First Spring Project and Birds

Yesterday morning started out rather cool, but warmed up very nicely, turning out to be a glorious spring day. My top soil was delivered, but after a few times of filling up the wheel barrow, and dragging it to the very back of the yard, I decided I just wasn't up to that chore. Instead, I decided to work on the side of the house with the gas and electric meters. I had nothing on this side of the house other than a very small, front corner bed with a Japanese Maple. Needless to say this area is an eyesore. I had plenty of landscaping bricks left over from my projects last year, so I used those to line this bed. Usually, I will scrape away every blade of grass before doing a raised bed. This time I decided to layer the grass with some of the hay from the hay bale left over from my autumn decorations. I put a thick layer of that down, but I saw a few seedlings sprouting from the hay and became concerned. I remembered that I had raked a pile of leaves in our common area and no one had picked them up yet. I gathered two large Rubbermaid containers of wet leaves and put them on top of the hay. I only put a few wheel barrow loads of the dirt in this bed before deciding I just didn't have the strength. I then tackled the less labor intensive job of setting the pavers below grass level. I see from the picture that I have a few that need to be leveled and straightened. This is my first spring project and it felt great to be out working in the yard again. I was so sore and achy today and just didn't feel well, I thought maybe I had overdone it since I hadn't been exercising properly through the winter. It isn't that though, I started running a fever this evening and feel terrible. That may be why I felt poorly earlier in the week. I have been so blessed and not even had a cold this winter, I think my body has just been fighting something for a few days now. I do hope it's not the flu.

Since I felt so lousy today I just did a lot of bird watching from the kitchen table.

In the spring, when I brush Lilly, I always save the dog hair for the birds. After her brushing this morning I saw sparrows getting her hair for nesting material. Every time I would spot them, I would get my camera and wait...and wait... and wait. I never did get a picture of it. Thankfully, or rather regretfully, there is a LOT more where that came from. Hopefully I can catch them at a later time.

It is very rare to see both the male and female eating here at the same time. I don't think I've ever seen them both together on the patio before, so this was special a treat for me today.

Remember you can click on the pictures to enlarge them, (at least you can when I use Picasa, which I usually do).

I hope you enjoy!