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Posted 4/5/2008 8:40 PM (GMT 0)
Hey, what does springtime do for you? I know there are things that we can't do any more but springtime alone can raise my spirits. The warmth of standing outside in the sunshine, for those of us in colder climates, is so wonderful! I've decided I won't give up gardening but I'm going to buy several 1/2 wine barrels and those will be my garden. Easy to plant some carrots, tomato plants (go for those marked 'determinate' as they won't go so wild!), and I had good luck planting pumpkins in a huge plastic pot last year. Also you can plant lettuce, zucchini, onions, cucumbers...just about anything since they're very deep. Think I'll make a small frame for them to sit on so hubby can put a hand truck under them and move the barrels if needed. You could use a frame with big casters on them and they'd roll on a deck or patio.

For those who aren't into veggies they could be planted with wonderful perennials and annual flowers. Maybe a dwarf tree in the middle and wave petunias around for summer. The two barrels I currently have is where my hyacinths are. They're in full bloom right now and the aroma is magical!

I also have been feeding bird like crazy. The pine siskins (a type of finch) are eating me out of house and home!!! They feast on thistle seed so I sewed up some homemade sock feeders and they're pigging out. Also the chickadees and nuthatches are happy campers. We also feed several squirrels on the decks. Keeps them out of the bird feeders and we get the entertainment. I have several long bird houses that the squirrels have turned into condo's...lol

What does spring do for you?

Chutzie
Posted 4/5/2008 9:02 PM (GMT 0)
Spring means the warmth of the sun, and that I can unwrap my little BBQ grill and enjoy cooking that requires no pots and pans!

It also means the end of shoveling....but where I am it's still not 100% certain that snow is gone for the year! LOL

Chutzie - will you come to my house, plant a garden, and then tend to it? I am great with animals, but plants? You don't want to go there! Somehow I remember animals need to be fed, but plants should be self-feeding. My friends know better than to give me anything green that needs watering. I do, however, love to look at the yards of others who have that green thumb.

Be careful of those squirrels, though. One got inside with me last fall and we scared the heck out of eachother. And did he make a mess of things in my attic and my living room!

Happy spring, Chutzie! And thanks again for all you do! scool

Post Edited (PAlady) : 4/5/2008 3:10:53 PM (GMT-6)

Posted 4/5/2008 9:52 PM (GMT 0)
Oh, Chutz if you only knew! (he, he, he) I'm with PAlady - if you would care to hire out your gardening expertise, I'd be in line right behind her! tongue

I spent about an hour this morning watering the bulbs I planted (ouch!) last fall. I really love flowers and beautiful landscapes, but sadly lack a green thumb. I also really hate gardening - sad but true! The great thing about spring is that I can take in the beautiful handiwork of the Lord as the plants and trees and lawns return to their full spring glory. As much as I hated the actual planting of those bulbs, I must admit that I was delighted to see the first of the blooms this morning. A bright yellow against so much brown... I cannot wait for the rest of the flowers to open up.

My other favorite part of spring is warm weather. Oh, I can't wait to open up the windows and freshen the house a bit! Hmmm... then there are fresh veggies to eat...

Good thread, Chutzie! yeah
Posted 4/5/2008 10:11 PM (GMT 0)
Chutz, I'm with you. I just have to get my hands dirty. Luckily I live in the South so various plants grow year-round. I shoveled my last driveway of snow in 1979. Never again! You're right - container gardening provides just as much fun as turning over new beds in the yard. It's amazing what you can produce from a container, or even a small bed with extra food and water. Your post caught my eye because I was just taking a tour of my own yard and pulling a weed here and there. Now through the end of June is the prettiest time of year in my area. Everyone who sees the results of all my years of labor says my yard looks like a park. I think so too! Just sitting outside and watching the plants grow and bloom and watching the birds and squirrels soothes my soul. Don't know how else to describe it.

Our goldfinches have migrated north now, but we've got lots of doves, sparrows, purple finches, house finches, buntings, owls, and even hawks who pluck the occasional bird off the feeders. That's Mother Nature for you. I've also taken to putting out a few handfuls of raw peanuts for the squirrels to keep them off the bird feeders. Give 'em what they want and they won't get into what you don't want them to have. Same goes for supplying a water source for all the critters - keeps 'em from eating my vegetables. :-)
Posted 4/5/2008 10:47 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Chutz!
A great, uplifting thread! And points out the differences we experience as a result of climate regarding Spring!
Here, Up North, it's a BIG DEAL (right, PALady?! :) No more snow! (Well, hopefully!) Warmer winds! Longer days/twilights! Birds return! (TexasJen, we get your gooldfinches now!) Tender, courageous new shoots of daffodils & crocus peek out! And the slant of the sun is fresh and bright!

Oh, yes! A Spring day can do wonders! And what it does for us is better (almost) than the medications we need to take to get thru those long winter days & nights of CP....at least from a spiritual standpoint. Meds are necessary, of course, and help us heal. But today I took hardly anything & I'm sure it had a lot to do with being outside, in the sun, on the beach, listening to the birds, feeling the warm breeze....there is great healing in all that. For body & soul.

Enjoy the longer evening light! And thank you again, Chutzie, for leading us down this restorative Spring pathway!

~Lakeside -- outside again tonite! :)
Posted 4/6/2008 12:14 AM (GMT 0)
I'm so enjoying your magical tours, even those who aren't gardeners. lol... Just a turn in emotions is a wonder of spring. Thank you all for sharing!

Anyone else?
Chutzie
Posted 4/6/2008 1:41 AM (GMT 0)
Spring hasn't really sprung yet here but it is coming. There is still snow on the ground but it is melting. The good news is that where the snow has melted the crocuses are growing so are the tulips and daffodils, The grass is also starting to turn green. So even though we had snow yesterday (it didn't stick to anything) spring and better yet, summer are not far off.

As for me I truly enjoy the long days. May and June are my favorites. Of course May has always been bittersweet for me because it is the month in which my father past away but despite that I still enjoy it. What with the trees beginning to bloom. The lilacs, the lupines, lady slippers, and enjoying the fact that it does not get dark until well after 9:00pm.

It only stays like that for a short time so I try to enjoy it as best I can
Posted 4/6/2008 2:56 PM (GMT 0)
Oh, I do miss the lilacs! My mom had a huge corner turned over to them in the house where I grew up. They can't take the heat down here, so we have to make do with the long-blooming, but unfragrant crape myrtles. Nothing smells as good as a lilac. Well, except maybe for the night-blooming jasmine down here. :-)
Posted 4/6/2008 6:08 PM (GMT 0)
TexasJen, we have tons of lilacs, which really don't bloom here until June, and you are totally correct: nothing smells as good! I also have a large rose garden & grow mostly florabundas, Graham Thomas, English-type and other "cottage" varieties, but lilacs are still my favorites!
I will send you some :) in thought, when ours come out, later on!

Oh---saw many of "your" Goldfinches at our feeders today! Thank you! :) Another Wisconsin Spring day---fleeting, but lovely! Rain starts tomrrow, so better get outside today! Sort of like life itself, huh!

~Lake
Posted 4/6/2008 6:22 PM (GMT 0)
What a great thread.  I do envy you Chutz, I really miss being able to get down on the ground and play in the dirt with flowers and bulbs.  It's just too hard to do from a wheelchair and when I do get down I have to crawl around like a slug and then my hubby has to be here to pick me up.  He has way to many other things to do, or I would have him build me a raised bed, but we will probably be moving in a couple yrs., so it just isn't worth it.  Today the sun is out for the first since I don't know when and I am going out to enjoy it in a few minutes.  Our hummingbirds should be returning soon and I can hardly wait.  What amazing creatures they are.  I have 6 hummingbird feeders that I hang on my deck so that I can not only see them, I can go out and sit to watch them as they feed.  It's so amazing that they don't seem to mind my being there.  If my husband comes out there they all fly off and don't come back till he is gone.  The colors are so beautiful and it is just a wonder how they hover in place and can even fly upside down.  I even have one tattooed on my forearm to remind me that if such a small creature can do such amazing things, then maybe I can too.  Hope you all have warm weather soon and that it stays around. 
Posted 4/7/2008 3:33 PM (GMT 0)
about a month ago I seen my first Robin so I told everyone I came across what I had seen and none of them would believe me! lol We had an especially hard winter here in Michigan that we thought it never was going to end. Warmer weather just makes me feel better all around. Our trees are starting to bud and my Japanese Cherry Tree is looking pretty. Yesterday me and my son raked the front yard of all the dead grass and twigs - paying for it today though :( As for the birds, I had 2 little house sparrows trying to build a nest in my sunroom! I had to keep the door open so when my gma would let the dogs out, she wouldn't have to go down the stairs to open the outer door. Well I had to close it or I was going to have baby birds flying all over my sunroom and ummm getting their droppins' everywhere! I love to go out in the backyard and dig in the dirt but I'm afraid with my back the way it is this year that I'm not going to be able to do it. But I can try! :)

Very nice thread Chutzie, spring makes people feel as if their starting anew which is an awesome experience!
Posted 4/15/2008 9:31 AM (GMT 0)
Came home from a long (and painful) trip last week to see bright blooming flowers in front of my house. What a welcome sight! I thought of this thread right away and decided maybe it was time to bring it back to the front page. yeah

TexasJen - I simply adore lilacs as well. When I was growing up, we had two huge lilac bushes - one purple and one white. I used to go just stand with my head almost buried in the bushes drinking in the scent. I miss them too.
Posted 4/15/2008 9:19 PM (GMT 0)
Ry -
Glad you revived this again, especially as our weather here in the northeast is acually beginning to look springlike! Moving toward the 60's later this week and I know to some that seems like winter, but to us it's pure heaven!

I always wait for my pink crabapple tree to go into full bloom. I live right on the lake, so things are always a little slower here than even a mile inland, so it's the last to bloom. Probably not until May. But I treasure the few days it lasts. For me it's the true beginning to spring!

And my mother had a beautiful lilac bush outside that we used to love. The house is long sold to others now and I wonder if that bush has remained, but even the reminder of it brings a smile. :-)
Posted 4/16/2008 12:36 AM (GMT 0)
PAl: Your crabapple tree sounds divine! I envy you living on a lake. There is a lake near my home - close enough I can hear the action, but far enough I cannot see it. sad

TexasJen: PAl's tree made me think... have you seen lilac trees? They smell almost as wonderful as the bushes do. Maybe that would grow in your climate.
Posted 4/16/2008 4:25 AM (GMT 0)

Chutz,

Oh what spring can do for the soul!! My tulips are just popping up their tiny heads, poor things.....we had snow a week ago...living in the upper midwest makes you pay. Today it was 75( unheard of normally) I  had the sun hit my face as I watched the dogs play in the yard....pure delight!!!!!!!!!you know what I miss is the smell of fresh cut grass, and the wild iris that bloom in the swamp in the back yard...can't wait.....I watched a myrad of finches, juncos, and cedar waxwings chew up the seed in the feeder today....what a beautiful sight. OH the simple things, makes me want to break out my old Wallace Stegner books.... Better yet, I think I'll go out and paint them!!

life is good!

peace and health all

colerg

Posted 4/16/2008 2:58 PM (GMT 0)
Hi colerg!

I do love 'my' birds. I am constantly filling the feeders but it's a small price to pay for all of the joy they bring. We had a very warm day on Sat, then back to normal now...cold, wet and gray. Spring is coming tho!

Chutzie
Posted 4/17/2008 4:23 AM (GMT 0)

i love spring, too.  the dogwoods barking their colored flowers.  the bulbs pushing up through the ground and flowering a rainbow.

last week i took my walker out to the front yard, got on my "toush," and weeded two flower beds in front of our house.  i have trouble getting down and it's all but impossible for me to get back up, so i use the walker to pull myself.  it took an extra morphine, but, by george, it was worth every bit of the pain to be able to get outside and DO something!

my wife and 4-yr-old great grandson dug flower beds in the back, around our deck, and i'll probably dig prepare those for plantiong this week-end.  i still have my walker and my morphine.  lol

warren

Posted 4/17/2008 3:25 PM (GMT 0)
Warren,

I love your attitude. I often load up on my meds and go outside to work in the yard or just be outside puttering. Yes, I pay the price later but like you said...it's worth every bit of pain to enjoy the out doors.

Keep at it friend!
Chutzie
Posted 4/18/2008 7:16 PM (GMT 0)

i used this story when i was on hw several months ago.  for those who have heard it, enjoy it one more time.  for those who haven't heard it, enjoy!

you are flying in an airplane at 40,000 feet, looking out the open door.  all of a sudden the plane banks and you fall out.  no parachutre.

you have two choices.  you can curse the pilot and the airplane and god and every misbegotten son and daughter of a whatever.  and you can do that until you go SPLAT into the ground.

OR

you can turn around and watch the trees changing color as you pass different altitudes.  you can follow a stream or a river from its source to its mouth with your eyes and enjoy the meanderings of the water seeking its own level.  you can thank god for what you have received in this lifetime and look forward to the next.  and you can do this for the rest of your life.

i submit to everyone that this is the trip we have been free-falling from the time we dropped from our mother's womb.

let's all enjoy the ride.

warren


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