May 20: Anna Ruth home; Eric A. visit/mow/helped her settle in.
May 29: Jen mowed and ran out of gas!, braved the spiderwebs to get to the gas can and finished the job.
SUMMER has arrived!

Thursday:

• I turned on the refrigerator in preparation for ARM's return!
  
• The grass is long and wet, we've had rain since Sunday...
• I turned up the heat to 62, the house seems cold and damp with all this wet weather.
• WELCOME HOME!!!
  

• humming bird on the flowering quince
• 2 HUGE bullfrogs in the pond
• lilacs blooming and scenting
• daffodils done
• 72 degrees F, warm and sunny
  
• several of the rhododendrons are dead on the tops, I'm waiting for them to bloom before we cut them back
  

Saturday:

• Forgot my camera again! The spring is really here and the trees are leafing out.
• Jen and Johnnie Deere mowed the lawn
• Bob trimmed trees along the driveway from the bridge to the crest of the hill
• Bets pruned the overgrown burning bush next to the barn, so we can open the barn doors more easily!
• and used the old mower to mow close to the edges that J. Deere can't get to
• hopefully some of us will have time to clean out some of the mouse evidence in the kitchen drawers before ARM arrives, we'll see...
  

Happy May Day!

• Bob rode J.Deere around the yard with a jimmy rigged garden tool box on the back, to clean up the yard
• We DIDN'T mow; the purple violets and daffodils are too beautiful.
  
• Bets worked in the gardens around the house and pond; gently removing leaves.
• red tulips, red and yellow primroses, peony shoots, iris leaves all uncovered
  
• There are lots of daffodils in bloom; purple Lenten rose is blooming; flowering quince is red
• the field is full of daff's: even inside the fire pit sitting area!
  

spring has sprung!

• Bob sprayed some barberry around the perimeter of the yards
• Bets started cleaning out some of the gardens
• daffodils are abundant, forsythia is blooming, flowering quince is just about to burst, a few early tulips are about to bloom
• no sign of fish, but several frogs plopped into the pond and a toad hopped in the garden
• turned water on so Bob could use the hose to fill the Roundup sprayer; turned off again before we left
• friends and cousins are starting to call to see when Anna Ruth is returning. there were several messages on the machine.
• 70 Degrees Fahrenheit! Trees will be leafed out soon!
• Bob found a tiny tick crawling on him when we got home! I guess the winter is really over.
  

• chilly 45 damp degrees, rainy
• no mail in the mailbox
• water pump pressure where we left it: 45. I left the water off and the hot water heater on.
  
• oil tank below 3/8
• house temp in kitchen 56, basement 51
  
• 10 blank messages on the machine, one more said; " I'm sorry I keep dialing the wrong number". I erased them all.
• watered plants
• brook is ROARING