A few weeks ago, I saw these ducks near the river. 

They were comical to watch.  They seemed a bit curious about me, but cautious. 

They stayed long enough to thrill me with a few quick shots and figured out I wasn’t feeding them, so  they were off, back to float on the river, far away from me.

~”If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, looks like a duck, it must be a duck.” ~Proverb

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We are having a spring giveaway for $200 to spend at Garden Shoes Online.  You get $10 just for entering that you can use to buy yourself something fun at GSO. Click on this message for all the details and how you can get extra chances to win, but Hurry there is only 1 day  left!

My cousin was out in california over the holidays and he took these pictures of the elephant seals. (Look like Sea Lions to me.)

 Now there is the kind of animal to be.  Laying on the beach in the sun with all your friends.Cuddled up.

  Of course you may not want to look in a mirror, but the beach part sounds good.

  ~An animal’s eyes have the power to speak a great language.  ~Martin Buber

Be sure to check out the side bar to find out about Garden Shoes Onlines’s Give Away.  Just upload a picture of spring coming and you get a $10 Gift Certificate and a chance to win the $200 drawing on the first day of spring. Garden Shoes Online has so much to choose from and we will be adding more products over the next few weeks.

 One day, a few years back, while my son, Cam and my nephew, Michael were painting our neighbor’s house, this little guy appeared and followed Michael everywhere.  After several days of this, Mike brought him home since this cute little guy had chosen him. 

 To his disbelief his parents were good with it even though they never thought they liked cats and he would be leaving for college the following month.

  Now he~ Scout~ is a king in the house along with their golden retriever, Georgia who is the queen. 

It’s true.  My brother and his wife no longer hold these positions in thier own household. 

~”Until one has loved an animal,  a part of one’s soul remains unawakened.” ~ Anatole France

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Happy Saturday!   I swear this pretty feline is posing for me.

 I hope you have a wonderful weekend. Thanks for stopping by.

There are few things in life more heartwarming than to be welcomed by a cat.  ~Tay Hohoff Visit Camera Critters

If all the beasts were gone, men would die from a great loneliness of spirit, for whatever happens to the beasts also happens to the man.  All things are connected.  Whatever befalls the Earth befalls the sons of the Earth.  ~Chief Seattle of the Suquamish Tribe, letter to President Franklin Pierce

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Here are my Green Thumb Sunday Blooms~

This morning brought a break from the dreary days that rained on my very thankful plants.  My friend Linda and I woke early and followed the news of a great flower sale at our cooperative extension.  She picked me up promptly at 8:45 AM.  We anxiously approached to find a jammed parking lot and easily 100 or more waiting in line for the doors to open.  Of course we thought we were on to something.  What a surprise to find an auditorium filled with tons of perennials and plants that aren’t often found in local nurseries.  Very exciting until the crowds made it almost impossible to maneuver among the alphabetized tables full of perennials.  Luckily we are quick and made our way through with out fainting.  After finally getting outside to make our purchases, we happily loaded our prizes into the car and headed on down the road to a nice quiet flower market without any crowds.  Needless to say we once again loaded up the car with wonderful flowers.  We have decided that we aren’t allowed in another flower stand this year.  Both of us are creating new beds and were in need of many many plants.  We have them now.  (Remind me of that if I mention any more shopping for flowers.)

 The flower sale was great, unfortunately I mixed up all the little sticks that tell you what the plants were so I will have to wait until they bloom and figure that out.  Just a small detail I overlooked in my zealous efforts to plant them all.  Oh well, I like a mystery.

 My vegetables seem to be growing nicely as well as most of my other plants.  My radishes are popping up and so are my pumpkin seeds that I planted.  I put in several black-eyed Susan vines, clematis and also morning glories.   The ones without the trellises are searching for something to crawl up.  Tomorrows plan is to make sure all the climbing vines I have planted will have something to climb on.  Overall I think I am off to a pretty good start.  Just watching the weather though, they are predicting cold temperatures tonight.  I am sure there won’t be frost here in the city.  At least I am praying there won’t be.  That would be bad.

 Your first job is to prepare the soil. The best tool for this is your neighbor’s garden tiller.

If your neighbor does not own a garden tiller, suggest that he buy one. ~ Dave Barry

Here’s a look at what’s blooming in my May garden

“Happiness held is the seed; happiness shared is the flower”  ~ Anonymous

I am glad that we finally put our plants into the vegetable garden.  My husband and I did that last evening.  It’s not a huge garden, but it is big enough to keep us, and our extended family in tomatoes and zucchini all summer long.   Of course we now have many hot pepper plants.  He got a bit carried away choosing.  I guess I will have to find some good salsa recipes.  It is really nice that my husband has taken an interest in gardening.  His enthusiasm is contagious and it’s really great having so much help.

We put a soaker hose all through the vegetable garden today.  This is our first experience with a soaker hose so I will see how it goes.  It is supposed to save a lot of water and I am all for that.  It was definitely better with two of us managing the hose and the digging.  I used my Cobra Head Tool.  That really made it easier to lay it under the soil. I just love that thing.  I use it for everything.    

I have spent pretty much all my spare time out in the garden the last four days.  My knees hurt as well as most every other joint in my body. But… the flowers look good and the veggies are planted. All is right with the world.

I have had a lot of fun putting in the enormous amount of plants I bought last weekend.  I am almost ready to sit back and watch the show.  That is until tomorrow when I go outside and think of 10 new things that need to be done out there.

Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished. ~ Lao Tzu