Spring, for now

Spring is suddenly upon us, for the next week, anyway. Or so we hope. The beginning of the week was not so promising. I managed to get a walk in Tuesday before the next round of storms hit. Terry had been out doing chainsaw work back by the creek. He got the box elder by the fire ring cut through, but it still refused to fall.

The box elder that refused to fall

That afternoon, we had a hail storm. We were lucky that the hail did not exceed pea-sized, not big enough to cause damage.

Hail

We cowered in the basement briefly Wednesday morning as another tornado warning came and went in about 20 minutes. At least they’ve been moving quickly. We also had one the previous Friday evening.

I went down to visit Jane and go shopping on Thursday. Farm and Fleet had cat trees on sale again, and I caved one more time. Now each cat can sit by the living room window and watch the birds. This brings the household total number of cat trees to five. For two cats.

Matching cat perches to watch the birds on the deck

Jane bought a cat jungle gym (two cubes and a connecting tunnel) that her cats didn’t use much, so I brought those home on Thursday also. Bingo has always shown an affinity for small spaces, which has gotten increasingly comical as he has grown ever larger. I put one of the cubes on the floor while I started putting the groceries away. It didn’t take long until he staked a claim.

Bingo claims the new cube moments after I put it on the floor

The next day, I assembled the whole thing with the tunnel. Bingo sat in one end.

Bingo in one end

Then the other end.

And the other end

Then he camped out in the tunnel for a while. He liked the netted area from which he can look out and feel like he can’t be seen.

Hiding in the tunnel

Banjo got in on the act as well. They have been having the best time chasing each other around and through.

Banjo investigates

Yesterday was flat out gorgeous. Terry had gotten the box elder by the creek on the ground and cut up. We went back to pick up the branches. I worked up a sweat in a short time. After we were done, I put on a much lighter coat and went out to check things in the greenhouse and garden. The onions are doing well.

The onions

I had to repot the cucumbers and tomatoes that will go in the high tunnel, even though the tomatoes did not have four true leaves. The seeds were two years old, and I seriously underestimated their germination rate. I thought it was going to be 50% if I was lucky. No, it was still 100%! They were way too crowded. Now I have 13 cucumbers (I originally planned to plant four)

Lots of cucumbers

And 24 tomatoes (I was going to plant three or four).

So many tomatoes!

As usual, I didn’t notice the garlic was up until it was getting all crumpled underneath the row cover. I uncovered it and hope that it will straighten itself out soon.

Wrinkly garlic

The strawberries survived the winter in the raised bed. I pulled off the straw for now to let the leaves green up and get big. I will tuck straw underneath the leaves before the berries ripen. Strawberries on the soil get moldy in an instant.

Strawberry sprouts

The chickens are very excited to be able to dust bathe in the real dirt. I didn’t get a picture at the height of the activity, when they were rolling around and fighting for spots, but you get the idea.

Natural dust baths

They have eaten every green thing in the run by now and spend a lot of time trying to get at the greener grass. One more week, and they’ll be down in the summer pasture with all the grass their hearts desire. Then it’s time to clean Coop 1 and get ready for chicks!

The grass is always greener...