Slight Detour: Odds and Ends at the Lovestead, TBT

This photo was taken a year and one day ago. Green grass in the hay field. Dry enough to walk on in street shoes, shirt-sleeve weather and no worries of having to give two dogs yet another bath that evening.

This morning: a year and a day later: wet, green grass in hay field, lakes in low spots, doggies don't go to hay field but their field is still mostly covered with ankle-deep water. This morning's outdoor ensemble: barn boots, five layers of tops, gloves and still it was cold.

If dogs go out today, they'll need some bathing.

This morning, rather than getting my feet stuck in the mud several times while dragging the cart of hay to the barnyard for the horses' breakfast, I chose the ankle deep water route behind the barn. There's also high ground in that corner of the barnyard for the horses to eat their hay without getting stuck in the muck.

And, then, while I was cleaning stalls, I commented out loud that the announcer on KPND could have gone all day without suggesting some movies to watch because it's "gonna be a soggy weekend."

Anyway, what a difference a year makes! This year we can only hope to say, "What a difference a couple of dry days would make in our lives!"

So, here we are at almost the end of April, and it's not all "rain on our parades." We have made some progress around here, and, in spite of yucky weather, we know that delicious days await us as asparagus spears are rising out of their winter beds. I counted 16 early peepers yesterday, and more will be appearing soon.

I also loved seeing rhubarb unfolding its leaves near the blackberry bushes.

My outdoor lettuce is holding its own, and soon should be putting on some more growth. As always, the many clumps of oregano around the place are defying any weather patterns and adding some lovely visual interest wherever they happen to be growing.

I planted about 30 cucumber seeds yesterday (in the greenhouse) and am hoping they'll produce some wonderful salad delights come July.

Some radish seed went into one of the raised planters. I figured on success since we're supposed to be in the 60s next week. Note "supposed to be." We'll see about that.

Inside the house, my computer monitor has quit going to sleep and refusing to wake up. That problem started a few weeks ago, occurring intermittently. Finally when it was occurring much to often, I contacted my wizard Joel who gave me an easy fix, which included a simple setting change.

Yesterday afternoon, another wizard aka The Appliance Doctor aka Mike came and fixed both our dryer and our refrigerator.

The dryer wasn't heating, thanks to a timer that went bad, while the refrigerator was producing lakes which would appear out of nowhere. That turned out to be a plugged hose.

Mike said, "If the refrigerator goes down again, don't call me. Get a new refrigerator."

It's probably been here since the house was built in 1981. Of course, we always think about the used Frigidaire my mother bought from Northside School back in the '50s which ran like a charm forever.

So, comparatively speaking, we kinda expect our refrigerators to earn their keep, but we will heed Mike's words when the time comes.

All in all, except for mud, rain, cold temps and hint of more of the same, life isn't too bad here at the Lovestead. Just ask Mr. Squirrel.

Happy Thursday.