We need smell-o-vision!

Well, I woke up yesterday morning, and headed down to the ponds and did some fishing.  Took Zip with me to get him out of the house.  He's been driving me nuts with Reese being in season.

When we got there, I was so excited because I saw ... a beaver!  Grabbed my camera and took a couple of photos.

Come to find out, it's NOT a beaver.  It's a muskrat.  Not knowing really what a muskrat is, I look it up ... and almost horked.  This thing gives me the heebie-jeebies!  The following is not my photo, but ... egad!  Yuck!



On to better ... and prettier ... things.

Got there early in the morning and everything was nice and quiet.  I love the reflection of the clouds in the water.

I really enjoyed this view.  That tree was so peaceful and intricate.

It was nice and quiet and the only place I was hoping for excitement was right ... here.

But ... alas ... I was skunked.

I caught this shot just a bit too late to adjust my lens for it, but you get the idea.   Watching the birds do this always makes me giggle.

Zippy wanted to jump in the water so bad.  Poor guy. 

Cute cute cute!

... Back at the ranch ...

My wonderful neighbor, Dean, and I took his pickup and loaded a bunch of really good dirt into my garden.  That was an ugly job, but it's done now.  He also had some manure that he was topping it all off with.  He gave me some great tips on planting, etc.  I love listening to him talk.  He is a wealth of knowledge and I learn so much from him.

So after we were all done last night, I remembered that my ex-husband made me little garden signs.  I was sure I kept them, so I dug for them ... and found them.  Here's the one I put in the pot on the porch.

Cute, isn't it?  There's more where that came from.

The day ended as pretty as it began...

And here's a shot of the girls as I was walking back into the house.  (L to R:  Echo, Reese, Twix)

Today, we went out early this morning and got some veggie starts to put in the garden.  I also started a bunch of seeds on my patio.  Hopefully it all yields something.

I am loving the lilacs this year.  I don't recall them being this brilliant last year.  And they smell SO good!  I can take a million photos of them, but I can never show you what these smell like.  Just gorgeous.  I think I am going to clip some and put it in my house.

Same bush ... last year.  Amazing, isn't it?

Justin agrees.  He thinks this is the best smell on the planet.  (I am going to get shot for doing this!)

So here's the garden box this morning all full of dirt and manure and ready to go.

So I got it all planted.  Some of the signs are there for looks.  Some of the veggies are actually still seeds that have been planted but are on my deck and will be transplanted.

But I'd forgotten how cute these signs were.

So for my next trick ...

This pipe is a very heavy pipe.  Several of my neighbors got together and loaded this up and brought it over here.  (Awesome, aren't they?)  Where it's going is at the foot of the pad where I park my truck.  That's right where my irrigation comes through to go to the front pasture. I'll take photos as that project progresses.  That one will take a while ... and a lot of muscle.

More later,
J