It's official ... Spring has sprung!!

Wow ... I am really bad at this whole blog thing! I guess I need to add it to a list somewhere ... comb hair - check, brush teeth - check, write in blog - ya right.
In any case, spring has officially arrived! Yesterday I took 11 wood ticks off Maizee, and 4 or 5 off me - a sure sign that it's spring in Minnesota. The flood waters have finally gone down to an almost normal level, and I guess I need to post some photos of what it looked like around here. I am still counting my blessings that I emerged almost damage free. Kurt came for the Easter weekend and helped me pull the plastic and wet insulation from the basement, and clean everything up with bleach water. Inside all is well - outside, not so much. There is so much debris all over the yard that it will take forever to clean it up! Oh wait - I don't have forever. There's going to be a wedding here in August! So why can't I stop playing on my computer and get to work? (I blame it on Hummie)
It's also pruning season. As always, that's a slow go. We have had a few really nice days, and I can accomplish a lot when it's nice out. But while most of Minnesota has experienced above normal temps and sunshine it's been mostly gloomy and cold here. And wet ... let me repeat that... wet. Even wearing my tallest Wellies I need to change pants 2 or 3 times a day because everything is so soggy and muddy, and I won't even mention what Maizee looks like! My living room looks like a tribe of grade school kids have been building tents. Every possible surface is covered in old blankets and towels, hoping to save what is left of my aging furniture. The folks from HGTV would have a stroke! Ok, back to the pruning ... I was working out a formula. If I could do one tree every 2 hours, x 300 trees, = 600 hours. Oh ... that's not going to work - by then the trees will have bloomed, and have apples on them. ah well ... another year of a lick and a promice.

The ice officially went out on Saturday, about a week earlier than normal. The open water has brought me several new neighbors! I have several pairs of Canadian honkers, and Mallards that must be nesting on the shoreline, because they spend their days gliding back and forth, driving Maizee crazy. I need to do some research and find out how to teach her that the birds are our friends! Before long there will parades of fuzzy babies learning to swim out there, and I would be heart broken if she hurt any of them.

Ok ... it has reached 40, and the sun is shining. I must drag myself out to the orchard! On the bright side, I downloaded South of Broad by Pat Conroy onto my ipod last night, and I am excited to listen to it! (all 21 hours) It's been on my to read list for a long time, but I just keep moving it to the bottom of the pile.