Tuesday, April 23, 2019

Spring Has Sprung...I Think

Hi Everyone,

It has been quite a while since I posted so I figured it's now time.  The last 13 months have been difficult to get through for a couple of reasons but I'm trying to get back on track and back to my blog.  I hope you can follow along.

It's looking more like spring everyday.  We are now starting to see some beautiful days followed by colder periods with rain as expected in the springtime.

During the Easter weekend, my daughter was here with two of her kids.  My granddaughter, Lily, has actually been living with us for the last year.  Here I caught them heading off to the barn.  It was a beautiful day and the kids had a great time riding their bikes, etc.



We had extremely heavy rains on Friday and Saturday and it was cold, followed by 2 beautiful, warm days.  Our lawn was beginning to dry out but now it's soggy all over again.  Poor Morgan fell down as the moisture in the lawn grabbed his boot.  When you're only 2 1/2 years old, these things happen lol.  I can tell you that he wasn't impressed.  Mommy came to the rescue.


I played "pick up sticks" this weekend.  Does everyone remember that game?  Well...this wasn't it ha!  Each spring, it's time to pull out my handy, dandy "pick-er-upper" and let the fun begin.  Funny how my hubby never wants to play along although I invite him to play the game with me every year.

My pick-er-upper was purchased at the local dollar store and it really saves my back.  Especially when I have a lot of trees over a few acres of land to pick up after.  Some are worse than others at losing their branches.  Grass cutting season is about to begin as the grass is getting greener and slightly longer.  I need to be ready or else it will be, "what did I just run over"?

And here it is...isn't it a beauty?  LOL.


It really works.


As you can see in the foreground, there is a lot of work to be done.  The pond is a little muddy right now after all the rain we received.  By Sunday we could see many fish and frogs swimming around as the water cleared a bit.  Lily really enjoyed that.  She can't wait for the "Lily" pads to start growing.


The skies are somewhat grey as these photos were taken before the sun came out.




This is what we call the frog pond.  A small marshy area behind the larger pond.  This is where you find the Peepers singing their hearts out in the spring.  I never tire of listening to them.  It's a lot larger than normal due to the rains, causing it to drain into the main pond.  As of Monday, it had stopped.  As of today, Tuesday?  More rain!  April showers bring May flowers.


From the other direction.



Lily appears to be a Mary Poppins wannabe.  The winds were quite extreme that day.



We went out to some garage sales on Saturday and while driving back, we stopped at the old train station in town, Morgan was absolutely thrilled to see the train.  Unfortunately, all that remains is a small section of track, a caboose and a passenger car that were brought in for what has become a marine and rail museum.



So what's in store for this coming weekend?  The annual fireman's garage sale where I bought my harvest table.  I haven't posted what we purchased the last 2 years but I may put some items into a post in the future.  My hubby and I are quite excited.  It's smaller than it used to be though as they had to move to a different location.  But lots of fun all the same.  We can't wait!

I hope you had a wonderful Easter!

Feel free to leave a message, I love to hear from you.

~ Kelly ~

23 comments:

  1. Good morning Kelly. Good to see your post. WOW! Y'all have had some rain! We have been experiencing the cool mornings and warm days but had some rain too. Matter of fact this past Friday we were under tornado watch and it done some kind of raining. The wind blew so strong that it actually took one of my wind chimes off the hook along with heavy, potted plants sitting on a ledge and tossed them in the yard. Got a little spooky. That train tract area looks so familiar to me. Mary Poppins looks like she's having fun. My 3 year granddaughter loves an umbrella. I hope that you have a great week. Hugs and blessings, Cindy

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  2. Hi Cindy, it's so enjoyable to have the temperatures warming up. Tornado watches are a little scary, we rarely have them here although they do happen a few times each year. Overall they aren't as strong as what you would experience. I hope your planters weathered the storm and not too much damage was done. Stay safe!

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  3. It sure is good to hear from you again. Thank you for visiting my blog. Gosh, you have a big beautiful farm...and posted several things I can relate to. Our pond is muddy too from all the rain. Looks like you have a much larger yard to mow than we have. We got all those severe weather warnings last Friday. My nerves were shot. Thankfully the worst of the storms missed us. Bet your grandchildren love being there. It's just beautiful!

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    1. We have 8.63 acres with approximately 5 acres to mow. I actually enjoy it, it gives me some down time haha. The system that went through on Friday would have been the same one that affected us but we just got the heavy winds and rain. I saw on the radar the system that was going through the U.S. - the long, colorful line. I wondered if all of you would have been getting tornado warnings with that. Glad you stayed safe.

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  4. Good to see you posting once again, wow you do have a lot of sticks down all over your property, can't understand why hubby doesn't want to play the game with you :) I too bought one of those picker uppers, it doesn't work as well for heavier things but great for light weight and has come in very handy around the house that's for sure. Good luck at the garage sale, hope you find some goodies!

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    1. Hi Connie, I can't tell you how good it felt to hit "publish". I hope I can start doing posts more regularly. I have taken so many photos over the last year for different posts but just couldn't seem to do it, too much on my plate. Aren't the picker uppers great? I also have one around the house and use it for various things. Thanks for stopping in Connie, so good to hear from you.

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  5. It's looking like spring here too. I didn't realize you are Debbie's SIL and Stephanie's aunt until I was browsing your Christmas exchange post.
    Your farm looks inviting and I'm sure it's gorgeous when in full bloom. We've had a lot of rain, pretty much since Nov last year.

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    1. Hi Anne, thanks for dropping by. Yes, I am Debbie's SIL and Stephanie's aunt. I'm so lucky to be related to them, they're both amazing people. I just love being in the country and every spring I get so anxious to see the first flowers popping up, the peepers, etc. It's beautiful when it's green and mowed lol.

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  6. What fun times you've been enjoying as the world 'wakes up' after the long winter! LOL - I love your idea of using the grabber for "pick up sticks". And yes, I DO remember that game -- I loved it! I played it with MY kids when they were growing up. And PEEPERS . . . oh how I love hearing them. It's one of the first signs around here that spring is arriving. We have some forest preserves in our town and I actually recorded/video taped the sounds of the peepers to send to my kids who no longer live here. My puppy couldn't quite figure out where all of that noise was coming from!

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    1. Hi Lauren, I do enjoy the world waking up. Sometimes winter just seems so long. My mom said she used to play pick up sticks as a child, I only played it a few times as a child but it was enjoyable. It's so nice you have the Peepers near you, I bet your kids enjoyed the recording. That's one sign of spring I always look forward to. I had made a video for my blog but couldn't seem to download it.

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  7. Hi Kelly,
    Iy was lovely to see your post come up in my feed. I hope all is well with you. My goodness how life can take hold sometimes and then time just flies by! We don't have a lot of sticks to pick up here because we don't have many trees. lol Your tool look very helpful. Your yard and pond look like great places for family fun. I always wanted a pond. I remember when we lived in Ohio, we always loved hearing the peepers. I hope to see more of your posts soon. It's always a lovely visit. Have a good weekend.

    Hugs,
    Tamara

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  8. Hi Tamara, I meant to get back to you. It's always so nice to see your name pop up. When I got home from work today I could hear the peepers...ahhh...what a beautiful sound. Eventually they stop and the bull frogs take over - not such a pretty sound. LOL. Take care.

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  9. Hi Kelly!
    It's good to see you out.
    Yes, spring us finally here, though we still have quite the snow banks surrounding the house, crazy how slow the melting has been this year.
    I've been working in the yard trying with all my might to accomplish great things before we head there, but I'm having to work around the snow piles.
    Yesterday was a beautiful day and I worked until my back was quite sore. Today it has been raining, I believe it's God keeping me inside today to rest up. He's always so good to look after us, isn't He?

    Your "picker upper" helper is a great idea for you!
    Mom would have a hard time living alone if she didn't have her grabbers. She yard the short o.e for getting things out of the upper cabinets, works great.

    It was good to see the photo of the kids. :-)

    Take care and enjoy your Fireman's garage sale. Oh how I would love be there for that!

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    1. Hi Debbie, you may not have been there for the Fireman's garage sale but hopefully we can hit some together soon lol.

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  10. Oops!! Look at that spell check mess!!
    Mom would have a hard time living alone without her grabbers,she uses her short one to get things out of her upper cupboards

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  11. It was so nice to catch up with you, Kelly! So thankful all is well in your world. My, Lily is growing up so fast! I can't believe how tall she is getting. I know you must love having her live with you. Children are so precious and such gifts from the Lord. Enjoy your spring and moments with Lily at the pond. God bless you!

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    1. Hi Cheryl, sorry...got behind again. Always wonderful to hear from you. I got part way through your one video awhile ago but Lily NEVER stops talking. That was the end of my concentration. She has been saving for a light up skipping rope so hopefully that will keep her preoccupied for a bit LOL!!

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  12. Hi Kelly, so nice to see a post from you again. The rain in your part of the country is really something and I hope you're not affected by the flooding we're hearing about on the news. Your picker-upper looks like a handy gadget!

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    1. Hi Lorrie, good to hear from you. Sorry for the delay in replying. The flooding wasn't too bad in my immediate area although farther up north was hit bad at that time. There is an overflow culvert in our pond which allows drainage when it gets too bad although our neighbour, a farmer, probably wasn't too happy with the small lake that was created in his field.

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  13. Hi Kelly, so nice to see your post! I'm a bit late in catching up here, but it was wonderful to walk around your beautiful property with you and the little ones. I love the stick grabber - I need one of those! I love all your beautiful trees, but I can imagine they take quite a bit of clean-up every spring. A really amazing place for the little ones to build great memories. I hope you found some nice treasures at the sale and that you had a nice Easter and Mother's Day. xo Karen

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  14. You live in what looks like a lovely peaceful area. The littlies must enjoy it immensely.
    Diana

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