waterfall

Sometimes there is more to the waterfall...

than the waterfall itself...

Hayden Falls on April 1...

yes. deer.

A few Fridays ago when I was home part of the day, I noticed these two deer in our backyard.

I figured they were just passing through, so I yelled for JT to come quickly!

They ended up staying out there almost all day. They laid down and were comfortable as could be in our yard. Total craziness here in suburbia!

composting

super bowl tulip watches the sun set, originally uploaded by brungrrl.

Last night we went for a walk and then watched the sun set from the front porch. JT is eating up the views of the neighborhood and swinging at the park. I snapped this pic of one of the tulips while we were out there.

This morning when the sun came out briefly in between rains, JT and I went to the nursery and bought a few plants. Mainly I wanted to fill in some bare spots with more candytuft and dianthus. But while I was there, I picked up a couple other things for a little spot where I previously had mums.

Now I am out there weeding and preening the flower beds. I just spent an hour digging the weeds out of the bed under the redbud tree and planting the new things.

My compost bin has been a bit neglected over the past year. I was afraid I had ruined it. I know - how can one "ruin" compost?! But I was afraid maybe it got too dry last summer. I did some digging in the bin this morning and found a treasure trove of good stuff! I dug to the bottom and got some material to fortify the soil where I planted my new stuff. (I'll have to get some pictures and post what I got... can't remember the names of it all right now.)

Have I mentioned how easy composting is? Here it is in 5 simplified steps:

1. Drill drainage holes in the bottom of a large, lidded trash can.
2. Put some soil in the bottom. This should be some rich soil that likely has the bacteria you'll need to start making compost.
3. Throw in a layer of dry stuff (carbon matter like dried leaves)
4. Throw in a layer of moist stuff (grass clippings, fruit peels, egg shells, vegetable stems, etc.) [REPEAT steps 3 & 4]
5. Water the heap and stir sometimes.

Oh sure, there is some more to it... I'll probably have to do another post on it sometime. Until then, here is a list of resources from the library if you're interested in finding out more.

I think the rain might have stopped altogether... I'm heading back out!