May 2, 2008

he snows have receded enough that I could finally get into the lumber piles to grab some materials to build my raised beds inside my greenhouse. The lumber is inside the greenhouse now, but it will have to wait a couple days until I can drag the electrical cords around so I can use the saw to cut them to size. (I had other things which took priority this afternoon). That should take about 5 minutes and then about another 10 minutes to hammer the bed together. All my cardboard and dirt is already there, so it will not take long to fill them either. My seedlings are ready to go out, but due to the heavier snows than we have had in the last few years, lumber was hidden longer than normal, although there could be a snowstorm yet. It is not uncommon to Old Man Winter to have one last laugh before it is gone until next September. I am a few days late on my New Year's Resolution 'schedual', but it couldn't be helped.

After the raised beds, the next things on the agenda are the hog pen and the front pasture fence. I have a chain saw now and I had to promise a friend not to fall trees by myself unless someone was there (due to the danger), and I promised... People who know me know I will do whatever needs doing by myself and these people knew I would fall the rails in the back 40 and drag them to the front pasture on my own. So my hands are 'tied' a bit, but I wouldn't start on the fence for another month or so anyway. The hog pen however, needs to be done within the next 3 weeks as the weaners are ready about that time. The hog pen got trashed between the hogs and the tree/windstorm last year, so there are a few repairs I have to do to it.

This afternoon I have thrown all the windows open. I know it sounds weird to some people, but it is a Canadian thing. Even in deep winter, it is often Canadian's open their windows when it is well sub-freezing out. So today is a regular 'heatwave'. I have a bit of time I can devote to writing and hopefully for the rest of the evening.

I took 'Blossom' out for a small walk to grab a bit of green grass here and there and for me to enjoy the sunshine. I even popped 'Blossom' into the greenhouse to munch on the grass growing in there with the extra heat and no snow. She is still perfectly halter broken and picks up all 4 feet when asked. It is really funny to jog with her. The other animals got a little jealous, but maybe I will take them for a walk on Sunday afternoon.

Down in the valley where it is warmer, it is all green grass now. I even saw some Dandelions yesterday in town. My grass will perk up in a week or so, but 95% of it is still dead winter grass. It is always weird to walk on grass VS snow for the first few times in Spring. It is extra springy or something. It makes me just want to take my shoes off... well.. maybe not yet.