I have been a horrible blogger! But now my free time is growing like my gardens, and I have lots of pictures to update. The worst thing that can happen to a blogger is to get behind, but between yearbook deadlines, articles, and a little photography, the website was neglected. Since I love to be able to go back and see the progression from month to month, I am going to create a March page. You can click here to go to March, or you can get to it from the index, if you really want to put off getting back to work...

April 5  My natural tendency is to only photograph areas from angles that make whatever I'm capturing look its best, but that tendency has caused me to miss many "in-the-process" pictures that I later wished I had taken. Also, it makes it seem like there was not time or hard work involved to get from before to after, so here is the state of the yard as of April 5th, a foggy Sunday morning--junk and all.

(Above) This one is especially difficult to post--Harper said it made the place look scary. I'm in the process of planting around the base of the porch, and I have dug up a lot of concrete and even some granite chunks that must have been part of some kind of previous foundation. I will be reusing them somewhere. The raw dirt is a result of a devastating combination of factors that started last spring: irrigation installed, summer of excessive rainfall, trench for porch foundation, months of porch construction, and perfect playground for dusting chickens.

(Above) Middle flowerbed looking toward back of property.

Next to middle flowerbed looking toward back of property.

-Next to entrance to chicken area, looking toward house and middle flowerbed

-From south fence looking toward chicken area, red shed, back flowerbed, and back lot

-From south fence looking toward middle flowerbed and house

-From southwest corner of backyard

-From southwest side of front yard flowerbed

My husband's godmother, Melva, shared this amaryllis from Grandma Wessinger with me. It's still in a coffee can, because I can't decide where to plant it. I'll wait until it is finished flowering.

This is from one of my favorite (and first) plants. It's a Euphorbia with many common names, but Red Spurge seems to be the most popular. We had a late freeze last year, and I lost the original. I was sick when I later read that it grows easily from cuttings, but rarely from seed, especially since I haven't seen one in a nursery since I bought my first one six years ago. I went out and searched the area between all the stacks of rocks for hours, and ended up finding a tiny seedling in a fern pot and another one with some azaleas. You would have thought God himself had just delivered me a winning lottery ticket, I was so excited. I babied them all summer but never gave either of them a permanent home until now. They will grow quickly now that they are in the ground, and I will propagate them profusely this summer. Unlike many red trees/shrubs that turn green in the summer, they always keep their beautiful red color.

-Nun's orchid (terrestrial) in middle flowerbed

Sargent just turned five, and I caught him a (very rare) serious-looking moment. I suspect he was still half asleep.

I can't remember what this is called, but it's wild and grows along the old fence on the east end of the yard. I know it's a weed to most people, but it's so pretty!

Our Japanese maple is nestled beneath several pecan trees in the back flower bed. It received dappled sunlight throughout most of the day and seems to be doing well after one year in the ground.

April 6  This house was a home for many years before we purchased it, and we will always feel a connection with the families that share the history of this place. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family and friends of Miss Annie (Anna Michalak Schmid), who passed away yesterday at 94 years old. She and nine other children grew up in this home. I just wish we had finished the house in time for her to see it.

April 8  Melva shared a "traveling iris" with me last year, and I figured it would take a couple of years to flower. It surprised me today with a beautiful and delicate bloom that reminds me of an orchid.

April 13  While I was trying to finish a deadline, Harper tore out and replaced the damaged beaded board under the east window in the guest bedroom so now I can finish painting the trim.

April 16  The porch is in the final stages of completion, and Harper has been back at work trying to finish it. The recycled rails were covered with dirt, so he has been scrubbing them and caulking nail holes.

April 19  The coolest thing happened last night. After getting a drink from the refrigerator in the utility room, Harper told me there was a big moth on the wall in there. "Is it my moth?" I asked. I couldn't get back there fast enough--I've been checking every few days to see if there has been any sign of life from the IO moth's chrysalis (I found the caterpillar in December when it stung me).  Sure enough, it was the IO moth--a female. Its wings must have still been a little damp.

IO moths do not eat after they emerge--they don't even have a mouth. They only live for a few days, and their sole purpose is to find a mate. Since they have so little time, I didn't want to keep her inside since it would be more difficult for a male to smell her. I put her outside in a crate with a screen over it, so I could take a picture of her in daylight before releasing her.

April 21  After working outside most the day on Saturday, I took pictures of Carli and Cash. I haven't had a chance to really go through all of them, but I couldn't resist posting a few.

April 27  We have eggs! Our refrigerator is full of nutrient-rich yard eggs, but we're out of containers, so it's hard to share... I think I'm going to offer my students bonus points for egg cartons!  I don't think we have bought eggs in over a year (since our first chickens began to lay consistently), so we rely on the recycled containers from friends and family that we share the eggs with, but the hens have been hard to keep up with lately. The best part is, no matter how low on groceries we are, we can always have our favorite stand-by: fresh eggs--sunny side up with a biscuit. Harper likes them with hot sauce, but I prefer goat cheese--if we have any.