Forget Chritmas in NE, come in the Spring!

Yet another fabulous day, now we're getting spoiled, high of 79.

Don and I took another 12 55 gallon contractor grade bags to the dump full of twigs and branches, all remnants from winter's fury. I think I have 1 more to go of twigs I piled in the forest margins. Then it's keeping up with what the wind brings down over the summer.

After we got back from the dump, I decided to take some pictures of the Martha Washington Azaleas that went into bloom yesterday. Already today they are almost in full bloom, and since we might get wind and showers tomorrow morning I didn't want to loose the shot. BTW, the little birdbath gets used by chipmunks that live in the rock wall :-).

I took another shot looking of the Azaleas looking up the slope of the flowerbed to show how the rest of FB#1 is doing. The Variegated Weigalia are really leaving out and starting to set blooms, while the Minuet Weigalia are leafing, but a little behind with the setting of buds. The Cottoneasters, Goldmounds, and Stella d'Oros, are also coming on like gang busters, with the Roses and Rose of Sharon close behind.

Unfortunately, with all the flora and fauna in bloom, it means it's that time of year again, ack, Mosquitoes! I got my first bite this morning.

Another Spring first; I went out to bring the birdfeeders in about dusk and what did my wondering eyes see? Our bat, is back, yeah!! Last year we had up to 5 circling the property at one time. I like to believe they live in the bat house my dad made us . . . and they arrived just in time to eat those pesky mosquitoes :-)

This sure makes up for Winter -

Woke to beautiful blue skies and low humidity, this day is already looking GOOD - we ended they day with a high of 78 and low humidity, another gorgeous New England day.

I ran out to get a picture of the morning sun highlighting the blossoms of my Adams Crabapple tree. It's buds start out a deep pink, almost a burgundy, then fade to medium pink and finally a light pink, as they age. I think in another day or two the blooms will be spent and start to fall. But it's sure been enjoyable while it's lasted!

I attacked the west side of the house and removed more leaves from FB#5, then cut back the burned stems and leaves of the Cawtaba Rhoho. Last winter this shrub burned and I wondered, could it be it's position? Now that it's happened two years in a row, I know it is definitely getting wind burn from being on the NW corner of the house. This fall I will have to do some sort of a burlap wrap, because it's really taking damage. Maybe even put a wax coating on the leaves.

After lunch I "finally" mowed the West side of the lower driveway, Tiers W2 & W3, for the first time this spring. This grass gets very little sun and grows slowly, but it was due. I also picked up the last of the sticks by the boulder area of this part of the yard.

I didn't get it mowed none too soon either, because a thunderstorm moved in shortly after. It carried enough of a punch that our lights blinked off/on a couple of times. We were in the high 70's when it hit, and after the storm went through it was in the 50's. I worried about hail . . . thank God we didn't get any.

Life's beauty is found in the simplest of things . . .

The day started out unbearably muggy, but by mid-afternoon the winds kicked in and a cold front moved through, so by evening it was very nice. We had a high of 80, which is still warmer than we should be for this time of year.

I happened to be in Don's office looking out toward the birdfeeders late morning when I saw a red fox run through that area, then head West and run along the hill ridge. I immediately got real excited until I saw what he had in his mouth. Remember that pretty mink we spotted by the creek bed the other day? Yep, that's what he had in his mouth, how sad. I'm really glad the fox is finding food and coexisting with us humans, but did he have to eat my mink? Oh well . . .

On the bright side, I found some beautiful wildflowers on the hill where the two white pines came down. It's like they were saying to me, don't be too depressed, see, were happy and life goes on, everything is a cycle.

You probably can't tell from the picture, but there are 3 different types of wildflowers in the photo. If you click on the picture to enlarge it, you can see them better up close. I haven't a clue what they are, but I'm going to look them up and I'll blog about it later.

I saw my first Eastern Red-spotted Newt today when I moved a rock in the FFB (Forest Flower Bed). They are so darn cute!

It's come to my attention, I have a lot of grass . . .

Warm and muggy day with a high of 87, it made everything that much harder to get done.

Before lunch I liquid fertilized FB#6 and #6A then watered well afterwards. After lunch I trimmed the sidewalks, flowerbeds and trees.

Then it was time to mow the remaining upper back and side yard and move onto the lower yard. Again because of the length of the grass, I could only take half strips with the mower, so I only got the lower East side of the driveway mowed. I still had to rake a small portion of the upper yard before calling it a day at 5PM, too tired to get much of anything else done.

Speaking of the Grosebeak (in my last blog), while I was mowing the back I spotted him on the "nuthouse", a wooden birdfeeder full of sunflower hearts and peanuts. I stopped mowing and watched him so I wouldn't scare him away. I suspect Mrs is on the nest and we'll see her and the babies later in the season.

The Cardinal has been back on his feeder a few more times, and every time I turn around I have a Bluejay in the BFB birdbath taking a bath or getting a drink of water. The 4 new jays we picked up last week ground feed a lot and use the birdbath . . . too cute. I've found that birds really like fresh water, so I clean and fill all 5 birdbaths daily.

When Punkin and I were sitting on the deck, we watched a chipmunk cross the patio with his pouches full heading for home. As he crossed FB#6 he stopped for a drink of water in it's birdbath, which is low like the BFB. He must have been pretty thirsty because he stayed there for quite a while.

Punkin just watched him, but was ready to pounce if need be. I used to feed the squirrels and chipmunks, but we had such a population explosion, I had to quite. To the right is the birdbath the chipmunk used, his home is on the side of the house in FB#5.

Unfortunately, you can see I have a lot of wild grasses coming in the yard, this year I plan to kill it with Round Up and then reseed. I think it's getting unsightly.

Happy May Day!

Sunny and warm in the afternoon with a high of 78.

The Adams Crabapple tree is in full bloom right now, the picture does not do it justice. The bumblebees are in love with it . . . !

The day started out cloudy, which is when I got all my watering done. Then, after lunch I took the hose and draped it on the grass in the design I wanted my back flowerbed (BFB)to be in, and by the time the sun came out I was spraying Roundup on weeds and grass.

Then the fun really started, I attempted to get the upper yard mowed but with the grass being so long, I could only mow half strips. By 5:30 I had to call it a day and let the side yard go until tomorrow. At which time I can mow the lower yard plus the upper side yard, not to mention do a little raking, whew!

FYI - Everywhere I went I was running into White-Throated Sparrows. They were in all the flowerbeds, in the woods, and in the wetlands. We must have had a flock of 30 of them stop in on their way to Canada (obviously these birds have good taste ;-). They were so sweet with the CUTEST yellow spot on the front of their faces. I'm hoping a few of them will decide to make our hollow their home. They were so industrious, I think they gleaned every bug in the yard.

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". )