New camera

I just got my new camera today.  I had to try it out. A Canon Powershot SX with a 20x optical zoom lens.

Vanstone's  Mtn. from our deck.  It's about one and a half to two miles away.

The 120 Trail on Middle Mtn.  You can see it, can't you ?  Just below the cluster of trees in the center of the snow.

Rainy Day

April shower day.  Time to transplant again.  I bought my light stand at Home Depot along with 15 four foot shop lights.  Jon and I hung 3 shop lights underneath each shelf.  I use the three middle shelves almost all the time and the top and bottom shelves when I get out of control and plant too many plants.  (Every year)

I am hoping that the weather starts to warm up by a couple of degrees so that I can begin to move plants outside to my deck or the greenhouse.  My greenhouse is not heated so I can't move plants out there too early in the season.  The plants seem to transition to outdoors really well by moving them to the deck and covering with floating row cover for a little protection from cool temps.

 Wave Petunias getting ready to wave!  I always start too many.  

Mega Light Stand

A peek at the lettuce.  I grow lettuce under lights during the winter.  It's not as crisp but very tasty.

Petunias and pansies.  Peppers:  Ancho, Hot Yellow Wax, Jalapeno, Serrano, Cuban, Bol. Paprika, Sweet Red and Lido.    Tomatoes:  Celebrity, Valentine, Parks Big Beef, Parks Whopper, Italia Roma, Jelly Bean, Mountain Spring, Yellow Jelly Bean, Husky Cherry Red.  Hmmm.  I wonder if I have enough variety?  Next, I will need to start Lobelia, Alyssum and Cosmos and Zinnias.  Also, the cucumbers, beans, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage and squash.  I also start some corn to give me a head start on the season.  It will be a busy time soon.  I am enjoying the rainy morning and it's time for another cup of coffee.

Easter Weekend

Snowy, cold, windy, what else could the weather be like on Easter weekend?  What the heck happened to sunshine, warm, buds and blossoms?  The best part:  Baby Ben came to visit with his parents.  He is so entertaining.  He loves to make funny faces!

Little Bigfoot!

Abs of steel!  I can almost sit up on my own! 

Fence Project Day 1

Trav took down all the barbwire, then all the staples out of the posts for the hog wire (7 in each post).  Jon was thorough when he built fence.  Took down all the rails and then Neil came over with his tractor to push some dirt for us and stir up some rocks for the fence posts.  Then the guys decided to try pulling the posts out with the tractor.  That was a really good idea.  It took about 30 minutes to pull out all of the posts except the ones at the top by my flower beds.  Then it was time to cut down those trees.  You know the ones I'm talking about.


 
The garden looks very strange without the fence.

Neil and Travis pull out  a post the easy way!

Three Men and a Tractor!

The next one!   This is too easy!  Fencing is supposed to be difficult!

The first tree goes down! 

 Tree #2 goes down! Travis makes it look so easy!

The pear tree says, "Who turned on the light?"

Then they decided to burn the dead grass and brush that grew underneath the fence.  A lot accomplished for the first day!  Awesome!

Our Next Project

We are gearing up for our next big project which is replacing our fence with a split-rail cedar fence.  It has been 28 years since Jon, Jamie and Dave, put in the first fence and it was a huge project.  I seem to remember it took months, years???  The post holes along the front of the yard took about two hours each as the clay was so hard and rocky you needed a pick axe!  I didn't contribute a lot to the project, but I did my share of peeling posts and rails. 

Trav has agreed to help us out with the project this time.  He is also going to cut down the trees that have been shading my vegetable garden!  Hooray!  Thank you, Trav!

Jon and I have had an on-going discussion about whether the trees are actually shading my garden.  My scientific analysis has been:  to be out in the garden at mid-day and notice that there are long, tree-shape shadows over the top half of my garden.  These shadows are still there at 4:00 p.m and 6:00 p.m.  Therefore, I have concluded that the white fir trees are indeed shading my vegetable garden.  Of course, they are white fir which, according to Jon, doesn't make very good firewood, but we can use it for firewood when we don't need a lot of heat.  Good-bye white fir trees!  (We will probably have to have some kind of memorial for them or something after they are cut down)

I am also getting ready the Easter weekend.  We have to dye some Easter eggs as I'm sure the Easter Bunny will be stopping here since Baby Ben is coming for a visit.  Collin and Rylee are visiting their cousins in Lewiston this weekend and we will miss them at the Easter egg hunt at Kermit and Susan's.

Well, time to get moving and get ready to watch some tree killing.