Buds and blooms are joining the birds as visitors in the yard. Unidentified plants all around the house have been overwintering in hibernation, but are now beginning to show us what they are with colorful flowers and leaves popping in everywhere. One of the most dramatic is the pink flowering on the shrub outside the living room window, I believe it to be a type of Camellia:
It's going to be pretty outrageous looking when all those buds go into full bloom.
I'd mentioned our wild feathered friends in previous posts.. I've been making a healthy vegetable based suet for them to enjoy. I make it into large squares that I cut to size for the feeder. I think they are liking it better than the yucky beef fat kind, since more birds than ever are chillin' in the yard every day. It has the black oil sunflower seeds on the outside and a mixture of other seeds on the inside, so as they pick at it different birds will get their favourite meals:
The garden is coming along, we have almost the whole bed planted with various veg. The only visible activity is from the onions that were started indoors. I think it's still too cool for the direct planted seeds to germinate. The salad box seedlings are doing great, as well as the potted broccoli sprouts. Both were started indoors but are being put outside during the day for extra sun now. I'm pretty sure they will do fine once planted in the garden bed. Also, the other day the lavender sprouted up after a concernedly long germination. We can't wait till it gets big and smelling good. Also found a ladybug in the yard the other day, a good sign, as they will help keep the bad pests at bay.
The weather has been warming up to beautiful temperatures in the 50's during the day. Still in the 40's at night though. We have been in awe watching the seasons progressing. You sincerely feel a connection to the environment when you get to witness fall leaves make way to bare hibernating trees, then see snow recession giving way to plants blooming. Seeing more sunny days and feeling the strength of the sun changing, getting stronger with every passing spring day. In FL everything looked the same year round for the most part, and in the middle of winter we may have had a few chilly weeks but they slipped quickly through our fingers before we'd even gotten a chance to break in our new winter coats. We realize now how much we'd been missing out on!
With the warmer days we've not been using the heat as much. Actually, the "sun room" which we use for our office and for the rabbit cage has been getting a little too warm when the sun is shining directly through the windows. Great for the seedlings, but it left us concerned that "Albert" the Angora rabbit was getting overheated with his long thick coat. We researched Angoras and according to the info we found, they are supposed to be shedding out by themselves on a regular basis. He has not really been shedding at all. We read that most people shear their Angoras seasonally like sheep and decided that while seeing his beautiful coat gone would be sad for us, it would probably make him more comfortable since rabbits are unable to cool themselves by sweating. We pulled out the electric clippers and now he is looks like a freshly shorn lamb! We were left with a bag full of snow white Angora fiber that has a current market value of about $20. In essence he will be covering the cost of his food for quite some time! When the summer is over we will let his coat grow back to keep him warm again next winter.
The community of Stevenson threw its annual garage/rummage sale at the fairgrounds this weekend. Anyone could rent a booth/table for $10 and bring whatever they wanted to sell. They had "early bird" day on friday and charged $2 admission to come get the first pick of all the goods. We went and had ourselves a great time. We got a heater for the spare bedroom (it gets a little chilly in there at night), some craft supplies, a pair of snow pants, a DVD, and a basket for easter. We only spent $20 and believe me, that was a steal for everything we got!
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