Storm Clouds

Last night, Ryan looked out the window, and then said grab your camera . . . you gotta see this:

So we stood there for a while just watching, and then took a little walk down the road, and turned around, and the same clouds had metamorphosed into this . . .

And while they looked rather intimidating, this set never did storm on us. It was the ones that came around in the middle of the night that set Checkers to scratching at the gate and whining, with their thunder and downpour.

Profusion . . .

I had to get out my writer's thesarus again today. Was having a hard time thinking of the right word to describe my world at the moment . . . overload was all I could think of, and that wasn't right. Profusion . . . of flowers. Sometimes it feels like I can hear God chuckling a few days after I say things like "Oh poor me, my flowers aren't blooming yet, everybody else's flowers are blooming . . . just let me have a couple for the Easter table and I will be happy."
It is not just a couple of the Easter table (of course, if I would only trust!), there are the jonquils (above), and the tulips:

And hyacinths, oh my!

And then I walk along the road to our local woodsy area, which lets me in for views of vernal wetland/creek bottom/frog habitat . . .

Spring Beauties

Rue Anenome

Trout Lily with some Blood Root thrown in . . .

Dutchman's Breeches looking like someone has hung a bunch of tiny pants out on a tiny clothesline

And my favorite rarity . . . Hepatica with it's sureal lavendar flowers and liver lobed leaves . . .

I'm sorry if I bored you with my flowers. I know I take pictures of the same ones every year . . . I just can't quit being amazed!

Where is everybody else?

If you live in town, you may think I'm being silly. Because you can look out your window and see a whole bank of daffodils blooming in your yard or the neighbor's. And probably have had that beautiful view for a week now. But here on the farm, nada. Green sprouts, buds, no flowers. Until yesterday I noticed a bit of yellow among the green sprouts, and today a fully opened blossom. The only one to be found around here. Gaily waving in the cold, damp breeze, as if looking around asking where is everyone else? And now I'm sincerely hoping that the jonquils will magically open up in time to grace the Easter table . . . it's supposed to be warm on Friday and Saturday, right?

In the garden, the 116 onion sprouts I planted the end of last week got throughly doused in the storm and heavy rain and are still looking perky and green. Woo hoo! for onions. Now if it would only dry out and warm up sufficiently to get the brocolli and cabbage that are desperate to get outside, outside . . .

On the livestock front . . . turkey eggs. Lots of them. Two nests, one old, one new. Come on girls . . . get to setting, we need some poults! Though if they hatched all 20 some eggs, what would we do with them all?

Right Now . . . Tuesday

The pigs are exploring the pasture, trying to find a spot that is the perfect combination of lovely damp mud and warm sunshine for basking

The view of the side yard had shifted to a definite shade of green, so different from just a month ago

And now that I've been envying the daffodils and tulips blooming in town for a few days, we might just have some of our own soon

Its hard to believe I really can make the shift in my mind . . . spring is here. Time to get energized about being outside, and tackle the million and one projects that come with the season. Happy Tuesday!

How many can we fit

How many animals can we fit in a 16 x 16 pig pen?

Two steers, 6 chickens, and 2 pigs. This was not on purpose. Since we were outside working on Saturday afternoon, we decided to let the pigs out to roam the pasture . . . leaving their pen gate open in case they wanted to go back in on their own.

Well it seemed that everyone else thought that the 16' x 16' pig pen was way more exciting than their acre pasture. I think the pigs felt like their space was being invaded. Runt had retreated inside the hog house, which is why you see the steers trying to put their heads in the door. Later on the steers got stuck in the pen, when the wind blew the gate shut. T-bone figured out how to knock the gate back open by nudging it with his nose, but even when they got it back open, they didn't seem really interested in leaving . . . I had to go chase them out, and shut the gate behind them.

Otherwise people might drive by, see the following, and think we were abusing our animals.

No really, they went in their all by themselves. More curious about things then the ever revered curious cat.

It's in the air . . .

Mother Nature, you better not be tricking me today. Even though it's only supposed to be in the 40s today, it definitely feels like a spring morning out. And it is April . . .

All the signs are here, the green of baby grass spreading over the surface of the yard. Rhubarb popping up from its hidey-hole in the ground:

Rogue strawberry runners starting to green up (outside the confines of the strawberry patch):

Our "wildflower" garden starting to show signs of the poppies, irises, phlox, and lilies to come:

















I'm not the only one out enjoying things this morning . . .

And while my picture taking skills may not allow you to see, this is a blue bird in one of our hackberry trees:

And inside, if nothing else, the amaryllis is getting ready to bloom!