Spring Ahead!

It isn't even mid-March yet and we have been having the  craziest weather --70 degrees today!! That makes me feel so far behind, but the  weatherman says cold and a good chance of snow next week, so as much as I love tos springlike weather, I will welcome a bit more time to get ready.
I ma so far behind on  my blog. In an attempt to catch up, I will post a bunch of photos with minimal text. Here are two guineas sunning on a bench. All the poultry love being out of the coop in the warm sun.

Maple sap began running  two weeks ago - the earliest date on record. We are still in cooking mode.

Smoke from the wood-fired oven.  We are now  baking bread every Monday and Friday night for the  co-op. When I say "we" I mean "Rog" but my responsibility is getting the fire going.

'Tis the mud season. I finally couldn't stand the floors and spent hours scrubbing and polishing the entire main floor; the moment I let the dogs in they began to leave pooch tracks.  Aargh. It is hopeless.

 We have been hauling tons of sand (literally tons - each pickup load is one ton)  for the clay and cordwood floor Rog is creating in the greenhouse.

You can't really tell, but thefloor has been raise up about 3 inches so far with a mixture of sand, water, straw and clay. The floor is  partitioned off with bricks; some sections will have  cross sections of  logs embedded, It is going to be beautiful!  The large middle section will make an awesome dance floor.

Building  a fire in the woodstove in the greenhouse  has  helped cure the clay floor--and made it more pleasant to work in there on cold days.

I  got a 5 1/2 foot diameter round window from the ReStore and had a crazy idea to  create an art glass to hang in the peak on the west end of the greenhouse.

Using silica gel, I  have glued vintage glass dishes onto the surface of the window

and  filled in the spaces with flattened clear glass marbles.  It now weighs  several hundred pounds so hanging it is going to be a trick, but I think it will look spectacular with light behind it!

Last night, I noticed crocuses by the house are poking through the soil.

Today I  discovered the  daffodils by the garden she are well up,

and rhubarb is  emerging,

I think the frost is  mostly out of the ground--how soon can I till in all that compost and animal bedding?

 Lilac buds swollen.

 I took the insulating blanket off the fish gazebo pond today and was so  happy to see that the koi and  goldfish all seem to have  survived the winter. I gave them their first little snack of the year.

A few Johnny-jump-ups are magically blooming in the fairy garden! In March--that is crazy!!

 The ice on the pond is totally melted.

While taking this photo of  Zinnie reflected in the pond, there was a big splash--

Moji had fallen in- his first time swimming! (I didn't get a photo of that-too preoccupied with  rescuing him.)

He created some nice ripples.

Self portrait with rock.

Jitter in the sunset.

Spring is so close we can almost taste it. Must remember to turn  clocks to Daylight Savings Time on Saturday night. Spring Ahead!