In which there are early signs of Spring, and none of that nasty white stuff

Much of the northern hemisphere is covered in sn*w.

I read the blogs of friends in Texas, Maine, and elsewhere in the States, who are knee-deep in the white stuff, plus of course poor Lytha in Germany who is at least hip-deep in it.


Here in the Swamplands, it's hardly winter at all anymore. I even took the mares' blankets off one afternoon so they could enjoy the feeling of light (if not sunshine) on their skin.

The chickens think that a wheelbarrow-load of yukky hay is playground equipment. Within moments of entering the Winter Palace Garden, I was surrounded by hens eager to pull this clump of stuff apart. They didn't even wait for me to dump it out first--they just jumped on the wheelbarrow, ready for fun.

You know Spring is coming when....



rhubarb!




... and, uh, time to prune the grape vines before they join forces with the blackberry vines to take over the world.


Better now.
It's so counter-intuitive to make a plant smaller so that it can produce more fruit, but apparently that's how grape vines work. Apple trees work that way, too, but ours were neglected so long by the former owners of our place that Jim took the chainsaw up into the orchard to start the pruning up there!
Not exactly blue sky. In February we only have a few options for weather, and "not raining" is one of our favorites, so we headed out to the trails for a little while.

See? No sn*w here. Lotsa mud, though. Ewww.


At least we didn't lose any boots in this glop.


The trails are still wet at the top of the hill, but not quite so gooey. And some of the trees up here are starting to bud out!

You know, we just might survive this winter!

Comments

  1. I'm hoping for some dry weather this week so we can ride this weekend. Can't complain too loudly abut the rain and snow, though. We've been under a drought for so many years, I have hope for lush spring pastures.

    ReplyDelete
  2. So jealous!!!! :D I took the mares' blankets off for a few hours this past weekend and it looks like they will come off soon today as well, as the sun is climbing higher in the sky. We are down to about 6 inches of the white stuff, but due for a storm tomorrow. :( And here I was thinking maybe winter was over....??? No such luck! Glad to hear you got out on the trails. Our are probably pretty clear by now too. :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. You keep talking about Spring and perhaps it will arrive--but I'm not taking that fact for granted. What I will take is one nice-ish day at a time. I'm going to *try* to get out to the Boyleston stretch of the John Wayne Trail today, if it'll get up over freezing any time soon!

    ReplyDelete
  4. So patches of snow still on the ground here in TX. Sunny, but blowing a COLD wind. My driveway is a wreck. We need a bunch of gravel brought in. I can get the 4x4 truck out, but don't think I can do it with the trailer. Trails too muddy to ride anyway.

    whine....whine...

    ReplyDelete
  5. It's creeping toward 60 during the days here. And I saw green stuff on the ride Saturday! It was kind of freaky - I thought it was algae or something, then I realized that it was some extremely brave grass poking up at the edges of the puddles. Green! I kind of miss green, but that's what blogs are for, right?

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

To err is human. To be anonymous is not.

Popular Posts