Life Abounds

It really amazes me each year to see how much life the sun and warmth bring.  Plants and animals fill up space together where not too long ago there was just sparse brown.  The air smells rich and sweet and hums with tiny noises of leaves rustling and wings buzzing.  Each year we delight in the return of familiar creatures, celebrating the first butterfly of the season and sometimes spotting something new we have never seen before.

Bee at work.  We actually revived another bumble bee that looked almost dead by bringing it some sugar water on a hot day.

Kitty in one of her favorite perches.

Slow traveller.

The source of one of my favorite smells.

Eggs a plenty.

We unearthed this little mole when digging a hole.  He was funny and cute and when we let him go back in the woods he dug into the earth so fast it almost looked like he was swimming.  Then he yelled at us with his little mole voice before disappearing completely.

Grosbeak eggs.

Tiny snail.

Many mating millipedes.

Thistles opening.

Lucky!

Poppy and dew drop.

Beautifulbutterfly.

Big rose.

They smell so sweet.

House wren.

Black headed grosbeak.

Gold finch singing.

All fluffed up.

Dragon fly resting.

Tux cooling off down at the stream.

A little nest.

The baby grosbeaks.

Pretty moth.

The rubber boa. One of Craig's favorite snakes.

Another nest of babies.

Hungry ones.

Beetle.

Pileated woodpecker way up high on the forest's edge.

Exoskeleton.

Yum!

A gorgeous moth we had never seen before.

It was really big too.

And orange underneath.

Tiny trout.

Mantis.

Almost to the top.

Craig escorting our first accidental bat visitor from our bedroom.

Another visitor.  This lizard came in and kept escaping, but always seemed to turn up my Deek.  We figure they were friends.

Aphid hunting.

Farm Projects

Craig always has about 20 different farm projects going on at any given time.  There's the daily stuff like taking care of the animals and keeping the blackberries at bay, the seasonal stuff like planting Christmas tree seedlings and young fruit trees or chopping wood for heat in the winter, and the bigger projects like the barn loft or fencing in more pasture.  Slowly but surely, things take shape and old  projects get done and new ones get added to the list.  It's hard but satisfying work.

Fire!

Framing the loft.  Craig did this all as a one man job.

Morning chores.

Rail road ties to be fence posts.

Tractor tools.

Loft taking shape:

Adding cross beams:

Floor getting added.

Chicken housing.

It's Springing!

It's that time of year where the air smells so sweet, so luxurious, it almost feels like you can drink it.  We still have rainy days that keep things fresh and green, but the sun and blue sky are showing up more often.  We welcome both.  And in fact, sometimes they show up together and we get glorious rainbows.  We're also seeing little faces that we haven't seen all winter as the animals come out to enjoy the spring.  And we join them.

Cherry blossoms:

Trillium, already pinkening:

I spy a bunny!


These little flowers smell so sweet:


Apple blossoms:


Sunshine and rain and rainbow:


A bunch of nobles waiting to go into the ground:


Craig planting a fruit tree:


A snail spies me:


Baseball size peonies: