The Colors Of Spring

 

Color...this is definitely a spring full 

of color for us here on the farm.

This time last year

THIS 

is what our fenced in

area close to the house looked like...

  ....it was brown dirt and sand.

  

 

On March the 24th THIS year

I mowed the lawn for the first time this year

and most of the plants I had put in the garden

last year were up.

The daffodils were blooming.

It was the beginning of color here on the farm.

 

 

 This is my favorite Hosta...

it's name is Marmalade.

:)

It's a perfect name don't you think?

 

Right now the Columbine are the stars

of the garden.

I love their soft pinks and yellows. 

I'd like to plant more of these if I can find them.

 

The 'Fairy House' yard needs a bit of work.

 

 

 

The rhododendron I planted last fall

is starting to bloom.

I just hope all these plants still look good 

when the hot summer sun is here

as one of the trees that gave 

a lot of these plants 

the shade

they needed has

all but died. 

Many of them will have to be moved

if the sun becomes too much for them

but time will tell.  

  

This is another Hosta I really like.

I thought the heat and drought 

last summer had killed it 

and a few of the others

including 'Marmalade'

but they shocked me by

coming back. 

:)

 

This poor weather vane 

has moved 3 times

with us and has been knocked over

and blown over

and been beaten with hail. 

This summer it will again be covered

with Red Trumpet Vine

that has been here for many years.

Yes it's definitely 

a colorful spring on the farm

and summer will

have a hard act to follow.

I hope you are enjoying a colorful

spring where ever you are.

~~~~~~~ 

Hope 'Floats'

This is my girl Hope.

The spunky girl who bucked me off

a couple of months ago.

I still have a lump on my butt!

 

Here she is looking pretty feisty

because her buddy Rosie

had been taken for a walk

and she was left behind.

She wasn't happy.

 

Here is Hope last week

after getting her teeth 'floated'.

The vet had to file some points off her teeth

 and to do this she was given a little sedative.

 You can see the wet spot in her mane 

where she got her shot.

 

 

She was feeling no pain.

 In fact the vet said she wasn't 

feeling much of anything!

  

Horses lock all their knees so they

can sleep while standing up.

Hope wasn't locking her right knee

so she was a little wobbly and

started weaving back and forth.

At one point I thought she was going

down...but she didn't 

and gradually came out of it.

  

Look at that droopy sweet mouth.

It's a far cry from the tight lipped 

mouth in the top photo.

I must say that seeing her like

this gave me a bit of satisfaction

and just for a fleeting moment

I felt like throwing a saddle on her.

I'm sure it would have been a 

much quieter ride

than the day she bucked me off!

I wish I had remembered to bring

my camera out while the vet

was floating both horses teeth

but I was too busy watching

what he was doing.

It was about half an hour after the

vet finished floating the 

girls teeth that they were

back feeding again.

Just like nothing had happened. 

If you're wondering how the 

vet 'floats' a horses teeth and why

they do it...here's a little 

video on that subject.

 Floating A Horses Teeth

Lovely Lilacs

Alas the lilacs have come and nearly gone.

(These photo's were taken March 29th)

There are still a few left

but most have faded and turned brown. 

The display was better than last year

and that's probably thanks

to the amount of rain we received

this spring compared to last year.

Still overall it wasn't as good a display

as we had in 2010.

2010

2010

The groves are old (1947) and 

the drought last year probably

took it's toll on the oldest plants

but they still looked and smelled

WONDERFUL!

The fragrance filled the air and behind

this wall of lilacs about 20 feet to the left

is the front of the house.

When the windows were open the

scent was heavenly!

In the photo below if you look through

the trees from the house on the right

to the left of the photo...

you will see the grove in the above photo from the other side.

We're very fortunate that the prevailing

breeze (wind!) blows through

those blossoms towards the house :)

Not only are we fortunate enough to have that

grove of lilacs but we also have another

shorter but thicker grove that I see from 

our kitchen window. 

The two smaller windows below?

That's our kitchen.

And this grove is approx 30ftx20ft.

It's a wonderful sight to look out 

on while I cook.

It's always sad to see the lilacs fade 

away for another year...

but maybe in a way it's that short

season that makes them so endearing to us.

~~~~~~~

Our computer is back from the repair shop

and even though it seems a little slow

it's good to be on here again.

~~~~~~~

I'm joining Karen

over at 

My Little Home And Garden

for 

Sunlit Sunday

Have a WONDERFUL weekend!

UPDATE

~~~~~~~~

It was a week ago today that we took

our computer in to get fixed.

Today we stopped by the computer

shop to see how things are going.

The 'motherboard' arrived at his store

today and so our computer

will be staying with him until some

time next week.

I shudder to think what it will cost

but we do what we have to do.

In the meantime I'm learning to 

use this lap top.

I'm finding this contraption a lot

different than our desktop computer

but it's better than nothing.

Now if I can figure out how to get my 

photo's on here and do some editing

I'll be happy!

I hope you are all enjoying some beautiful 

spring weather. 

We here in our part of Kansas 

are under cloudy skies 

and cooler temperatures.

When the sun comes out I will be out

'haying' the lawns

and pulling weeds...yuck.

Maybe it's just as well I can't play 

with photo's right now ;)

I hope you all have a wonderful 

weekend with lots of 

sunshine and warm temperatures.

I'll 'see' you soon...

...with photos!

~~~~~~~~~