The O-Zone

Spring Comes To Those Who Wait.   And wait.

A local Snowshoe Hare, patiently waiting for more green grass and the garden to be constructed. They are having bunny races around the yard, which can only mean one thing. Pretty soon we will have herds of babies grazing on the grass.

Our big project for this year is building a garden and a greenhouse.  The gravel pad for the greenhouse was the first step, since the heavy equipment operator would be here anyway removing some of the old garden posts and pulling out trees and bushes.

Snow falls and the heavy equipment operator calls to say, ehhh, will be there next week. Just wait.

Our friend Jack came over, chainsaw in hand, and cut down a few trees which were in the way of both the garden and greenhouse space.

The heavy equipment operator brings in a couple of loads of gravel and dirt with which to build the greenhouse pad.

Several dump trucks arrived and left piles of "work" near the garage. And then it snows again. Heavy equipment operator company calls and says, ehhhh, it's snowing, let's wait. Tomorrow, ok?

So the next morning dawns.

What's that we spy with our little eyes? 'Tis only a few mere snowflakes, which will surely disappear soon.

Or, maybe not. Swirling snow fills the sky, and the world turns fuzzy and out of focus. Or is that our eyes? Maybe we need more tea?

The phone rings. It is the fair weather heavy equipment operator saying, ehhhh, it's snowing, let's wait.

We are beginning to sense a theme.

A small backhoe and a very large guy, who barely fits in the cab. He's very talented, a deft touch, and if we have to have somebody here with this sort of equipment, he's the guy we want driving it.

The piles of dirt and gravel disappear and become a pad on which will (someday), grow a greenhouse.

Ran out of gravel, and while we are waiting for the dump truck to return with another pile of gravel, down to the garden site goes the heavy equipment, and out come the trees, bushes, and fence posts which we were not able to remove manually.  It takes a surprisingly short amount of time before all is cleared away.

Dan removing debris pulled up by the backhoe, and stacking it up to the east of the garden space.

Visualizing where to place the fence posts.

The dump truck delivers the last load of gravel. Progress!

At last, all the ground work is completed, and we can begin laying out the fence boundaries, and staking things.

Employing high math skills we staked out a garden space which is 50 feet by 50 feet square.  More or less square.  Nothing on our house is actually square except the two rooms we added so we don’t stress too much about having things totally square on our garden space.

At least it has stopped snowing.  Spring must be here!  The Daffodils are almost ready to bloom.

Daffodils have a good sense of humor, for a plant.

We woke up to a few inches of heavy wet snow. And this time it stuck to the ground, trees, bushes, sidewalk. All we could think of was, thank goodness the heavy equipment operator wasn't supposed to come today!

We took the opportunity for rest afforded by the snow and prepared a planned planting location for the various trees and bushes we have ordered.  The plants haven’t shipped yet.  More waiting.

The bottom of the picture faces south.

Walking into the garden through the fence, we will walk through a rose arbor.  We have planned some paving stone paths through the rose arbor, around a circular herb/flower bed, and into the seating area under a grape arbor, with more paths heading east and west, then bending around and heading south, along the front of the bramble beds.  We haven’t decided if we will actually get around to putting down the stone paths.  This garden is going to be a many years project to get to its final result.

A couple of days later, the snow has melted (again), and we head down to the garden space to begin the work of digging post holes for the posts to live in, and we discover relatively few really large rocks.  The garden space is blessed with at least two feet of dark black soil.  The deep soil explains the presence of so many pocket gophers, but that’s going to be another story.

Our Polaris Ranger finally has the snow plow attachment removed, and it has proven to be extremely useful for hauling heavy posts down to the garden space.

A few days of hard work, and all the post holes were dug, and posts set into their new homes, tilting a bit hither and yon waiting for dirt to prop them up straight.

As each post has dirt filled in and tamped down firmly, they stand straight up, theoretically. There's only so much we can accomplish with uneven ground, and me on the level.

Taking a break, sitting in the Ranger, and trying to visualize how it will all look once it is completed.

We set about half of the posts and called it a day.  We will have to finish that part of the project another day.

The gate will be here, someday soon. We just have to wait until we get all the upper and lower 1x6 pine boards affixed to the top and bottom of the set fence posts. But we're getting there!

Fast forward many days, the boards are attached to the fence posts, the wire fencing materials have been stapled in place, and a gate has been built and installed. Let the digging begin.

Sounds fast, but this took many days of hard work.  We built the garden fence in the garage and carried it down to the garden.  Disaster struck while we were carrying it down.  The ground was saturated with water, and muddy spaces were in our path, and last years’ grass is long, and laying closely on the ground, and is slick.  I fell, and the gate landed on my knee.  I was concerned when I could barely walk that night, with a knot on my knee which was swollen and tight, but it was a shortlived injury and already I’m back to normal.  A couple of weeks later, we have resumed our walks down along the river.

While I was laid up, we have employed the help of our neighbor’s son to help Dan with digging in the garden space.  The work is going to be hard and long, but eventually it will be completed.  Our trees and bushes haven’t shipped yet, but our seeds arrived, and this weekend we will plant some of the cool weather seeds, like cabbages, radishes, and spinach, and lettuce.  It will be exciting to have something planted.

Daffodils are blooming and this morning they were standing up straight.  Amazing what a few dry weather days can do to perk them up.

They didn't seem to mind a few weeks of freezing weather, snow and ice.

The forecast today is for thunderstorms.

The day started off with a rainbow. I missed it, but Dan took a picture for me.

I love it when the sky has that peculiar green tint, like being under water.

Mishkin is three years old now.  So I made him a hat.

"Well, ok, I'll wear your stupid hat, as long as nobody else sees me."

We were standing in front of our bush cabin in Alaska, and it was spring.

Before...

And thirty years later, we are standing in front of our house, and it is spring.

...and After.

Some things change, and some things remain the same.

It’s too early to think about gardening!!!  And don’t take that snowplow off the Ranger….

We watched this weather heading straight for us from the west. And we thought, no way, it's gonna rain.

Then, a couple of hours later, with a fresh inch of snow on the ground, Dan headed outside to split some firewood, and we watched the temperature drop 9 degrees.

The sidewalk was still clear of snow, so how bad could it be??

Another couple of hours have passed, and it is still snowing, and now we have a good fat two inches of new snow.

We can't see the hills across from us, the snow is falling so thick and fast.

But on the upside, the snowshoe hares which are still white are quite pleased with the state of the universe.

We are starting our major project for this year, a garden.  A garden and a greenhouse, to be precise, but we’re not working on the greenhouse part yet because we don’t know how we want to build it, just where.

First thing we did was to tromp around in the snow a week ago and figure out how big an area we want the garden fence to encompass.  We decided on 50 feet by 50 feet, plenty of room for fruit plants, and some dwarf fruit trees, plus vegetable beds.  And flowers!  I would love some flowers.

The snow melted!  The ground is still frozen, but the snow melted and so today Dan wanted me to help him with manual labor.  I tried “But, I’m a girl!” and it didn’t work.  He didn’t buy that for a second.  Oh well, worth a try.

We carried some pliers down the hill to the existing fences and took the wire fencing loose from fence posts.

Once the wire was loose along the fence line between the aspen grove to the east and the existing funky old garden to the west, it was time to get the Ranger out of the garage.  We removed the snow plow from the front of the Ranger and Dan remarked that he hoped we wouldn’t need to plow snow any more this year.  I told him if it snows again we just won’t go anywhere until it melted.

The trees on the left side of the picture will probably need to be cut down, but we haven't decided that yet. The aspens and old fruit trees definitely need to go.

Dan wrapped the winch hook around the first corner post. I had the winch control, which had two directions, in and out. I could figure that one out!

Moment later, the first pole was out of the ground, and laying to the right side.  Success!  We thought, this was going to be quick and easy.

The post was a lot taller than I thought it would be. We're thinking about installing an 8' fence, which means the posts will need to be 10' long, and set in concrete.

Using a tow rope, we wove it through the wire fencing to give us more 'breaking points' on the wire, and then Dan simply drove forward, removing most of the fencing which we had already loosened from the fence posts.

We folded the wire up on the ground next to the collection of fence posts.  Some of the posts didn’t come out – either because the ground was frozen or because some plants had grown up around them, anchoring them firmly into place.  When the contractor is here with the backhoe, digging the fence line for the underground gopher fence, he can remove those remaining fence posts easily.

The fencing is being drug through the grass. The house is above the garden space and Oro was watching us from his window, a birds' eye view if there ever was one.

Oh look, there was a very large beaver chewing up the aspen tree. No wait, that was Dan with a swede saw.

Then it was time to try an experiment and answer a question.  Could the Ranger pull out the stump on the trees we intend to cut down?

Dan hooked the winch to the aspen trunk and pulled. The Ranger dug a couple of nice holes spinning it's wheels as the winch pulled the vehicle closer to the tree stump.

Oh well, something else for the contractor to do with his much larger piece of equipment.

The tow rope attached to the downed tree made short work of dragging it across the grass towards the aspen grove.

Dan, sizing up the next tree and deciding which way it wanted to fall. Might as well cut it so that it falls the way it already wants to fall. Getting into arguments with trees is always a losing proposition.

Saw, saw, saw, saw....

Oh no, it fell right on the garden fence! An excellent example of exactly why we want trees close enough to the garden to be cut down.

It was a good thing we wanted to remove the rotten garden fence boards anyway.  Two trees down, several more to go.  I actually cut down the next two small aspen trees, and then Dan cut down the pear tree next to them.  This poor tree gets mauled by the bears every year since we moved here, and at this point there are very few branches left that would bear fruit.  And if they did bear fruit, the bear would get them and not us.

I cut down the apple tree and Dan hauled it away. Team work.

After cleaning up some remaining branches and boards, that was enough and we called it a day as far as the garden project went.

Mostly we have some brush to remove, but the first batch of trees small enough for us to handle have been removed, and the garden space is opening up.

Next on our agenda will be to remove the chicken wire fencing and old rotten boards surrounding the existing smaller garden space.

Shortly after we came inside, it started to precipitate outside, a mix of rain and snow.  We don’t care, it can do that if it wants to – spring is here, and our garden has been started.  There isn’t much green showing up here on the mountain, just small blades of grass only visible if you push the tall dead grass away.  It will transform quickly.

Two of our favorite things to do are sightseeing and birdwatching (and me being a passenger and letting Dan do all the work driving!), and combining them makes it even more fun.  Today we went for a drive, just to get out of the house and go see some new scenery now that the snow is starting to melt.

We went past my favorite rock formation.

This is the whole top of a mountain. Geologically I'd love to understand this formation.

It looks sedimentary, but tilted 90 degrees and then twisted.  I never tire of looking at this mountain top.

Some of the deciduous trees are flowering, and catkins festoon lots of the trees lining the road.

Ice has melted out of some of the lakes, but by no means all, and where there is open water, there are ducks.  We saw Canada Geese, a few American Wigeon, some Mallards, and two of our favorite ducks.

A pair of Hooded Mergansers were diving and splashing around in one small opening in the ice covered lake, in the mountains due west of us.

Next to the Wood Duck, these are the prettiest of all the ducks.

A male Barrow's Goldeneye, keeping a beady eye on us, from the far shore of the lake.

We’ve been seeing Common Goldeneyes on the river where we walk.  We don’t see the Barrow’s often, one or two birds a year is about it.

We also saw a Mourning Dove sitting on a wire.

So, not a lot of new species to add to the list for this year, but three new ones nonetheless, and it is just too neat for words seeing returning migrants making their way north.

Only 3 weeks away from hummingbirds!  And only 7 weeks away from a birding trip to Malheur.  Can’t wait.

Finally finished a scarf I started a while ago, before it was snowing actually.  Figures it’s done and the snow is melting.

This is a totally unique lace yarn, one of a kind, made for me by my friend Diana.

The finished blocked scarf is 9.5 inches wide, and about 38 inches long, without any fringe, and weighs 2.5 ounces at this time.  I’m thinking beads!  But I’m not sure.  The drape is nice and beads might weigh it down or pull it out of shape.  Experimentation time.

This is one of my most favorite patterns to knit. It's a super easy 6 row repeat pattern. Perfect for knitting while watching the television.

It’s snowing again. It’s not that cold outside, barely above freezing, and the house is too warm to have a fire in the wood stove in the living room, so the cook stove in the kitchen is doing double duty – fixing food and keeping the house warm.  I’m sitting in the kitchen with my laptop and using wireless satellite internet.  I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of being amused by the particular juxtaposition of technologies employed when I’m doing that!

The plum tree's bare branches catch the snowfall and it transforms into a lacy work of art.

Our sidewalk is completely white again, as is any bare ground. The sun isn't above the mountains behind us quite yet. Already the snow falling is mixed with rain, as temperatures begin to go above freezing.

Speaking of disbelief….

"Waugh??!!"

"Whoa, cool! Look, it's a toy all for me!!"

"Now, that just isn't right."

It’s hard to get serious about planning a garden when the area in which you plan to construct said garden remains covered with snow.  We know spring is here because the calendars says so, but our temperatures are 10 degrees below normal for this time of year.

Yesterday looked like this, pretty much all day long.

The snow would stick to the ground briefly, and then melt.  Where the snow is melting, the ground is pretty saturated with water.

The returning spring migrants are very happy to have the feeders, and we have a continual riot in our yard.

We are also seeing the Snowshoe Hares changing into their summer coats of brown.  Right now the brown fur is just peeping through their white winter coats, and they look like dirty snow.  They can blend right in.  I tried to take a picture of one this morning, but he did his best OMG and scampered down the sidewalk as fast as his little feet could take him.

This morning we woke up to a fresh fat inch of snow, and it was pouring.

It was a veritable winter wonderland for several hours.

But in typical spring fashion, the snow stopped, the fog rolled in, the sun came up, and there is blue sky somewhere overhead.

Perhaps today our solar panels will have something to work with.  Already most of the snow that fell this morning has melted and everything is very soggy.  The birds are back to swarming on the ground under the feeders, and having their party, and we are hearing a Ruffed Grouse drumming nearby.  That is a definite sign of spring!

Fat buds, promising fragrant purple flowers probably by next week sometime.

A neighbor gave us two plants which we transplanted on Thursday.  They are Daphne, a flowering bush that blooms extremely early in the spring.   These are three year old plants, about 18 inches tall, and they will grow to several feet talk and almost as wide.  They get flowers before leaves, and then in the summer they have red berries on them.

The parent plant was discovered by our neighbor in the aspen grove right below our house, by the road, about 20 years ago.  A passing bird dropped the original seed which grew beneath the shady trees and bushes.  Since then, the plant has produced lots of offspring, and it has come up to our house again, sort of where it started.

The Equinox is next week, and then, maybe, it will stop snowing.  But that was not today.  It’s a good thing we can maintain a sense of humor this time of year.  The good thing about snowfalls this time of year is that, generally speaking, they don’t actually stick to much of anything and just look pretty when they are falling.  We really want our driveway to be free of snow and ice.

This hen grouse has been hanging around in the Serviceberry bush next to the house. She takes big steps over low lying branches.

She looks surprised with her crest sticking straight up.  I guess that is a normal state of mind for these little guys.

She's in fine feather - a very pretty bird, and much admired by the male Ruffed Grouse in the neighborhood.

Yesterday we had to make a trip to town to take care of various and sundry chores.  While we were there, we stopped by a pet store to get Mishkin a new scratching post.  He’s so adverse to changes in his world we weren’t sure he would like it.

We needn’t have worried.

He knew immediately that this was HIS!

Happy cat.  We put his toys inside the tunnel and he fishes them out again and flings them around the livingroom.  And there was much rejoicing.  We also brought home some hanging chew toys for the parrots.  Opal has actually played with hers.  The other two are pretending the toys are deadly intruders, but in the morning when they wake up, they will have forgotten the toys are ‘new’ and they will proceed to destroy them.  Good birds!

Big storms have gone past the mountains today, sprinkling snow as they go.

There are no green leaves on any of the bushes around the mountain.  Even down in the valley there are only buds.  But the buds are getting fatter, so that’s definitely progress.

Spring, next week….