22. Springing forward

It really is true that March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb.  It was windy and rainy and now it is absolutely gorgeous!  The giant daisy bushes that line our driveway just across from the kitchen window are a mass of yellow blooms.  We used to cut them back to contain them but for the last two or three years have only trimmed the driveway edge leaving the back side to climb up the steep bank.  They have become a marvelous stabilizer for an unruly bank.  With their worthy companions the lavender they have stopped the continual march of dirt that used to inundate our drive making kitchen floor sweeping a perpetual nuisance.

The iris are up six or eight inches and we are starting to count the stalks of blooms.  The anticipation begins, who will pop first and what color will it be.  The rain has been welcome and wonderful.  So many wild flowers to enjoy, however briefly.

The rain has taken it's toll though, the bird feeders are sorely in need of a paint job.  The swing needs a good bleaching.  We always say that we are going to put the swing under the eave so it doesn't mildew but somehow it doesn't get done.  Consequently it mildews and that spells work.  Three coats of marine varnish last year and it still mildewed.  This year I think I'm going to pick a nice color and paint the swing and both benches...maybe a lovely sea green.  If I keep the swing oak color, it means taking it all apart and sanding, really sanding then bleaching.  So this year I vote to just paint the doggoned thing.  

The bird feeders are sweet little things that Bob made several years ago.  They are like little houses from old west towns.  One particularly nice one made it into Sunset Magazine several years ago.  Rose's Cantina was chosen out of several hundred entries in their summer bird feeder contest.  What an exciting moment!  He is very clever, that man of mine.  

                                                    

I'm never terribly excited to do yard work until            spring.  I can't imagine how I would be if I lived somewhere that really had a winter!  Digging in the earth ruining my manicure and not caring in the least is the order of the day.  Weeding while the soil is still soft from all the rain is so satisfying, for a while anyway.  Bob cut a wine barrel in half last year, the edges have lovely scallops.  They are in the planter next to the house so the deer don't tend to bother them.  We had an abundance of basil, curly lettuce and tomatoes.  Early girl tomatoes went in yesterday.  Now we have only to water and patiently cheer them on.  As soon as Trader Joe's has basil plants I'll get them in the ground.  Last year they had lovely big plants for $2.99.  I bought two and had more basil than you can imagine.  It is one of the plants that the more you cut the more you have and boy, did we have.

 Well, like March, I think I will go out like a lamb and take a nap.  All of this thinking and planning has made me sleepy.  Tomorrow is another day.