Robin's Nesting Place...NOT!

This morning while eating breakfast, I noticed a robin with a mouth full of dried grass. I wondered where the nest was being built and hoped it was in one of my trees. I open the front door later and was disappointed to see that the location they had chosen was the wreath on my front door.

This location will never do!This is NOT a good robin's nesting place. I have too many packages delivered and too many people coming to the front door to have a bird nesting here. Sadly, I removed the wreath and hung it over one of the coach lights next to the third garage door that is rarely opened. I doubt they will still use it, but I just hated to destroy their handiwork.

Today was a bit chilly after our warm day yesterday, but we are definitely in the full swing of spring. It is so amazing to me how quickly this happens. Some of my tulips are opening.


The chionodoxa is now blooming. I planted 12 bulbs and so far only a few have bloomed.

The clematis, that was planted at the light post in the fall, has buds. The gorgeous clematis at the mailbox is full of buds. Usually I cut it back to the ground but never got around to it this year, it is covered in new growth. I can't wait to see it bloom this year.


The Bradford pear certainly has its critics and rightly so. It does have faults, but I can't imagine spring without these lovely delicate blooms. They are in full bloom now and these little beauties fade quickly.

Carol, From May Dreams, recently did a wonderful post on the Bradford pear. You would think these precious little blooms would smell sweet, but they don't. Carol thought they smelled like grilled mystery meat. I had never tried to figure out what they smelled like before, so, tonight while taking my walk, I started inhaling when passing by a Bradford pear, there are quite a few of them in our neighborhood. I couldn't really distinguish a scent so I had to stick my nose up close to the blooms and sniff. They actually smelled fishy to me, like a dirty aquarium. Not really a stench, but fishy. My daughter agreed that it smelled that way to her too. Carol, could your mystery meat, by any chance, be fish?

My little duckies are still visiting. One mom, who was visiting the playground, told me that her three year old wants to always face my house now so she can watch the birds and ducks while she swings.

Speaking of the playground, we got the mulch for the playground delivered on Friday. I spent several hours removing the remainder of the weeds from the area, before the rest of the volunteers arrived. As I pulled weeds, I would often run across earthworms, I had an extra bucket on hand to drop the earthworms in so that I could deposit them into my own garden. After pulling one deep rooted dandelion, I discovered four earthworms and one was huge. There was a three year old little boy there with his mom, and he had been quite chatty with me. I asked him if he like worms, he drew back, shook his head and told me no, he didn't like worms, he was a car fanatic. He is very interested in cars too, because when we first met this new family a few weeks ago, the very first thing he said to my daughter was, "What kind of car do you drive?" Kids can be so funny.

I hope the robins don't eat all of my new worms!