DH says he saw a GOPHER by Innisfail a couple days ago. I'd hope that means it's going to be an early spring if they're already poking thier noses out.

It was really nice out here yesterday (I think about 6 or 7 above). And it's supposed to get even nicer as the week progresses.

It has also been raining here, but only IN my house : ( I guess I shouldn't have been doing the rain dance...it's really effective. : p (The warm weather has made ice build up on the shaded part of our roof, and since our soffits & facia aren't that good, house is 66 and needs some work, the water/ice is working it's way into the roof and coming out my windows...OUCH! (On the positive side, it looks like I may get a new/bigger kitchen out of the deal...silver linings...; )

"Spring time's comin'...Spring time's comin'." *doing the Happy dance*

Verena that sucks about your leakage - just remember that you can compensate for an iffy house by having a nice garden! ;0)

A similar thing happened to me one year, the trapdoor to my attic is in the hall outside the bathroom, so I guess all winter the steam from the shower was going up there and freezing, then in the spring it all melted and leaked all over the floor. Well I put a dehumidifier in the hall and it hasn't happened since.

On the subject of spring, it has been so slow here! We still have a ton of snow and the temps just can't quite squeek above 0, but there is a little melting every day. I guess in Manitoba we should be thankful for a slow spring so we don't flood (again).

I agree..."DH, the house has issues...lets go buy some plants." LOL

The biggest problem with our kitchen (aside from the leaking) is that it's an addition, and when they built it they aparently decided that insulation was an unneccesary luxury, so they didn't bother to put ANY in. (Then the lady we bought the house from took off the old eves and didn't bother to put any back on...on the largest slope of the roof...so the foundation below the kitchen is FUBARed too. (Should have gotten a home inspection...) We were planning on jacking up the kitchen and replacing the foundation in that area...So now we're thinking of knocking off the kitchen and rebuilding it...Hello 10.5' ceilings (like the rest of the house) and a walk out patio for the attic (a nice sunny area to grow plants!!) DH suggested we might even make it a little bigger while we're at it.

The fun thing is that we'll probably do it all ourselves...get out the saws!! (Do you all think I'm insane now?? ; )

Yes, lets hope there is no major flooding this year. We got some too, but it was later in the season and not as bad as you guys were hit, I think. Most people don't 'appreciate' the ammount of damage water can do, until they see it up close.

Verena

Well even if you don't get around to re-building your kitchen this year, it would definitely help to replace your eavestroughs. I bought vinyl ones for my garage a couple of years ago and put them up myself with no help - they are so easy, just like Lego. The facias had rotted right off and the eaves fell off. Ugh! Anyway they looked pretty good so when I had the house roof re-shingled last year I had them put on new metal facia and drip edges, and I put up the eavestroughs myself. BTW my house was built in 1922 so I know where you're coming from. Goodness knows when the garage was built - it might have already been there when the Voyageurs came through. Sorry none of this has to do with spring I know.

A crow! One lonely crow but that's the first sign of spring around here. Oh, and one lonely Canada Goose, too.

I don't know why I even bother looking at the forecast. Yesterday they were predicting +5 on Saturday, but that's already dropped to 0. I get all excited and then WHAM.

Still lots and lots of snow here with very little melting going on. Bright, sunny and windy, but still pretty cold.

I'm going back in the bubble.

LOL...aren't old houses fun.
DH put up eves this summer, but without flashing, and the rotten facia, as the ice builds up it just pushes the eves away and goes where it wants.
I grew up in a 100+ year old house, mom and dad are still there, (ordered from an Eaton's catalogue) and it's in great condition...I guess maintenance is the key thing with most of these old homes. The advantage with ours is that it came with three lots and fantastic soil. All the better for gardening...who wants to spend their time inside anyway!!

Not much to do with spring...except maybe that it makes for more spring cleaning. I can't wait for a really nice warm day so I can open all the windows and doors and get some nice fresh air flowing through here, and listen to those birdies singing.

Pudge, if I may ask, what part of SK are you from?? DH grew up in northern SK (Nipawin) and we have family in PA, Hudson, and Melfort. We went up there last summer, visited people, went camping at Shell Lake and one near Hudson (can't remember the name though). We're thinking of heading up to Tobin Lake this year.
It's +2 here right now...hoping it will warm up more as the day progresses.

I'm just west of the Yorkton/Melville area, Verena - not so far north but in a cold pocket for some reason. Seems to be a snow pocket, as well.

When DH retired from the military we could have moved anywhere. ANYWHERE. Sometimes in the winter, or while I'm waiting for spring, I shake my head and wonder what the **** we were thinking. But me, I'm a prairie gal and often longed for it when I lived elsewhere. LOL, oh well.

Hi all....here is a sign of spring...I have come out of hibernation....
Between work at work and at home I have been so busy that I haven't been posting at all...lurking occasionally, but mostly just checking e mail and heading to bed.

But...back on topic...it has been melting like crazy here...today it actually got up to 5*C and after a few weeks of -18 to -25 thats practically a heat wave!
We had been doing soem renovating here...putting in laminate flooring and painting and we actually had the windows open as we worked!

Bad for snowmobiling...good for gardening. I haven't done any wintersowing at all yet this year...going to have to dig the stuff out of the shed and get some seeds planted...
Trust me I bought enough from Patrick Studio in the winter!

HUNNNNNNNERRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!! You're back.

How's it going? We've missed you. You must've got lost in the bubble for the winter. (Check out the thread in the "Gallery", in case you missed it.)

OK, you'll have to catch us up on what you've bought, what your planting, etc. - we want all of it.

Shauna

Michele! I was wondering if you gave up gardening... welcome back. You guys have been warmer up north than us all week!

Still really slowly melting down in Winnipeg.

-Gillian

Welcome back, Michele! Better get started on your winter sowing - one 0 has 0 containers!

Welcome back! Looking forward to hearing all about the new plants you're planning on trying this year. :)

Syreeta

AAhccckkkk...no pressure...must find flats, seeds and soil...

Yesterday I took the dogs for a walk in the bush as I always do, however I saw Pussy Willows coming! To me this is one of the first signs of spring that I look forward to every year.

Syreeta

Funny the first signs of spring around here are the bouquets of flowers DH brings me. I got one last weekend and another yesterday. LOL! I'm running out of vases.

Welcome back hunner!

Sierra

It's +6° today! Most of the snow is gone in the raised area where Henry Kelsey is planted, and much of the snow is gone on another little raised bed i have in front of the house. That little bed is going to be an experiment for me this spring - separate thread on it later.

Sierra - your dh is "twitterpated"? :>

Pudge,if you live just west of Yorkton...then....
My aunt and uncle live at Sheho. If you ever drive that way in the winter, close to Christmas, they are the ones on the highway that put up thousands and thousands of Christmas lights and light up their yard with them. Absolutely amazing!

It is suppose to get up to 6C on Tues!! That will start to uncover the shrubs, or what is left of the shrubs, after my border collie pup romped around this winter :(

Brenda

Brenda, i've had the same dog problem this winter. My son's dog is a huge puppy and he and our dog have been romping all over the yard this winter. And the puppy still likes to chew, so i have to make sure little things (4" pots yesterday) are not left lying around. So far, he hasn't tried to grab any of the WS containers, but i live in fear! They've pruned my dear Miss Sunrise a bit too, and i think the viburnum has taken a bit of a hit. Dogs.... Just when i had ours trained not to dig!

Me toooo! My @$^$#* bassett puppy (who is such a sweet tempered little thing it's hard to discipline her) is obsessed with sticks... so during the winter this means she chews down my raspberry canes. Not bothered by prickles apparently. They did need some cutting back and she left most of them so I'm not that upset, but when she went after the Nanking Cherry and Forsythia I drew the line. She's getting better... she'd better be over it by the time I plant stuff out!

Last summer I had a few new campanula in 4" pots...well, I did find the pots but I'm afraid that the plants disappeared somewhere...only Jazz knows and she is not telling me what she did with them. Spring job...contact the person I got them from last summer and beg for another one of each. Jazz also loves sticks and last year contented herself with the larger sticks that were in the mulch...so far she has left the crafts alone that I have displayed outside. Except for the scarf that used to be around a snowman that I had painted on a barn board. I had drilled two holes at the neck of the snowman and put a red striped piece of material to be a scarf. It is chewed off.I guess I will have to be careful what I put out this summer.

But I guess the topic is signs of spring...so a sign of spring...happier puppies/dogs...they will find more things to chew on (eg. the bone they buried in the snow in the winter) and will sit on and/or romp on all our perennials as they emerge from the ground. Look what we have to look forward to!

Brenda

Diesel thought an elm seedling was a fine thing to chew on. Goodbye elm. Sigh...

I had a mock orange in the backyard. Apparently to one of the dogs it was a great stick to chew on. He even managed to pull it out of the ground at some point. So far this winter they haven't destroyed anything that I'm aware of.

Syreeta

LOL at the dogs-- here its cats-- i seeded snaps and the cats tossed the soil out! I nursed a tiny lavender seedling all winter and a cat got in my sunroom and ATE IT! after those two, the dogs opening a bag of soil (i planned on using for columbines) all over the sunroom is no problem!

BTW the sunroom is a usre sign of spring around here-- ian unheated enclosure of a porch, it serves as starter central-- i always ask for more shlves about this time of year!

Signs of spring...gophers...

Saw my first gopher (Richardson's ground squirrel) this morning!

Brenda

YEAH!!! DH called me outside yesterday to show me two robins singing in our maple. WooHoo!! They've been in the area for a couple weeks now, but these were the first ones I've seen. It was beautiful here yesterday. Sun was shining and +7. We shoveled snow onto my flower beds while the little guy had his afternoon nap. Suns out again today, only -1 (and getting warm fast), DH is out icefishing (probably for the last time this year) and when he gets back I'm going out to do some SPRING Clean-up!!

I'm itching to get out into my greenhouse, but it's a little too early for me to put anything in there. Our old wiring can't handle the little heaters needed at night. It was +20 in there yesterday...and our friend said his greenhouse hit +35!!

Our doggie knows he can't go in any of the flowerbeds or garden and *thankfully* he follow the rules. Our cat (lovingly refered to as 'The B*st*rd') on the other hand likes to paruse the flowerbeds in the summer, and occasionally sits/lays on something, and he destroyed the catmint I planted two years ago. Silly me, what was I thinking?? LOL

Spring time's comin'...Spring time's comin'... ;o)
(I've even got DH singing that one...)

Verena

Much of the snow has left my garden & I got a surprise today.
I saw a butterfly sunning itself on the grass.
Ian

Wow, Verena! If you've got Robins then we must have them here too! I should keep an eye out for them. Yeah Spring really IS coming.... time to look at my annuals for winter, nope... SPRING sowing!

WOW Ian that is awesome! What a sight to see.

Well the snow has really receeded away from the foundation (trailer skirting) and there is a lot of bare earth showing...unfortunately it is still frozen solid. I went out this afternoon just to check and it is rock solid...oh well...at least the snow is going!

Yesterday when my DH and I were having supper I saw a chicadee having a bath. It must be spring! On our acreage there is a huge rock that sits on the edge of the valley that has an indentation on it. The water must have still been really cold 'cause it still hasn't all melted. But when you want a bath....

{{gwi:736458}}

{{gwi:736459}}

Sorry for the hazy pictures. I took them thru the living room window, one story up and about 40 feet from the rock with the chickadee.

Brenda

Wow, that's gotta be cold for the chickadee. Brrrrr.

Wow, that's a neat sight. Yes, it does look cold though!

I hear lots and lots of drip-drip-dripping around here. It really MUST be spring! Gotta love that all the snow is melting fast.

I have babies! My very first baby! I planted a peony in the front yard this past fall, and today I poked my head out the screen (because the dog likes to push his head thru it to get more fresh air) and I saw my peony with about 4 sprouts out of the ground! I jumped for joy and shouted HURRAY!!!

I can't wait to see how big it will get this year :)

Nikki~

My peonies are still covered with snow, but i have lots of bulbs poking up through the mulch - crocuses, tulips, daffodils... Can't wait!!

Brenda, I LOVE that rock. That's exactly what I would like but doubt I will ever find.

I have babies too!!!...My purple columbine, I started last year, has new growth, and I have a pansy that looks like it's been growing under the leaf mulch...it's almost a foot across of healthy new green growth!! (Talk about a pansy on steriods!!) No peonies yet...but DH and I just did the walk-about, and he's decided I need to expand two flower beds this year so they join and make one big one that wraps around the entire front yard..."really DH...do I have to???...You know that means I'll need some more plants to fill the space..." LOL!!

I love spring!! (And DH too...yep...I snagged a keeper ; )

Verena

The geese have been flying in for the past several days and today, the snow has finally melted enough so that I can see all of my wintersowing.
Time to get more of it done. Maybe this weekend.

Shauna

The snow in my yard is largely melted. I've seen a few birds but no geese. Unfortunately that means it's time for the annual flood - my whole backyard is under water and/or snow. My house was here first and the developers built up the rest of my neighbourhood and left my yard as a sinkhole. grrrr. But at least I got a double lot!

LOL...did I say spring had arrived here??...Plants poking through the ground, birds singing and the like...I woke up this morning and it's sleeting outside...the ground is getting white again, and it's supposed to fall all day. 17 above in the sun yesterday, and snowing today...LOL Crazy Alberta weather!

Verena

22°C here today. The sun is shining, the snow is all melted, crocuses, tulips and daffodils popping up by the dozens. How glorious is that?

It's before noon, isn't it? :>

22°C!!! You are living in the tropics Marcia!

Only +3 here today and still lots of snow to be melted, but I'm happy I saw my first Mountain Bluebird today, it was beautiful.

Sharon

Sharon! It was before noon... Marcia April Fooled you! LOL Good one Marcia!

(actually I was going to ask if you meant to type 2 degrees - it took me a second)

Oh for crying out loud, DANG that girl! LOL

I was out digging around doing some spring clean up this morning (it's raining out, but I couldn't fight it...) and went to pull last years snapdragons and found that they have new growth coming from the base (put it back in the ground in a hurry and left the rest alone)...they aren't supposed to do that are they?? I thought they were only an annual. I'm wondering if they'll bloom again this year...does anyone know??

Good one Marcia. I got my mom really good...told her baby #2 was on the way...DH overheard me and was like...you're what!! and you didn't tell me first...LOL I'm so bad...had to tell them both to look at the calendar. ; > (Poor DH isn't quite ready for another one I think...should probably wait till this one is at least weaned...lol

Verena

Wow that's cool Verena, snapdragons (Antirrhinum majus) are a tender perennial, so I guess yours had a nice easy winter and are ready to get going again. If they last through spring freeze/thaw, they should flower for you again no problem - I wouldn't rely on seeing them back every year though.

I was really surprised to see my thyme (Thymus vulgaris as far as I know) still alive in its pot on my deck this spring - I didn't think it would overwinter around here especially in a pot. This was the easiest winter I can remember, for warm temps combined with heavy snow cover... we must have had about a zone 6 winter I think. My Rosa gallica versicolour has emerged from the snow, with only tiny tip freeze where it poked out of its burlap... looks promising! But the offical report of the OBRHD will not be until May ;0)

Hee hee hee! :D

Actually +2° would have been about right. Pretty cool most of the day but the sun did try to come out for awhile.

I've got something alive too in my southwest porch bed, but i can't remember what it is! LOL Typical. Last fall i planted all kinds of bulbs in there and a lot of them are poking up through the mulch. One tulip has come right up through the snow!

I was gone up to my parent's home for a few days and what a change when I got back! About half the snow is now gone, and my entire south bed is snow free! There's a few daffodils popping up along with an ornamental onion that I have no idea what kind it is, and the fern leaf peony has sprouts.
Spring's here........at last!! Yippee!!

Hubby has pretty much shoveled the entire front yard now and a path to my flower bed lol. I came home from work yesterday and I had to go peek at my Peony sprouts and I couldn't help but notice this green plant that's sitting there.....it's my dianthus Ruby's Tuesday! It's got nice green on it....so only time will tell as to what's going to happen with it!

Yaaaaay! April 3rd and I have some growth!

(a very excited) Nikki~

The ducks, geese and seagulls have begun their spring migration...(we're on the edge of town and there's a bird sancutary right beside us that is right on the migration path for a lot of birds. We get flocks of literally thousands of geese coming through, one after another. It's really neat! (Noisy, but DH and I are nature nuts so we really enjoy the sight!) Haven't seen any snowgeese or swans, but they shoud be starting to come through pretty soon too.

The merlins that nest in out neighbors tree have been breeding for about a week, hopefully we'll see some babies this year...last year the crows got them...this year we may just have to get the crows...(Oops...did I say that in my outside voice??)

Oh, and I got to wake up to the birdies singing in the tree outside my window... : )

Verena

No robins here yet, but we saw geese flying over this evening. I wouldn't doubt the robins will be here in the next couple of days. Oh, and i heard an owl this afternoon - another sign of spring!