Happy April Fools Day

One of these days I'll post some pics of my kitchen and you'll understand that it just BEGS to be used!  And, I really do love to cook.  That's a pleasant and relaxing thing for me.  I can have a really crappy day at work (when ever I get to go back) and come home and chop like crazy,  cook a meal and by the time it's ready to go on the table, the yuck of the day is forgotten.  Think the chopping has a good deal to do with it.  Kneading bread dough gives me the same outlet.  Of course, I get the same relaxation attacking weeds in the garden, but since our temp today was a whooping 44 degrees, can only dream about doing that!

I grew up with 3 older sisters.  They were 10, 8 and 6 when I was born, so I really had to fight my way into the kitchen.  I'm extremely competitive, primarily with myself,  and have a need to do whatever I do very well,  so the kitchen is a great place for me to be.

Doug, I'm envious of your weather!  WMA sounds like a very cool place to go too!  Seeing all that wildlife is amazing, although I can do without seeing the slithery things.

Had Sky out at the Swan Lake WMA.  He flushed a duck.  I think they are nesting, so no more runs at the WMA for a while.  School has a nice football field with a track around it.  I'll check it out.

As long as the system is a straight line, I can get around.  Any curves and I stop.  

Constant wind today.  I decided to not move out any brush today.  Basically did nothing.  Tomorrow, send off some checks to Feds and state.  Our accountant says our tax load will be a lot smaller next year.  That is of course a mixed blessing.  Less income=less tax.

Starting a new routine now for summer.  Morning walk to c-store to get the paper (small town) with Jr.  About a mile and a half round trip.  A two bag trip, but it's a nice wake up walk.  On the way back in the park, I slipped the leash off, put Jr at stay and walked off.  Released him.  He was doing about 30mph when he passed me heading for the Robin..  Our Robins seem to fly in circles, which works well for exercising a dog.   Piper used to chase barn swallows at this park, but they moved out.

I may load out another truck load of brush today.  I think I hate my hedge.  It's ugly, straggly, high maintenance, but it provides some privacy, cuts road noise, and once saved the house from a straight line wind.  And it gave me a reason to buy a chain saw. And a truck.

Thinking about fertilizing the lawn.  More fertilizer=more grass=more mowing.   We are in a draught in MN-not sever but noticeable.  Due to a lack of watering, my grass has deep roots and is very tough.  Crab grass and dandelions  are green, so I don't get really upset with weeds.

Doug my Hubby and I are fond of pointing out that if there were no weeds (aka left over field grass) we would have no lawn at all.  Sounds like you fellows have a great way of starting your day.

I just have never understood people like my Sis whose husband spends countless hours watering, fertilizing, weed killing and heaven only knows what else.  If it's greenish, I'm happy, and don't care if the green is grass, weeds or whatever.   Lordie, I remember the HOURS us girls had to spend outside with a special tool digging out the root and all of the dandelions.  I really dislike those, but not enough to dig them up one by one with a special tool!  Back breaking, knee straining PITA!  And frankly, I don't give two hoots what the neighbors think!  Gotta live my life for me, not the neighbors!

Stepping down from the soapbox now........

Doug, I absolutely LOVE honeysuckle.  The fragrance is just heavenly.  Of course, I'm not having to keep it under control.....

Your morning routine sounds nice.

As an aside, dandelion wine is excellent.

 Our wren nest is back.  We have a covered entry on the house, and my wife hangs a seasonally correct wreath in it.  Every year for the past 10+, there has been at least one nest in the wreath.  Occasionally, we have had a second nest on the top of the wreath.  Got 4 eggs under the bird now. Fun to watch, but when the little ones decide to fly, they jump and leave.  Once in a while, the little hen has a second batch in the same nest.  As we have a bunch of feeders and water baths, (and a hundred Grackles) the wren usually has good success hatching her brood.

Our apricot tree is in full bloom.  Last year, one blossom, no fruit.  Maybe this year.  It is pretty-pink.  Wife thinks we need more fruit trees, less hedge.  Another cherry, a couple of peach trees, maybe a pair of pears would be nice.  I could build a stand and sell fruit from the front corner of the lot.  Wear bib overalls, a straw hat.  Buy a John Deere lawn tractor.

@DougB

 I could build a stand and sell fruit from the front corner of the lot.  Wear bib overalls, a straw hat.  Buy a John Deere lawn tractor

Sounds like a plan.

I have a garden wreath on my porch that I made with a granddaughter when she was 7 and now she is 22.  It is made from grapevines and stones and anything else we could find that was cool then.  There is a permanent nest at the bottom but every now and then a wren family or a sparrow family will rent it out

@shadowsgin

@DougB

 I could build a stand and sell fruit from the front corner of the lot.  Wear bib overalls, a straw hat.  Buy a John Deere lawn tractor

Sounds like a plan.

Agreed -- could be a pleasant way to supplement your retirement, Doug. And if you enlisted Sky to be your helper at the stand, people would stop and peruse your inventory just so they could pet him!

We have a clematis vine that grows on a trellis mounted to the wall of our house that faces our neighbor's kitchen window (it's actually his vine -- we told him he could do whatever he wanted on that wall so he'd have something prettier to look at).  He told me a few days ago that there's a song sparrow family nesting in it.  I thought I heard some angry bird "warning chirps" in that area when I went to toss something in the compost bin over there.  Guess I was getting too close!

And speaking of birds, a few minutes after I woke up today and was trying to drag my butt out of bed, I heard our resident woodpecker doing his morning head and neck exercises on our gutter.  It is so darn loud -- this is the first year we've had one in/near our house.  We hear him pretty often on trees, but the sound on the metal gutters is nuts.  I can't imagine the headache it gives him!

Fantastic weather predicted all weekend.  We will get Ruby on a couple walks to the park, for sure.  I also should attack the weeds in all our flowerbeds, so maybe my chores will all be outdoor ones this weekend!

Thatching?  Is that something dedicated lawn folks do?  BIL does that as well.  

How cool is this?  I saw my landlord this morning (first time I've seen him since we were moving in (he lives in the other side of the house), and I asked him about the garden plot out back.  Told him that if he doesn't use it, I would love to.  He's going to get it tilled and said we'll share.  Super cool, especially since I won't have to do the tilling!  He is really a nice man.  I never hear a single sound from his side of the house, so am hoping he doesn't hear us either.  He goes to work 30 minutes away at 6AM so he goes to bed early.

Even cooler, yesterday when I got back from dropping DS off at work, the crews started showing up to re-do our road.  As most know, DH is operations manager for a 6 station cluster here, and the mayor does a weekly show that he comes in and records on Fridays for one of the AM stations.  Todd had to work with him last time he was in, and they got to talking about the pot hole situation and Todd mentioned how bad our road is.  The mayor travels it regularly since his Mom lives off our road.  Soooo, less than a week later, our road is being repaired, and not just temporary patches, but repaving.  Yippppeeeee!

I had noticed as the snow started melting that we appeared to have a sidewalk or pavers through the front yard to the driveway.    This is in addition to the real sidewalk down the steps.  This morning I decided to explore a bit, and lo and behold, there is an actual sidewalk that was just buried under weeds.  I filled a five gallon bucket with pretty good sized pieces of crabgrass/weed sod, four times, so took it over to the swamp next door that I've mentioned and got a good two feet of an edge of the swamp closest to me, covered.  It really stinks and the owner of that house says he can't do anything about it until it dries up.  But, in the meantime, there is dog poop from the last tenants dog, cig butts, trash, and heaven only knows what else over there giving it a smell like cow pee.  Oh, and the deepest part is covered with green algae.  At the rate it's going, it might dry up by August........

Boy, I'm pretty random today!  Hope everyone is doing well.

Rainy day.  The grass is really green, the trees are budding out, and I put in some new shrubbery.    Took Mr Chainsaw out and cut down about 20" of hedge.  Chained the stumps and rootballs to the truck and pulled them out, then put in some lilac to replace the 60 yr old Honeysuckle.  Now, wife wants me to pull out one of the lilacs and put in something else with flowers and bulbs.  Our little city has a bunker set up for us to dump brush.  Small loads only.  I am expecting a phone call one of these days.  I've run four pickup loads down so far, and have about 3 more to go, plus a load of rootballs.  I hate Honeysuckle!

Sat AM, early, I got up, drank some coffee, and walked to the C-store with Jr.  He wears a bell on the collar when we go out, so he is running and jumping up and down the hallway in front of the bedrooms, squeeking his big fluffy bone toy and jingling like crazy.  Wife got up as we left.  He is getting better at heel, especially off leash.  But he is on leash when we are anywhere near traffic.  He is also getting much better at dumping.  His second and final dump is right beside the trash can .  Dogs really lower the tone of a conversation.

Mankato State U put on "Pirates of Penzance" last night.  Funny.  Just plain fun.  No social message.  We had dinner at a fairly new Mexican place.  It is run by Mexicans, the cook is Mexican.  Good food, great service.  They had a party of 20 and a party of 12, still managed to get us seated and served quickly. And thats our social life for April.

Today we have sun!  I think it will last one day and then it is supposed to rain again.  Doug I love the story about Jr. and the bell.  Shadow always wore a bell.  Partly because he would graze with the neighbors cattle and he was as big as a calf, lol.  We put the bells on so were would hear if he was in the pasture.

I am with you on the honeysuckle wish I had the strength and energy to rid my yard of it.  Maybe next year.  Still being a little careful with the new hip.  Boy am I glad I got it done in the fall, I would not be happy if I couldn't go out to play this spring .

A weekend of truly fantastic weather -- I avoided my list of indoor chores and tried to be outside in the yard or on the patio as much as possible.  Fortunately, the weeds gave me plenty of excuses to be out there!  I also got 3 pots planted with some annuals, and I brought some paperwork and whatnot to the patio table so I could organize that while enjoying the fresh air.  One more day of sun and high-70's, but more seasonable temps and rain return in the next day or two.

Ruby had a playdate Saturday with our friends' Boxer (one of only 3 dogs she's met who tolerate her rough play style).  They had a great time romping in the yard and chasing each other.  It was hilarious to watch Ruby stalk him -- he'd just stand there looking at her, very relaxed, and she'd catch his gaze and hunker down into the low position, moving VERY slowly, lifting each paw one millimeter at a time, as if he couldn't see her.  He'd either jump to engage her or wait until she pounced and the chase was on.  All I got was a photo of them resting in the shade.  The Boxer is a senior, so he needed frequent breaks, but you can see Ruby is sitting on her haunches so she can spring right back into action as soon as he moves!

We too had great weekend weather.  The wind was pretty blustery Saturday, but Sunday was divine.  Of course, got up to rain today that looks like it is planning to stick around much of the week.

Well, the cellulitus returned today.  About mid morning I noticed that my right hand wasn't real cooperative about being used.  By the time I started fixing dinner I couldn't use it at all. You haven't lived until you've tried frying chicken one handed.  No massive swelling or ping pong balls this time, but mega pain.  I am NOT impressed.  Back on 2000 mgs of Keflex a day for the next ten days.  I just took my last two on Saturday.  Sigh.  I dearly love Callie, but she told me cellulitus tends to recur.  REALLY wish she'd been wrong just this once......

Getting old is not for the weak or faint of heart.  The creaking noises as the joints loosen up are enough to scare a kid.  

Got the yellow headed black birds in town today.  They stop in for lunch and dinner a few times, then head for the swamp.  The have no qualms about kicking grackles off the feeders.

Glad I kept the winter gear out.  Cold and wet, with great winds.    But Jr found a bunny at the park.  Little gray streak running past me, followed by a brown and white streak intent on the chase.  I called him off, but the excitement made his day.

Hey Doug had to go "google" yellow headed black birds.  I have never heard of that one.  They are pretty, do they really sound like a rusty gate :).