Spring Work

Yup it was the day, huge spring work need to be done, Time to plant, plant, plant!
Ben got tired of planting all the little things, and asked if there was something BIG to plant, and that it where it all started. I pointed over to the blue spruce tree that we had gotten at Christmas time and said "that needs to be planted, you man enough to do it?" Digging holes in this Alabama clay can be a pain in the butt! Well he was all man and ready for the job. He cut the sod away, and started digging the hole. Meanwhile I came in to fix lunch, I looked out the window to call them in for lunch and the hole was plenty deep enough for the small 1 gallon size tree we had. I told him it was plenty deep enough, (about 3 ft) and called the in for lunch. During lunch Ben kept talking about wanting to dig a 5 ft hole in one of his garden beds, just cuz he always wanted to dig a 5 ft hole. (wow I don't think we have enough work for this kid to do around here) We also talked about the water table and how it was only about 4 ft down. (The reason we don't have a basement, and the reason we can't have an in ground pool)
Anyway just as lunch was getting done, we got a phone call, some friends needed some help. so Chad and I left to go help them, we weren't gone very long, and when we got back this is what we found. And it all started with planting a tree.

Texas Blue Bonnets

 
 
 
 

Happy Spring, to your yard from mine

 
 
 
 

Easter Weekend in Texas

It was a quick trip, but it was fun and packed with a lot of memories. Despite all the bad storms the drive was uneventful, in fact, wind and sunny skies were all we had to deal with. The kids were very well behaved, and we made awesome time. Our first stop was Tyler TX. Where we stayed the first night, It was fun and really relaxing. The kids did a lot of swimming in the over chlorinated marriot swimming pool. and then we had a fun dinner, and off to bed to get ready for the next day. Which was in Corsicana TX to attend the memorial service for Chad Grandmother. From there we were of to Austin. We spent a few hours talking, and settling in for the evening. And then it was off to bed. Sunday we woke up got ready for church, had a wonderful Easter service. Then an awesome easter egg hunt, one with CeAnna and Sameenah, and then a mega hide for the boys. It took them a long time to find all their eggs. Good thing I didn't use any chocolate eggs. In the process they found a baby opossum. Then after a wonderful Easter lunch/dinner We spent the afternoon and evening playing games and just talking. The Monday morning it was up bright and early and on the road again and home in our own beds, in a messy house Monday night

The pictures that won 1st place

 
 

She won again

CeAnna entered a 4-H photography contest a while back. (They do 4-H in the school twice a month) Anyway she took first place in the school and got to go onto county. Well today she won 1st place again this time with a $25.00 prize. Now she gets to go onto regional that will be the end of May.

Tis the season, Spring is here and the Bradford Pear trees are the first to bloom, Their flowers come on before their leaves, and are very beautiful. They line the driveways, border roads, and frame front yards. How ever NOT IN MY FRONT YARD. Why you might ask, well here is one of the reasons, quoted by several other people.

Abundant large white, early spring. The blossoms smell like rotten fish. Some years this is worse than other years. Some years it's so bad we can't open the windows or go outside!

Celebrating the petal fall!
(We celebrate because pear blossoms
smell yucky!)

In spring they were abloom with pretty white flowers like those of a real pear tree, though their scent is nothing like real fruit blossoms at all.

Okay, this may seem like a strange question, but do Bradford Pear trees smell bad when they are flowering? Hub and I were outside the other night and noticed a strange odor -- he thought it was garbage in our neighbor's yard. But I smelled it again in the parking lot at Lowe's (where they have some small pear trees), and then when I got home and was walking my yard - phew! The only thing I see in common is the Bradford Pears (we have 3 huge ones in our back yard that are all abloom).

I used to have a Bradford pear which had a very, very unpleasant aroma reminiscent of a boatload of dead mackerel.

Shortly after moving to that house, that tree burst into bloom in all of its pungent odiferousness; I was walking through the yard one evening and the smell hit me like a punch and sent me reeling. Once I regained my footing, I investigated, and was intrigued and revolted at the same time--the tree was being pollinated almost completely by flies!

My opinion, It smells like a mix of something dead and a skunk, with out the sharpness. Just really nasty and negative. And after a wet winter, the smell is even worse! I was gaging as I went to my car after a stop at a shop where they border the parking lot.