Could It Be?

Is spring finally here?
Rae-rae and Michael came over for dinner on Sunday afternoon, and we talked much about all we hoped to plant in our gardens this year.
Later Buttercup came for a visit. She was ready for some outside fun and wanted to swing right away.
My big pooch is growing up. Arwen was so good with Buttercup. As soon as she'd start to get a little distance from me, Arwen would get on the other side of her and herd her back without any pawing or jumping.
Buttercup has quite a vocabulary for one so wee- just seventeen months. She noticed I wouldn't let Arwen bound off without calling her back. On a long walk up the hill, as long as Buttercup was near me, Arwen would traipse off to investigate something. Buttercup would throw both little arms out ( in the "hold me" pose) and yell, "Doggie, come uh me, no, no." She knows Arwen isn't to wander off and Arwen knows Buttercup isn't, so it works very well.

Ahhh, at last.

Look at my lovely little spot, tilled by my Handy Man. It is full of swiss chard, lettuce and arugula ( umm, and chickie girl poop). So exciting.

I threw a black raspberry near the garden a few years back. I also have a few strawberries. I've never paid it much mind, as I primarily wanted a few of this and that for the kids to experience plucking and eating. The patch grows ever bigger and this year I thought it might be a good idea to find out what you are actually supposed to do with them. So, following directions, I removed all the dead and well over half of the living brambles.

In the coop, I recycle cardboard by placing it in a couple of areas where the chickie girls make the most deposits, then I pitch it in a compost pile. This weekend, after attacking the raspberry brambles, I put the cardboard, deposit side down around the canes. Now I'll cover the tops with some additional compost. I'll let you know the difference in the yield this year.

The girls are loving being outside. This is a favorite spot. I had to cover the roots of Handy Man's blue hydrangea with that chunk of wood, as I feared they were going to dig it right on out of there.

To me, there just isn't anything more amazing then the ability to turn bugs and grass into eggs. Production is picking up with a dozen eggs yesterday and thirteen today. Oh, last night, just before closing them up, Handy Man found another one of those rubbery eggs. So, the weird eggs continue.