Spring is in the Air

Winter is loosening its grip here in Western New York.  It's not over, of course, and will show it's snowy face again before too long, but we are actually beginning to see some nicer days.  I don't know about you, but when the weather begins to turn nice, I start getting restless, and I begin to think about all the projects I want to do! 

One project we have wanted to do for a long time is put some new outlets in the kitchen.  It's a lovely old kitchen and I'm so grateful that it's almost totally original.  However, that means that the electricity is almost all original too, and it's not sufficient for modern appliances.  We can't, for instance, run the microwave and the toaster at the same time, or the electric tea kettle and the electric canner.  There's also only a small number of outlets, and those are badly positioned.  

After getting our RO water filter, we needed a new place to put our coffee pot and electric tea kettle.  So after some thinking, we decided to start the electricity upgrade in our kitchen by pulling out the old telephone line and replacing it with an electrical plug.  

We plan on having a cute little coffee station in that corner, but I haven't quite decided how I want to set it up yet, so no pictures of it yet.  Maybe next time!

The warm weather has been slowly melting the snow away, and making our mornings especially foggy. 

 

 Seeing the grass again has me thinking about my garden, and especially about my berry plants.  They may arrive sometime between March and the end of April, so they'll be here soon!  I prepared my raised beds last fall, but I haven't actually prepared the planting holes yet, so I've been getting out all of my fruit books and I got a simple soil test kit.

 I have more fruit books than this, these were just the two I was reading at the time!  The soil test so far says that my soil is in really good condition, with the exception of nitrogen, but that's to be expected.  Most soil is lacking nitrogen, and it's fairly easy to remedy.

 The last time we went to Home Depot, I saw that they have their fruit plants already!  

 

 It's very tempting to buy something, especially those hardy kiwis!  But years of impromptu plant purchasing has taught me that it rarely works out.  It's much better to plan ahead and get the planting site ready the year before.  Plus, the plants they sell at Home Depot are rarely the best for your region.  

The interesting thing about living in the country is seeing how the weather actually affects nature.  When we lived in the city, we felt very disconnected from nature.  If it rained hard, the only affect it had on us was that the water would run down the street and get into our basement.  But here, we get to see things first hand.  If it rains hard in the winter, before the ground is thawed, we get to watch the water run across the fields and overflow the creek!

 We get to look out our big window every day and see that great big sky, and the deep blue of the winter sky.

Another fun thing we have gotten to do now that we live in the country, is to decorate one of our trees for Easter!  I've always wanted to do that, but never had a good tree for it.  I think our magnolia looks just lovely.

 And speaking of spring, look at what came up yesterday!

 Snow crocuses :)  They're planted all over around our side porch, and I just love their pretty little faces.  The snow drops we planted last fall aren't up yet, but I'll be keeping my eye out for them.  

Something that has come back however are the birds, and lots of them.  Eastern blue birds are checking out the bird houses already, and robins are pecking around the yard looking for worms.  Even the red winged black birds are back, sitting on our fence and screaming their little hearts out.  

Of course the cats are very excited.