Eye Test

Here's a little eye test for you.  Can you tell any difference between the two lower windows?

As part of renovating the house Ross and I had hoped to replace the windows some day.  That was some day.  We never painted the muntins, rails or stiles (all the wood around the panes of glass) because of this.  For the past four years I have looked out our bedroom window and was always left looking at the dirty pea green/possibly citron color that the room was originally painted, and I mean everything in the room (the windows, the closet door, the back of the bedroom door, and all the trim).  Thank the good Lord that they left the ceiling white!

Of course windows cost money.  Money we don't have right now. So, we decided to do some work on the windows.  The other day we painted all the windows in our bedroom white (to match all the trim).  It actually seems to make the sunshine outside brighter. Who'd of thunk!  I also decided to replace the old screens with new material; that is the difference in the above picture.  The window on the left is the old screen (looks darker) and on the right is the new one (looks brighter).  It always amazes me how subtle changes can have such a big impact.  Now all I have to do is paint the rest of the window interiors, replace the other half of the screens in the house, replace all the weathered and worn glaze around the window panes, and paint the window exteriors. How much are new windows again?...

Bzzzzzzzz!

Worker brood.

Today is a great day; it is really warm and sunny. I thought it would be nice to give our surviving bee hive a quick checkup and remove the entrance reducer that we put in place last Autumn.  The girls are strong and healthy.  There is a lot of brood, and I think they might have re-queened.  They are also beginning to store honey.  Nice.

We are really hoping to get some honey this year.  Two years ago, we got several frames out before a bear decimated the hive (see our older posts for more on that).  Last year we started two new hives. The strongest of the two died off while the weakest one continues to be the Little Engine That Could.  We're pulling for them and so far so good!

Marching Right Along

Today was a beautiful day.  Sunny and warm.  I have the windows open and can here the chickens' beaks hitting the tin as they peck up the chopped apple treat that Ross just gave them. Max is groaning because he wants to go out and play with the chickens and his daddy.  Earlier I planted our large front porch pots with an assortment of annuals. Other than the black flies (oh how I hate the black flies, and I rarely use the word hate), it was a great day to be outside.  Each day seems to get warmer and sunnier!

I walked around and looked at our gardens.  Flowers coming up all over the place.  Most of our hostas have little heads popping up.  Our other perennials are also just coming back to life. Lemon balm that I planted last year must have seeded as it is back and looking strong.  Seeing all this new growth is exciting. Of course, as all these new plants are starting to grow others are coming towards their end.  Our forsythia and daffodils are at full strength. So are the hyacinths and bluebells.  Soon the tulips and allium will replace them.  Time keeps marching right along.

Our fruit trees are also starting to flower.  The peaches are at full bloom.  Our bees, plus some big bumbles, have been busy pollinating the flowers.  The plum has also flowered. The apples, cherries, pears, and blueberries are close behind.  I included a picture of one of the apple buds as I thought it was just stunning.  I have high hopes of getting some good fruit this year as the fruit trees are all now several years old.  Of course, I will have to wait until each of these fruits come into season!  Everything in its own time.

Spring is Sprung!

Spring is here and with it comes chore after chore. Many are fun, such as starting the garden seeds (which Ross started quite a while ago and is still ongoing).  Others are bit laborious.

This year I decided that I wanted to build a wood shed. Well not exactly a wood shed, as the property that it sits on is designated as "undeveloped" for tax purposes.  I did not want to build a permanent structure and toy with messing up this blessing (it's a small story and we'd be glad to share it with you over a glass of wine). So I built this quasi-structure with left over poles from the electric fence and some two by fours. It's good enough to keep the wood at the bottom from soaking in mud and then being frozen to the ground in the winter.  Of course since I built it, I felt the need to get some wood on it.  I split almost all the wood that is on it today.  I think I'm going to feel sorry for that a bit later.  Thank God that some of it was already dry and easy to split! What you can't see are the two huge trees laying in front of it that I dropped and still need to cut up and split.  I will have this baby filled in no time.

On another note.  Ross' baking endeavor is heating up.  He has had some large orders as of late and repeat customers.  I have my fingers crossed for him. He is a natural at the baking, but the business part of it is where he has room to grow.  I try to stay out of it as I don't want him to feel like I am his manager; I chime in as a pushy mentor.  He has moved forward on several steps that he needs to accomplish as part of starting this growing business.  He makes me so proud.

Lastly, it makes me so happy to see things pushing up all over.  The daffodils are up, the forsythia is in full bloom, and just recently our bluebells and hyacinths have popped out.  I can see the trees start to leaf.  The bees are in a frenzy.  Life is just pushing forward at full strength.  It is such a glorious time of year.  I keep telling myself to just stop and take a moment to take it all in.  And then that nagging voice in the back of my head tells me that there is more wood that needs split.  Oh well, I guess I better get back to my Spring chores.