Snow Shoes?

The weekend of April 16-18 caused us to believe spring and summer were finally on their way.  Glenn and I worked hard during those sunny days.  Glenn had purchased in the fall enough native grass and flower seed to cover all of the bare spots on our property, so we raked and seeded.  The front flower bed beckoned us, too -- so we filled it in with dirt and garden plastic and planted a large number of perennial plants that I'd ordered.  Everything we put in was described as (A) drought tolerant (B) heat resistant and (C) deer unappealing -- everything necessary for an on-again, off-again gardener like me!  We also hauled three pick up loads more of fieldstones from the Jurgens' big pile (see related story from the Fourth of July, 2009).  We're not only covering the entire flowerbed and its plastic with a layer of stone, we're also outlining the foundation of our house with it as well as the front parking area and drive.

     Three days of working outdoors and in the sun, enjoying a cold beer at the end of the day on our deck -- we truly felt winter had breathed its last gasp and we were home free for warmer times!  Little did we know that winter held fast to its grip on this area and wasn't about to let go quite so easily!

     During the following week, I watered my new perennials daily in order to give them a good start.  On Wednesday, April 21, I left my shoes on the front step; because of the watering they'd become muddy and I didn't want to track soil up the steps.

     The photo above is those same shoes -- and the two pictures shown here were taken on Friday, April 30!  Yes, between Thursday and Friday we've received at least two inches of snow, and most likely that is an underestimate.  As I type this, much of it has melted away and fairly gradually.  Despite the surprise of this late-season burst of enthusiasm from winter, this snow will do a good job of soaking the topsoil and providing much needed water for our seeds and plants.  Nonetheless, this is not what we expected at all several days ago when we sweated our way through rock hauling and planting!

     The fast-moving front which rocketed through the valley on Wednesday night did some damage.  It was so windy that our gas grill got pushed to the north end of our back deck, only being saved from being pommeled down the stairs by its having hit (and dented) one of our new pillars.  Frankly, the pillar is more of a loss than the 10-year old grill would have been!  One downspout is missing and we needed a tech guy from our internet provider to come out and realign our satellite dish.

     My visions of getting the Miles-Guy outside were also dampened by the snow.  In this photo, I managed to corral him for 45-minutes yesterday with a feather painting project.  We used several colors of liquid tempera paint (which I put in small pools on styrofoam tray) and turkey feathers I'd found on one of my walks.  Miles really does enjoy painting; he gets quite excited when I pull out the box of colors.  Even more so, he loves the clean up -- I let him stand in the high chair up against the kitchen sink and play in warm sudsy water with plastic cups.

     In addition to painting yesterday, Miles reached a true "milestone" -- we carried him into our bedroom where the Graco is set up and put him down (or so we thought) for a nap.  He cried for a minute or two as he sometimes does, then we heard a "thump."  You guessed it; he was OUT of the crib under his own power.  So, he got up and played for a bit more; I put him back down for another proposed nap about an hour and a half later.  He cried once again, but I gently closed the door and came out to the kitchen to get a few things done.  Suddenly, I heard that all too familiar "pitter patter", looked down and there he stood --- laughing --- that little rascal!  Naptime has taken on a whole new look for us now!