Spring

I am sorry, dear readers, that I have been away from this blog for so long--it has been a busy, busy spring so far and the summer looks to be much the same.

Looking back, there's been a lot going on:  rabbit shows and snow, graduation parties and graduations, wisdom teeth, gardens, eye surgeries and WORK.

For awhile, we were all wondering if we were going to have a Spring at all--cold, rain, wind and SNOW in mid-April (and not just light fluffy stuff that just drifted in the air kind of snow, but messy, sloppy stuff that collected on the ground and made it hard to drive type of snow)

A few days ago, we had the corn stove running in the morning and the fan in the window by that night--for those of you who have never experienced Iowa weather, this really isn't all that uncommon...!

Outside in the fields and pastures and ditches and timbers, we have gone from winter dormancy to full-fledged Amazon green.  Corn is up and things are growing. 

Outside my door, there is a nest of baby rabbits.  I am pretty sure Mom was born here in my yard, perhaps Mom's Mom and maybe even her Mom too.  I was amazed and honored that she sat not more than four or five feet away from me with her brand-new babies and was unafraid.  Without touching them, I went over and counted six wiggly, hairless babies--so cute!  They reminded me of tiny little seals, each with a tiny white stripe on the top of their heads.

I put a lawn chair over the nest so that we wouldn't mow over them and I have been checking on them every day.  I know Mom is feeding them as the nest has been disturbed and carefully covered again with grass and fur.  In two weeks or so, the babies will be up and out and on their own.  This is her second litter of the summer.  Thankfully, they are leaving my garden alone!  Maybe this is payback for me 'taking care' of them, who knows...

There are young squirrels EVERYWHERE.  I watched out my front door as FIVE of them came running through the neighbor's yard., across the street, and into the yew bushes in front of the house.  In a flash, they zipped up the Ash tree and across it's branches, into the Maple tree across the street and were gone.  Seeing one or two or maybe even THREE of them at a time is an everyday thing--but I've never seen that many squirrels in a pack like that--I am thinking they were all littermates playing 'Follow the Leader'!

The sun is shining brightly through my window this morning and the air is still cool.  It rained last night, just as it seems to have rained just about every night the past month or so.  As soon as it dries up a bit, we will be heading out to The Farm to mow--so starts the once-a-week ritual that will last until late August or early Spetember.

I haven't even given much thought to the 300+ grapevines out there, and I know I should.  Grapes are very  time-consuming, labor-intensive, and will be my Master again this summer.  They need to be pruned, trained, sprayed and  practically tucked in to bed at night.  Last year, in 100+ degree heat, I got a very bad sunburn doing so.  I can't afford to do that again, so it looks like either early mornings or later on in the evenings for me this time around.

A 300-vine vineyard is tiny compared to some, but caring for them could almost be a full-time job in itself, especially for two people who already work full-time jobs and have other obligations.  It's 22 miles round-trip out and back.  How I wish we had our house built and could just step out the back door and BE THERE!