Doings

Yesterday was an exciting day. Zach was a finalist in the Rochester Regional Spelling Bee.(There are several regionals throughout the state,and winners go on to the State Bee).He did well,making it to the second round and being in the top 12 out of 21 contestants. He was a bit upset,as the judges told the group that they would use some words that were not on the study list,but only towards the end.They used those words from the get go. Rick and I noticed it right away,since we have been going over the words with him for weeks. At any rate,he did a great job and we are very very proud of him!!!

This coming week is garden planning. I made a preliminary assessment of what seeds we have,and what we need to get. There are  a few new things we want to grow,broccoli being one. For the most part,we have plenty of seeds left over because our garden was on the smaller side. This year,we want to have enough to do some serious canning,so our garden is going to be close to,if not,doubled. We also need to rotate our crops,so we will have to figure what will go where. I am very excited to get this going.

We have lost quite a bit of snow this weekend.It has been in the 40's-balmy temperatures for us this time of year! It rained overnight,so the snow in the yard has gone down by about half. We still have snowdrifts ( such as outside our bedroom window) that are about 5 ft tall,but we can see grass in the paths that have been snowblowed (is that a word?) Little birds have come back,Brother B informed us yesterday. He saw a bunch out at the bird feeders,so now I need to get some seed to coax them into hanging around. I am anxious to see something else beside Blue Jays.And of course,the standard bearer of Spring,the Robin,is the most welcome sight of all. Once we see Robins,we know that Spring is not far behind.

Some folks have tapped their Maple trees already,but the weather has not been sap running weather. It needs to be above freezing during the day and below freezing at night for a portion of time to get the sap going. A couple of days of good sap weather followed by freezing temps stops any sap flow. From what I have read from the NH Maple Producers Association website,if you tap the trees too early,it's not good.So we have held off. Sap only runs for a few weeks out of the year,and here in NH it's usually not until mid March. Once the buds start coming out on the trees,the sap has turned bitter,so it's time to pull the buckets.

Like most folks around here,I am ready for Spring. I am ready for green grass,bright blue sky,the sound of birds singing,and digging in my garden. I am ready for warm sunshine soaking into my bones. Bring it on!!!!!!!!!!