Early As Ever

It just doesn't seem proper. I mean, it's April 11, and I just came in from not only cleaning out my strawberries and original three blueberries, but feeding and watering them. I don't think I have ever watered anything in April that was not growing in a pot in the house. In a normal year, the garden beds are yet a sloppy, muddy, still-half-frozen wasteland at this time of year. But a most unusual spring - not a flake of snow in March for, I believe, the first time since records were kept - has led us to an early dry spell and high fire danger all about the area. The strawberries have started greening up, the blueberries are budding out, and the lilacs are as well. And that is just what I have bothered to notice; I am afraid to go peak at the raspberries, as far behind as I am in cleaning those out.

But the past couple of weeks, when I could have been outside getting a huge jump on things and getting peas, spinach, lettuce, onions, carrots, and radishes all in the ground, I have been consumed by indoor stuff, stuff for which I am beholden to other people (like Uncle Sam) and which involve money and, in the case of my taxes, possible severe penalties. So I have been holed up down here in the semi-dark, sitting in front of a computer screen or sorting through piles of paper and receipts. Now, at last, the worst of that is behind me, and with just one more major project to finish, and that half done, I can finally turn my attentions to the out of doors.

Of course, this week I am working extra shifts, but after that...

So it seems appropriate to pick up this blog once again, and start jotting some notes about life up north, away from town. Wouldn't it be awesome if I could actually keep it up?