What a great start to spring. . . .

I love this time of year.  When we drive anywhere the first thing my kids say is, "Look Momma, it's marshmallow season again."  I love to see the fields lined with all of the marshmallow bales of hay.  I almost want to gather them all up and jump from bale to bale.

 

 

We have officially been here in Northern California for three years now and I have never seen weather in May like we had last week. NEVER!  It was in the upper 60's for over a week and several days reached the 70's during the hottest parts of the day.  All I can say is it was amazing! 

So, if you are a kid and it's hot outside, what kind of experiment do you automatically want to attempt to try - yep, you guessed it - fry an egg on the sidewalk, but in our case it's more like fry and egg on the gravel driveway.  And, no, it did not fry, but the chickens and ducks really enjoyed the meal after the kids got bored waiting for the egg to cook.

 

Our Anne, turned 15 this last week with a wonderfully hand decorated (by her sister) cookie cake.  She was showered with many presents.  Thank heavens the clothes I picked out for her passed the can-I-say-incredibly- picky- teenager standard.  She looked rather cute in her new mint green polka-dotted baby doll shirt and leggings.

We spent the entire weekend putting in the garden.  The General Manager helped out by roto-tilling the entire right side of the garden which does not have any raised beds.  He finally was so exhausted with the hand-push roto-tiller that he just asked where the rows were going to be and only tilled those areas.  We have all of the same favorites from last year, in addition to some new varieties we are trying.  A friend of mine bought me the most beautiful tomato and pepper plants so just as soon as the greenhouse gets assembled I will have to post some more garden pictures. 

No, that is not the General Manager standing out in the middle there, but rather our scarecrow.  He actually worked last year to keep the birds out of the garden - I didn't think it could be done, but he was worth his weight in gold.

We have three new additions to our flock - meet Sarah (the red one on the left), Grant and Xavier.   They are a Red Production, Black Sex Link and Araucauna breed.   These three just happen to share the names of our second oldest daughter, her new husband and their little one which is due to be born next month.  I'm not sure how our family feels having our flock of chickens named after them, but sometimes I think it rather strange?

 

And for my fifth barn in the Quilty Barn Along - here it is.  The next set of barns will have brown roofs and windows.  Since Lori just put up the instructions for barn #6, I guess I better start pulling fabric.

 

Have a wonderful week!