Spring is coming.....

I know Spring officially arrives next week, but I see evidence that it's peeking around the corner here on the ranch. In spite of several days of mid-twenty degree mornings and highs in the 30s, the planters on the side porch seem to have survived winter and the vinca vine has it's first bloom this morning! And as I look across where our garden is trying to take shape, I see we have a flowering fruit tree in bloom. And speaking of the garden, like any project, there are always glitches!! No sooner did we have someone come out and drill 2' holes for the posts when 2 days later we had a nasty thunder storm which washed half of the dirt back into the holes (and it's clay-like mud) and just as the holes were beginning to dry out, that little blizzard soaked the muddy holes anew. Now Mike has to redig out each hole before he can set the posts - and there are a lot of posts yet to set!!!! If it will stay dry, maybe we can have the garden ready in another week or two!

The tree way in the background of the flowering fruit tree is more evidence that spring is coming!! If the buds aren't evident, single left click on the picture and it should enlarge it for you to see better. The blue mass is a bird nest made out of the string that wraps the bales of hay. I guess I'm not the only one who picks up the string from old bales!!

I planted the pansies in the planter outside the front door late last fall, and they've been colorful all winter. The red shrubs just off the front porch (nandinas) have been colorful all winter. And the live oak trees apparently keep their leaves year-round! I'll have to get more of these!!