green grass

oooooh! it's just plain cold today!!
we enjoyed several good walking days in the last week. our lawn is turning green. i've been excited to see tulips and daffodils up about 3-4 inches. autumn joy sedum is peeking through. a peony has broken the surface. but, as this weekend has proven me right, its still too early to do a full scale cleanup of the leaves etc protecting some of this new growth. so i'm waiting. some days more patiently than others. and i have done some token clearing here and there. i checked the hens and chicks i propped along the cement wall as an experiment last summer and it looks as though they've done well over the winter and will start to fill in nicely...the pussy willow branches that i got from a friend have gotten "rooty" so they are in the ground. i'm not afraid to experiment....there have been "inside" projects that i've tried to get finished up in anticipation of warm days calling me outside....
the end of the week will find us in the northlands helping our grandson celebrate his birthday. how can he be turning 4?? we'll make a long weekend of it. i just hope their snow has melted.... charlie gets to go along and they usually make the offer that we could leave him there. not much chance of that. he's needed here.
the end of that week will see tim on his way to omaha for a few days of administrative work at the home office. he'll have time to unpack and catch his breath before a 3 day stint in kearney for meetings. i've got state garden club meetings in north platte in there sometime. and may doesn't look much better....

monday morning

another week gone - this one busy and productive. tim decided to start the bathroom renovation - i thought we were still in the talking stage - so we are about 1/2 way through with the demo.... there are large plate mirrors - 3 of them - that i want to save and reuse probably just 2 of them. they have to come off the walls before we can start anything too wild in there. the main focus is to use a closet that backs the bathroom to install a tub. so the contents of that closet had to be shifted and the place where they landed required another shift and the piles disrupted in that shift....but it's all done. everything has a new place. of course, once you start shifting its amazing how many other, unrelated things call for attention and the job seems to multiply before your eyes. but it's done. and with warm weather around the corner i needed to get these last few "inside" jobs done before the outdoor work claims my free time. i've ordered some plants. i've got projects formed in my mind. same story, though. there are certain organizational details that need attention so that when the time comes i'm just plain ready to start the fun stuff. i have done a few things in the garage but honestly it's been too cold too spend much time out there. i'm hoping for an honest spring. in past seasons we have gone from 40/50 to 70/80 degrees. too abrupt. too soon. we'll see.

pussy willows and plumbing

this morning finds me waiting on a plumber. this seems as good a way as any to use the time. i'm hoping they'll get here and be gone soon leaving me time to walk with charlie. we had snow overnight sunday and well into monday morning. thick, heavy snow - no wind - a real treat around here. yesterday it was about 55 with the same expected for today so we want to walk. outside!!
tim has been talking for over a year about using a closet space for a bathtub. it will be tricky. a couple nights ago i was in the basement and heard this awful racket.....he's upstairs knocking tile off the wall in the bathroom. i guess we've left the talking phase.....so the plumber will be here this morning for the first stage of his part of the work. then the deconstruct will continue. should be interesting.
i spent some time looking at paint colors etc yesterday. that's always fun.
and we're getting ready to visit up north for aidan's birthday. i have a pile growning with things to take along. we always look forward to our visits with them.
there have been phone calls from jacob and a friend in pennsylvania is planning to come out in may or early june. garden/lawn work is just around the corner. i've got a jar full of pussy willows from a friend and plan to root some for a spot in our yard. more than robins, daffodils, whatever, pussy willows say spring to me.

spring fever

march!! where did february go?? this was an "in like a lamb" and "lion" start for march. 70 degrees. light breeze. the next day we had snow, wind, travel advisories.... charlie had begun to gear up for his spring shed so tim decided to shave him early. last summer we did it for the heat and charlie was so much happier - it's a long ugly job. and we tied up the whole of a lovely saturday afternoon for it. a bath, too.
tim is in omaha this week for meetings at the home office leaving charlie and i to fill our time creatively. i've finally finished the curtains and pillows etc for my sister and mother. the last package left in the mail today. i have some sewing to do for myself this week. a couple books waiting for attention. garden club tomorrow. some shopping. spring projects calling my name.....