There are 6 tiny crocus blooming by the back door.  Need to check the front yard for the snow drops. 

Another sign of spring
tonight:  outside the thunder is rumbling and the lightning
flashing.  Rain has started.  I bet the grass will be greener
in the morning….

Just when it seems like
winter will never end, spring slips in the back door.  The air and
the ground turn soft and moist and the birds are exploding with
song.  The green spears of tulip leaves have begun poking through
last fall’s leaf mold and there’s a faint tinge of green to the
lawn.

For the last few weeks the
temperature has been stuck in the teens when I get up each day. 
But yesterday – surprise, surprise -  it was over 30
already.  I went out to do chores and the air felt so mild and
lovely.  The kind of day where I don’t want to go back in the
house.  There were all kinds of diversions like “Maybe I should
just rake those few stones off the lawn” and “It would only take a few
minutes to shovel a little of that dirt onto the raised beds”. 
About that time one of my bees buzzed by and reminded me that I needed
to check and see if the hives had enough honey to get them through
until honey flow.  I don’t like to feed them in the spring but I’d
do it to keep them from starving.

I donned my bee suit and took the top off a hive I wasn’t sure had made
it through the winter.  I had put my ear to the hive several times
over the last few weeks but never heard that reassuring low
rumble.  Imagine my delight to see that the hive was going
gangbusters!  It was fairly boiling with bees inside.  Quick
put the top back on, feel the hive to see if it was too light and move
on to the next hive.  This one also was full of bees.  So
they are both off to a good start.  One of the little guys managed
to get his stinger in me through my suit but only a little sting. 
A few others had wandered out when I took the lid off so I had to pick
them up by their little wings, show them the entrance to the hive and
pat their little bee bottoms to get them to go in.  Bees are
wonderful.  I don’t know why more people don’t keep hives. 

This morning I re-engineered the chicken pen.  That might not
sound like much but it took me the better part of two hours – hauling
fence panels, fighting with unwilling and rusty old bolts, driving
fence posts.  The whole operation was necessary because the geese
needed more pasture and releasing them and the chickens into the big
pasture is not an option right now – the puppies, although they are
full grown, still have not acquired adult common sense.  Which is
another way of saying that they take extraordinary delight in chasing
unwieldy, heavy bottomed birds and then chewing the feathers off
them.  I was assisted in my operations by Ozzie the cat (who
managed to stay on the safe side of the fence) and by Ivy the horse
(who kept looking over my shoulder from the other side).  Toby and
Gracie were also much in evidence but I wouldn’t say they were much
help.  Anyway, I got it all taken care of and peace reigns in the
pasture, at least temporarily.  Until Toby and Gracie think of
some other kind of mischief.  As Becca often says, “When will they
ever get some SENSE???”  Probably not this spring….

Yesterday afternoon we were
in Washington DC and four hours later we were back on the farm. 
That seems so weird.  At least to me. 

Pete and I had a great time during our three days in DC.  He had
meetings on Monday from 8 until 6 so I was free to roam around town on
my own.  I took the Metro (subway) down to the National Mall and
enjoyed wandering at my own pace.  I visited the National Museum
of the American Indian since that hadn’t been open last time I was
there.  It’s pretty cool.  Then I enjoyed the smell of damp
dirt and the sight of thousands of orchids blooming at the Botanical
Gardens.  Lunchtime found me at the National Gallery of Art – my
most favorite place on the Mall (and they have a great cafe). 
There is a Cezanne exhibit on that was quite amazing.  Sensory
overload, almost.  I staggered through the Smithsonian Museum of
Natural History for a short while before my legs started seriously
giving out.  Needed a shot of espresso (and some Excedrin) to help
me hobble to the nearest Metro station and back on the train to
Bethesda.  Of course it was time for afternoon coffee by the time
I got there so I stopped at a little French bakery for a
pastry.   On Tuesday Pete’s meetings only went until noon so
I just explored Bethesda until he was done.  We went to the
National Arboretum and cruised around (not much to see at this time of
year but at least we know where it is now).  Then back to the
airport and home again. 

It’s amazing how refreshing even a short little trip like that can
be.  I always get lots of new ideas just by seeing new
things.  I still hate to fly though.  On our way out of
Chicago some kid let out a blood-curdling yell just as the plane lunged
forward on take-off.  I almost fainted.  And we had the worst
landing I’ve ever experienced when we touched down in DC. 
Everyone on the plane was holding their breath and broke into applause
when we finally wobbled to a stop.  I think I left fingernail
marks on the armrests of my seat. 

One thing I have to say though about being in public places these
days.  I thought I was going to scream if I was forced to listen
to one more person’s loud conversation on their cell phone.  I’m
beginning to hate those things.  Everywhere you go people are
talking on their phone and whoever happens to be around them is forced
to hear their side of the conversation.  At one point there were
three people around me all carrying on conversations.  Something
is seriously wrong with this.  It’s like the worst form of
air/noise pollution.  I hate having all those words cluttering up
the air around me.  I suppose most people have honed the ability
to ignore and/or tune out everyone else’s words but this skill has
eluded me.  I use my cell phone, too, but realize I’m probably the
only person left in the world who tries to find a place where I’m not
broadcasting my conversation.  *Sigh*  It’s a good thing I
live in relative seclusion most of the time. 

The last few days have been gorgeous although it’s still nippy at
night.  This is the time of year I start spending more time
outside with the animals…

Toby and Gracie – the inseparable buddies

Gwyn, Sylvia and Lucy out for a “scratch”

Ivy got her blanket off; she’s looking a little rough as she’s shedding her winter coat.

I’ve been sick since early
November with bad sinuses.  Nothing seemed to help and I was
getting downright discouraged with feeling really crappy and not being
able to breathe.  I kept telling myself, “It could be worse…it
could be cancer or something.”  Then I read this article online
about how chronic sinus trouble affects your quality of life. 
According the “them” and a survey “they” conducted, sinus infections
rank higher than congestive heart failure for how it negatively
affects a person’s quality of life.  I have no idea how they did
that research but just hearing that made me feel worse.  So I was
praying that my ENT would have some brilliant inspiration when I went
to see him in Feb.

Amazingly, that’s exactly what happened.  Based on some research
from Mayo Clinic, he decided to put me on some different meds for
irrigating my sinuses.  After just a few days of using it….I can
breathe!  I can even smell!  I can even taste food! 
Wow.  The stuff costs $90 a week to use and he told me I’d have to
be on it the rest of my life (assuming I live another 25 or 30 years
you can do the math and figure out what my sinuses would cost
me).  So I was already thinking, “I’m not going to get this
prescription refilled!  This is crazy!”  But somehow after
just one week I’m getting addicted to breathing again.  I went and
got it refilled.  I’m cutting the dose in half and hoping it will
still have the same effect for only $45/week. 

I could kiss the feet of the people up at Mayo Clinic who figured this
out.   And thanks to the Lord for answering my prayer.

I looked out the window this
afternoon and saw this sight.  Toby and Gracie apparently felt the
need to sun their undersides. 

If anyone had told me a year
ago that I would be out riding my little horse on a breezy 20 degree
day in the middle of winter I wouldn’t have believed them.  But
yup, that’s what I did this afternoon.  I had to muck out her
stall and haul her fresh water so I figured if I was going to do all
this work I should at least have a little fun out of it (and she could
do a little work in return).  So we trotted around the frozen corn
field then up the neighbor’s lane.  She gets a little excited
about getting back to the barn (which is another way of saying she
breaks into a dead run when she sees us going back that
direction).  But we got that little kink worked out.  Oh
yeah.  She’s a good ole horse and I love her.  Horse treats
for Ivy today. 

Wow.  I just discovered
that 1 out of every 2083 families in the U.S. has the last name of
Meyer.  That makes it the 216th most common name in the country.
 



So many different ways to spell the name.  So far I’ve got 10 variations but I know there have to be more…

I love my crock pot. 
Today was grocery-shopping day so it was also
clean-out-the-frig-and-cupboards day (out with the old, in with the
new, so to speak).  Just the kind of day on which a crock pot
really shines.  In go those withered potatoes that are past their
prime.  In goes the lone sweet potato that isn’t really past its
prime but looks lonely without the other potatoes to keep it
company.  In go a couple onions, a few stalks of slightly wobbly
celery and a quarter cup of dehydrated carrots (something possessed me
to buy a whole huge tin of dehydrated carrots several years back. 
Oh my goodness.  Even if you put a quarter-cup into every pot of
soup you make, the level never goes down.  They last
FOREVER.)  Add water and a few chicken bouillon cubes and in a few
hours you have Crock Pot Magic.  Outside the wind is howling and
the temperature is dropping but inside the crock pot is warming the
kitchen.  Modern man’s answer to keeping the home-fires
burning.