It was yet another GORGEOUS weekend!  Sunny and relatively warm in the low 40's.  On Saturday, Kyle and I spent the entire day outside trying to get some chores done.  We had a big pile of lath that had been buried under snow after our guest bedroom renovation last fall and, since the snow had receded, we were sick of looking at an ugly pile of wood in our front yard. 

After we cleared all the wood, I started raking up old leaves around the house that the girls had decided they didn't like.  After a little bit of raking and ripping up old, dead grass, I found a small city of spring flowers popping up in the gardens surrounding the house.  Spring has officially arrived at the Senesac Family Homestead!!  VICTORY!!!  I did my little happy dance and threw all the leaves and dried grass over the mud pit going out to the barn in hopes that it would prevent me from slipping and falling on my rear end in weeks to come.

Lawn work hadn't really been on our agenda for the day.  Really we were just planning on cleaning up the lath and running the electric fence for the pigs' pasture.  But once I saw how nice the house looked without the dead stuff cozying-up to it I decided to keep going.  Kyle and I raked leaves and broke down dead shoots from last year's flowers, throwing all the goodies either over the mud pit I mentioned earlier or right into the pigs' pasture.  We did bring a couple armloads of dried leaves over to the girls, who had retreated to their window seat for a nap after spending the morning on their outdoor platform.

It was glorious working outside without jackets and hats to keep us warm.  The sun was shining down on us as we toiled away in our flower gardens for the first time.  Last year we were too preoccupied with home renovations in compliance with the requirments of our home loan to have any fun come spring.  We had hastily planted a garden and promptly went on to other projects: primarily getting ready for our wedding.  That was the extent of our gardening. 

Of course, now, having seen all the bulbs that are sprouting I can say with confidence that we have WAY too many flowers in our flower beds.  The poor crocuses, tulips, and lilies have been multiplying for years and have become a little cramped.  I think its too late to 'divide and conquer' this year, but now I know the situation and will put it on my gardening 'To Do' list for this fall.

At this point we've only got a little more snow left in our yard, which I am seriously considering spreading out so it melts a little faster....