Y’all are my witnesses

Lest we get a nasty-gram from the city because our "grass" is approaching the 8" limit, this is why we aren't mowing.

It looks like the field in front of the chapel at Camp Lambec in early summer- like a mirror with grass poking out of it.

The "creek"/drainage ditch out back. Below, Amur honeysuckle have taken over what's left of our drowned pine trees. Apparently it's like candy or soda pop for birds; they love it but there's not much nutritional value to it. And it SPREADS. There's also black raspberry canes in there. Last year a smart robin built a nest in that mess and had protection AND a food source at hand. This year we have one who has built her nest on top of our deck light, so we've been scaring the bejeezus out of each other on a regular basis. She hasn't figured out that if she'd stay PUT instead of flapping away at breakneck speed when we're right beside her that everyone would be happier!

This is part of the drainage ditch we dug ourselves to get standing water from part of the swamp that borders our property to the above drainage canal. It's only a few inches deep, but I can't even tell you the satisfaction I get when I schlep out there and see water running through it and down the side of the ditch! *squelch squelch squelch*

 

Probably gonna jinx it all...

At this point, I should know better than to publicly celebrate springtime-ish weather because it always leads to another snowfall or two and I get grumpy. It's bad enough we're back on stupid Daylight Savings Time which I can't believe became a thing and can't for the life of me figure out why it is STILL a thing! Anyway, here goes nothing and I will take all the blame for any upcoming horrendous weather which is sure to show up because this is Ohio.

IT IS SO NICE OUT!!!! I'm picking up sticks in a Tshirt! WOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Anybody need any pine cones or pine needles? We have a few.

And a few more.

And there's water in the creek/ditch.

I found a solitary Virginia Springbeauty!

The lilies are coming up on the left and the slightly taller ones on the right are our purple irises.

A brave new mullein by the pond:

And oh, to talk about jobs I am NOT looking forward to. *huge sigh* Now that I have a wheelbarrow that works, I have zero excuses to not clean this out. It used to have frogs and even a few fish and was lovely but it is completely choked with dead leaves and it going to smell righteously bad once I start baling all of that out of there. We didn't even have any frogs last year. I think they figured out how disgusting it was. That is not a job for today, but someday soon I'll have to put on my big girl pants and boots and get busy. You'll know when I'm doing it because of the stench and the black cloud of piratey talk!

On the flip side is the cool, downed owl tree. It's so full of holes and busted bark- it really is fascinating!

I'm wondering if anyone has been playing in this hole... or if anyone will move in! 

 

It's beginning to look a lot like SPRINGTIME!

Once again, the photos loaded wherever they darn well pleased, so bear with me through the chaos. 

Speaking of chaos, yes, it really is two in the morning. We experienced some storms tonight and our Great Pyrenees is a Great Big Chicken when it comes to storms. She takes it upon herself to move furniture and pace and pant, and when a large dog moves furniture and paces and pants, you know it. And you get up. Especially when you have pots of dirt sitting around inside like so many sitting ducks. But that's another story. 

Here's a side view of the shed showing how badly it needs a new roof. The lower side is not too bad. The very top, however, is another story. 

I know some of y'all have gorgeous harbingers of spring like tulips and crocuses and hyacinths. I get these cuties with the delicate pink veins running through them. One of their nicknames is Fairy Spud. I think that's adorable! 

Because Dada tills up the dirt in the back forty garden every year, I have to remove anybody who started growing on their own lest they get turned under. I had five of these guys, yellow mulleins, who needed rescued so I transplanted them along the drainage ditch/creek that is our back border. Someone evidently thinks he is delicious- look at all those nibbles in his leaves! We've seen a lot of deer lately, and there are tiny fuzzy baby bunnies being hidden in our strawberry patch, which seems like a dream place to grow up to me! However, we've also seen several small snakes. I am glad they're here, especially close to the garden, but that also puts them close to the baby bunnies whom I am hoping do not turn into snacks. 

Also, snakes, I would greatly appreciate it if you would please eat ticks and whatever was eating my tomatoes last year- a vole, perhaps? Thanks. ~Management

Here's the back garden with the ditch beyond it. You can just see the edge of the fence around the strawberry patch to the right. The dying cherry tree is on the left. It gives us about 7 cherries a year, haha. 

Mentally slide this photo of a trench in between the other trench pictures, because it's the middle shot. Since we live in what used to be the Great Black Swamp, some of our areas are rather, well, swampy. Dada, being an engineer, decided to help things out a little and dug a small trench to help our lowest lying area to drain to the back ditch. 

And because he's an engineer, when I asked for two openings in our already existing fence this year, he made me these snazzy closures that are just like big buttons! I'm so tickled! We used to have one large opening in the side of the garden closest to the house. Last year for whatever reason we had an opening facing the ditch as well and I found it very convenient for filling my watering can in the ditch instead of hoofing it all the way around every time. Made me appreciate  not having to run to a river daily for water and count the rest of my blessings as well. 

Dada's bane and one of my great delights:

We ran out of winter and didn't get our apple trees pruned so they look terrible but they're starting to bud, so they will be gorgeous with blossoms pretty soon. We are going to have to go crazy with trimming in winter 2020-2021. Ugh. 

I still have more dirt to play with, so yesterday it was All Pots on Deck. Some of these will hopefully be lemongrass, basil, chives, marigolds, delphiniums, and a mix of annuals that came in a seed packet claiming to be terrific for cut flowers. I guess we'll see if anybody comes up. Some of these guys are inside on the bar right now and some I tucked up against the back wall of the garage in the small garden outside as I knew we'd be having storms. Didn't want anyone getting tipped off the table...

Deer hoof prints

Drat, this is the last photo of the three trench pictures. Apparently they wanted me to show you them in reverse, haha, with the water going uphill from the ditch back into the swampy woods:

 This one followed me around while I took all the other photos and had been out galavanting around with Dada doing nature Art for one of her classes. 

"Take my picture. Take my picture. Take my picture." 

Consider it taken, kid.