Signs of spring

Imagine my surprise yesterday when I was walking around in the fairly warmish weather (anything more than 40 is warm by our measure these days) and I headed over towards the garden and taDA- bees in the hive there.

We had 2 living hives when we put them to bed for the winter last October, but this past March it was determined that this hive was not living any more.  We had been feeding them sugar candy since they were out and about during those warm days in early March, and we wanted them to live.  But a few weeks after we began doing that, the MA didn't see any activity at all in this hive and so---- it was assumed they hadn't made it.  So no attention has been paid to that box.

Well apparently they were alive, as yesterday I found a lot of kids hanging out around that box!

It's an alive hive

Makeshift feeder

I didn't feel like attempting to suit up and put the sugar water I made inside, because it isn't set up for it right now.  So I just placed a jar of sugar water outside of it with a make shift place where they could get at it. A bee had already found the drips from when I flipped the jar over, so I know they have found it.  The other hive has a nice fat sugar candy loaf from the weekend, so they will be fine.

So I will be interested to see what is going on this afternoon!  Another fun fact was I heard the spring peepers for the first time last night as well!  Just a couple, but still there!  They will be vocal today when it warms up closer to 60!  YAY for spring!!!

And speaking of said spring, I would guess that my little Tete-a-tete daffodils could be blooming by the weekend!!  They are located at the base of the lovely Lola! This is one of my favorite moments of the year is finding my first daffodil blossom.

And of course, lets not forget this wonderful little combo of bees and crocuses!  It has been so fun to see the bees waking up and flying around to get what they can from the limited food sources that is in northern Wisconsin right now.  There is probably way more than we think, as the strong hive had a continuous stream of bees going in and out of the box flying off and arriving in a line from the north. I wonder if some of the trees are starting to have some pollen already.

So I have to get myself ready for work, meow, and need to finish this up.  Funny how these quick posts manage to not be so quick.  But that is ok, I have time!  And celebrating spring is certainly worth the time and is a joy!!

Daffodils- 2013 at last.....

Well that took a long time!

Finally, I have some opened daffodils!  The daffs- mini ones, named Tete a Tete- were the first but the white and gold ones are right there with them.  I encouraged the last 2 petals to open on the white one.  :D

bare feeties in the sort of green grass

It was even nice enough out to be in bare feeties, very comfortably!!  YAY!  The only thing is that we do need rain to encourage the green and make the brown decompose, as there is a big fire up north a ways and we could smell the smoke last night.  That is always somewhat unsettling.

So here is my dose of pretty for the day, I hope you enjoy it as well!

Narcissus "Tete-a-Tete"

Daffodil watch 2013 and a perfect night for gardening

So here is the first Daffodil, but she was just barely opened!  I will catch a better pic of her later today!! I am SO happy to see this little darling!  The clouds in the background were a harbinger of great clouds to come!!

Lola in all her glory- well as much as there is right now

I found perfect weather last night for hacking down a bunch of brown grass.  Not too hot (HAHAHA as if) and not too cold or windy- perfect! So I took my lil self and my felcos out to the long flower bed and took out 4 wheel barrow loads of brown out to make way for the green!  It was very satisfying.

I have quite a mess in there, and I will be paying for not keeping up with the weeding last summer.  I did a lot of exercise and canoeing and something had to give....  but it was a fabulous summer, and now this year, gardening will be more in the plan!

I am so so grateful that I was outside, as there was some spectacular clouds going on!!  The first two here are unedited from my phone~

Sunset

These and the first ones are from my other camera- I am delighted with the results!  It was a gorgeous, quiet night, except for those spring peepers!!  And no one minds hearing those!

I am so glad that spring is here.

It is certainly a joy!

Daffodil watch 2013

It is almost here!! If we get ANY HEAT today I will have one!!! Woooo hoooo!!!!!

THAT will be a real joy on Mother's Day!

Daffodil watch kicks into high gear!

So this is what the lawn looked like on Friday night when I headed out for my walk- still snowy but inroads are being made..........

HOWEVER, by Saturday afternoon there was a path to the flower garden and THIS IS WHAT I SAW!!!

I knew they were there lying in wait!  I have to resist the urge to uncover them, I HAVE to wait a few days for the dirt to dry out and all.

And it will be a JOY to get in there and get my hands dirty!!  :)

Daffodil watch 2013- patiently waiting...... and waiting..... and waiting.....

So, yeah, it's April and I am just POSITIVE that I will have some of these before the summer is over.....

Meanwhile, back in Wisconsin.........

 The sun did come out for a while.......

But of course later in the day it was snowing- again.......  and again.....

Goodness, where did my patch of grass go??

So it is actually supposed to rain after it snows/sleets and ice pellets this morning.......  nothing so far, but we shall see.  Rain wouldn't be the worst thing in the world!

Alright, kids, I have to dig deep to find my joy right now!!  REALLY deep!  I may have to indulge in a little summer dreaming post in a little while.....  It's the only thing keeping me sane.

Daffodil watch 2013- a slight bit of progress

Well we all knew winter wouldn't REALLY stay forever.  It thinks it wants to, but it is getting slowly nudged out by our buddy spring.  She is gently yawning, handing him his coat and hat and herding him toward the door like a guest who over stayed his welcome.  Really, Winter, you need to go home and go to bed so Spring can organize herself and get ready to PARTY!!!  As I look outside this morning, I see that Winter had to have one last drink and told Spring far too much about himself, (it snowed a little- again) and he is going to be deeply embarrassed next fall when he wakes up and realizes what a doofus he made of himself.  Let's hope he stays sleeping now for a while.

Poster from Greatist.com - one of my favorite health and fitness websites ever!!

Well enough of that crazy analogy- this is what happens when I get plenty of exercise, sleep and I can hear again!  Hehehe.

Oh, back to daffodil watch- Thursday night I went for a fabulous little walk and it was sunny and warm sunny and it felt good to be outside, though I about froze my little patty paws off.  As I was leaving the driveway for the open road, I noticed the daffodil waiting area is seriously losing it's snow!  I mean of course there is still a huge snowbank in front of it, but the open grass area seems to be encroaching.  You KNOW I will be kicking the snow banks once they are of a manageable size!  Take that!!!  Oh Winter!!!!! You appear to have left some of your possessions laying around, next time take it ALL with you!!!  Thanks!

So, as of this moment, before I can see outside and observe how much actual frozen precipitation we have actually received, I am feeling very optimistic!  And that is a JOYFUL thing to be on a Saturday morning!!

And where is spring???? Daffodil "watch" 2013

More like- Daffodil- PLEASE snow please go away, PLEASE!!!! watch.  2013.  The year winter would not quit.

Daffodils?

Ok kids, I just realized something over the weekend- spring is truly behind this year.  Now, many of you are going to say, oh DUH!!! ~ put down the paint brushes, you've been sniffing too many fumes these days~ but in my defense, I was trying to be positive with myself.  I recently emerged from a cocoon of "busy" and I got a chance to actually look around and see what has been going on.  This may seem like an exaggerated over-dramatization of things, but it really is true.

Any sign of spring?

This past weekend, it became April, thankfully, and I have one big thing change in April (aside from the imminent arrival of Baby Girl) - and that is that tax season gets FINISHED- and you-know-who is going to be hanging about the house again.  This is usually not an issue at all, as he will ordinarily come home, doff his work clothes, don his "play clothes" and go "frolic in the woods" as so many of us know is the MO of the said M-A. He does not allow a lot of grass growing under the proverbial feet- he gets outside and puts tax season out of his mind, quickly!!  WELL- holy crap.  I realized as I was reassuring him that April is indeed almost upon us, that he will most likely NOT be able to go outside and rake the crud off the lawn in the late afternoon of April 15, as I am pretty sure the snow will NOT be gone!  THIS is a problem!!!  THIS has only happened a few times in the years we have been up here- like only 2 or 3 and the last time has not been for at LEAST 10 years.  So hence and therefore, spring is ACTUALLY slow to arrive this year, it is not me just assuming that we are not having a scary warm spring like last year- but it is SERIOUSLY COLDER!!!  UGH.  And now I am seeing that there is a forecast of 3 plus inches of more snow this Saturday.  REAL CUTE MOTHER NATURE, REAL CUTE!!!  and there are not super warm temps forecast for the next 10 days either.  Sigh.  **sob**

I'm not sensing imminent yellow flowers anytime soon

He will find plenty to do out there, regardless of the snow, so that isn't a real big deal, but what is to me is the fact that I am going to be waiting a long freaking time for my flowers and for me to be able to garden..... which is such a bummer.

There might still be ice on the lakes here for the opening of fishing season, too, in just 4 weeks!  That hasn't happened for a long time either!  All I want to do is go for a walk without my long underwear on and my hood up- is this too much to ask for in April????  Hmmmm????

I guess I will have to keep doing cardio at the gym, hit the weights, attend classes and then come home to sit like a slug, er, um, a Princess in my new livingroom instead of walking outside until the precipitation decides to turn to rain. Which will be totally fine with me!  And heaven knows I still have a lot of cleaning and putting away to do in the rest of the house- as it is in a bit of disarray from that reno project.  I can't find ANYTHING!!!  Who ever knows where I put it.

Speaking of weird- I had the strangest dream last night, it involved me going swimming, my uncle Bob was letting me ride his BMW motorcycle, my dad was there in some fashion and then someone stole my purse!  WHAT is going on in my brain??  I woke up a billion times with a seriously dry mouth and stuffy nose, so it probably had something to do with that.  Oy.

So I better get on with my day, I do enjoy a Wednesday, so this shall be a nice thing to look forward to.  I am obviously still feeling a little out of sorts for a variety of reasons, including but not limited to all the things listed above, plus the fact that I feel like I need to do something challenging in terms of my exercise or diet and I am not finding success in pinpointing it.  But I am working on it, so stay tuned.  It does involve dropping a bit more weight, but that is also unclear at this point.

On a REALLY FANTASTIC POSITIVE NOTE:
*I have maintained my weight now since January at 147- with few fluctuations.  AND I don't feel the need to weigh myself obsessively a million times a day.  WIN!

Pretty, but....

*I have made good strides forward in my strength, as measured by a 135# bench press a few weeks ago!  YAY!

*I have a canoe in my garden shed!!!

*I have plans to organize and set up my garden shed and to finish up a few mosaic/concrete projects as SOON as it bothers to warm up.

*I have had quite a few people mentioning how they are trying that banana chocolate ice cream thing!  It is seriously good!!  And it is a hoot to have people want to try it!

Favorite tree waiting stoically for yet another season of growth

*AND I am feeling way better as far as the sickness I acquired a week ago, so that is the best thing of all.

So daffodil watch has turned into yet another random post of odd ball things, but that is how I roll!

And it is part of how I find my joy

Quick Daffodil Watch update, 2013

I love how obnoxious this is.  It pleases me to no end!  Heh, heh, heh

ANYWAY-

there was significant melting yesterday- can you tell??

No?  Aw, shoot, me either, but I am pretty sure there is snow compaction and melting.....  so stay tuned!

Oh btw, there is another daffodil watch going on too-

Another inside daff is about to pop out - YAY!!!!  SO SO much JOY!!

WAIT A SECOND!!!

Daffodil watch 2013- HECK NO-  I should be doing a BABY WATCH!!!

But Sarah Grace might find that creepy if I took random pictures of her and posted them......  Like I could take random pictures of her..........

The mind works in odd ways sometimes, I know.  Time for shopping!  :)

My living room will be done when I get back!  WOO HOO!!

Oh and Daffodil watch will go on, but know that Baby watch will always be in the background, waiting to make its announcement!!!!

You knew all this stuff would filter down, once my brain was cleared of unnecessary clutter like remodeling and grades and the Wizard of Oz.  And I will be doing a bit of a post on the Wizard soon.  I really want to see that Wizard of Oz movie, too......

I wonder what Adam is doing????  hmmmmm

Until later, find your joy!

Daffodil Watch- 2013, this is depressing.....

Ok, kids, nothing much to report for daffodil watch part 2......  It sort of looks like last week.  I think I need to go farther south or something.

nothing to see here...

here, either.....  

Well, this could take a while.  But it is supposed to warm up later in the week.  I'm thinking not up to like 60 but even 40 sounds good about now.

So, lets hope for the best!  And try to find some joy!  :)

And watch this blog for further updates!

ON TO PLAY WEEK! (is it done yet?) and weekend wrap up

Play week is not for the faint of heart.  It is a tremendous amount of work and I will be standing a lot this week.  A LOT!!  I hope I can find my black crocs, because I am going to need them.  Which reminds me, I have to find a black t-shirt sometime this week, or go buy one or something, because the ones I had are just too unimaginably big and I think I thrift shopped them.  I am so impetuously compulsive sometimes about that sort of thing.  I am sure those big t-shirts would have been fine.....  ugh.

So tonight, it is full dress and makeup dress rehearsal, and I am going to be putting makeup on the main cast members.  I am excited about this, being able to do the lions and scarecrow's makeup, PLUS the witches and the tin man!!  And Dorothy, but I just need to glam her up a bit, she can do fine on her own mostly.  I adore this part of makeup, including sliding eyeliner on the nervous and blinking furiously boys that are in the cast.  Some of my favorite moments of hilarity and bonding have taken place while staring at the anxious eyelids of the play cast members.  It is an intimate moment in time, so to speak, lots of fears have been revealed over eyeliner.

I am making sure to pack healthy food, including some of the copious amount of hummus I made last night and probably will have some almond milk along to make a protein shake.  I will need the energy to teach all day, then go directly to makeup and then to staging and marking for dress rehearsal tonight. The first dress rehearsal generally finishes after 8:30 pm.  With 49 munchkins involved......  oy.  They will soon find out that the witch really resides behind the stage, as I do not take any fooling around when we are in character..... something that the big kids understand, but the little kids don't quite get.  Sorry kiddos, Mrs. Oswald has been taken over by one of her other personalities.

So weekend update- I did end up getting the card table- even though we went and had Chinese last night to avoid the whole cooking thing.  Which is cool as I have lunch now for today, since I did not get all the cooking done I had planned yesterday.... but that is fine.  I had NO IDEA that the Chinese place had a tofu dish.  YAY!

I got a 5.5 mile walk in also, even though I swear people were conspiring to goof up my afternoon to myself.  I didn't exactly get what I planned for, but oh well.  It was good enough.

One week from today people- one week from today begins my spring break, and I begin it with............drum roll.............. a dentist appt!!!  WTF?????  WHAT WAS I THINKING??????? I can't even.

But then I can go to the gym all day if I want!

Can't think about that now, too much to do before that.

So a few weekend photos, I have a couple including a stone house one or two and a few other little things.  Because it reminds me that life will be back to "normal" soon

peek!

Stone house

Little Cabin in the snow

Winter shadows

Until next time, be a joy giver and avoid those joy stealers!!  HEY, and if you find yourself to be stealing someone's joy, give it back. You both will feel better!  :)