Springtime Moments and a New Birth

We have been having an incredibly beautiful spring here. I hate to say that too much because I know so many of you who are my dear precious readers are just now beginning to have spring weather. Usually our spring is just getting started, but this year, it seems we are a month ahead!

The lupins are already starting to bloom, and the wild roses are just about to bloom out too.  My wild strawberries are full of little berries.  These usually don't come until closer to the end of May. We have had beautiful sunshiny weather, up into the 80s for several weeks, and I've already had to use our window air conditioner a couple of times!  Can you believe it?   Most years we never turn the air conditioner on until July.  We have also gotten lots of rain.  We have had several large rain systems come through with rain that left puddles (which is a lot of rain for us here, as our ground is porous and absorbs moisture very quickly). Needless to say, we are enjoying an amazing spring this year!

I hope you will enjoy the collection of pictures I've taken over the last several days of the springtime moments I've enjoyed over the past week.

Rufous hummingbirds visiting the feeder outside my window

 

My plants just about ready to go in the garden

Our pine trees don't have good branches, so we used a downed tree to make our own "branch"
for bird feeders and the flowers. 

My Prairiefire Crabapple is in bloom... gorgeous is an understatement! We planted it earlier this spring as a bareroot tree. 

Seeing these beautiful pink blooms in my very own yard just makes my heart happy! 

A butterfly enjoying the sweetness of the crabapple blooms

I'm reading an encyclopedia.... Organic gardening - so much to learn! So don't call me a walking encyclopedia yet! {grin}

A dozen white roses.  See that black rose? It is a metal rose crafted for me by my son for Mother's Day.

A beautiful rose that will never fade!

Some lilacs picked from my neighbor's yard and a peach rose handed to me by a lovely lady driving around handing out flowers to friends on Mother's Day. 

Treated to dinner on Mother's day.. enjoyed baked salmon with asparagus and a baked potato... wonderful! 

My kids surprised me and brought me a greenhouse for Mother's Day!  I could hardly believe it!  

We haven't put it together yet, because the instructions call for a specific foundation for the greenhouse, and that will need to be done properly before it is put together.   My two very special children put their heads, and their hard earned money together to buy me this greenhouse as a surprise for me.  I was incredibly surprised, and thrilled to receive such a special gift from them!  They were as excited as I was, to have surprised and blessed me so.  :)

Around the yard... a silly tomcat perched on top of the car. 

The two Eleanors perched on the roost for the night. It amazes me how the chickens separate themselves, and hang out together with their like kind.  I've seen them do it a lot.  They don't have a mirror to know what they look like, lol!  I'll often see the two Eleanors (can't tell them apart) together, as well as the two Martha's (my two Rhode Island reds) hanging out together in the yard, and roosting at night next to each other.

A new birth on the farm!  We let some of our hens sit on eggs fertilized by our one and only Mr. Rudy to see what would happen.  I walked out to the coop today to hear loud chirping, and met this sweet baby chick, just an hour or so old.  We have three other eggs that are still being incubated by our hens, and we are looking forward to meeting them too!

I hope this sweet little one is a she  {smiles} 

 She just melted my heart, so sweet and precious.  She cuddled into my hand, and quieted her chirping when I held her.

Exciting days for sure... and more work for me, because now the little chicks who have gotten old enough to not need the light and enclosure, are not too happy about being pushed out of their cozy space by the newcomer, and keep trying to get back in.  I've been going out to the coop every hour or so since the little one was born to check on her.  She is alone for now, but hopefully by tomorrow or the next day we will have some other little chicks to join her.  I'll keep you posted :)