A Brief Hole In A Swirling Mass Of Goo

I was forced to clean house today. That means I got some dusting and vacuuming done. It just rained and rained and rained. There was even thunder and lightning. It almost seems common due to my location that the eye of these low pressure fronts pass directly over me. I took advantage of the brief hole in the goo to take a few things next door that don't fit in the cozy cabin or that I don't want to fit in here. There's plenty room over there for stuff and items have been slowly moving next door in anticipation of the cleaning of the tool closet.



The snowdrops greeted me on my arrival. They are well on their way in this winter that isn't even though they are supposed to be up by now. The imprint from where the shovel has fallen into the patch of snowdrops that last two years is rather noticeable now. They are being dispersed across the ridge top garden. They do a fair job of seed dispersal on their own, but someone was getting impatient and felt they needed an assist.



It seemed like a perfect chance to scout out the ridge top garden and have a look around.



The hand mowing of the dead dried sticks of the perennials needs to be done. I have almost completed the sunny utility meadow and will get here soon. And of course there is a fresh batch of fallen limbs and branches from the trees above that need tossing. I'm not fond of the brush piles and prefer to send them over the fence into the next county, but sometimes the brush piles are just closer.



I see a few daffodils and Spanish Bluebells poking up. This is normal for this time of year. The bluebells always come up early and there are always a few early daffodils. What I did not see was lots and lots of daffodils coming up. I did not see any signs of crocus either. That would be a bad thing. Despite this winter that isn't, things still look to be fairly normal.



The snowdrops are being used as markers to indicate other bulbs are planted here. Nothing to see but snowdrops. That's good. Unfortunately I did see some perennializing tulips were up and when I looked closer some of them had been eaten off to the nub. Deer! If it's not one varmint, it's another. They have been in the roadside vegetable garden eating left over lettuce too. Someone needs to shoot these deer before this knowledge gets passed on. Normally we have no troubles with deer.



There may be a bit of snow tomorrow night, but this winter is nothing like the last two when there was a snow pack for weeks on end. It needs to get cold and stay cold for a spell. That isn't in the diagnosis that I can see. We'll have several days of cold followed by a return to cool above freezing temps. It has been perfect pine tree transplanting weathers.



If that is enough to keep things dormant so be it. I just don't want the normal cycle of things to spin out of control. That could be a big problem. My schedule this spring is set. No variations are allowed, oh please, please, please.