A rare afternoon of sunshine this past week opened up an opportunity for my husband and I along with the dogs to get out and hike. With all the rain and mud we've had, when the skies cleared we jumped at the chance to get out and explore.  We wanted to see how much snow had melted in our woods and so we got ready and headed out.

We are fully into our early spring here, which is quite simply - a mess!  Lots of rain, lots of mud, and lots of gray drippy skies.  But the happy thought is that the snow is melting, and once the snow melts and ground thaws, then the happy faces of spring will be with us.  For now, we must just endure the messiness...


I took Annie and Riley for a walk and now the gravel road is completely free of ice and snow. The snowbanks are dirty too, all signs of spring melt.


Riley still thinks that walking herself is more fun (by holding her leash in her mouth lol), but when she starts to try to walk Annie, then we have problems!


Someone needed to be taught a lesson, and Annie gently growled at her to let her know that she is the boss, and does not need to be walked!



So our walks have turned into more of a circus than anything!  If we get a few uninterrupted steps in, that's progress!


 You can see the snow is gradually melting away, and patches of bare ground are appearing.

 

Spring is coming, it really is.  We just have to be patient while the ground thaws, and that is the hardest part.  So I got busy planning for spring!  I had begun this garden journal last year, but it needed some more work.  I used Heat-n-Bond to adhere a fabric cover to the little journal, and then "spiffied" it up with some scrapbooking stickers, lace, ribbon, buttons and a shabby rose.

Last year I kept track of when my seeds were planted, and when they were harvested along with a chart recommending dates of planting in our area.  It was interesting to go back and see that I am approaching the date for early planting.  However, I am not sure if I am going to start so early this year. I think I am going to wait until April because our spring this year is so much later than it was last year.


I kept every package of seeds I sowed, and then photocopied them (4 at a time) onto plain paper, cut them out and pasted them in my journal.  I decided this would be the easiest way to track how my seeds did, and which companies or particular plants did better than others.  I kept fairly good records, but hopefully this coming year with my journal in place and ready to go, my records will be even more precise.


Some years ago we were blessed to live by a neighbor who had gardened all of his life.  He was in his 90s and still gardening. He showed me all of his gardening journals that he had kept, handwritten, all those many years.  He could tell me which year was the best or worst, what weather conditions were, and what varieties grew best in the area.  I've always been inspired since then to try to keep better track of my gardening efforts, and I hope to continue to work towards that this year.  I still have notes to make in my journal from last year.  I took pictures of my garden in various stages and had the pictures printed in 4x4 format so I could write my thoughts beside the pictures.




Then I needed to write our sweet little child a letter whom we sponsor through Gospel For Asia. We are not able to send anything bigger than flat things that will fit in the envelope.  I decided to make him his own bookmark with his initial on it, along with my letter to him.  I can tell how much he has grown over the past several years that we have sponsored him, and he tells me that he is playing football now, whereas before he would tell me how much he likes to color {smiles}.  He always tells me that he prays for our family. And we do likewise for him.  It is such a special communication and blessing to be a part of this little boy's life in India.



On my way into town, I saw this rushing stream created by all the snow melt.  Normally there is little to no water here, but in the spring, things change quickly.


This year is posing a bit of difficulty with water runoff.  Since we had a very wet fall last year, the ground was very wet, and then we had an extremely cold freeze in November before we had any snow.  This has created a deep frost layer in the ground that is preventing the water from absorbing into the ground, and now it is just running off.  This year is a bad year for our county, and on Thursday our county was placed under emergency protection because of so many road wash-outs and flooding.


And of course the pot holes have turned the road into an axle disaster! Nothing like a road full of pot holes to keep drivers within the speed limit, lol!


The deep snow we had this winter is slowly but surely melting, and while I am sad to see it go... I am looking forward to bright green hues again soon...



The call of the ducks and geese are filling the air again... and the open water in the ponds are full of geese once again.  Such are the seasons of life... passing so quickly!


It is this in-between time of year, when it is not really spring, and yet not really winter, that one must appreciate the beauty one finds, wherever it is.  And these happy geese swimming in open waters free of ice made my heart happy to watch them enjoy the day.



Springter... as I like to call this season... has a beauty all of its own :)
 

The cold wind blowing off the snow-covered mountains, despite the sunshine was a cool reminder that the mountains know nothing of spring.. yet!  They will not lose their snow until May or June.



Cats have perfected the art of sleep!  A cold rainy day makes for perfect naps...


And this sweet face... has perfected the art of sleeping too! She plays hard, and sleeps hard too.


A peek of our yard... quite a mess!  Time for rubber boots!


Animals know nothing of boots, gloves, hats, scarves or coats.  They are always prepared, no matter what weather they face.  I never cease to be amazed at their resiliency in all the seasons and weather!


Happy songs breaking forth from Mr. Pepper's heart in the bright sunshine that lit up the afternoon skies.


Remember my 6 orphaned chicks that I took in this past December? Well, here they are.  Three hens and three roosters.  Anyone need a banty rooster?  {smiles}  We have reached our max capacity for roosters here, even though they sure are handsome fellows!


My garden is beginning to look a little lighter, but still, the snow melt has a long way to go yet before I can see if any of my tulips will come up this spring :)



We are all looking forward to spring, but I think my chickens are most glad that the weather is warmer, the snow is melting, and green grass surely can't be far off!

So there you have ... this in-between season that swings wildly between winter and spring hence my calling this season "springter", and yet the promise of spring is there... and while I forgave winter last week... I'm ready this week to bid winter goodbye and welcome late spring with all her loveliness, but I know we must endure early spring weather first, and so we are doing that as patiently as we can.  :)

The winter days are slipping by, slowly, one by one!  The snow is halfheartedly melting, but we can't get too excited, because more is on the way tomorrow.  So there is just a little bit of this, and not much of that going on.


Our driveway has been and still is solid ice, so this gentle snowfall was quite welcome, to add a bit of layer and texture to the ice.


This glorious view was stunning on a quick trip into town this week.


One never tires of this view... it changes and recreates itself in a fresh way, every day!



Little Miss Riley wanted up in my lap while I was working at the computer, but then my lap wasn't good enough, she wanted on my desk!


Perfect spot for a nap!  Seeing her sleeping there so peacefully made me think about stopping for a nap too!


Mr. Simba doesn't care for the snow  too much.  He tolerates it.  He was happy to have found a spot to sit and gaze comfortably out at the world without having to sit on a snowbank.


Soon, the rest of the crew showed up to just... sit!


You can see the budding friendship between Mr. Simba and Riley - or not!  Miss Riley tries so hard to befriend Mr. Simba, but he continues to be very grumpy and cranky.  But!  At least I got a family picture here of all of them together, how amazing is that!


Then these two decided that was enough sitting around, and they romped and wrestled for a while.


Mr. Simba had enough of all their nonsense, and decided to get away... fast! A cozy spot in front of the window was much preferred to all of this.


Having too much snow fun!


Since Mr. Simba vacated the coveted spot... Miss Riley took over the spot gladly, and watched the chickens with great interest.

So there you have it... a little bit of a whole lot of not too much of our February winter days :)

It has been a long winter for our chickens with lots of bitterly cold days where they haven't even come out of the coop into the run, with more snow than you can shake a foot at, and now... more rain than anyone knows what to do with.


I opened the coop door late one afternoon, and the hens just about stampeded by me out the door.


I had left the door open before, and the hens would just stand there and shake their feet at the snow, and hurry back inside the coop.  But not today!


Enough was enough!  They were glad to get out in the snow and peck around.


After these long months of being cooped up in the coop, they decided walking in the cold snow would be better than hanging out in the coop any longer.


 Mr. Pepper announced his great approval at this new turn of events.


The chickens mostly stayed on my path that I had taken all winter to feed them and seemed to have no desire to walk in the deep snow at all.


Back inside... these two were taking a little break after a fun romp.


Riley is growing soo fast!  She is already twice the size she was when our son brought her home!


Beautiful sunrises and sunsets abound!


Shades of purples and pink graced the horizon as the glorious sunset gently closed the door to the day.


A trip out to the little mountain lake nearby revealed it completely frozen over with a lonely ice fisherman set up for the day.


As we walked out on the frozen ice, the ice fisherman heard us and he opened the zipper on his tent and we talked for a little while.  He hadn't had much luck for the day, only a perch so far, and we wished him the best of luck.


I had no desire to walk any farther out on the ice, as clearly there was quite a bit of melting going on!  We asked the ice fisherman how much ice he had, and he said he had 8" deep.  He was braver than I was.  We were standing on the melting ice close to shore, and decided not to linger!


I hope our ice fisherman friend caught more than just a perch for all his efforts and time! It was a beautiful day, with brilliant skies and sunshine and we enjoyed our time of "walking on water" {smiles}.


My husband brought home this lovely pot full of spring flowers that can be replanted in my garden... hyacinths, tulips and primroses... just beautiful to see these lovely flowers and to enjoy their beauty also with the hope that they will continue to be enjoyed in my garden when planting time arrives.


 Even though a lot of our snow has melted, we still have a lot of it left to melt!  These lovely flowers serve up a great reminder that spring will have its way, soon.


Just a few shots below of the pretty blooms... surely you don't mind my indulgence in these bright and lovely colors... :)


Such a warmly colored peach tulip


Brilliant primroses...


... and the happy pink hyacinths. Looking at these flowers brings happy springtime thoughts to my heart... while the reality outside is a bit different...


Have you ever seen skating chickens?


Well, now you have, lol!  The girls have become so eager to get out of the coop that they are attempting their ability to skate on our driveway, which is far more fun than staying in the coop any longer... and I can't blame them a bit! Even though it is a bit funny to see them try to make or skate their way across the ice!


Keeping up with all the excitement around here just makes one plumb tired.  Don't you wish you could sleep as soundly and as cutely... as this sweet little one, lol!

We are supposed to get a mixture of snow and rain for the next couple of days. Winter and spring are playing their tug-o-war, but the longer days let me know that spring is on the upside... and the beautiful blooms, sights and smells of spring are not that far away, and the days of being cooped up will be but a memory in a month or two when the snow melts, and ground warms up.  :)