Diary 3/30/14

Pruning trees, burning brush, and doing some clean up in the yard. It is endless, but little areas look good when they get a bit of attention. Lots more garden clean-up to do, but so much easier when it is dry. Doesn't look like a real dry week, but Wednesday and part of Thursday looked like just showers, so hopefully get back to pruning raspberries.

Diary 3/29/14

Can't tell yet how many plum blossoms set fruit when it was 28 degrees for many a night. There are so many blooms, and they stack up on one another in a away that protects some while forfeiting others. The hard rain is knocking petals off the trees to form a pretty mat underneath.

.

Diary 3/28/14

It has been raining, raining, raining. I feel sorry for the children and the parents who have this time off for Spring Break. It has been dismal.

The ground is so saturated now that the night crawlers are out of the ground for air. At first they build little shelters over their holes, and then I have even seen where they have whole leaves over the small holes they come up to the surface through. But as the rain continues, I guess they get flooded out and have to evacuate. We need the rain, so I am not complaining.

Diary 3/27/14

I am here now. I got away again for a short sojourn. Won't be able to do that gain for awhile as I am starting the tomatoes and peppers not only for us, but also the Wildflower Show fund raiser for the local fire department.

Diary 3/23/14

Humbert Wolfe (1885-1940) was an observer of nature. Not even Hubert, Humbert has the only tulip reference in Familiar Quotes. He wrote in 1924:
Tulip

Clean as a lady,
cool as glass,
fresh without fragrance
the tulip was.
  I like this one, too:

The Gray Squirrel

Like a small gray
coffee pot
sits the squirrel.
These are only
the first stanzas, and they deserve further reading if I can find them.
Happy Sunday, very sunny here today with a week of showers on the way.

Diary 3/22/14

Busy day, beautiful day, but still sooo dry.

Diary 3/21/14

Welcome Spring! The days are starting out so cold with serious freezing. Not sure how many blooms on the plum trees will set fruit. Luckily, most of the apples are not even thinking about blooming, but the cherries are starting to follow the plum trees suit. The plums have so many blossoms that some usually protect others. Doesn't seem like cherries have so profuse of blooms and may not fare as well. The trees may all get a break this year. Up on the mountain, the huckleberries may try to bloom early also as there is no snow pack covering them. Frosts continue into June up there. Nature has a way of producing fruit somewhere else when these events occur. It is more important to animals than to me who can go to the market and get peaches from Chili!

Diary 3/18/14

One last southwest post. Still recovering from all the sights and sounds of the area. It was so different and had a unique old west beauty to it...These are three views of an old cattle ranch in Oracle, AZ, the Konnally Ranch, The basket on the table straight ahead on the table was full of pressed local wildflowers. The bed and breakfast where we stayed had a pile of them, also. They were my kind of people! I am busy pressing and getting ready to do my own laminating of local flowers.

More trees!

Sycamore in Tubac

Oak and Mesquite in wash by Patagonia

Arizona trees

It is an odd thing that when you go to southern Arizone this time of year, it is not greening up very much. There was a little green grass from the rains they had over the last month, but the trees such as Mesquite wait until late summer and the monsoon season to leaf out. That is also when the grass will turn green. Seems backwards, but that is how it is there.

Diary 3/15/14

Southwestern critters from my visit.

Diary 3/14/14

Took a walk on the old road which they have repaired and made into a bike path. Spontaneous plan rendered a good crowd of walkers including Garden Girl and three dogs. After much discussion between the geese, they decided the little girl wanted nothing to do with them, so busy making sand pancakes.

Diary 3/13/14

Sorry, there has been a lull, but I made an escape to the Sonoran desert. Warm and dry there. Learned so much about the ancient Hohokam culture in serendipitous manner. Not all planned, but it worked out that we were in the right place at the right time for state park programs including this sweet woman showing us her basket making skills.The materials were bear grass and then yucca for the twinning. I will be posting some AZ pictures for a few days as it was a wonderful visit with lots of animal, vegetable, and mineral sightings.

Diary 3/6/14

Tried to escape the rain for a warm southern vacation but pilot got sick and no back-up. Now home again waiting for later flight out and long day ahead. At least I still get to go! Now to check on weather to see how the rest of the day may go...Hope to blog, but I am not the greatest at long distance ipoding. We'll see. Otherwise, have a good week's end.

Diary 3/4/14

I have violets that have naturalized all over the lawns and around the chicken pen. They are so sweet and smell delightful especially the large groups of them. I have five different colors and then a later one with purplish leaves. The buds on the plum trees are swelling. It is three weeks early. I am not sure there is a normal anymore, so whatever. I also saw some swallows over the weekend and vultures today. So signs from here are an early Spring. Just hope it doesn't tease us and then rain and stay cold for all of April. Ah well.

Diary 3/2/14

The simple pleasure of bubble blowing~