Spring is Here! Finally!!

Crocuses are out now for a while but this morning first tulip started to open and Blue Bells cover slopes along our roads.



Also, Robins and Grackles started to build their nests and the lawns are getting greener by the hour. It is incredible how fast the winter damage from snow gets self repaired. Looks like next week I’ll be de-thatching the lawn and after that the regular lawn care routine kicks into full cycle. Next week I’ll be giving the lawn mower spring look-over and get it ready for action.

Despite the spotty weather we have managed 2 golf games in one week. Slow start but it will pick up before we slow down again because of heat and humidity. I just don’t understand how can you play golf in Florida, Georgia, Arizona, Nevada and Texas in summer months? Come to think of it, their playable golfing season is just as short/long as ours is up here in North.

Anyway, it was a long winter but spring is here so lets enjoy it!

By the way, with spring comes grilling on barbecue and mine is clean and ready. I have a natural gas grill so I don’t have to worry about running out of gas, ever.

Seedlings Update, April 6, 2011

What a crazy and weird spring, if you can call it that, we are having this year. I want some of that Global Warming back and pronto. Some of my seedling flowers are blooming (both Snapdragons and Zinnia), one variety of tomato (Mountain Magic from Johnny’s Seeds) is ready to be planted into a bigger pot or even ground and right now we are having small snow blizzard going on! Looks like I will have to bring another table into our sunroom because lot of the plants will have to be transferred into larger container.

Snapdragons only basket.

Check the 3 nipped tips of snapdragons (pointed long leaves)

I have already done two hanging baskets – one with Snapdragon Lampion seedlings only and one with 4 Lobelias and 3 Snapdragons. Snapdragons are actually cuttings as I saved the snipped tops, dipped them in growing hormone powder and chuck them in the basket. They are doing fantastic and look just like ordinary seedlings.

Nasturtium, Lobelia, Cosmos and Snapdragons.

Red Pearl Millet, Thunbergia, Cosmos, Petunia and Zinnia.

 Zinnia in bloom.

 Snapdragon in bloom.

 Nothing leggy about these tomato plants.

Eggplants on left and three variety of peppers.

I need a miracle in order not to lose any of my plants. On the bright side, I am learning!

And, how can I forget our beautiful Bougainvillea! Only 4 leaves and rest is flowers.

Jumping Robin

For the last four years robins in our neighborhood developed strange behavior where they virtually attack any glass surface, be it door or a window. Almost every house around us has one robin jumping on the windows or doors. Our robin attacks both. There is no point in cleaning the glass until they start nesting. They do that within a day after arriving from south.

Last week this little guy gave me a scare.  Week ago we had two very cold days and nights, it dropped down to minus 15°C. The robin didn’t show up for his early morning jumping exercise and show for 3 days. Then he came back like nothing happened. I am sure it is same bird because of little mark on his left wing. It has to be magnified in order to see it. I am relived that he survived because very soon he will start building his nest in our spruce next to Japanese garden. This will be 3^rd year. At least, we hope so. It is fun to watch them taking turn incubating the eggs and then feeding babies.

Here is a movie of our Jumping Robin

Hey, April Fools Day was 2 Days Ago!

Yesterday, we played golf. This afternoon we got this surprise!  

Forecast for tomorrow? 15°C. Go figure!  

The Golf Season 2011 is Now Open!

Finally, the 2011 golf season is under way, for now, anyway. There will be interruptions as there are every year.

We got the call from owners around 9 in the morning that course will open at 11:00 AM. When we got there at 10:30 3 foursome and one twosome groups were already out on the course. What a bummer! I wanted to continue tradition of last 3 years to be first one out on opening day but I was too late. It doesn’t matter, we had a good game and great time.

The course is in great shape even though the greens are a bit slow but that is to be expected. Once they are rolled and cut they will be fast enough. What I was very pleased with was how many pars we had despite the bumpy and slow greens and the fact that we didn’t miss a single fairway, not once!

Tomorrow (Sunday) I will go to driving range to work on my iron play.  

Crazy Spring Weather!

Even though we were expecting it because of weather forecast, it was still a bit of a shock! Yesterday, I was raking the lawn and this morning the same spot was covered by 4” of snow! What a bummer! On top of it, yesterday we went to golf course and talked to the owner and he was expecting to open in three days. Not very likely now, is it?
Following two pictures were shot only 16 hours apart.

  

Anyway, with all the trees and shrubs covered in wet snow I got a chance to take some nice flash pictures in the dark. They came out OK, I think. You’ll be the judge.

This was taken at 6:30 AM with manual flash and all manual settings on camera. The point of light at top of Norway Fir is street light. A the top is almost full moon partially covered by low clouds.

I shot this frame on monochrome setting. You can see reflection of flash in neighbor's window. Easy to fix in Photoshop.

Snow is a good sculptor. There are two faces at bottom right and what looks like Homer Simpson at top, fifth plank from left.
I am going to have fun with this camera!

Garden and Regular Crazy Spring Weather

Yesterday it was such a nice day to work in the garden. Nice sunny day and it was warm, 17 °C.

 I even went shopping for mulch in my shorts and short sleeve shirt. Then it turned cold and extremely windy. So windy that my BBQ plans got trashed. Still, it was nice to have a preview of things to come. It is amazing how fast some plants react to warmer weather. There is one nice plant that is all light yellow green, including the flower, that Marjo calls Helleborus Lenten Rose.  It is now in a full bloom!

Also, I have planted garlic bulbils that I have discovered in paper bag, sprouting. I gave them a soak of water overnight and hope to have some garlic shoots in few weeks, 2 months maximum. Next to bulbils I have planted red-green scallions. Interesting plant: it is a green onion that has a red bulb and rest is green. I had it last year and it tastes just like regular green onion but is more attractive.

Marjo is very happy that all Heuchera plants survived the winter and rabbit attacks. Last year the rabbits decimated the flowers. They just cut them and left them on ground. We need some foxes around here.

Now I have to turn my attention to lawn. We started raking the thatch this afternoon but it was too cold to finish the job. Maybe Monday. Then I have to get it rolled because it is so bumpy, again. Never ending job that lawn is!

And, what would middle of March be without American Robins attacking our sun room door and windows. They are so persistent and it looks like most of our neighbors have the same problem. There is no point in washing the windows and doors during Spring Cleanup until robins are nesting. It is amazing how high they jump and leave marks with their feet and wings.

Spring is here, no question about it!

Golf Season 2011 is around the corner!

This afternoon we went to see our favorite golf course, the Tillsonview Fairways.  Tee decks, fairways and putting greens are free of snow and from where we were standing, looked in great shape. While we were there the owner showed up and he said that maybe in one week the course and driving range will be opened. Without a doubt, Tillsonview Fairways has best practice area for short game and driving range in area, maybe even our tri-county. All tees are grass plus there is a covered area with mats. This place will be very busy when they open. Always is.

Our bags, clubs and shoes are ready, the ball are marked and we are ready to go!

Just Few Weeks to Our First Game!

It is just a wishful thinking but we did play here in middle of March, so why not this year? It was great to have the mental and physical rest through the winter but now we are roaring to go. Right now the golf bags are getting cleaned and reorganized, the golf balls are being cleaned and sorted (we have tested 3 different types of balls to see which is best for our game) and game pass books from different courses are being found and to our surprise they are expired. We’ll have to see if they can be transferred to new season. I do not see any problem since we have already bought new pass books. After all, not too many courses can afford to loose a steady customer in this economic climate, right?

Next few days I’ll check the grips and grooves on club heads, then shoes and we will be ready to go.

Garden seedlings over left shoulder, golf stuff in front of you…yeah, Spring is here!