Beautiful day, time to bring the patio furniture out -

Beautiful day with a high of 72, almost picture perfect!

We decided to risk putting the snowblowers away for the summer (this ought to bring on a late snowfall for sure, sort of like washing the car and getting rain).

Going from winter to spring is not a trivial task for us, because everything has to fit in the shed like a jigsaw puzzle. First, this means bringing all the deck and patio furniture out, carrying them up to the house, and assembling the tables. Then we have to winterize the snowblowers, move them into the back of the shed, so the mowers, fertilizer spreader and hosemobile can go in the front. BTW, all of this has to fit around 6 wardrobe boxes filled with Christmas wreath bases and 2 filled with wicker baskets, all of which Don calls "the fungus".

We also hung my Irish Blessings windchime. The tubes are inscribed with the traditional Irish blessing prayer:

May the road rise up to meet you, May the wind be always at your back,
May the sun shine warm upon your face, the rains fall softly upon your fields, And, until we meet again, May God hold you in the palm of His hand.

With all the winds we've been getting lately, they are beautiful to listen to!

For Don's birthday we had shrimp cocktail for an appetizer, crab legs, Artichokes, and curried potatoes for the entree, and for dessert we had cheesecake with a cherry glaze topping. Afterwards, we sat on the deck to enjoy our hard work and let dinner settle, while we listened to the birds, and the windchime of course!

We feel very blessed to live in such a beautiful part of the world.

For the birds . . .

The Bluejays had been squawking since before 6 this morning but didn't get fed until 7:30. I didn't even get the second tray hung when a cranky Bluejay, who figured he'd waited long enough, flew onto the first tray for his peanut, about 8" from my face! Somehow we've picked up another 4 Bluejays, so we had 10 Jays screaming into the trays this morning. We've nick-named our Jays the Blue Bombers, and this is why.

Once the first surge is over, they go about 50' back into the woods for a strategy session. Here they begin their raucous noise making session all over again. We think they're figuring out their next tactical strike, which usually occurs within minutes.

We feed both shelled and whole peanuts, and the savvy Bluejays will weigh up to 4 or 5 peanuts before making their decision. This routine continues for half the morning until the peanuts are gone. The only bird who has enough guts to stand up to this onslaught is Big-Momma, a female Harry Woodpecker that's not afraid of anyone, and if you saw her beak, you'd know why.

We have 7 other feeding stations besides the peanut trays, can you guess what our bird food bill is each month?

We just came in from taking Punkin out after lunch, and the Goldfinches are so loud they're almost deafening. We had a bunch of finches winter with us and most never left. Unfortunately, the one I really wish would have stayed didn't. It was this most amazing Goldfinch that was almost entirely white except for the barest hint of yellow on the top portion of it's body, and you could only see the yellow with high powered binoculars. It showed up at the same time 4 Blue Birds did, all of which stayed for about 2 weeks before moving on.

I should have known then it was an omen . . . just a few weeks later we had a "winter hurricane" take 25 trees down. On second thought, maybe it was a good thing it moved on . . . .

It's mid afternoon and for the first time a Cardinal is using the "Cardinal" feeder, it only took over a year to get them to use it, dah! Hopefully the Evening Grosebeak family will come back again this year, they used the Cardinal feeder a lot last year.

Of course it's that time of year again when we're bringing in the feeders every night and taking them back out in the morning because the bear wakes up around April 1st. Which also means we're back on bear watch . . . . (Photo taken last fall when a two year old Black Bear was back to visit us "again". )

What a revolting development -

I woke this morning to a low of 32 with snowflakes falling :-(

I now think it's late enough in the day to see that nothing really took any damage. I was most worried about the Crabapple trees and Azaleas in full bloom, but "so" far so good. The Goldmound Spireas looked like they had a lot of frost on their leaves, so I'll be keeping a close eye on them as well.

As I write this the Bluejays are making their usual raucous noise in the backyard as they dive bomb the trays full of peanuts. We currently have 6 regulars, which are grown-up baby jays from last year's nests. The parents always leave their young with the good feeding grounds, talk about great parenting skills!

I found the most unique wildflower in the woods the other day, I've no idea what it is, anyone out there have any guesses?

Despite the rain, the PJM Rhodo's are gorgeous!

We only reached a high of 49 today, the low front with cooler temps and rain has finally reached us. But to be honest, things were starting to get a little dry, so we can use the rain.

The mountains are suppose to get 1 to 2 feet of snow, I hope it doesn't get cold enough for me to worry about the tender plants in the yard. I continue to take the strawberries and tomatoes out each morning and bring them back in each night. I may just have to back the car out tomorrow night and put the fruit trees in the garage. Although they were locally grown, you never know.

Despite the rain and drizzle, the PJM's are just gorgeous right now so I stopped to take a picture on my way to run errands. The dogwoods beside them are starting to leaf. In fact, all the shrubs right now are going crazy, the Stella d' Oros must be over a foot high. I guess that's what 60 degree, sunny days will do; along with a little fertilizer!

Mr Mallard was on the pond today and yesterday, but I haven't seen Mrs Mallard, I wonder if she's nesting, or if it's too early for that, I honestly don't know.

Everything is really starting to Pop!

With a surprise high of 65 (it's suppose to be cold and raining) everything is really starting to pop; including the Sugar Tyme Crabapple and the Adams Crabapple Trees.

Bedford Fields delivered my fruit trees today and the good new is, the trees are only in 7 gallon containers This will make digging/picking the holes a little easier than the usual 15 gallon require. Since we live on a rock ledge, the holes end up 3 times larger than they need to be, because of the large rocks you have to extract. While I don't enjoy the extra work, I'm sure the trees love the extra room

The verdict is still out on my poor Green Mountain Maple that is now 3 years old, I'll just be devastated if it died last year . . . why?

On the bright side, everything else is really looking good, the Azaleas are Gorgeous!!

Gorgeous Spring Day in New England!

It was supposed to be cloudy and "maybe" reach 59, but instead it was sunny all day and reached 68, so . . . .

I looked at my yard schematic and pretty much decided what fruit trees I want and where they could go. I went to Bedford Fields after lunch and bought 1 Cortland and 1 McIntosh apple trees, my two favorite apples in the world. I went with the dwarf variety which only get around 15' tall.

I also bought a dwarf peach tree, self-pollinating. I wanted a pear tree, but the only ones they carried needed two pears of different varieties for pollinating. Dad says his pear tree on Lowder Road was self-pollinating and grew pears by the bushel barrel, so I'm going to keep looking.

I also bought 2 thornless blackberry bushes which will get 6' tall, and 3 highbush blueberry bushes that will get 4' tall. I would like to find some lowbush blueberries as well, maybe while I'm looking for the pear tree I'll get lucky.

I also bought 7 strawberry plants; 4 Ever bearing and 3 June bearing.

Something else I'm going to try this year are tomatoes; 1 Red Beafsteak and 1 Big Boy, this ought to be interesting.

Last but not least I'm going to try getting Asparagus going. I've heard its not all that easy, and I'll have to wait for the 3rd year to really have a harvest, but it's soooooo good, I think it will be worth it.

Now, going from my new fruit and vegetable exploits to the flower gardener side of things . . . the Korean Poukahense Azaleas opened today. They are finally starting to get big. This year marks their 4th year in the yard, and they are almost 3' x 3' with solid blooms, quite the show stopper. They were bigger, but heavy snow two years ago broke the centers out of 3 of them. I need to figure out a "cheap" way of protecting them, or I'm sure it will happen again.

All the hard work is paying off -

Reached a high of 66 today, it was sunny and gorgeous, a perfect day for working in the yard.

Mr & Mrs Mallard were on the pond this morning, I pretended I didn't see them so they wouldn't fly away. They are so darn cute!

After taking Punkin for a ride and a walk, I deleafed FB #1A then worked slow-release fertilizer in and watered. While I was in the area I cut back the Cottoneasters which were starting to get out of control. Mr Bumble Bee was there as usual on the Andromeda which is in full bloom.

I am starting to think I may have killed the frontyard Green Mountain Maple tree. It's been in a bud phase for well over a week now, with no new progress. I watered it on a slow trickle for a couple of hours today. I double checked the drip-line diameter and the fertilizer instructions, and I did everything by the book. Still, I can't figure out what else could have killed it, I put the spikes in about 3 weeks ago . . . .

I picked up the last of the twigs and branches in Tiers W2 & W3, wow, does that do a number on the back. I think I currently have 9 or 10 55 gallon bags to take to the dump. All told, I've probably picked up 25 bags worth.

When Don was on his way to Ashton/Christopher to pick up my earrings, he saw a mink on the inlet side of the driveway by Mill Pond Creek. Don tried to come get me so I could see it, but it was gone by the time I got down there.

I'm way ahead of last year for April, starting tomorrow it's suppose to rain for 3 days :-(.

When I came in from working in the yard tonight, there were Wild Turkeys in both the front and back yards. I wonder what the one in front was trying to eat in my flowerbed . . . ?

Later in the evening - I just looked out the family room window, the ducks are back after being gone for most of the day . . . I wonder if they will actually nest by the "honeymoon/duck pond" this year. I'd love to see baby ducks, but we have soooooo many preditors.

The Backyard Flower Bed is looking Good!

TGIF - Not quite as warm today with a high of 59, but the weekend is just around the corner, and it's suppose to be nicer tomorrow.

The ducks are back on the pond again this afternoon after taking a walk-about in the woods last evening. I wonder what the frogs think when their pond gets invaded by Mallards?

Another Spring 1st to report; I saw the Red Fox this afternoon while I was out working slow release fertilizer into FB #6. Earlier I'd seen Mourning Doves and Red Squirrels in that area, I wonder which he was after . . . ? It's the same area we saw the Bobcat last year, which is by the birdfeeders and birdbath.

Since the skies threatened rain off and on all day I really didn't get a lot done in the yard, so Wreaths Unlimited got most of my attention.

Mr & Mrs Mallard are back honeymooning . . .

I don't have enough room in my gardening journal, so I'm starting the Mill Pond Hollow Blog for "everything" else.

Mr & Mrs Mallard were back for the first time this year for their honeymoon on "Duck Pond".

While mulching FB #5 two Titmice came and sat in the Birch tree to watch my progress. Their chips seemed to say, "It's looking good, when are you going to be done so we can move in?"

Unfortunately, along with an early spring so too have come the Blackflies, ack!!