April Foolishness

Today I want to start my first indoor seeds. I couldn’t find an underneath tray anywhere in the greenhouse or sheds, but found substitutes. I think I can fit them onto the sewing table and rotate them under the UV light.

Rosalee and I have begun reclaiming the yard. Little by little we were able to pick our way through the ice piles to the back yard. The piles formed when huge chunks of melted-then-frozen rooftop ice came crashing down, tearing eaves and soffits with them.

Every day I chipped a little ice from the sidewalk. Today I expect the last of it will be melted away. I invited a local carpenter to discuss building an overhang for the stairs. I hope we can proceed. Working people get swamped with orders this time of year so I got my request in early.

Rosalee and I now spend a lot of time outdoors. A new puppy next door is very friendly. Rosalee feels threatened when it barks but they will get used to each other.

Birds are singing, and visiting the garden beds, foraging for whatever they can find. One day I noticed Rosalee in stalking mode, belly to the ground, advancing towards potential prey. I shooed her out of the garden and shut the gate. I am not sure if she understood why.

I have not seen any birds in there lately, and have not found any corpses, so I will leave open the gate for her in the daytime, and close it at night. This year I must replace some of the raised bed lumber, and get new stakes to hold them in place.

Pruning the apple trees and cherry tree is done. I decided to make one last cut on the cherry and went up the ladder with my little pruning saw. I gave up and got the Fiskars pruner. One snip and the job was done.