Early spring cleaning

I am in the midst of trying to clear out junk from the house. This process sucks; there is no better term for it. It is telling also; how can someone accumulate so much stuff and manage to be oblivious to its presence? It's mostly clothes right now, but I'm sure that I will get into the "things" soon enough. The house is an utter disaster right now, but hopefully when it is done there will be more room and less clutter...that's a good metaphor for life don't you think?

I am also planning major landscaping renvoations for this spring. I have found varieties of plants that I thought were not available to me in Montana...I found azaleas, forsythia, and even rhodedendron that will grow in this climate...with soil modifications. I can't wait to have my front yard done (that won't be that difficult), then starting on the back yard (much more difficult due to the destruction by the dogs). Hopefully, I can get the front yard planted and start on the hardscaping for the backyard before next winter. We'll see.

No title...just stuff

It's snowing again on the northern plains. That's neither a good or a bad thing, it just is what it is. We are supposed to get around 3 inches of snow today...and then be near 60 degrees by Monday. I guess it really has been a while since I last put anything up here, but really there isn't much going on right now other than work. Seems like all I have done for the past couple of weeks is put out fires and ran around like a crazy man. Well, I guess not everyday has been crazy; last Sunday I took a drive around the county and over into Carbon County to Red Lodge. I went the back roads and enjoyed the scenery. You see so much more when you get off of the interstate and just take your time. Taking my time made a normally 2 hour drive down to Red Lodge more of a 3 hour jaunt, but the extra time was worth it. The Big Horn, Pryor, and Beartooth Mtns. were just stunning with snow covered peaks contrasting with the stark brown colors of the valleys and prairies. We ate dinner in Red Lodge at a fairly swanky joint (as if there is anything but swanky joints in Red Lodge) and then drove back home. All in all a pretty good day.

The snow today has killed my spring fever (thankfully). Yesterday I was noticing the beginnings of spring with the base of grass plants starting to green up and lilac bushes starting to bud swell. I know that it is too early for spring and we still have potential for winter weather until June, but it does start to get exciting when things start awakening from their winter dormancy. This year I will be trying something new...finally going to plant my first Montana garden. I have been here two summers without a garden and I'm going to take the plunge and reenter the world of growing vegetables and fruits this year. I have learned a lot in my time here and I think that it's time to try. I am going to get some space in a local greenhouse to start seed and by the time June 1 rolls around, I should have everything ready to transplant and see what happens! I think that I am also going to cut down the two trees in the front of the house and replace them with apples or cherries (haven't decided which yet). The trees out there now have no aesthetic interest and produce no fruit and really don't provide any shade...useless in other words. So I think that they will be replaced with something more useful. The only issue is the abundance of fireblight in town (seems to be a major problem every spring). I'm thinking cherries rather than apples for this reason...although finding a sweet cherry that is tolerant in this region and is grown on semi-dwarf rootstock is proving to be difficult. Oh well, we'll see how this whole thing turns out as the summer progresses!