Today

I found tadpoles in the pond. Note to self: turtles eat tadpoles. That was NOT a very good experiment...(well for the tadpoles anyway - Gilligan seemed to like it)


Tadpole in the pond.



Another turtle in the pond - he's a baby too.




He's swimming away.

See, I told you he was small.

He may look big - but don't let him fool you.

I found him in my pool today. I hope there aren't any more, since we added chemicals today.

My peony plants!

My pretty backyard. Here's what the boy has been spending all his time doing.

My project - a rock garden on the hill.

Another pic of the garden.

The boy's project, making a ramp down the hill that is less of an incline to make it easier to walk down. We're going to cover it with grass seed, and the debate still goes on about flagstones.

The ramp from another angle.

Squash!

Lettuce, spinach, broccolli

Climbing hydrangea on my new trellis

Tulips that we didn't know we had!

Iris that my mom gave us.

Happy gnome in the new mulch

New mulch spread fresh today.

no more vacation

Which means two things:

1). I have to suck it up for the next two months
2). THERE'S ONLY TWO MONTHS LEFT!!

I've been busy these last few days. Here is a taste:

**Gardening - We've planted a climbing hydrangea, two pink flowering bushes, Lily of the valley, an herb garden, an indoor rubber tree, and vegetables (not the boy's favorite). I have asparagus, lettuce, carrots, radishes, peas, beans, tomatoes both large and cherry, corn, cucumbers, zucchini, summer squash, eggplant, pumpkins...I think that is everything...

**We uncovered the pool to begin the process of opening it. We filled the pool, and readied the filter with the exception of checking the sand. I hope to do that tomorrow. I fished out a lot of leaves, and the boy fished out a dead something-or-other (I didn't look to closely)

**Cleaning the house - getting it ready for visitors - we're still planning on having that ill-fated house warming party

**Brush burning. We burnt a LOT of sticks and brush two weekends ago. The pile was taller than me! Ask the boy about HIS fire adventures - good thing I was raised in a fire conscientious house - I had my bucket of water ready!

**John Philip Sousa Honors Band - I brought four students to attend the three day festival (which of course was during vacation). The students had a blast - which made it all worth-while. I ended up teaching a clarinet masterclass (two, actually) and had fun.

**Shopping in downtown Nashua with Jenn (sort of, everything closed at 4, so we didn't get to go into too many shops). We went out to dinner and out for ice cream. YUM!

**Planning my annual band field trip to Lake Compounce in Bristol, CT for the Trills & Thrills Festival

**Bought a new vacuum - the boy killed the old one. It's sad that I think that's cool....

And I am sure I am leaving something out, but I can't think anymore...I need sleep.

spring is losing its battle

I know the pic is pretty small - it was taken with my cell phone - I'll try to get a better pic. If you can't see it, they're crocus sprouts that are coming up from the bulbs I planted in the fall. Now the snow is just going to cover them up! ugh...

killer squash

This is the zucchini that I found in the garden. It is HUGE. I made a quiche with 6 cups of slices, and also set aside 2 cups of shredded to make muffins tomorrow. That's after I cut out a lot of the middle section with the seeds that were the size of pumpkin seeds!