Mulch to Sleety Snow

 I stand at the garden wall

 bundled up in my work jacket and pompom knit hat

with rake and clippers in hand.

Taylor drives the four wheeler trailering the wagons of mulch

although Tom backs it down to the top of the wall.

We start raking it out, either letting it flow down the hill

or shoveling into buckets to mulch from the front of the wall.

It's cold and damp.

We've lit the courtyard fire pit both for warmth

and to burn off bits of leaves and limbs.

We're preparing for Spring, but Winter still holds some surprises.

  

 The pileated woodpeckers have been Demanding suet,

both male and female await their turn

which hopefully means babies will be visiting soon.

They are very aware of their surroundings  so photo

ops are rare except at angles through the screened windows.

 I am considering a  woodpecker suet feeder that has an extension

so they can balance their tails.  Currently they dangle, swinging

back and forth due to their enormous size.

You can see the iris popping up along with some

soapwort and the stella d'oro lillies.

But the morning brought sleety snow,

2-4 inches expected, mixed with rain,

accumulations mostly on grassy surfaces 

and our road which is gravel and would quality as a grassy surface. 

I told my husband I wanted three things out of life this morning.

1.  Coffee

2. Read the Blogs

3.  No SNOW

 They say two out of three ain't bad.

They are wrong!

Oh where, oh where is Spring?

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