Spring Things

There were no major events occuring over the last couple of weeks, just a series of smaller things the arrival of spring made possible. Although the upcoming forecast has a couple of below-freezing nights, we are in spring mode. Here are a few of our activities of the past week or so.

Pam put a new coat of stain on the decorative garden bridge that spans an area under a pair of our oak trees. The bridge was elevated to about knee height for easier stain application. She also planted some new seedlings that arrived in the mail. It will soon be time to visit a greenhouse to pick out this year’s annuals.

One new yard addition will be a flower pot hanger I picked up at a local antique store. With bends that resemble a heart, the hanger will occupy a spot near the front steps. I will have another photo of this in a later post once the hanger, with flowers, is in place.

Daffodils, hyacinths, and tulips began to bloom on the east side flower bed. Hostas are beginning to poke up out of the ground and trees are sprouting tiny green leaves. Hoses were taken out of storage and put in place on the west and east sides of the house. Spring has arrived!

I cleaned out the curb and gutter on the Main Street side of the house as part of a larger spring lawn cleaning. (The city does not clean streets or curbs.) Using the lawn vacuum with the hose attachment, I was able to clear fence lines and flower beds of leaves that had blown in over the winter and during some spring storms. A new home-made handle on the hose made this task much easier by eliminating the need to bend down to the ground as much.

The lawn vac needed some repairs as one of the wheel brackets had been cracking over the last few years. I had ordered a new spool of welding wire for my small wire-feed welder and stitched up the crack, then ground down the repair and added coat of red spray paint. It is an ugly repair as I am not a practiced welder but the bracket will not break, which is all I wanted.

Previously I had mentioned an issue with the equipment trailer suspension. During the warm spell I was able to remove a pair of old (loose) shackles and replace them with new ones. In this photo, the old hangers are at the top. Note the “spacers” made of old and mismatched nuts. One new hanger is at the bottom for comparison.

Installing a new wiring pigtail for one of the lights completed the trailer repairs and it is now road-worthy again.

A national story last week was the eclipse. It was cloudy here and we were not able to see any of the action. Pam did, however, come across this cartoon:

Anyone with more than one cat will understand…

I am going to wrap up this post with another home video. This one is titled “Winter in Colorado” and features footage of us in late 1979 (I think). We took a trip on the Gold Camp Road, an old railroad grade that runs between Victor and Colorado Springs. Another outing was to get our Christmas Tree using a National Forest permit which allowed us to cut or top any tree that seemed appropriate. I hope you enjoy it. Run time is 4:45.

That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!

Pam’s Penny

Almost Mennonite greenhouse time! I really look forward to that first visit. A blast of color, fragrance and humidity will do my spirit a world of good.

Happy Trails