Morning Walk

My plan this morning was to take a walk without Tucker so I could take pictures of the tracks left in the dust on our country road. First I only found tracks of farm equipment. Then I found ant hills freshly mounded. The farther I went, the more the wind blew. I realized the dirt was blowing in the tracks as fast as they were made. When I crested the hill on the way back to the house, I saw the coming weather and the reason for the cold wind. I gave up. There are no track pictures because all the smart wild things know a storm is coming and are hunkered down. Maybe next time.

Prairie crocus

For those of you that are homesick for the prairie, the prairie crocus are in bloom. They don't last long, but they are very sweet nestled in the grass on the butte. It was so windy yesterday when the farmer and I and the dog hiked up the hill behind the house to see if crocus were blooming yet. We found a carpet of purple!

Today should be a mix of clinic and quilt shop. The store vended at a quilt show, and hopefully the trailer will come back with less fabric that it left with. We will restock it for the third of three shows in three weeks. There will also be orders taken at the shows to send out, in addition to the internet business at the store. Busy Monday. If there are lots of germs in town, I will have to wait until Tuesday to go help. I never know, but I remain flexible and optimistic.

Road Trip

This week was the annual mother's day out. We always have a good time with shopping, eating out and talking. We used to have weekly coffee when the kids were little. Now we share the joys of graduations, and weddings. Sometimes I feel guilty taking time off to do special things, but I am so glad I did! I just work extra hard to catch up, and adjust my expectations.

Spring is trying to come. There is too much wind to spray and too much moisture in the field to avoid getting stuck with equipment. Just have to be patient. Today is a stay at home day...laundry, quilting, cleaning, quilting. It is a happy day.

Random thoughts

I ordered an electric steam mop and it came yesterday. Now my kitchen floor feels like silk under my feet. All of Tucker's muddy paw prints from the back door to the living room have been erased. The cleaning pad is machine washable and reusable. I'm thinking it is magic. I hate cleaning because my hands dry out and itch from the soap and water. With my new machine and my jar of homemade hand lotion, I can be a princess.

It is windy but today is a quilt shop day so I don't care. Fabric makes me happy. Filling orders is like an Easter egg hunt, trying to find each item hiding in the maze of equally beautiful choices. Perhaps the shoppers feel the same sense of accomplishment as they put their sought after choices in the shopping cart.

Out of curiosity, I added up the number of cats I have had in my adult life (I could never talk my parents into having one as a child). Can you believe 29? The farmer is afraid I will become a "cat lady" in my old age. We caught a mouse in the garage this weekend. I'm thinking perhaps #30 might be a good idea. Hmmm.

Spring thaw

One of the ways the farmer knows spring has arrived it to watch the surface of the lake. It is melting, which means the ground is warming up, the weeds are starting to sprout, and it is time to prepare. All the machinery is ready and the wheat seed is cleaned. He will spray the fields first to kill the weeds, the do the planting. I love this time of year. The iris and strawberries have new leaves.

Tucker is getting to spend more time outside.

How do you know its spring?

Grades Are In

I'm doing the Snoopy Dance today. I passed my board exam! Since I have to take it just once every ten years, chances are I will retire before I need to do it again. I feel for those of you who take exams on a regular basis. It seems impossible to know every fact, and to decide how much study is "enough". May your brains be sponges and all your neurons fire on command.

Tucker's Window

Tucker is leaning on the wall and looking out the window. He spends a lot of time at the window. If a deer or a bunny comes into view, he comes over to me and does his "Help, help, Timmy fell down the well" Lassie imitation.

I spent most of the day at the clinic, but got done early enough to cut one kit at the quilt shop. I will finish another one tomorrow and then that order can ship. I love my job(s). There were three new fabric shipments sitting in open boxes, waiting to be priced and scanned onto the website and then put away. Rose is already making a shop sample out of some of it. There are quilt shows each weekend in April that the store will vend at. They take pre-cut bundles, kits and yardage on the bolt, as well as patterns, books and tools. I'm sure I will be helping pack the trailer tomorrow. It will be a busy day.

Happy Easter

The Easter Fairy is here to wish you Happy Easter.We celebrated a day early, since Lindsey has to leave on Sunday to make it back for college on Monday. We had ham, scalloped potatoes, fruit salad, veggies and angel food cake with home grown strawberries.(Last year's crop, cut up and frozen). Wish you all were here. We did not do colored eggs this year. I might still do them tomorrow. I did make time to run into the quilt shop with Rhonda.I find myself missing the beauty when I have days I can't go. This week I did more cleaning than usual, and was gone to Bismarck on Monday for my test. I won't hear the results for a couple of months, so I can sew without guilt until I find out if I passed, or if I have to sturdy before the next one. There really are no consequences for not passing, but I want to anyway.

This is the first week we have green, growing things to look at. It will be time soon to clear the dead foliage out of the garden. The farmer spent a day pruning the grape vines. He still has more to do, and the snow bank has to melt away from the rest before he can reach them. The strawberries are putting out new leaves. It will be a few weeks before the fields dry out enough to start spraying weeds prior to planting. I love the seasons in the country.