April Begins Anew!

March has literally marched right past us so quickly that it has been somewhat of a blur. It was a busy month with lots of visits and a few new activities. Spring has definitely arrived as we are enjoying beautiful warm, sunny days in the low 70*. For today and tomorrow it is predicted to be in the HIGH 70 - low 80* range. Hard to believe for the first day of April. I may be able to wear short sleeves Sunday. The first time in several years for an Easter Sunday.

It has been fun the past couple of days writing my latest blog posts. Reading back over them while looking for something has been a treat, too. They remind me just how far we've come. Our garden is beginning to take shape. Having cleared almost half of it from rocks. With Brian and Crystal's help we have a couple of early plantings in the ground. Lon and I added 2 rows of thornless blackberry vines to it yesterday. Moving the garlic will fill out another row. All of the fruit trees and grape vines have now been planted. I was thrilled to see new growth on the fig bushes and on one of the plum trees planted last month. Everything will require frequent waterings till they get established. Which translates into lots of trips to the rain barrels. All of the fruit bearing items are part of the foundation for the farm garden we are planning to create. It would be nice to get the structural foundations; buildings built as well. But they will come in time when extra funds are available.

Lon is back at work today, so I am farming alone. I need to buy a few things at the grocery store. So I was thinking a trip to Wedowee to try out a family own store would be a treat. My car tag has expired and needs to be replaced. Which I can pick up in the same town. An Alabama Fire tag will be riding on my car from now on. Making me an official resident of the state. Lon is member of the Volunteer Bethel East Fire department, giving us the priviledge to have them on our vehicles. With all this pretty weather, my car could also use a good bath too!

I stopped by the Wally world in the next town over to check out a couple of items for the house. Anyone who knows me, knows I can't pass up a garden section. . I was not disappoint in what I found. It may be a small store in a small rural town, but it is BIG on gardening! I came away with a buggy filled with vegetable plants, flower, herb and veggie seeds, small pots of herbs for my herb garden and a beautiful ole-timey rose bush. Not to mention what I went into the store for in the first place. Our work is definitely cut out for us now. I can't wait to see it reaching high for the sky while sitting in our garden.

While on the way home I got lost again on the country roads I am trying to learn. Due in part to a wrong turn out of the parking lot. (blushing here). But I must confess that I was also talking to mom as I drove down these country roads, realizing too late of my mistake till after I had travel many miles. A quick call to Lon got me headed back in the right direction before the ice cream melted and the plants began to wilt.

There was an extra choir practice tonight for the Easter music we will be presenting on Sunday. Lon had to miss it due to work, but I was able to get there just a wee bit late. After getting everyone fed and milked. It was a great time of fellowship with people we are loving to be around.

The bird chorus every morning and in the late evenings has been marvelous! Even before the sun rises you can hear them singing out their varied calls. Wake up! Wake up! It is another beautiful day, they sing. It is a melody that only they can create. It blesses my soul to hear them and then having them sing me towards bed at the close of another great day here. Sitting on the porch rockers listiening to them late in the evening is the best tonic for a good night's sleep.

Lifting my praises along with the birds,

Deborah

By the way we reach a hot 75* today!

Spring Activities

Enjoying the Spring time requires being outside in order to capture all the goodness it has to offer. If you are like me, most of you have been itching to get outside and do a few gardening chores, soaking up the sunshine in the process. I have made use of the pretty days lately to do a few of my favorites things too. Like . . .

Putting up an old bird feeder by the garden. It is one that I brought from our old house that stood in a flower bed. You may not can tell from the picture but it has been nibbled on by the squirrels that often tried to raid it. My daddy built it and despite it worn appearance I could never part with it. So I filled it with sunflower seeds and will wait for the birds to find them. It is situated so I can see it from both the front porch and my bedroom window.

Cleaning out a flowerbed or two. There are a couple that I have started since moving here. All of which have new weedy growth popping up in them from the abundance rain and now warming temperatures. The broken birdbath came with the place and I plan to replace it with one I already have. The hosta I planted last year is showing emerging furls of new leaves.

I cut out a spring bunny from a panel found in the treasure chest in the barn. The "treasure chest" I am referring to is the huge plastic tote I found when we cleaned out the house that we are making into a barn. It was stuffed full of fabric scraps and yards of fabric. I pulled out all of the cotton fabric to wash and line dry. It is stacked in my craft closet for future use as what ever my mind can dream up. Among the pieces was a craft panel for a "Spring Bunny". I am thinking it would make a great gift for Leah. I may even try to cut one out for our porch decor too. Isn't she cute?

Cut brush along the creek bank. While the goats browsed this evening I trimmed the brush, small trees and BRIERS away from a section of the creek bank near the driveway. I love hearing the tinkling sound of the water as it flows over rocks towards some unknown destination. Clearing out the rubble will make it easier to see and enjoy. Besides what else can you do while watching goats eat?

Ate dinner outside on the porch. Lon and I have always enjoyed eating outside on the porch. At our old house we had two tables set up. One sitting on the back of the house was large enough for family to gather around and near the grill. The table and chairs we inheirted when his Mother died. It has been fondly used every since. The round one on the front porch was set with just 2 chairs instead of the 4 that came with it. That is where Lon and I ate intimate meals for just the two of us. It was a quite place facing the lake that was in front of our house. Here we have a small front porch that allows us to eat while rocking if so desired. Plans are to build a back deck off from the dinning room that will be big enough to house one of the outside tables. Not sure right now what I will do with the other one. Maybe tuck it under a shady grove of trees for some truly alfresco dinning.

Gotta love the outside ~ it is nature's sedative,

Deborah

Getting My House in Order

16*F was the temperature when I got up this morning. It is suppose to warm up now after last night's Arctic blast. Though the down side is the warming trend is bringing in more rain with it. So any pressing outside chores need to be done today, as they are calling for rain to continue the next two days. Despite the frigid temperature I enjoyed being out with the animals this morning. Sleeping better last night has helped the way I feel today. Amazing what a good night's rest can do for a body. Almost energetic and there is a lift in my spirit besides. I've set for a spell this morning over a warm cup of coffee and made a list of to-do chores for my day.

I've had a beautiful cardinal greet me at the kitchen window as I made coffee in the mornings for several days now. He might have been begging a little and I finally got the hint to help him and his friends out. So I set up a barrel near the well house, scattering some birdseed on top of it. "Mr Red" isn't the only one that has been seen about these parts of the woods. I so miss the activity at my feeders back home. Watching the birds up close has been a favorite hobby of mine for many, many years. I even have a friend who will call me with all of her bird questions, knowing I have spent many hours with my nose pressed up to the glass. Birdwatching is just one of the many hobbies I follow, but one I enjoy where ever I find myself. It is one that needs little equipment and is portable, just needing two eyes to study our feathered friends of the trees. Setting up the feeder in front of the dinning room french doors should give us the chance to watch them munch on seeds and kitchen scraps. As we happily dine on our meals in front of them. Somewhere in all my yet to be unpacked boxes is the collection of "bird recipes" that I have collected and used to keep them coming back for more home cooking.

I feel the need for getting a home schedule in place, to get better organized in several areas of our home. Those cluttered areas are frustrating for me and a waste of energy brooding over them. Time to get with the program! Just getting an area or two settled has helped my mental disposition tremendously already. The starting of a new year, the first day of Spring or the beginning of a calendar month are times of the year when we all tend to want to "get our house in order." I think we were created with a need for order built right into our beings. After all we were created in the image of God, who holds everything in order, all the time. Our difficulty comes in maintaining order in a world of chaos around us. There are plenty of "things" to vie for our attention on any given day. Plenty of reasons to let things slide a little, which isn't all bad as long as it doesn't slide into a total mess. Which it will do when we are not looking. So the key is to see our days, our homes, our lives with open eyes, ready to catch that oil spill that will cause us to slide out of control. To take little steps towards a future free from distractions and disorder. After all it is hard to play on a sunny Spring day, when the messes of Winter are still under foot.

Working my way towards playing,

Deborah