Egad!--Where have I been for two weeks?

Well, I've not been blogging, that's for sure. I'm not even sure what I have been doing, except the days have collapsed one into the other. I made a set of stuffed animals for a friend's newest grandbaby's nursery. Arrival date is April, but I needed to get it done.

Our English in-laws are here and that has made for one full weekend and another coming up. Can you say 'family yoga lesson?'

No, there will not be a video. Being a youtube sensation is the last thing on our collective mind.

I have started to read the latest CS Harris Sebastian St. Cyr novel, When Maidens Mourn. Such a wonderful series. Regency. Romance. Dark, dark family secrets slowly leaked out to the reader. Yum!

I went to a postcard show, found a Texas brag card I didn't have, scanned it to my computer, then waited for it to sync with the iPhone. When it didn't, I've had to research how to encourage it to do so. Seems the computer has to be running iTunes, the iPhone has to be plugged in as if to charge, and you have to hit the magic 'sync now' button. Then, guess what! The scan is on my phone!

My daffodils are about bloomed out, the hyacinths are waning, and the tulips are gorgeous. But it's windy, so they won't last long. Happens every year.

Can spring be far behind?

Besides the fact that we've had a most reasonable January with little cold weather and February has been more than tolerable by our standards (today is 70), as a whole the populace wonders when the other weather-shoe will drop and we'll be plunged into ice and snow in March. Or April even, because we've all seen it happen.

However, yesterday morning I saw three vees of birds, whether ducks or geese I don't know, headed north. I rolled down my car window hoping to hear them and know what it was I saw, black shadows against a gray sky, but they were too far up/the road noise too loud.

I'll just have to be satisfied that the birds know what they're doing, deserting the south in time to make it to their northern homes before all the good spots are gone.

Really, with daffodils blooming and hyacinths rising, can spring be far behind?*

*Also known as famous last words.

What the armadillo left me

Since armadillos not only like to dig holes in pretty lawns while they search for grubs, but also destroy flower beds in the hunt for bulbs and my flower beds were a mess before I caught up with my own personal armadillo last fall, I overcompensated when it came time to buy daffodils, tulips, and hyacinths.

This morning, with the sun shining and the temps in the 50s, I got to rue that decision.

Normally, I wouldn't have bought daffies or hyacinths since they come back year to year. But I didn't trust that to happen, so armed with 45 hyacinths, 100 tulips, and 40 daffodils, I started digging my own holes.

I've never held to the theory that they have to be planted WAY deep. Two or three inches has served me well and digging any deeper in our black clay soil requires more strength than I have or have had. I made my plan and put foot to shovel and found...

... bulbs. Several inches high in fact, nestled under piles of large sycamore leaves from our neighbors' down the street. I shall save my ire and think of them as a protective layer against the cold. I had to hunt around my previous hyacinths and indeed find a few new places, to plant the 45.

I ran into similar circumstances with the daffodils because I always go back to the same holes to dig. Go figure. However, there weren't any signs of budding tulips and really, not that many daffies.

My armadillo had a thing for tulips, would take a daffodil if hungry, and snubbed the hyacinths. Lucky me?

Hardiest of the foolhardy

After our second round of snow, ice, and record-setting low temps, we are inching back into the 70s, which is a bit warm for February but I haven't heard any complaints from man or beast.

However, looking upon my flower beds I find that the bulbs have endured the snow and ice quite well. The daffodils are up over an inch in the old beds. The hyacinths are new and already breaking ground.

Alas, there are a few foolhardy tulips trying the same. Tsk, tsk. They won't fare as well if (when?) we have another round of it. They'll be making me work to cover them with newspaper and weight it down with brick, only to hope they don't get their little tulip noses freezer burned.

Welcome to Texas, I'll say. May your bulb be well fed enough to try again next year.

Getting ready for spring

The daffodils have exploded today in my yard. The King Alfreds started last week, but this afternoon the Ice Follies, white with yellow centers, are taking center stage. Daffodils here, tulips showing their greenery, hyacinths peeking through, must mean spring is on the way.

And not a day too soon. It's not that this winter has been worse than normal, because I don't believe it has. We've had cold and yes, there was that 6 inch snowfall in one day, but there's not been ice. What there has been is rain. And more rain. Our back area could have doubled for a rice paddy or cranberry field two weeks ago. We're tired of the wet.

The temps are warming, which means the day it hit 60 outside, I turned the heat off. The windows are cracked, the house is airing in stages, and I'm hoping I don't have to hear the click of the heat strips again until we turn it to the a/c side. I can almost hear my electric meter sighing in relief.

The big sign of spring however will be when I change over my closet. I am so tired of my winter blacks and browns. I think I get in more of a rut in winter than summer, wearing the same thing over and over. What's the adage: 20% of your clothes are worn 80% of the time? I can believe it.

But for the moment, I'll just be content to wear jackets instead of coats and lightweight socks instead of heavy, shoes instead of boots...