Hi everyone. It almost seems like winter here in SE Ohio instead of spring. Today there were actually snow flurries on and off all day! The wind has been especially biting too. Well what has been going on? Wednesday I had preschool and the kids were back in school. they go straight through now until the end of May, no extra days off. But the time will go quickly and summer vacation will be here before we know it. Yesterday I spent cleaning house, and doing some odd jobs here. I still have some sewing to do tomorrow yet though. Today Cale put up some slate on a wall in the family room, so it is finished now. I put down some tile, and scrubbed down a halway. He refurbished an old bookcase, by replacing old screws, covering it with barn siding to make it look rustic, and adding a shelf. It looks really neat. I also spring cleand my family room. The kids must ahve over 1000 books, so we sorted through them this evening and put them back on the shelf that Cale built. Tomorrow we are probably going to cut some wood, hopefully it is a little warmer.

Ramona is doing very good... She has been out with the other chickens and has a barely noticable limp, more like a hop, skip kind of movement. The other chickens are not bothering her now, except the rooster...

The daffodils and the forsithia are in full color right now. I love it when they bloom. We planted a whole bank aabout 160 feet long with forsithia last year. The plants are still small, but in a few years they will be very beautiful.

One area of my yard is behind our wood shed. I have planted there a willow tree with a swing under it. a pine tree I have had since 5th grade and Cale dug it up and moved it here for me, some Rose of Sharon bushes, some honey suckle, an ash tree, a small cedar, and these forsythia are on the other side. In a few years it will be like a secret garden!!! It is so neat. Already if I sit under the willow tree in the summer, no one can see me. I let the branches grow right down to the ground, and Cale is nice enough not to mind mowing under and ariund them. I am plannning to add some things to this area this year, just haven't decided what yet. I have some iris's that will need dividing so I may move some of them there.

Well I had better go, early morning tomorrow. It is supposed to be warner and I want to hang a bunch of laundry and help with the firewood.

-- Melissa in SE Ohio (me@home.net), April 05, 2002

Answers

I'm still at school working tonight, grading papers and getting things ready for a new week, it's almost 10 and I'm trying to wrap up my day. I ran home and helped with chores. I love to see the baby lambs running in jumping in their pasture and just like children they hate going to bed for the night. Then after fixing supper it was back in to town. It has been cool here all day, the sun had been out but it has snowed on and off for the better part of the day. I just looked out the windows of my classroom and it has started to stick and there is an accumulation of about an inch on the ground. I'm trying to get my work done tonight so I can go out in the woods with Gary and the boys this weekend. We need to start cutting timbers for the house we started last fall but didn't get far on before the snow started :( I so enjoy working in the woods and already I have named some of the old trees. We have an old maple and an old beech that have to be over 100 years old. I love to go and sit under those Momma trees and look at all the offspring that are growing around them. Back to work, so I can get home to Gary and the kids.

-- Polly (jserg45@hotmail.com), April 05, 2002.

It was very cold here today in western PA - some snowflakes blowing around. BUT!!! ;)

Daffodils & grape hyacinths are up

Hostas are pushing up through the mulch

Lung wort is blooming

Mums are on their way

All perennials & herbs are greening up

Columbine is very tall already

I keep telling myself: HAVE NO FEAR - SPRING HAS NOT SPRUNG, BUT IT WILL SPRING! :)

-- heather (h.m.metheny@att.net), April 05, 2002.

Well, we're still working on that garden! We have one large (14x14) bed nearly done, and another (14x42) under way. They will be the only beds that large I am planning, and I will plant my potatoes and corn in them this year, probably use at least one for watermelons and cantaloupe next year. We decided to do them first because I can (finally!) get my onions, potatoes, carrots, and maybe even some peas (I may have to wait until fall for those, it's probably too warm already). I can also do get my radishes and some lettuce in.

It's been nice the last couple of days, so we've really been working on the beds. Lance was at the station today, so the boys and I worked digging a trench for the final telephone pole (we had some laying around, so we thought they would work well for the beds), raking the dirt, washing the suburban, going to the grocery store, and later to the post office (since I forgot the letters I wanted to mail laying on the table!).

I haven't done well with the buy-nothing campaign, partly because I've been so scatterbrained lately that I can't remember to get everything I need at once, and partly because we have had so much money going out, what with the personal expenses and March always being an expensive month for the lawn care (liability insurance is due, and March is the month the customers that want spraying done get it - we pay, then bill them, so it adds up to a big hit on the checking account!). I don't like to stock up on something I may not need when I know there's not a lot extra in the "kitty" for it. After we replenish our savings, I'll do better.

My great-niece's birthday party (1 year old!) is tomorrow, and I haven't made her present yet, so I'll be busy for at least an hour tomorrow! I was going to do it tonight, but got distracted, and then discovered that I had forgotten to get my sewing box out. (after Tom had retreated to his room - where my sewing stuff is!) I'm making her a doll quilt and pillow out of some old flannel that my mother made me a pair of pajamas out of when I was about 8! I'm going to tie it rather than quilt it, so it shouldn't take too long to do, I hope.

Well, the boys are in bed, Tom's off reading and nursing his cold, Lance is probably asleep at the station, and I'm headed off to get ready for bed! I saw a couple of signs for Estate Sales around this afternoon, we just might have to do a little driving and shopping tomorrow morning!

-- Christine in OK (cljford@mmcable.com), April 06, 2002.

Saturday morning and there is over an inch of snow on the ground!!! Hey! doesn't anybody up there know it is April????!!!!!

-- Melissa in SE Ohio (me@home.net), April 06, 2002.

Melissa Whats up you are not to have snow down there. Here in NE Oh the sun is shineing and it is COLD. I don't think my poor flowers will ever get to bloom. I was picking up downed branches and sticks out back and it started to snow pellet. Little round balls of snow and it came down thick for a little while. My son and daughter in law just took off on their motorcycle. They are nuts it is still too cold to ride even if the sun is out. Lets think warm and just maybe it will warm up. Billie NE Oh

-- billie jagers (billie@config.com), April 06, 2002.

Hi Billie! Was that Richard? Tell him we said "Hi" and not to plan on riding south!! It is too cold here for a motorcyle!!!!

-- Melissa in SE Ohio (me@home.net), April 06, 2002.

Rain all day here, and also predicted as a 100% chance for all day tomorrow! At least it's coming down slow and not washing all my good tilled up dirt away!

-- Christine in OK (cljford@mmcable.com), April 06, 2002.

My peas are up! Now if I can just keep the cats and the deer out of them I might get some to eat. My tulips, iris and day lilies are up but haven't bloomed. I found some boards to finish trimming my windows and painted them today. (So excited because they were free, someone doing some renovation was tossing them and said I could have them) :o) Sun was shining all day and it is in the 70's. I decided to use the swamp cooler (no water in it yet) to really air the house out. Still expecting cold nights for at least 2 months, but it feels like springtime in the Rockies today!

-- kim in CO (kimk61252@hotmail.com), April 07, 2002.