Welcome Spring!

 

Good Morning! Happy Spring! Its a beautiful day here, today, finally my tomatoes will be in the ground. Hopefully so will peppers, and I will finally get my peas planted. I hope its not to late. It has been a busy week trying to get caught up with the work so we can get to the fun stuff. I have all of my flowerbeds cleaned around the house, now to add mulch. I planted zinnias this week in one of the flowerbeds. I have a few more plants in my seed tray that were just to small to plant.
I did get my melons planted too.

So far I have planted a melon called Tigger melon from Baker Creek Seeds. Some other melons like cantaloupe and honeydew and I plan on growing them on a trellis. Just to see how they grow. The one thing we have been able to always grow here is melons. The last time we grew them our kids said, "Please, no more melons."

 

The other day I walked up on the porch and there on the wall was this little bat.  He slept there all afternoon. Then about twilight, I was sitting there watching and he just woke up and flew away. I have always wanted to see one close up. This is really how tiny he was, when I first saw him I thought it was a big moth.

We also had a swarm of bees show up. They are now in the wall of my shed out there. We are going to have to take the outside part off to get them out if we can. We were waiting for them to settle down before we messed with them. The bee hive is all set up just waiting. I am so glad I kept all of my stuff from my last bee experience. These are very mellow bees. Unlike the kind I had last time that were part killer bee I am sure. Every time I gave them water, they would sting me. I couldn't even walk around them without five wanting to fight.
This bunch is much calmer and act like normal bees. They just can't live in my shed. I am so excited about them. Do you know how good my fruit and garden will do with bees this close to pollinate! Sasha was a young dog the last time we had bees, and she is so allergic to them. I had to keep Benadryl on hand so I could keep her from getting sick. They hated her on sight. These new bees haven't done anything to her and I saw her watching them yesterday and they didn't try to fight her, so these are a good fit.

 

The trees are finally blooming. For the last 10 years or so they bloomed in late February. This year has been perfect. I just love seeing everything blooming. We have planted 10 fruit trees this year. Ron is going to graft onto our crabapple trees. Our crabapple trees are nicely established so it will be interesting to see what happens.

I bought my own birthday present this year. I have wanted one of these for years. I love my hula hoe, don't get me wrong, but this is the machine for living here. I did almost the whole place yesterday. I was so proud of myself. Though last night was a different story. I got 3 outdoor bikes on my fitbit yesterday and 171 minutes of exercise. Plus the best 20,325 steps. I have never got that before.

Ron was on the tractor and I was doing this and its just amazing to me how much we can get done.
Last year, Ben did all of this with a weed eater. Poor guy, this is so much better. I can't wait to use it again.

I just took my muffins out of the oven now I can put on my farm girl hat and get outside and play in the dirt.
Have a wonderful day,
Kim

“What a happy woman I am, living in a garden, with books, babies, birds and flowers, and plenty of leisure to enjoy them. Sometimes I feel as if I were blest above all my fellows in being able to find happiness so easily."
(Quoted from Elizabeth and Her German Garden by Elizabeth von Arnim)”
― Rosamunde Pilcher, The Shell Seekers