Spring has officially arrived (well, come and gone, really) in Arkansas, bringing lots of stormy weather all over the state. This spring has seen more devastating storms & tornadoes than many past, as well as flooding. And though I am used to the blooming season being in May and June (growing up in Maine), the spring blossoms are about gone here! I have a couple of lovely rosebushes that were planted by the previous owner of our house growing right by my door, and in spite of needing some good pruning, they produced some lovely deep red roses with a gorgeous "deep red" smell. The other bush has pretty off-white roses with just a hint of lavendar tinging the edges of the petals, and a delicate pink smell to complement the color.
As the flowers have arrived, so have the critters! We had originally planned to put a garden in our upper back yard this spring, but were unprepared when the weather got nice enough and decided the land needed a little more preparation than we could give it this year. It's a good thing we didn't plant anything up there, anyway! Just about any time of day we can look up in the back yard and see rabbits nibbling the weeds and grass. Also, early in April, I noticed that something had made him/herself a nice hole going under our storage shed. A couple of weeks later, I glanced out the kitchen window and saw a big, fat groundhog eating our dandelions. Uh-oh! We still have yet to figure out what to do about the critter, and now the problem has gotten bigger--literally! Last week I heard some commotion in the backyard, and when I went to the patio door I saw two groundhogs racing by, playing a cute game of tag! So now we really need to do something--or we are going to end up with an entire groundhog family! Usually they are shy about getting their pictures taken, but Nate managed to get this good shot on Saturday:
And of course, what is spring without spring house projects! While we have yet to finish the trim in the front room, we did manage to paint our front door--red! Nate found some quality paint on clearance because it had been tinted improperly, and we thought it would do for the door color. After we applied it, though, we decided it was too orangey, so I opted for a quart of cheap exterior paint in a deeper red for the outer coat. It still needs one more going-over, but I am pleased with the results.
