The Busy Month of May

Spring has officially come here in all its glory, and you may have noticed a lack of posting on my part, but I can assure you it is not because I have a lack of things to share, but because we have been so busy with all the things going on here that I just haven't had the time.  After a long winter it feels great to get outside and just enjoy the beautiful weather we have been having.

The garden is freshly tilled and waiting to be planted.  Because of the very wet and cold spring we have been having, I will be waiting until June to plant my warm-weather plants, but I have already put in my peas, carrots, onions, kale, broccoli, spinach and Swiss chard.

We bought this little gazebo last fall, and my intention was to make it into a greenhouse, but we have changed our plans for it, and have decided to make it a potting/storage shed, and I am quite excited to have a place to store all my gardening tools. I have also created a little "garden within a garden" area to the left of the shed.  It is a lightly shaded area, and as it is a work in progress, I will show you more about it later once I have flowers blooming there, but I am very excited about having a place for my flowers, without worries of chickens or dogs mowing it down, lol!

A year or so ago, our trees were attacked with pine beetles, and we lost hundreds of trees.  The cleanup of these dead trees has been ongoing, and really consuming our time lately.  We are trying to get them cleared up before fire season arrives.

Depending on the size of the tree, it can take quite a bit of work to fell the dead tree, cut off the dead limbs, haul the limbs to the brush pile, cut the wood into firewood, load the firewood  into the tractor, to be dumped onto our ever growing woodpile.

We are so thankful for our tractor as it does a massive amount of work for us.  In the loader of the tractor, it can hold the entirety of a medium sized lodgepole pine tree full of firewood, to be taken and dumped on our woodpile.

This sweet little girl is our ever-present helper as we work on the seemingly endless tree project.

A pensive moment with Miss Riley, shared by myself... as exhaustion sets in, with all the work involved in the removal of all the dead trees.

I don't think you can know the meaning of exhaustion until you have worked with lodgepole pines, lol!  These lodgepole (or jack) pines are considered the "curse of the forest" for many, because they are fast growing trees, but because they grow so fast, their limbs die as they grow, creating massive amounts of dead limbs even on a tree that is living.  So the brush from these trees creates a lot of work to collect and burn.  This huge slash pile that you see was built by us within a few hours, after felling about 15 lodgepole trees.

Here you can see the work that we still have in front of us.  The power company came out this winter, and laid down about 100 dead trees that were too close to the power lines.  We have made only a small dent in cleaning up the brush from these dead trees.

Burning the slash piles is always an exciting event, as it brings us one step closer to our goal of cleaning up the dead trees and brush that are such a fire hazard.

The dogs kept us in close company as we worked.  We have often joked that we wished we could train them to haul brush, lol!

On a happier note... my tulips have bloomed!  I bought these tulips from Breck's last fall, and am thrilled about their beautiful blooms that we are now enjoying in the garden.

I love this gorgeous two-toned tulip.  It doesn't grow as tall as the others, but its beauty is stunning.

Many gorgeous shades of bright colors are now gracing the flower beds.

I surely can't pick a favorite, all of them have beautiful rich deep colors.

My strawberries are beginning to put on their blooms.  These are my June-Bearing strawberries, and we are looking forward to our first strawberry harvest of the year quite soon!

In the yard, wild phlox is growing everywhere.  Its soft purple hues brighten up the world around us.

Our comfy lounge chair has been taken over by our resident napper-in-chief.

A pair of Goldfinches visiting our bird feeders.  We love hearing their beautiful songs as they feed.

A herd of elk have taken up residence on our road, munching on the abundance of green grass that is growing this spring. They haven't visited our yard, as our dogs are not exactly the welcoming committee they hope to meet, lol!

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So that is a little update for the busy spring that we have been having here.  My husband and I did take one day off to go up into the mountains and just relax after all the work we have been doing.  I hope to come back in a day or two to share that day with you, it was a lovely one.  I have been quite absent in visiting blogs in the last couple of weeks, and I hope to find time soon to get back to visiting with all my wonderful readers.   :)  Until then, I hope that all of you have a blessed and lovely week ahead of you!