The hills are alive...

...with millions of tiny purple flowers.

In attempts to shed this winter weight, I took up a combination of walking/hiking with a coworker of mine. We walk/hike during our hour lunch break with half of our time on blacktop and half of our time on the dirt trails. Recently we've been wow'd with the amazing transformation of the hills we work in, with the mustard in bloom and turning the hillsides into beautiful patches of golden bliss. Today my coworker was unable to walk so I took a more difficult route that I use to frequent. As I rounded a corner near the top of the hill, the scenery was breathtaking. Instead of the tall, bold, golden mustard, I saw what must amount to millions of tiny, low-to-the-ground purple flowers. It looked like a purple blanket across the hillside. Mother Nature is amazing this time of year {sigh}

Easter weekend

It's the first weekend of Spring. Seeds are sprouting, plants have plenty of new growth and what better way to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus than by celebrating life itself?

Saturday we went to a local park that has a small "lake" and rented some small kayaks to take around the lake for an hour. Since my strength is in my legs, I expected my arms to tire out fairly quickly. I was surpised that I experienced no fatigue and little soreness the next day.

Sunday we went to Big Basin, walked the loop around the Mother and Father of the forest and started to hike to the falls. We didn't make it - we were unprepared so we'll try again another time. But the point is that we got OUT and experienced something other than being in the house or on the couch. I hope you all had as good a weekend as I did!

Cotton Update 2008

Did you know that cotton plants are perennials? I sure didn't and was about to rip out my 4 plants from last year until someone on one of my forums gave me the 411. And as I mentioned in yesterdays post, I was thrilled to find new buds growing on my cottons yesterday as I thought they hadn't survived winter. After all, they are typically grown much farther south than where I live.

Cows... in Berkeley?

Yesterday was another successful run of Ladies Work Day. The skies and the weatherman threatened rain but my apple tree was starting to bud and my oxalis weeds were nearly out of control so I planned on the 3 of us getting my backyard in order. With J pruning the apple tree, much less than it needed last year, and D and I working the beds of oxalis, we got a good 60-90 minutes of work before the rain started to fall. It was a light rain and the hummingbirds were still out so I wasn't worried. D asked how long we'd stay out working in the rain, J replied she ain't so sweet she'd melt so we stayed outside. Myself, I love the rain so I had no qualms about working while the skies dripped. It was over in a few minutes, we were fine but J noticed more clouds coming, about 20 minutes out. Sure enough, 15-20 minutes later the rain came down in pelts. More worried about the tools than us, we put them under the eaves to stay dry and low n behold, I saw raindrops come down and bounce off the patio. Hmmm, them's not raindrops; them's hail! Hail... in California March? I went out to the lawn and bb size hail bounced all around me. I untied my hair and let the hail and the rain pelt me. I can't remember the last time it was nice enough to enjoy a good rain shower. D&J didn't have spare clothes though so they stayed under the eaves and took pictures of me with hail stuck all over. Another 10 minutes and it was done. We worked some more, lunched at Chalateco's where we had beer & pupusas, and returned to finish the work. The 2nd half of the day showed all blue skies and beautiful weather - truly not what you would expect in California since our cruddy days tend to stay cruddy and our pretty days tend to stay pretty.
We found that my potatoes are flowering, my cotton is budding, and the gopher has moved to the front yard. Well, 2 out of three ain't bad! Not to mention my apple tree is ready for spring and so are all of my planting beds. Now to just decide what veggies to plant in them. hmmmm...

Lemon tree latest

And the end of summer, my friend found a great deal on Meyer lemon trees in 1 gallon pots. Knowing my love for lemons and how much I miss my last lemon tree, she bought one for me. I added the lemon tree into a 6 gallon pot, cleaned all of the water spots from her leaves and let her recoop. Even though she's produced some blossoms here and there, she hasn't produced any lemons so I've just let her be.

Between work, night-school, rainy days and semi-early dark evenings, I haven't spent much time in the backyard in months. But about 6 weeks ago I thought my lemon tree could use a good boost from my compost pile. No time to make compost tea, I opened the bottom of the compost bin, took 2-3 shovels full of goodness and put them around the tree. Then I got shredded paper from the office and put it all around so the wormies that came with the compost may have a reason to stick around. End of lemon tree care. Until yesterday.

I got home after work and took time to mosey through the backyard, clipping the broccoli, checking my spinach seedlings, and I stopped by to look at the lemon tree. I noticed some weeds growing out of the shredded paper and as my tired body bent over to pull them, my tired eyes noticed a familiar shape. I guess those shovels full of compost were full of tomato seeds cuz I have no less than about 20-25 volunteers all poking their heads up under the lemon tree... too bad I have no idea what kind they are!

67°F 40°F Clear and sunny all day

I miss winter already

Even though my winter here started with some really nice rain storms, it's petered out much too soon for my taste. The temps are already in the high 60's and yesterday they threatened 70's. The flowers are starting to bloom, the trees are budding and there are lots of new leaves. I'm hoping my apple tree will wait a little longer since I haven't had time to go prune it.

My spinach and mesculin mix seeds germinated well. I'll start more in 2 weeks so the crops overlap.

Yesterday I posted that my old hawk friend was spotted in my favorite lone oak tree on the hill. Here's a picture of each of them, taken on different days.

68°F 41°F - Mostly Cloudy: Wind N at 0 mph: Humidity: 76%

1st Monday of March

Currently: Sunny. High near 70. Wind NNW at 5 mph.

This morning my old hawk friend was sitting in my favorite lone oak tree on the hill. I saw 3 deer on the far hillside on the way up. I spotted a coyote hunting during my lunch walk with L.R. It was moving slow, took L.R. a while to spot it. I think it was that large coyote that I spotted the week before last when the rain clouds and the sun were feuding. A beautiful beast.