Happy Easter!

Spring is here, and the outdoors has shifted from frozen and cold, to cool and beautiful. My Australian friend recently reminded me in my "Spring is here" blog, that it is autumn there.  But spring is here, for sure.

I took some shots of the yard and tried to record the sound of a bird that I like.  I wish that I knew the name of the bird, but I don't .  I have concluded that he is a small guy and not so colorful, because he is hard to locate.  He has a high whistle, like the sound of someone whistling to bring in the cattle or sheep.  I love the sound of it. It is a sort of high "da dee dee, dee, deee.". Unfortunately, he only sings when the video is not running.    If I ever do catch the fellow singing in one of my videos, I will add him to this site.

For my kids, I captured their father heading out the door with the compost.

Take a look, click here:  

 Composting in the spring

Your Dad misses you.  He and I had to pick up the slack on many of your old jobs that you left behind when you headed for college.

I remember one cold wintry day when our daughter walked in the door with the compost bucket in her hand and said "Well, that is that last time that I'm doing that", with her head all wet, and her feet all muddy.  And it was.  We let her get away with it because he helped out in so many other ways.

As for the boys, I recall them taking the compost out every once in awhile, under duress.  But the end result, thanks to all their dedicated work, is lots of flowers and very rich dirt in the side yard.  Thanks, kids, for all those buckets that you carried.

Joe and I drove past our neighbors and three little kids were having an egg hunt, with their Dad watching them from the front porch.  One of the little boys was so excited that he forgot to run, and stood frozen in place just imagining where an egg might be, with the silliest grin on his face, his shoulders all scrunched together and wringing his hands with delight, that big silly grin on his face.  He was about 6 years old.  We cracked up laughing at him.  It reminded us of the many egg hunts that we had in our side yard.  Joe and I also used to hide the kids annual art supplies along with the colored eggs.  Our kids found hidden in the yard, sidewalk chalk, squirt guns and art materials, like crayons and paint sets.

We used to have a contest to see who would find the last colored egg.  I think one of the eggs actually made it to the 3 or 4 month mark before it was found.  No one ate it.

Here is our back yard during a lovely spring rain.  Click here:  Backyard in spring