I really, really don’t want to give in and turn on the air conditioning. It’s only March, and I can’t bring myself to be okay with it before May. However, the temperatures have been climbing into the upper 70’s and even 80 this week. It’s gotten a bit warm in the house, even with all the windows open and the fans going. The cats have been spending their days stretched out on the floors, away from the sun spots they so avidly followed all winter. With no significant cooling in the near future forecast, we have to wonder, “is this it?” Is spring here to stay?

It’s hard not to be completely ready for it. It’s been nice to go outside and feed in a tee shirt. The fresh air has been nice. The flowers coming up are nice, and the anticipation of fresh garden fruit is quite wonderful (I really, really hope my strawberry bed comes back strong this year).

There’s been a definite increase in volume and type of birds at our feeders. The cats aren’t complaining.

With the warmer temperatures Cini has been happy to spend longer hours outside with the flock.

We’ll be shearing the flock in May, so they still have some time in their wool.

Little tiny bird nest in the rose bush branches.

This weekend I’ll be shoring up the wire fencing around the front garden and putting a small pool in for ducks. They’ll live in the garden with the raspberry bushes the year, and we will hope they’ll stay put and not become some predator’s meal. This morning we lost a free-ranging chicken to either a fox or coyote. It was pretty darn big, and got right up next to the fence with the dogs. Unfortunately, the dogs aren’t free-roaming anymore to chase them off.

I’ll also be getting the seeds started in the greenhouse this weekend and getting the gardens ready.

So much to do!