Ahh.. Spring

It has been so lovely outside lately. We spent the weekend hard at work in the yard and garden... trimming trees and bushes, raking out the flowerbeds as the cheery daffodils spring up to meet the new year. Kade and I dug a long trench in the deep black earth at the edge of our garden, next to the ruffling leaves of the returning rhubarb, and planted a row of freshly cut seed potatoes. Kade huddled over, carefully placing the potato chunks, cut side down, eyes pointing up evenly spaced along the trench. He plodded down the row in his bright yellow rubber boots with the potato slices tucked in the pocket of his sweatshirt. He examined the other end of the garden which contains three rows of peas and a row of radishes, peering down to be sure he couldn't see the trace of a new seedling. Our raspberry bramble is fully planted and we are awaiting the bare rooted canes to come alive. The tips of our apple and plum trees are fuzzy and pale, just waiting to burst forth with new leaves. The tulip greens are thick and strong and soon the bright, showy flowers should be brightening our yard.

It seems that the animals are enjoying the Spring as well. In addition to the usual plethora of bunnies and squirrels, the birds have been really active. They have been singing loudly, chattering and chirping away. Our yard is covered with chikadees, thrush, cardinals and robins. In the last week we have seen the mysterious red fox once. Two days ago, we looked up to see a large doe standing about 50 yards away in the greenspace, staring us down. She sat for a while, nervously deciding whether or not we were a threat and then she slowly ambled back over the ridge. This evening as we looked out the back window we saw a large tom turkey walking along the ridge, walking busily, poking out his head here and there with his long beard dangling below. He came back a few minutes later, seeming to be on some sort of important mission. It is great to see our yard coming alive.

Avram is taking more and more steps- he has gotten pretty adventerous. He is up to about 8 steps at a time. He has also been loving to spend time with us out in the garden - maybe a little too much. I have seen him on occasion dig in the dirt and then put his super dirty fingers in his mouth - dark, black dirt mixed with his drool running down his chin. Eww! And then - Kade and I were out gardening, Avram was next to us digging away in the dirt. I looked over, he was kneeling with a big smile on his face. He had a giant mound of packed, moist dirt weighed down in his little hands - the size of one of those extra large muffins - he smiled - looked right at me - and took a big bite off the top! Just like he was eating the big ol' muffin. The kid's a dirt freak! Kade was never like that! He never put anything weird in his mouth. I guess they are all different. Let's just hope these are boosting his immune system!