No Joke!

It's hard to believe that this picture was taken yesterday!

It WAS April Fool's Day, but this was no joke! We actually woke up to this beautiful snowy winter scene on April 1, 2011! I'm sure our resident Red Bellied Woodpecker was wondering what happened! Only the week before we were enjoying 80 degree weather (Also not typical for NJ) and I planted these gorgeous Violas!

Aren't they amazing! 

Violas and Pansies are my favorite spring flowers to plant in early spring. They are extremely hardy and have bounced back already after being snow laden yesterday! My garden is in full bloom with white snowdrops and blue snow glories are just beginning to dot my garden!

A week ago during our short lived warm spell, things were just beginning to come back to life after a very long, cold winter. Anxious to get out and work in my garden, I got my first blisters of the season raking around my gardens! I cleaned up our two ponds and got the waterfall working again only to find out it has a leak somewhere along its path. The frogs came out to enjoy the warmth of the sun and watch me fuss around the pond, patiently waiting for me to leave.

Hopefully this snow melts quickly and we've seen the last of it until next winter! I'm so ready for spring!

I love hearing the birds happily singing, watching the chipmunks busy scurrying around looking for seed at the base of the bird feeder, and laughing how the squirrels have managed to make the feeder into their version of McDonalds, dining on my bird seed!

Spring is here ---- if only the weather would co-operate! !

Have a great day!

Wonderful Signs of Spring!!

  I spotted my first butterfly of the season!

This weekend was filled with the wonders of spring! As I worked in the yard enjoying the warmth of the sun and the sound of the birds, a fluttering of orange caught my eye! When I took a closer look, there was my first butterfly of the season happily flittering  from snowdrop to snowdrop!

'Peek-a-Boo' is a red earred slider.

I brought our little turtle outside to soak up some sun too! This upside down cheese cake container works perfect for his outdoor spa! His poor shell needs some sunshine after hiding under a stone all winter. It will look good after a few good days

 in the sun.:-)

When I finished raking some of our plant beds, I decided to clean out the filters in our backyard pond. With all the rain we had, quite a bit of debris had fallen into the pond that needed to be fished out. As I reached for a stick, I was startled by a little frog!

I guess our hibernating pond frogs were coming out to enjoy the sun too, because I spotted another one sitting between the stones underneath the waterfall! It was a long cold winter and I was so happy to see them again!

We have a family of gray squirrels that have made a home in the large tulip tree outside our kitchen window. Each spring they chase each other all over our yard, and before we know it, we have alot of little squirrels to watch! Finished with cleaning the pond, I turned around to see a tail sticking out of our birdfeeder! Hmmm, he almost got away with filling up on my gourmet birdseed! He was too cute! I almost felt bad chasing him out of there!

After a long weekend of working in the yard and driving my son back and forth to hockey practice I was ready to relax and wait for my husband and daughter to arrive home from their weekend in Maryland at a soccer tournament! Just as they arrived I saw my second butterfly of the season!

I'm so happy spring has arrived!!

Pond Comes to A Temporary Halt!

We ran into a few problems with the waterfall!

It's been leaking somewhere!

This has not been an easy project compared to the installation of our pond in the front yard! However, when it's finally completed, it will be well worth it!

This weekend my husband and I decided to dismantle the waterfall and try to fix the problem. We think the liner was not laid high enough in several areas, allowing water to escape!

Meanwhile, the wildlife in our yard have been busy investigating this new addition to our yard! Birds are stopping by to bathe and drink and a little toad has been hopping around, a bit curious too! I haven't seen the chipmunks or squirrels visit yet, but I'm sure they've been there!

We now have three frogs living in the pond! They all seem to love floating around on the water lettuce or sitting on the water hyacinth roots! (Too cute!) They have become accustomed to having us around, and just happily sit there as we work around them, patiently waiting for us to finish their little paradise! :-))

The kids purchased 3 goldfish that quickly acclimated themselves to the pond. Once this project is completed, we will buy Koi fish to join our family! Unfortunately, the Koi from our front pond grew to 2' and then were eaten by a passing hungry blue heron! I was so upset! Since then, I created a safe area under water by using an old plastic crate. I cut out some of the cross bars on each side of the crate so the fish can swim in and out easily. It is topped with a flat stone and a wire frog. I don't think a heron or raccoon can reach them----- so far they have been safe! We did the same thing in our new pond. The crate sits on the bottom of the pond 3' below the surface of the water.

Our pretty goldfish seem quite happy swimming around in their new surroundings. They have been a bit shy, staying towards the bottom of the pond and close to the crate! However, they will soon learn that I am the source of their food and greet me with open mouths!! :-0

I'm really hoping we can finish up this project shortly. My husband is anxiously waiting to start putting up our annual ice rink!!