I'm a busy bee this week - lots of appointments for some reason and then Bee School Thursday evening. I know I keep mentioning it, but it's because I'm excited and not many others in my life "get it." I've been looking out of the second story windows for good out of the way areas, should I decide that I'd like a hive.

I have Pasque Flower in the purple and red variety. It's one of my favorite "firsts" every spring. Trisha, I can recite Latin names with a little practice, but I find common names stick with me for some reason.

I'm gonna get back to work.

Saucy

Now I think I am going to have to give this Pasque Flower a try.
Saucy nice segue (sp?) Now I can get the beetle juice thing out of my head.

The wind whipped up a bunch more leaves and I had to dip the pond again this morning. It was very chilly out there. We are predicted 3 to 6 inches of snow again. The dogs wouldn't rest until I went for a short walk with them. Then I came in and did laundry and swept up the mud I have been tracking in. I need to get some slipper boots so I can get them on and off easier. I loathe having to take my boots on and off everytime I need to pee or get a drink.

Where is everybody today? Busy I'm sure. I know Deanne is helping out her friends and most of you work.

Woody, I hope you are feeling a litle better today.
Later all, Norma

I appreciate all the good thought that came my way :-) I'm starting to feel a bit better - my head doesn't feel like it's about to explode any minute, although the headache is still there. As is my ear ache (the radiation was mainly targeted at the ear canal on the right side...) Yesterday and today I was able to walk around the block with Misty twice so that made me feel a lot better! Very mild out today but colder weather + rain + snow in the forecast for the rest of the week. I'm very impatient for spring now. I can't totally relax for a while yet. My previous radiation treatment didn't cause any nasty effects until about 8 weeks later. The next scan to see if the radiation stopped the growth won't happen for 6 months, so now we wait... a bit nervously...

Somebody was wondering where gb is...? She left a voice mail here on the weekend that she was having computer trouble so I assume that's why she hasn't posted in a few days.

Welcome Tricia!

Saucy - have you read A Recipe for Bees by Gail Anderson-Dargatz? Fiction, but interesting read with a definite bee theme running through it.

Martie - so sorry your are going through more troubles with your brother!

Jerri - your rescue dog incident was very sad. A neighbour is waiting to hear hear results of an autopsy or a stray cat that bit her (she had been feeding it for the past few months but unable to catch it.) A week later it was found dead on someone's driveway so she's waiting to hear whether she needs rabies shots! With all your work with foster an strays etc., have you had rabies shots as a precaution? I wonder if the Humane Society people need them?

There were other things I was going to comment on but I've run out of stem!

Saucy, that made me smile and laugh out loud! :) Thank you for the cheery title. Maybe Mary can felt a little marching beet for our entertainment. (Drum sticks in it's purple hands would be kool.)

Woody, I know all about that waiting. My sister is going to find out if her radiation worked this Wednesday. I told her it did, but she insists on the medical opinion! Pffft.

Woody, How good to see your post.
Thanks for letting us know GB is having computer problems.
Hope she will be back soon with pics of Pheobe Snow and Reed.

Cynthia, I'm sending positive thoughts for your sister too.

No time for much of a post tonight but I wanted to tell Woody how glad I'm am she's doing better and I hope that trend continues.

Cynthia, I'll be thinking of your sister and sending good thoughts too! My mom will find out if her radiation worked in a couple of weeks...

Oh and Cynthia I had my first Cadbury egg of the season today. Had some peeps a couple of weeks ago too. Easter candy is the best!

Saucy, how'd the bread turn out for you? The dough does develop more flavor the longer it ages. I used some for a pizza the other night and it was good. I'm going to try the recipe for peasant bread with rye and wheat flour added next.

Mary, those little animals so so cute! Hows about a little cat?

More inches of snow forecast for here tomorrow. I'm beginning to think it will never end.

Eden

I made a mad dash to town this morning to stock up for the incoming snow. We may very well get up to 12 inches! It rained heavily from midnight last night until after noon today. Several inches of rain! Water is running everywhere. I can hear the creeks roaring, in the distance, and in our hollow.

Woody, I am so glad you were able to take Misty for her walks. Great for both of you! I can hardly imagine what a trying time it is awaiting the outcome.

My sympathies to all that are having health problems, or have loved ones who are.

We got an e-mail from our son this evening. He told us that his middle daughter, who will be 13 the 16th, has the following message on her cell phone "Hi, this is Brianna. Please leave your name, phone number, and social security number so I can call you back and steal your identity." LOL...She is a chip off the old block!

Marian

I didn't know Pasque flower was so invasive. It's slowly creeping it's way through all of our posts. ;)

Woody, I wish you strength and peace to get yourself on the mend soon. I too have those I love who have or are going through similar situations, sadly, don't we all? I hope you find the power within to enjoy your spring. It sounds like you're well on your way!

I too have lots of Easter goodies but they are hiding away in the closet. I've been fairly successful in avoiding them, except for a bag of circus peanuts that had to be devoured. I think I'm the only person on earth who enjoys those unnaturally orange things.

So I took some pics as requested when I got home tonight. First, the new birdbath:

{{gwi:152666}}

It's on the deck so I can reach the outlet for the heater. It will move somewhere else when it gets warmer out. It blends nicely with my ugly gray deck, doesn't it? And my house is gray too... Can't wait for the GREEN to start showing up.

Speaking of... Some unidentified sprouts:

{{gwi:152667}}

What do you think, daffodil?

Also found these:

{{gwi:152668}}

{{gwi:152669}}

That second clump is in what used to be part of my driveway but is now rocks and gravel covering my new cesspool. These are some pretty determined little guys! I'm thinking grape hyacinth on these.

So... Some more pics and a story if you don't mind...

When we saw this house, I was very excited to see a Japanese Maple in the backyard, I always loved them. In fall, it turned a beautiful reddish orange color - this is it on the left, overhanging the deck:

{{gwi:152671}}

But during the winter, I noticed a few branches that looked like they were dying off. Not to mention that the squirrels were stripping them of their bark and eating it!

The other day, I walked around the back of the tree and was shocked to see that there were cracks and splits going down the entire length of all the trunks:

{{gwi:152673}}

{{gwi:152675}}

{{gwi:152676}}

The next day I made an appointment with an arborist. I had gotten a call from a landscaping company that was too quick to tell me that the trees needed to come down - without even seeing them. I decided to get a professional over.

The good news is that of all the mature trees are most likely going to survive. Even that Japanese Maple. He thinks this is the cause of all of the problems:

{{gwi:152677}}

That is what we call a girdling root. It's wrapped around the trunk and the other roots underneath - like a girdle! He thinks it's bascially strangling it and preventing the nutrients from sufficiently reaching the canopy. We can cut the root on both sides and hope that that helps. Even if it doesn't, we should be able to get another 5 to 10 years out of it.

I found out I have a black cherry tree and a flowering dogwood also. Two other favorites! I love this discovery process!!

Next is figuring out what I need to buy to get my hydrangeas to turn blue this year. Thanks for indulging my stories and pictures. :)

Ouch, Saucy - that pun hurts!

And Woody, was that a typo or another pun at the end of your post, "I've run out of stem." Glad to hear that you are feeling better and I hope the improvement continues. I'm not good at waiting...

Our local paper noted today that the average snowfall for our town for the previous eight years was 33 inches, and so far this year we are at 78 inches. No wonder I'm sick of snow. Overnight we had 1/2 inch of rain, then the temps dropped back below freezing by lunchtime. So there were a lot of flooded fields that have now turned into ice rinks. The creeks and rivers are close to the same height as during our August floods. There's one house near my office that was just finished early last summer that now has its driveway underwater for the second time since they moved in.

Tricia, I'm a closet circus peanut freak myself! Today, as myriad little computer issues started to pop up, I took out my frustrations by beheading a series of Peeps. Good call with bringing in the arborist.

Hope 'bug gets her computer issues resolved - I'm sure that Phoebe has doubled in size by now.

By the way, I still have not gotten sick! All of the "sickies" were back at work today, comparing the sizes of their antibiotics. An odd version of "mine's bigger than yours!"

Cynthia, I hope your sister gets good news. Perhaps you could present her with your wallpaper and tell her it's good for another twenty years?

Bedtime beckons - if I can keep my eyes open long enough, I can finish my book tonight.

V.

That tidyll made me,eh-em...'turnip' the corners of my mouth and smile,thanks Saucy : )

I needed that smile-really. Oh you guys it's been horrible at school. In less than three weeks time one class lost a mom to illness and just this week a dad was killed in the line of duty as a cop. Both of these students are in the same class-the grieving is just unimaginable. It's almost too much to bear imagining how the latest family is getting through each day.

On an abrupt but happier note I was so happy to see our custodian back on the job after recovering from her uterine cancer surgery-she looks great and her prognosis is excellent. These are the heavy things I've been carrying on my mind but I always feel funny putting downers here-I guess they escaped today: ).

Eden-thanks for the earlier link to your 2007 garden-it's so refreshing to see those pics from warm months! I know you have much on your plate but I was wondering if you have new creative plans for the shed area that was man-handled by the weather last year?

Pm2-I don't know what the newer braces will be like since we still have to pick which ortho we'll use(we just got the info from our D.D.S) Yeah I had the poking wires too and shiny metal bands that encircled the entire tooth. All in all the end result is so worth the torture-wow Mary, Annie had them for a long time-I think mine were on for two years.

Tricia-I like your deck! It's good you are paying attention to your trees-I hope your J. Maple hangs in there-that's really pretty. Yep,you've got daffs and the other two look like crocus.

Gotta run-need to see if we are really getting an ice storm tonight-ugh.

Here's my toothless wonder...
{{gwi:152678}}
Not the clearest pics-he was teasing me & wouldn't stay still! : )
{{gwi:152679}}

Good thoughts for Cynthia's sister's check up & As always Eden I hold optimistic thoughts for your mom. Good to hear Woody is recovering from her treatment-it sounds so painful.

Mary-a tangent thought...: ) your felted pooches are adorable!!!...are you sure those aren't real dogs you tossed into the dryer?? lol

Denise-cashmere! yikes! I tried my itty bitty sweater on and it's now a belly shirt with three quarter length sleeves...
Hey-the agave from you is still ALIVE(really that's big for me)...don't ask about the sans. I killed it with moist kindness : (

Bye~
~Babs

Things are mighty quiet at our house now.

Martie, your pictures got me in the mood to see if there is anything green outside. We are starting to see some patches of ground, but other areas are under 1-3 foot of snow. Including the 3 lavenders that I have. I did find a variegated yucca poking out of the snow, some sedum angelina which is evergreen for me and a few other things.

Woody, Im glad you are feeling somewhat better. How awful it must be to wait 6 months for results. Maybe spring will come soon and be a distraction.

Best wishes to EdenÂs mom and CynthiaÂs sister for the desired test results.

IÂve only indulged in one Cadbury egg so far.

Babs, you take the most adorable pictures of your boys.

A couple from today. The first is with her monkey towel and the 2nd she found a few blooming geraniums that I keep in the toy room. The same pink ones that were at Deanne's party :o)

{{gwi:152681}}
{{gwi:152682}}

Michelle

Sticking with a 'green' theme...

{{gwi:152683}}{{gwi:152684}}ing by TinyPic">

I see we are now required to scroll to the right to read the entire post. I don't fully understand resizing photos, but understand that that's why the text is so spread out now? Anyway, when I encounter "supersized" posts on other forums I avoid them entirely; but cannot do the same thing here. :(

Out of time already; will enjoy the toothless wonder, the birthday girl, and assorted images when I get home.

I was about to resize that bunny photo when I hit the submit button by mistake. My fingers are getting confused going back and forth between two keyboards..I use them differently. I can't wait to have a new computer and be settled into my old routines again.

Good morning... :-)

Status quo here at our house at the moment. March is birthday month. We have three family birthdays here all within a week of each other. Haven't given it a thought yet, but I need to. I am about to start rearranging a home office. Wondering if anyone here has any tips? Do you all have home offices?

Missing Gardenbug and Kathy ...hope the computer situations will be straightened out soon.

Woody! How nice to see a post from you! It must be so nice to have that procedure behind you. You wonder why they don't explain a little more accurately what to expect. Well, I am glad you were able to get out for a walk. In a few short weeks, the landscape should start looking a lot different. Great time of year to be recovering from something, just when spring is starting. So, will you be expecting more nasty effects later, like the last time? Great that you are making progress..!

Saucy, how interesting that you are going to try raising bees. Do you have to purchase a hive? How does your family feel about having a hive in the garden? Do you raise veggies at all? I am just wondering if you will get better fruit set with a hive.

Norma, I have boat shoes that I use in the garden. Well..that is my term for them, for some reason. They are the loafer like rubber footwear that LLBean sells? Very convenient, I just slip out of them at the door. They are great all year.

Cynthia, I didn't realize your sister was going through something similar to Woody. Was it Tricia that said most of us have someone in our family/friends circle who has gone through something like that. Amazingly, I think I have t agree with that. Plenty of that at our house too, just not at the moment. It seems so strange to me, when I think of what things were like growing up, it was very unusal and such a shock when anyone you knew was seriously ill. At least that was my experience. Hope your sister has good news from the doctors. How long does she still have to wait to find out? Imagine, she doesn't want to take your word for it?! :-)

Eden, I hope your Mom has good news too!

Mary, Eden reminded me, of your felted dogs...so cute! My fav was the little black one. My parents told me we had a dog like that, though the only thing I remember about him was we had a doorstop of a black dog like him for the longest time. You did a great job on them and I still can't imagine how small they are!

Hello again Tricia! Pretty birdbath...and I am amazed at how much further along you are than we are. Still about 6 inches of snow on the ground here.

V...Wow, you have had a LOT of snow..lol. I am finding it surprising that you haven't gotten sick. Do you usually catch something in the winter? When did you start taking the Airborne?

Babs...what an adorable toothless wonder you have there! lol He is so cute,...It's Ryan, right? They grow up so fast, enjoy this age...

Michelle...is that Kenzie? She is so sweet in that monkey towel...lol.

Martie...You are so far ahead of me and your not that far from me. Nothing green here yet.

Sorry, can't get back to the previous thread...hello to Ei, Denise, Marian..and Chelone and anyone else I have missed..

:-)
pm2

Chelone...I am so sorry if my pics are the reason for that. I am not getting the scrolling, so I didn't realize.
pm2

No way can I read these!
So I suggest that everyone types like this.
Only 10 0r 12 wordss for each line.
And there are over 84 posts yet to go!!!

I hit submit instead of preview!
Actually at least 12 words per line would work...
If they are not loooong words. :-)

I am disappointed. We did not get the heavy snow...
at least not yet. But it is icy, so I will stay at home.

Calling all idyllers to idyll #357.5!