garden work, the next stage

It would have been nice to stay in bed late. You don't want to rush the day when you don't have to (a luxury of retirement is that you rarely have to). But, grocery deliveries are getting to be tricky again and all I could nab was a 7 a.m. Sunday spot, so I took it and poof! The sleep-in opportunity is gone.

On the upside, an early day gives me more time to play with the chicks. And you should play with them: they get bored staring at the walls of the box all day. When I remove the slotted "roof," they strain to have me lift them out. Today I give them a long stretch of roosting. Call it exploration with the eyes -- they're still not confident enough to fly away from home base. Give them a few more days!

Our morning meal, on the other hand, is very unhurried. Call it the last moment of rest before the work begins.

And there is work to do outside, especially on this very pretty day, with an exceptionally pleasant high of about 62F (16C). Those are May temperatures! Coming in March, they make you feel like you've landed a prize of enormous proportions.

We are in the secondary flower field prep phase. The garden could get by with what I've done so far (in phase one), but I can tweak it some more by working at the boundaries of the beds and fine tuning what's been done thus far.  The third phase will come once the perennials have grown more. This is when you dig out aggressive monardas and rudbeckias. And the fourth phase? There isn't a fourth phase! After that it's time to plant!

One quick peek at what's blooming at the farmette: first, one must take note of the fact that yesterday's snowdrop buds are today's open faced blossoms.

But of course, the stars have to be the crocuses! Swaying in the wind...

Okay, time to focus on meal prep for our Sunday family dinner. I start with the beets (for a predinner snack). There are six here for dinner and out of the pack, four (one child and three adults) insanely love roasted beets. These hefty chunks will disappear within two minutes of their arrival.

And then I check off the remaining foods -- standard gogs fare. No one ever wants to change the menu, which rotates between seafood pasta and crunchy chicken, seafood pasta and crunchy chicken, again and again. Honestly, I'll do either in my sleep with one hand in my pocket.

Here they come!

After the meal, there is some noise about outdoor play. I can't say no to that. It's cooler in the evening and neither they nor I have our jackets, but they do not appear to notice any of this.

And I'm glad. It pleases me no end to watch them take their games outside. 

This is the season for it. Spring, in earnest here, in south central Wisconsin.