Springtime Beauty

Walking around the yard this morning I marveled at how pretty our yard is looking this spring. The Iris have bloomed early this year.

The climatis is doing well,

as are the roses, columbines,

and especially the sage.

A Swarm of Bees

We went to Goodland to pick up supplies today. As we were unloading some food for the creatures we noticed a buzzing gray cloud above us. I was so disappointed...my bees were swarming. I was totally unprepared for that and they did not land anywhere nearby so they could be captured and put in a new hive. Mark stopped by and helped me check them for other queen cells, adjusted the hive boxes and added a super for me. They are pretty tame bees, fortunately. Hopefully they won't swarm again this year and will fill the top super with honey instead of flying off to start a new home. They are very fond of the greenhouse and there are always bees in there except very late in the evening.

Kitten Pictures

I promised pictures of the baby kittens and just realized I didn't put them on the site.

So here are the ones from when they were small. Newer pics with larger kittens to follow.

No, It wasn't a tornado.

It had been raining for a couple of hours and the sky was still dark and threatening, but there was no tornado warning. I was sitting at my computer working on Food Coop stuff when I heard a terrible crash, another crash and another crash. The sounds were strangely reminiscent of the time the carport blew over and became a boat.

I went to the front door and looked out only to see our well house was missing...totally! Well, not totally, it was strewn across the front of the property for several yards. My initial thought was, "Oh, No! A tornado has hit the well house. Oh, MY GOD, Evelyne's house is right in line with that." I ran out the door bare foot and looked over with relief to see her house was still okay. As was the carport, however in front of the carport was a newer model Dodge Pickup-or what was left of it-upside down in front of the carport.

I don't do first aid...just can't handle that sort of crisis. Earl had gone back home days ago, so no paramedic here. A call to 911 brought the police, the rescue unit, the ambulance, the fire department (2 trucks) and the sheriff.

The man had crawled out from under his truck and was walking away from it by the time they arrived. Thank goodness. They did take him to the hospital and undoubtedly he has a head injury.

Except for several minutes of increased heart rate, Evelyne and I are fine.

After they turned the truck over, I was amazed the guy could get out of it at all:

On the positive side, he did miss the mailboxes. And the well house kept him from landing in Evelyne's bedroom.

Pot of Gold at the End of the Rainbow

Every month when I get my electric bill, I realize there is a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. But the electric company found it, not me.

Things

Juliet's kittens are now at the really cute stage. They are eating solid food and probably would be ready to give away this weekend at the flea market. Somehow I don't think that will happen. Pictures will follow in a few days. Wednesday I am headed to Denver to pick up plants for the flea market. We have customers who expect us to be there with them as they refuse to buy "that overpriced crap" that the regular greenhouse has here. They always comment on how healthy ours look, what a good selection we have and how much better our prices are. True, we do have an advantage in that we are not trying to make a full time living from selling them, but nevertheless, it is nice to hear we are better than them. Along with the plants I will bring back my brother so he can continue working on the new deck/porch out the west door. Hopefully the weather will be cooperative. Today is the first time I've seen the sun in 4 days. On the positive side of the weather, the trees and bushes we planted a couple of weeks ago are looking splendid now. Aunt Jo

Pearls of Wisdom from the past

"Farming looks mighty easy when your plow is a pencil and you're a thousand miles from the corn field." Dwight D. Eisenhower Thomas Edison told his friends Henry Ford and Harvey Firestone: “I’d put my money on the sun and solar energy. What a source of power! I hope we don’t have to wait until oil and coal run out before we tackle that.” 1931--