Happy Easter from BSF

A beautiful spring day at Busy Solitude Farm. 

 Abe is keen on a day spent outdoors, on his tuffet!

Luke's just about to do some grooming.  Nothing a cat likes better than a bath in the sunshine!

We'll be spending the day outdoors -- hope you all have a lovely Easter!

Ulani's birthday!

Eight years ago today, ten puppies were born to Roxy and Omerta.  These are the five girls.  And second from the right, keeping her head just a little higher than the rest?  That's U La La Ulani de Guerande!

I wanted to post a new photo today, but it's pouring rain.  Instead, please enjoy these baby photos of my little eight-year old.  The babiest photos were taken by Ulani and Oskar's breeder, Veronique Mauroux.  Thanks, V, for filling my house with Briards!

April 18. Yes, April.

 

Still coming down.  Heavily.   April 18.

Morning has Broken, 9

A windy morning at Busy Solitude Farm.  You can hear the gusts.  Unstable spring weather as the jet stream shifts into warmer mode.

Everything is waking up after a week or two in the 40s and 50s, along with quite a bit of rain.

Walk down here and you'll see I've planted two Coppertina ninebarks to fill in a gap on the south fence.  The one on the left I bought last summer and neglected until the last moment that I could put it in the ground.
 

All winter I worried "will it survive?  Will it wake up?"  Now you can see those red leaves beginning to peek out.  Maybe it was jealous of the one on the right, which I bought a couple of weeks ago at a local nursery.

Such a gorgeous color!

The grass grew gangbusters this week.  Due for a mow again already -- I cut the main lawn last weekend.  That is what spring is all about.

That and wind.  Just look at this wind.



Hey! Who's that?!

Not again!

The grass exploded into greenness this weekend!  However, what I am really here to tell you about is a cat story.  That's Abe, the black cat, in the middle of the photo.  I just barely cracked the door open to take the photo.  I didn't want Ulani to go out, and I sure as heck was not going.

Why?

He had a snake!  This is the second snake he's collected in just a couple of weeks.  The first one he gnawed off the back end, but when I went to dispose of it I discovered it was still alive.  Yikes!  Believe me, I understand how good snakes are for the garden.  I am happy to have them around.  But we have an agreement going from a long time back.  You might recall, we renewed our agreement last spring.  The deal is, the snakes are supposed to stay out of sight.  There are hours and hours of the day that I am at work or asleep.  During those times, the place is all theirs.  But when I am home, the snakes are to stay OUT OF SIGHT!

So this snake was all curled up and the cat got bored.  Must be dead, thought I, so I took the dogs for walks.  When we got back, I steeled myself to go remove it from the yard. 

And it was gone.

Quick Monday Morning

The temperature rose to 70.  Overnight.  By the time we woke up this morning it was in the lower 60s, and will continue falling for a while still.

But it's in the 60s.  So I threw open all the windows.  It's very gray and windy out -- really threatening, though it's not currently raining.  The dogs and cats can come and go at will.

This is my favorite thing about spring -- out with the old air, in with the new!