More Spring

We have been having warm weather and the plants seem to like it. These hyacinths were the first in our yard to come up after the crocuses.

Daffodils are in bloom all over town and all over our yard. I just love them. I remember when we moved into our house in Racine, our next door neighbors were my gardening mentors, and they told me that you can always count on the daffodils to be in bloom on the weekend of the Kentucky Derby. I know this isn't Wisconsin, but it's the same gardening zone, so that gives you an idea of how far ahead we are this year. I am also noticing the forsythia is already blooming around town. We don't have any in our garden, though I wish we did. I think we need to put that on the "to do" list.

Our flowering crab apple is leafing out and following the leaves will be its beautiful flowers.

Under each of the slats of our deck, robins made nests last year. I think we must have had ten of them. There are only about two left, and I am curious to see if they will rebuild this year. This one just fell down.

Speaking of robins, this guy is back for a second year. Either that or he has a twin. Last spring I kept hearing a strange noise in the house, and it took me the longest time to figure out it was a robin flying up against this window. He perches on this tree, sees his reflection, and flaps his wings into this window. I Googled it last year and learned that the robin is being territorial. I'm supposed to tape some paper on the outside of the window, but it's too high to reach. So I need to figure an alternate solution. Another item for the "to do" list. In the meantime, Allie thinks they are playing a game of cat and mouse, as she is attuned to the noise and always comes over and barks when she hears him fly into the window.

On the subject of Allie, while I was out cleaning up some of the beds yesterday, she wanted to play fetch with this tennis ball. Yes, that black thing in her mouth is a tennis ball. It's wet enough outside that it doesn't stay clean. But she doesn't mind. She is so very happy that she is getting more outdoor time these days.