What a great day, I finished cleaning out the weeds on rock wall at the front of the drive way, I planted flower seeds on the east side of potting shed,  ( these are  seed packs that  Joanne left here  so we will see if they even grow) cleaned out the dead parts of Vinca along the steps to patio.

My brother in law brought his tiller down this afternoon.  Jeff worked on garden and now it is all tilled, also had a truck load of horse poop that we put on the garden and tilled that in.  I just want to get going and starting planting things,  and when I think about what all I want to plant I might just  do it this weekend. Tomatoes, potatoes, lettuce, corn, pumpkins, onions, beans.  I know I will need to wait for the tomatoes but I think everything else  could go into the ground.  And then I think I should wait at least till the end of then month. I will talk to my sister and the neighbor and see when they are going to plant.

 I have my new hoe ,  can't wait to use it.  Mars and I will be in the garden early in the mornings in the summer!.

I was able to get rhubarb plants from a neighbor of my sister, so I now have 3 nice plants along the fence line. Probably no rhubarb this year, but next  year I should be able to pick it.  Also planted 5 Asparagus root plants, M.A. had ordered them from one of her many seed catalogs, so again will just have to wait and see what happens.   I wonder if my Asparagus plants in MN are up ? These are the ones that Lorri gave me several years ago,  and this year  I should have been able to eat fresh Asparagus, hopefully the new people are enjoying it.

After doing the volunteer duties  today at the Arboretum, I walked the woodland trail, oh millions of wild flowers, I just had my phone with me and took some pictures, if I had the camera I could have taken lots of pictures.

The Tulip tree by the front porch is in full bloom, unfortunately it is very windy today and the blossoms  are being blown off.

On Mon. we went and walked the Lost Lake trail, it is  easy and we will take Mars there in the future. He is slowing down, arthritis , vision issues,  but all things  that happen to a  dog that is 10 + years old.
 
 I will post  wild flower pictures soon.

     Spring is finally arriving, it was very nice last week, sunny and temps in the 70's, this week much different, cool 50's and drizzle, fog,  not nice for being outside.  I have continued to work on  the area where I am hoping to have the garden by digging up dirt to loosen it to hopefully make it easier to use the tiller. This is a  slow process, the ground is  very hard and there is a  fair amount of clay in the ground.
     I found several Blood Root blooming  in the front north east corner, there is something else coming up that  appears  that it could have  flowers  will have to wait and see what it is.   The Wild Ginger  that I dig up and brought from MN is coming up. But I feel I need to move it as  it is on the south side of cabin and will have all day direct sunlight. I am  still waiting to see if the Smooth Solomon Seal plant  will make it.
     I have raked areas all around the house, whew, what a  job, hopefully next year  it will not be so hard to do, we burnt leaves and have even started  a  huge  pile of brush in the pasture area for future burning.
      We have been taking Mars to area parks for walks, he seems to enjoy this, otherwise he just likes to roam around here where we are out sniffing and checking things out.
     This is a  picture of the Anemone we saw at the Ledges State Park where we took Mars to walk.

On Mon. Jeff took the tractor and  was able to scoop up more of the grass from the pasture area  where I would like my garden , but  because the ground is not  level it was not coming up evenly. I don't think the garden will be as large  as I had planned, but starting smaller  is probably a  good idea.

 Since putting up the Blue Bird houses there has been a  Blue Bird that has been hanging out in the yard, and  I have seen him sitting on top of the wooden house the last  3 mornings.  Hopefully a  nest will be  built and a  family raised.

It has been  a wonderful weekend, Brad, Nikole, Honey and Indiana were here.  And because they were here several things  happened.  Nikole and I went on a  walk Sat. morning , and we met  Nancy and Norman.  Nancy has chickens and sell eggs,  I was given  my first dozen free, we had them scrambled this morning , yummm,  they  tasted  very good and the eggs  were very yellow in color,  I will be  going to buy my next dozen.  While visiting with Nancy I discovered  she like Blue Birds and has  blue bird houses that she puts  up and she was going to put some up on  JoAnn's  property. Only she didn't know that she had moved , needless to say Nikole and I carried 2 Blue Bird  houses  back home !   They are now up along the pasture fence awaiting someone to build a nest.

Today Nikole  and I walked  and  took a detour on the way home. We  went down by the property line to the creek,  then stepping carefully got down to the creek, crossed the creek by stepping on a  clump of grass,  then we were on a sandbar/ beaver dam type area,  we crossed by walking on a  fallen tree to the other side,  then ended up taking off and shoes and socks  and wadding across  again!  The  water was  cold, but  we made it and  did not fall down, only some mud on our shoes and some  scratches on legs.   What  a  great  time  !!

 The dogs  had  a  fun time, running and playing, sniffing and Honey even took a  little  dip / lay down in the creek , she was mud  from  the tip of her little nose to her  feet. But she was  happy.

So  a  great weekend with  lots  of  things  that happened.

It has  been several days since I added any thing here, so  there needs to be an update.
 On Mon. March 2 there was  one  Blue Bird  in the  side yard.   We have not seen any since.  Trying to decide if I should invest  in Blue Bird Houses  or not.  I had  Peterson Blue Bird Houses in Hastings, but they  don't have them  here in the Iowa stores I have been in.  I could order them  on line,  but I just feel like I  should wait  and see if we have any more Blue Birds.  Maybe I will ask the neighbor if they have Blue Birds  or see them during the summer.

I put a  stake in the ground  where I want the edges of the garden to be,  Jeff said he will take the lawn tractor and the bucket and  scoop up the sod,  that way it will be a little easier for the garden tiller to break up the dirt.

I also made my first  purchase for my garden,  Onion sets !!!  We were at  Earl May and they had them out.  Thought about getting the potatoes but decided to wait on that.

 I have  cleaned up dead leaves etc., there are buds  on the Azalea bushes, and the day lilies, Iris  are starting to come up.   It was 71' today ,   feeling like spring, but I also know that it is only March 12  and we could still have some cold temps and snow before spring is  really here.

Mars loves to be out in the yard  when we are out,  roaming  all over, investigating everything.  He figured out how to squeeze through  the fence to get into the pasture today.

  I have trimmed the Hydrangeas, there are  three  large  bushes  and one  small one.  Also trimmed  the dead flowers from the  rose bushes, there are 2 of them,  they  do not  look good,  so I will have to wait and see if they have survived the winter.   They had  not  been covered in the fall.

 The owls continue  to  " Hoot"   almost  daily, usually  it is night when you hear them  but occasionally  in the later afternoon.  They are  in the back pasture / woods.

When Mars  and I were out for our pasture  walk  found a  bush/ tree that has  some serious  thorns,  I am not sure what  type of bush or tree it is ,  but I certainly do not want to run into it.  Some spring clean up will be needed for sure to  try and  get rid of it.