the smell of spring

We did it!!!! We were the first in the neighborhood to mow our yard!!!!!

Nah, normally I'm not that enthused about whether the yard gets mowed or not, as long as it is done at decent intervals. But it is the first of April and we were finishing planting the last of the spring potted flowers I had gotten at my store a couple of weeks or so ago, along with the ones Ron had gotten from the church after some service or the other. That got me in the mood for cleaning off flower beds---my back is already paying for it--it will be major motrin tonight, and Ron said not to worry about taking the waste to the compost--he just drove the mower over it, and it looked so good, he went ahead and mowed the rest of the yard. Of course by tomorrow evening all but one neighbor will have mowed theirs, and that neighbor will probably have his done by the weekend.

I have so many more flowers coming back from last year than I expected. My crocuses I planted last fall are up, but the deer ate my tulips, doggone them all to Hades and back. (see Mom I do watch my words once in a while). I even have the vinca out front coming back. Of course my annuals that I had in the big planters won't come back, but I think my black eyed susans that I filched from Mom last year may come back. My goal is to plant fewer and fewer annuals each year--just some in the hanging baskets and some planters, but to have the beds entirely of perennials. Time is premium around here, but I cannot exist without flowers around the house. And I am the rare woman who would rather have them blooming outside as to have them cut and vased inside.

Oh yeah, we also added 4 rose bushes to the rose bed between the driveway and the side porch. 2 replace 2 that had died and the other two were to replace the lilies that we did not think were coming back---surprise, Ron dug one hole and found a very much living lily bulb sprouting, so he quickly reburied it, and we are hoping it's ok now. The other was toast. So we adjusted where we were putting the one bush and now the bed needs dug up around the roses, topsoiled, and mulched, and I swear I am going to fence it off to keep the kids from running thru it when they are playing their chase games--you think the teens would at least know to stay out of it!!!!

Well Ronnie just turned the tv off, which means he is toast also, so goodnight all!!! Happy spring!