhaps someday she could work at Mac Donald's, but she said "No. I don't think so." So I asked her what she wanted to do when she grows up. She answers: "I want to spend my life rescuing injured animals." (Pretty much what her mother did as a kid.) I liked that answer. Her mother discovered this child's alter ego when she took the little girls to the pet store and over heard the conversation her eldest daughter was having with the Boa. "Hello, do you like me? Well, of course you do. I am Mother Nature." So here is my weekend with Mother Nature.

When I knew that Mother Nature was spending the weekend, I planned a special surprise, Afternoon Tea at Victoria's Little Tea House in Eaton, CO, just down the road. I told Ellie to make sure to bring a party dress when she came to spend the week-end. So she ask her mamma to make her a special dress, which she did.

Sweet treats after petite little sandwiches and quiche

The tea house has a special little room where the little girls can play dress up

After tea, Mother Nature took grandpa's egg gathering basket outside. I asked her if she was going to collect eggs. She answered, "No, I am looking for treasures." We saw her sitting in the garden and asked her what she was doing: "Watching the bunnies in the pasture."

She found her treasures: sunflowers.

Mother Nature finished her day by making peanut butter and lard seed cakes for the birds.

She had a busy day.

On my way home work Friday, I drove past Bittersweet Park in Greeley. The lake was nearly black with Canada geese and in the middle of the flock was a speck of white. I had seen the same bird last year, but never got back to the park to identify the white bird. It was too large and too white to be a pelican, of which there are many in our area during the warmer months. It's neck looked much too long to be a snow goose that sometimes fly with the Canada geese. We went back to Greeley for dinner, stopping by the pond with the binoculars to see just what the bird was. Indeed, it was what I hoped it was.

On our way to town, we made an unexpected stop. Aren't they magnificent? Bald eagles are not uncommon in this part of the state during the winter. In fact, according to an article in the Ft. Collins newspaper last year, the bald eagles migrate here from Alaska and Canada, many settling and nesting here in Northern Colorado, especially at the Fossil Creek Reservoir Regional Open Space in Ft. Collins. These two eagles were in a tree right by the road near  Seeley's Lake, an exclusive residential neighborhood. This route is my nature drive to work. I have often seen bald eagles in the trees near the ponds, but I never have my camera with me.

And here he is, a beautiful swan, alone, graceful, and peaceful on Bittersweet Lake in the middle of the city.

 Along with a few of his aquatic friends

Oh, back to Martha Stewart. I read her headline wrong, just in case you are wondering. She has a list of 103 things to do get ready for spring, not just 30. I am tired already.  Have a terrific week.

Last week wasn't much fun. I don't get sick very often, thankfully. Every night I'd go to bed saying to myself that I would cancel class in the morning, but upon further consideration I'd get up and go to work.

The first storm of the month hit late in the day with wind and snow. While we only received a couple of inches, cities south of us had amounts ranging from 18 inches in Denver to 44 inches in other areas. As the storm began in the evening, we lost power. Expecting it to be out all night, we began to think about how prepared we were for a lengthy power outage. We aren't very well prepared for more than a couple of hours inconvenience.

We spent a quiet evening, no computers, no television, just the warm glow of candle light and the gas logs.

Next morning the world looked pretty cold.

Snow removal around the Garden Spot means tractor work. 

I took a walk about this morning camera in hand, and while we didn't have fresh snow, frosty crystals clung to everything. I was out a bit before the sun burned through the cloud cover. As soon as the sun began to come through, the frosty crystal began falling to the ground. I used my 70-300 mm. lens for the close shots as well as the distance shots. I have been researching macro lens and cringe when I see the price. Some photographers use their distance lens for some macro shots, as I have with the dried crab apples that still cling to the branch and the sunflower. I am thinking for flowers, however, Pawn Shop. What do you think?

Rabbit tracks. The black corrugated pipe that carries the overflow irrigation water to the lawn serves as hiding place for the cotton tails that live here.

In the super market yesterday I saw the headlines on the current issue of Martha Stewart's Living magazine: "30 Things to Do to Get Ready for Spring." Since I am breaking my magazine habit, I didn't buy the magazine to see what was on her list. I'll make up my own. Where should I start? Cleaning up the garden beds would be a good place to start, but not until the snow melts.

Week 6 of the semester begins. Students are working hard and I am working hard to keep one step ahead of them. Hope you all have a great week. Anyone going to see if they can come up with of 30 To Dos for Spring? Share your list, if you are of a mind. Have a good week.