“Click”

One week ago today … we had an early morning snowfall. The indoor blooms were a real contrast to the cold white spring snow!
I love that I’ve been able to keep this orchid happy. First time in YEARS that I’ve found a window that one will live and rebloom in. And it just happens to be beside my reading couch. Bonus!
Ditto to this hibiscus. I learned last fall that it might be good to strip it of all of its leaves and hide it in a cool dark corner for a rest. It ended up living in our downstairs bathtub for a few months! Each day when I would be in that room I worried that I was killing it … slowly … But it worked! It is now blooming and healthy and some happy to see the sunshine again! Maybe not the snow …
It didn’t take long though for it all to be gone again. Today – “click” – the view changed. Even this snow at the top of the hill in the woods has all disappeared. Of course, that now means that the donkeys can ‘disappear’. We’ve had a few times over the last week where we couldn’t find them out front, couldn’t find them out back … couldn’t see them on the hilltop … but found them on the other side of the woods. (I think they’ve set a goal to eat Ede’s saw horse before she notices!)

I’m trying out a new approach to carrot rewards … I had begun to carry out a baggie in my pocket each afternoon. That, however, was too easy for Darby and Rosie to figure out. It meant that when I showed up they would not take my word for it that I didn’t have carrots. Well … I didn’t really tell them I didn’t have them … I just pretended I didn’t. Being the smart asses they are they just tugged at my pocket zipper until I would give in. When they could see that my pocket was empty then they’d relax. So today I started to carry a fanny pack – morning, noon, and afternoon. I have a pouch for my camera and a large pouch for carrot chunks. I used them to reinforce behaviours one chunk at a time throughout the day. I’ll have to see if over the next week or so my ‘stalkers’ return.
Hmmm … here is Ede (above) trying to convince Paco and Rosie that she doesn’t have carrots hidden in her pockets! Maybe the stalking will continue … 😉
It was so lovely and warm out today. It was t-shirt weather. I got to relax on the benches in the back paddock and ‘zenned out’ while just listening to the herd munch away on their hay. All over the donkey zones today there were honey bees – every where! I felt sorry for the donkeys this morning as the bees were stinging their noses when they were rooting in the hay bins. I guess hay smells sweet when there are no other blooms around … You can see there is still snow melting here. It is the north side of our property.
My theory about spring bugs is that the swarming begins when the leaves open … I’m going to be testing that idea this year. I am hoping it is true. I’m dreaming of a two month hiatus here … April and early May … warm and bug free. A recoup and energize zone between the biting winter and the biting summer!
We all need time to become more than mere shadows of ourselves. 😉