Fever: Spring Fever, That Is.

Well, sadly today is a repeat of yesterday.  It's raining.  I slept in.  The girls are still at my folks.  I'm still swigging my morning coffee when I would normally be contemplating what to eat for lunch.

So, why that is blogworthy is rather a big mystery.

I DID actually develop photos yesterday.  And  just in case you're wondering:  Even if you have organized your photos in nice tidy labeled files on your hard drive, I would suggest allowing at least two hours just to decide what needs printed, and what doesn't.

And 135 photos later you will be able to scrap book the last 17 months worth of life events.

Give or take a few.

Last night Studmuffin got home about 3pm.  I realized I had never eaten lunch, so I made him take me to Freddy's Frozen Custard for a steak burger.

Then we ventured into Academy for lures.  You see, Brent, my dad and my brother are going fishing this weekend, and Brent has a very specific lure that he has luck with, and of course everyone needs their own lure.

Don't EVER let anyone tell you fishing is the poor man's sport.

I drug him with me into Lowes.  I was in a spring flower mood.  Of course, it was pouring down rain, so we weren't able to look at many flowers, but I did enjoy daydreaming about an endless budget for bird baths (pretending I don't have two dogs and three cats to chase away any birds who may be foolish enough to stop for a quick dip in the pool) and fantasizing about a walk lined with frog and turtle solar lanterns.

 

I left with a few perennial flowers and some spray bottles that Brent needed for something or other.  Perhaps he's using them to mix concrete stains so that he can secretly rip out our carpet and surprise me with newly stained concrete floors...

The only problem with growing perennials is that you have to WAIT for them to bloom.  The garden centers are all full of blooming flowers and mine are still just starting to peek out from the soil.  Speaking of blooming:

My daffodils are blooming!  I am sad that once again I didn't get tulips planted.  I am seriously considering buying some tulips in bloom so I can have instant gratification of them in bloom, then enjoy them next spring again.  Patience is NOT one of my virtues...And neither is anything that requires long foresight.  Which is why I never remember to plant tulips when it's time to plant them.

We had such a mild winter that my blanket flowers, which will bloom all summer long are already getting a few small blooms on them.

I have a tendency to pull the dead heads off of my zinnias and throw them on any bare patch of soil that catches my eye.

With this rain we've had they've decided to start proliferating.  The bad thing about zinnias is since they are all coming up from seed they won't really be in bloom until June.  The great thing is that they are a sight to behold when I'm frustrated and sweltering in the heat of summer.

I took this sweet picture the week after we moved into the house.  Look at my sweet little girls who were only 7 & 8 at the time.

Once again spring is upon me and I've failed to remove all of the grass from the patch I want to turn into a Victorian garden.  So, it seems as if for at LEAST one more summer I will content myself with the few flower beds that I can never keep up with anyway.

I snatched up a few seed packets.  One of them was forget me nots.  I used to have these all over in my beds on the north side of my house, but last year none of them came up.  I figure they just need a fresh start of seeds.  I bit the bullet and bought some lettuce seed.  I have grown lettuce a few times, and while it's easy, I tended to fall behind.  Then it went to seed.  Then I had lettuce all OVER my garden.  More than I could even THINK to eat.

Last year my vegetable garden was an epic disaster.  My tomatoes would bloom, but produced almost no fruit.  My squash would get maybe an inch long and rot off at the stem.  My peppers just plain never grew.  Of course we were in a drought with a terrible heat wave, and my watering was very strictly limited.  This year I plan to try the raised beds that Brent built me last year again.  I plan to do tomatoes, lettuce, and just a few squash or zucchini plants along with several different pepper plants.  Basically a repeat of last year, but with hopefully more success.

So, as I've just posted right up above this line a picture of Brent working diligently on the aforementioned raised beds, let's dissect this photo a bit, shall we?

See the round cylinder next to the air conditioner?  It's an old pool filter that a dog who shall not be mentioned destroyed.  Brent has plans to turn it into some kind of half submerged water fountain.  It's still in that exact spot.

See that lawn that's mostly grass?  Well, this year it is 98% weeds.  Apparently even when one is not allowed to water and all of the grass dies, the weeds proliferate.  Who knew?

Well, I really should get to stuffing pictures into the slots of the album I bought.  Yes, I've given up serious scrap booking.  Instead I've resorted to albums with lines out to the side of the photo sleeve where I can add my thoughts on each photo.  Even though I'm not committed to adding cute stickers and card stock to my scrap books anymore I'm still very determined to share my thoughts with any person who might peruse my scrap books.

And I'm sure my diligence in dumping my thoughts on unsuspecting readers is a surprise to each of you.

Well, happy Thursday!  I'm off to deal with photos and possibly do some couponing!