Oh what another beautiful morning . . . .

My neighbor Janice sent me a note overnight asking if I could hear her singing yesterday.  She's as overcome by the lovely spring weather as so many others are.  And, it makes her sing while she enjoys her garden and lawnwork.

I told her she'd have to sing a little louder cuz Bert Wood's cows arrived for the summer yesterday.  They'll be grazing in the Meserve's field between us and Janice's.  And, it could very well be that their "moo's" might drown out her melodious odes to the beautiful days.  

I couldn't believe how good it felt to work outside all day long and actually to finish one project.  I'm so used to the bits-and-pieces approach toward getting anything completed around here that pure euphoria set in when I finished up the spring cleaning in the horses' round pen by day's end.

That enclosure got used a lot during this wet spring but not for its intended use.  It served as a relatively dry sanctuary for horses normally having to slog around in the barnyard muck all day.  So, the area was filled with leftover hay, growing grass and lots of deep hoof holes.  I raked and burned the leftovers and then rototilled the entire area.  

Last night Heather raced around the pen with ease, and I felt good knowing that the footing is safe and ready for the young horses to do some ground work.  

Yesterday was also a good day for planting and transplanting.  The garden now has more broccoli, more lettuce, parsnips, beans, chard, beans, miracle sweet potatoes (it will be a miracle if they come up), regular potatoes, dill and two kinds of cabbage.  

The first person who calls for a few red cabbage plants can have them.  I really don't know that I need a dozen red cabbage heads this summer.  I'll deliver within a reasonable area.

The pleasant day also included removing some homegrown petunias from the greenhouse.  They were transplanted in some pots and in the old-time manure spreader in the front yard.  

I also had time yesterday to survey our fruit trees.  Both big apple trees are loaded with blossoms about to pop open, as are two younger trees.  If we don't get a freeze like we did at a key time last year, we should have fruit aplenty this season.  Love it!

I mowed most of the millions of dandelion heads and have determined that turf builder kills some weeds but has little effect on the dandelions except maybe to help them grow more dandelions.  It could be that well-established dandelions build up immunity to all man-made killers.  

It drives me nuts cuz every time I go past Janice's house,  I see no dandelions in her beautifully manicured lawn.  And, I don't go past her house nearly as often as she drives by mine.  Cuz she's going to town. 

So, she frequently gets to marvel at Marianne's dandelion patch, knowing full well that she's well ahead of the game in the South Center Valley Road turf war.  

No wonder Janice is singing down there at her house. 

I wrote back to Janice this morning  that there is a "spring" in my step as I go outside every day during this wonderful sunshine.  When I told Bill about our neighborly correspondence via Facebook, he simply asked, "Did you ask her if she could hear you down here cussing the other day when the weather was so bad?"

That thought made me real nervous cuz on that day Bert Wood's cows weren't next door to drown out the Lovestead barnyard vernacular.  

Oh well, it's a beautiful day, and I'll go forth, hoping to kill off a few more dandelions and maybe do some singing of my own.  Happy Wednesday.