removers of dung and plants, very young

 It's absolutely perfect weather...warm and rainy...and I've been spending as much time outside as I can.  I found this little treasure by the barn this week:  

It's the skull of an Eastern cottontail rabbit.  The back of the skull is gorgeously porous!  It reminds me of sea coral.

We've got quite a few rabbits around here, so finding an occasional skull is not unusual.  I was excited to find a scarab dung beetle, too!  Check out that horn!

He's a bit different from the dung beetles that I saw in the south:

I'd love to see one in action again!  

Spring showers bring April flowers here.  

Lilacs and apple blossoms are blooming concurrently this year and make a gorgeous bouquet.

A few spring bulbs are still producing!

The grass is carpeted with violets, too low and dense for the lawnmower blade.

I saved and planted white violets last year and have been rewarded with a big group of them this spring!

Borga has developed quite the green thumb.  :)

She loves to romp in the fields and back by the pond...

...or hang out by Todd.

She and Claudia fight for Todd's attention. 

 

giving Todd a foot rub the way that only a cat can!

She's a big help when I'm working, too.

Unfortunately, she hasn't had much of an opportunity to help, since I haven't been in the garden much.  I made an effort and planted about 75 poppies in the "Hunk o' Seedling" style, in clumps rather than as individuals. Hopefully it's not too late in the season for them!  I'm delayed with everything because of my shoulder/elbow tendonitis.  I'm extremely limited when it comes to digging and weeding - pretty much essentials this time of year.  I'm not sure how my 2022 garden will progress.  I've got quite a few seedlings, so I'll have to continue with my tendonitis stretches and see what happens.  So far, I'm spending more time in-house with Calliope than outside working in the nice weather.  

She's good company, at least.  Have a great week!

testing my nettle

A double holiday!  Todd's birthday and Easter, back to back.  I decided to have an "Easter After Dark" egg hunt with glow-in-the-dark eggs.

Inspired by glorious egg hunts of days past...

...I used plastic eggs with tiny glow sticks inside, as well as a folded-up joke.  The prize for finding all eggs?  Easter candy, of course!  I also made a small coconut cake with a lemon curd layer for earlier in the day.  Todd's birthday needed a special cake, too.  I used a photo from an old Star Wars gathering and had an edible icing sheet made.  Just perfect!

It's really brightening up outside.  Redbuds are just getting ready to open up.

Our maple is finally leafing out...

...and the apple tree is showing promise.  Not long now!

Hostas are unfurling...

All bulbs are awakening.  Daffodils have been up for a couple of weeks...

...but now we have hyacinths...

...and one of my favorites, grape muscari.

Everywhere I've ever lived, I've planted these cheerful little bells.

Claudia is loving our cool, sunny afternoons.

She loves to come down to the pond with us when we take a stroll.

Borga, too, is sniffing the wind.  Spring is here!

Finally (almost) free of invasive weeds, the fields are starting to fill up with dead nettle.  It's a beautiful little wildflower whose green leaves slowly darken to purple at its tip.  The flowers are like tiny orchids.

En masse, they are beautiful!

My little winter sow greenhouses are slowly filling with green.

I'm not sure how the garden will be this year, though.  Between my sore elbow and shoulder, and busy prep for a work convention in May, it's just going to be really tough to weed, augment the soil, pot up the seedlings, and then get them planted and nurtured until they take off.  I might let one whole plot go to grass and just focus on a smaller area.  I'll at least have several of my favorites, somewhere.

Have a great week!  

ranuculus plus

Although we had a wintry mix this weekend, the season is progressing.  Birds are flooding back...

The herons are out almost daily.

A wood duck pair visited our front pond.  I hope they're nesting nearby!

I picked the first bouquets of the year...

Claudia is loving the warmth of the sun.

I haven't felt like working outside, and it's been awfully cold, but the ranuculus had to get into the ground.  From just 20ish corms 2 years ago, I planted 60 thriving plants this week!

My Icelandic poppies are bursting out of their containers, too. If I don't want to lose them, I'll need to get them planted this week.  It's a nice, rainy forecast, with spring asserting itself all around us.

Inside, Calliope is positively loving her status as the only cat.

Todd and I are both missing Tabitha a lot this week, though.

One of her last photos, snuggling on my lap

But we have to keep moving forward. 

I've been working away on my Tilda postage stamp quilt.  The long paired rows...

...were sewn together to make units of four, and then sub-cut into 1 3/4" sections.

These will be sewn into groups of four (sixteen squares per block).  I'm excited to start putting it together!  I've been knitting a bit, too.  A new yarn for me this time is Lopi, spun from Icelandic sheep.  It's very hairy and rough, but the colors are so beautiful!  

Hopefully I'll have more time to work on this soon.  

Otherwise, work work work and enjoying the changing season!  We love our spring hikes, even if there's not a lot of color in the woods yet.  Soon!  

Have a great week!