Spring Rains

I mentioned that we were supposed to have rain on Tuesday.  It did come with a threat of severe weather, which I never want.  There were severe storms and tornadoes around the state, but we were very lucky to have the severe weather miss us.

I did think to put my rain gauge up so I could figure out how much rain we got.

It’s spring and green!

It was just right under an inch.

Then there was a bit more overnight.  It made everything green.

We had just put fertilizer down in pasture, so the timing was perfect.

I need to landscape this area this summer.

We have April showers and the blossoms to go with them.

lilacs

crabapple

cherry blossoms

My big plum tree is alive and has a handful of blossoms.

I have been so worried about my oak trees after the rough year they had last year, but both of my oak trees in the yard I was worried about are at least minimally alive.

green stuff on the oak tree

My yard is really growing also.  I have ordered the kit to prepare my lawn mower for the season.

the front yard is out of control

Sky sniffing the tall grass along the trench

For now, Skittles is happy that it is growing.

Skittles loves grass!

She does love her green stuff!

Birds and Blooms

Walking in the pasture, I get to see lots of birds.

The barn swallows are back!

I have one surviving bluebell in my yard!

I am surprised at how many of the kingbirds I’ve seen.

My lilacs are blooming.

I also have just a few lily-of-the-valleys.  I thought my old dog (Stella) had destroyed all of my flowers.

The robin is still on her nest,but it’s getting harder to see her as the leaves come on the oak tree.

The wild plum trees in pasture had pretty blooms. They weren’t tinged by frost like the tree in my yard.

This is a funny bird, but I do like the squirrels too.

I think I must have been near the wren’s nest because she was not happy with me.

I do enjoy seeing them all.

Odds and Ends

I took advantage of beautiful weather on Friday evening and Saturday to take lots of pictures for the blog. Nice weather has been hard to come by this spring.

Anubis and Pluto

We had a freeze warning last week, so I checked on the fruit trees.  I’m not sure I’ll have many plums.

The cherries look more promising.

The bleeding hearts looked a bit droopy the morning of the freeze, but they have recovered nicely.

I’m not sure Sky is really sniffing the violets, but I’m going to pretend that’s what he’s so interested in.

Sky

The summer birds are coming back!

Eastern Kingbird

I enjoy hearing them sing.

red winged blackbird

The shagbark hickory buds are opening.

I will admit I was a bit surprised to see a raccoon out in the middle of the afternoon.

I was relieved when I yelled to ask what he was doing and he ran away from me instead of towards me with foam coming out of his mouth.

Nugget and the girls are also enjoying the weather.  They like to come out and scratch in the dirt.

Nugget and some of the hens

The goats like the nice weather too.  John is doing well, even though I weaned him.

John

Blaze is looking much better than she was earlier in the spring.  Pasture has helped her put her weight back on.

Blaze and Trooper

Aurora is enjoying being back with the other girls and the bigger pasture.

Aurora

I have to say, I’m grateful for a couple of nice days because this coming week looks like it’s going to be raining most of the time.

Bob Cat

Bob might be spending a lot of time napping in the barn to stay dry this week.