Spring Fever

I don't know if you can see it or not, but the bottom picture shows tulip or daffodil bulbs coming up!!!! This is by my gazebo down by the lake, and I have cute little red-orange tulips and bright yellow daffodils that are always the first to bloom in the gardens. I think this garden spot just gets warmer faster than the others. They aren't the prettiest spring flowers I have, but they are so welcome after a long winter that they might be my favorites!

The top picture shows dwarf bearded iris coming up. Still way too early to get out and start cleaning up the gardens, but this past week we have had gorgeous temps - right around 60 yesterday and today - and the gardens are responding. I LOVE IT!

(If you click on the pics you can see better - but for some reason when I click on them the pix become gigantic and you have to move the cursors to see different parts - I have a lot to learn about this program yet!)

As you can see, we have lost a lot of our snowcover. There are still piles around the house where the sun isn't as strong. The ground is still frozen, so it's like a lake in the yard in spots. In the background of this pic you can see someone out ice fishing on the lake. We went for a walk Sunday and talked to our neighbor who was out fishing. He said the ice is still 2 feet thick. So guess we won't be putting the dock and boat in this weekend!!! (I have spring fever - can you tell??)

The pooches are enjoying all this warm weather too. These aren't very good pictures - I'm trying to learn how to take pix of black dogs - it's hard!! Tess is really hard because she usually doesn't sit still long enough to let you take the shot. Kobie poses whenever he sees the camera. He evidently has it in his head that he looks better in profile. I only got this head-on shot because he heard something on the road across the lake.

I broke down and got a copy of Cesar's Way. I have never seen him on Oprah or Nat'l Geographic, but his book really is good. We definitely treat our dogs like people. They both have way too much energy - get over excited when we come home or someone comes to visit. We have kind of ignored it because after a minute or two, they become very calm and relaxed. But that first two minutes - phew! His take on it is that they aren't getting enough exercise and that we aren't demanding the behavior that we want from them. I can't argue with that. So we are now taking walks every day and our neighbor has agreed to help us with the greeting problems. Who knows, they might become great dogs yet!!!