Spring has Sprung

Thought for the Day:

"Spring has sprung, although old man winter has yet to be informed in some areas we know. Winter gave up a few times and let spring weather walk on his creaking back and what a relief it was. Now that he's feeling better we will surely be revisited soon so keep those jackets close." rjm

Happy Spring!

I have been wanting to show how early we're getting plants sprouting here. In Colorado, with winter weather usually strong in March, the flower's usually poke through the ground closer to April.

This year, however, it has been so warm and so dry, just a little watering and the plants have begun to spring up, even though the lawn is still lying mostly dormant. Notice that around the flowers in my front flower bed, it's still dry and dead but the flowers, like my crocuses and dafodills and tulips don't seem to mind a bit.

I don't either, really, because it gives me some wonderful color to enjoy during this dry time and hope for a great spring and summer (allowing that we really do need more moisture). Notice all the beautiful blooms on my large bush, but no green leaves or even buds are showing yet.

I know that alot of places across the country are getting much more snow and moisture than they need, but we are currently about 83% behind in moisture for this time of year. Ouch!!

We enjoyed having alot of birthdays this month and have had get togethers and birthday parties every week this month. My father-in-law turned 80 years old on the 7th of March. Then my step daughter turned 30 on the 11th and my daughter also turned 30 on the 15th. We followed that up with my uncle's on the 17th and my Mom's birthday on the 18th. My young nephews was about the 19th but we celebrated it on Friday the 20th.

Our little nephew just turned 5 years old. When he saw my husband a few weeks ago as they all traipsed all over the hills looking for deer antlers, he innocently asked Rick, "My birathday is in 3 days. Are you going to give me a present?" Sounds reasonable to a 5 yr old. He get's presents on Christmas and on birthdays so why wouldn't uncle Rick give him one. So.. we decided to be sure and give him a special birthday party so he would know he is special to us too. Here he is about to blow out his candles.

Mariah and Ethan helped Grandps bake a cake for their Mom, Amber and Dad, Steve so we could celebrate their birthday's on Sunday. Grandpa has a great sense of humor and baked them a cake with oreo cookies, white chocolate chips and then pieces of prunes fort the now 'over the hill' birthday couple, ha! (If you look closely you can see the box of prunes he has opened.)

While we were plotting all this fun, Amber and Steve went out for a much deserved birthday dinner out together (no kids) to Outback Resturant, which is one of their favorites. The kids helped decorate and set the table and wore 'Happy New Year' hats and blew the favored expandable noise makers as they came in the front door.

Then Mariah and Ethan each made birthday cards for their parents and painted them with squirt paint on construction paper. Mariah is a natural artist and did an excellent job.

Next, one of my son-in-laws birthday was the 21st and the other son-in-law had his today, on the 23rd. If my Grandma on my dad's side had lived one more year, she would have turned 100 on the 2nd of the month. There are one or two others and at least one anniversary in our extended family this month but there is just so much one can keep up with in one month.

On Saturday I was actually able to get out and fish with my husband, father and father-in-law all day along with our faithful little (not so little actually) bulldog, Myrtle. The weather was perfect and we didn't get one single fish. That was ok, though, since after the first 30 minutes we were pretty sure we wouldn't get any but we brought our picnic lunch and enjoyed some visiting and checking our poles once in awhile just for the show of it. Myrtle sure enjoyed playing in the lake water again, even though the water was freezing. She would play along the shore awhile and then sit by us shiverinf awhile and then go back and do it again. It's good it was 76+ degrees out that day.

I'm not posting a recipie today but will try to again next time.

Note about David: He did not have the surgery on Friday as planned. He had a new surgeon get involved who didn't feel he could do the surgery without another PET scan to see it all clearly. They will be doing more testing before moving forward. I can't seem to get alot of details from him or his dad so will have to wait for more news, but sure want to thank you all for your continued thoughts and prayers.