I really need spring color after the long dull winters (they all seem long to me but lots of snow makes them worse). So I wanted to have daffodils all over the garden for spring bloom. In spite of all the ones I added last fall I need to add so many more to get them in most of the gardens. I know I will be buying bulbs again for this fall. Since I took these pictures I had afew of the daffs by the front walk start to open. This would be along the pathway from the porch to the street. Last fall I put in 100 of the fancy daffs there. 50 on each side of MARIA on one side and YORK MINISTER on the other side. I saved the tags so know what I planted but can't remember which is on which side. I figgured I would know when they bloomed. But only maybe three flowers are open on the one side and none on the other yet. I am not sure if they are MARIA or YORK MINISTER, not having seen either in person before. But I think they might be MARIA. Whichever they are they are stunning. This is my first of the fancy daffs with the orange trumpets and I love them. Can't get out there to take pictures as it is raining so I only went out quickly myself to get a look.

Hello all, It looks like everyone had a great valentine swap. Great boxes everyone. My surgery went well and I am recovering quickly. Still not allowed to do much. The doc said you can return to your normal routine but don't push, pull, or pick up any thing over 5 pounds so hey, whats left. Normal????? I am trying desperately to be good. I am doing mostly computer work at the nursery trying to get my website and ebay store ready for opening soon. I have a friend that is helping me with heavy labor and I am getting to boss him around so that is nice :O) LOL. I got in a huge order of plants today and had to get them all ready for the cold snap, so I have been busier than I wanted to but all is going well. The hardest part will be not over doing it before time. Thanks for all the inquiry's. One thing I wanted to mention was the fact that a couple days ago I came home and found a box in my front yard. It was from our sweetheart Jo. She said that I had the most votes from those that chose to vote for the best xmas box. I was floored when I opened it. It contained the most beautiful throw. It is made of fleece material and is reversible with red daylilies on one side and a beige/green fleece on the backside. It is sooooo cool as it is not sewn but cut on the edges and tied together every inch or so. Never seen one made like it and it is sooooo warm and cozy, and soooo pretty. My yorkie has been fighting me for it ever since it came! Also in the box was a beautiful hand made (of course from Jo) angel. It is sitting on my mantle right now. She also included a nice corn bag. Just pop in the microwave and place on a sore or tired muscle for instant relief. Very nice. It has been quite handy the last couple days for my abdomen. Thanks sooooo much Jo. My camera stuff is still at work so I haven't taken pics yet but I will and I will show everyone the wonderful suprise gifts that I recieved. Thanks so much Jo for your generosity and thoughtfullness and thank you all for the votes that I never expected. It was a beautiful surprise. I also gave my notice to my job. My last day will be the 28th officially even though I can't really return anyway for atleast 6 weeks. I have left my position to focus full time on getting the nursery open. My open date is still March 18th. Hope I can recover and get everything done in that amount of time. It will be close enough what ever I get done. My career has changed, I am now an unemployed/self employed nursery owner. I finally got my license and all the other paperwork done and I am on a new road. Anyway guess that catches me up. I am guessing that I will be out of the corner in april so I hope to get back in the loop then. Take care Tanarae

Thanks Shirley & Nancy. : ) I didn't notice the "smoke cloud" until after I got home and loaded the pics into my computer. Nancy, the entire exterior of our house will be brick, w/ possibly some stonework here and there. Not sure yet. We'll make it up as we go. But mainly brick (same as chimney). We bricked our current home back when we were remodeling it and DH did some "fancy" stuff....we've got several brick arches, quoined corners, etc. We aren't going to be doing much of that on the new house. I'm going for a simple, rustic look. The front of the house will have a porch or deck all the way across.....it's kind of hard to explain. I think we will be using a material such as Trex to build it. We are looking for no maintenance for the entire exterior and don't want to have to paint, stain, etc. anything. I've picked all of our colors to match very closely, but to have slight differences. Like the shingles, for example. They are overall only about 1 or 2 shades darker than the brick, but have mixed colors in them. One of the colors matches the brick perfectly. Well, i've got to get ready to head over there....we started working on installing a gate at the end of our driveway last night which involved much more than you would think. DH is building large soil berms (planting beds!!!!) along the road to keep anyone from driving in. In the midst of all of this, he dug up a buried telephone line and tore it in half. You can only imagine how furious he is. This was never marked by the utility company when we first started our building process and it should have been. So now we are at a stand-still until someone decides to come out and look at it today. I thought it would have affected neighbors (no phone service?), but nobody called to report it yet (maybe because they don't have a working phone??? LOL). We're hoping it's an old line, or maybe an unused one. It never ends....... HUGS, ~Dawn (mamabirrd) PS: No baby yet! C'mon Talon!! : ) I am soooooo sore and am barely able to waddle along.

Angie, what a handsome, patriotic group of pals! The boys sure look like they are getting big. Thanks for showing us! Marea, i'm jealous! Mint festival & frog jumping! You MUST post pics. What fun! Just wanted to pop in for a quick update.... Baby Talon is doing so good. He had his 7 week birthday yesterday! The nights have been wonderful for about the last 2 weeks.....he's been sleeping for 5,6,& 7 hour stretches! Our days are crazy though. No schedule whatsoever and you never know what kind of mood he will be in. I'm getting lots more smiles & "happy time" though. : ) And yesterday he grabbed his soft little teddy for the first time and stuck it in his mouth!! lol The house is coming along....only one more thing to do before we can have the framing inspection done. We are waiting for our interior steps to be delivered...supposed to be at the end of the week. Once DH has them installed we'll be ready to go. Here is Talon's new tub.... I can't wait 'till he's swimming in there! ; ) DH's plan is to start bricking the house. We have concrete scheduled to come Saturday to do the two back porches. They need done before brickwork can start. We'll have HVAC and hopefully the electrician & plumber start work inside. I say hopefully 'cause DH keeps saying he's going to do the elec. & plumbing himself. I must put my foot down. Sure hope I can talk him into hiring someone or else we may never move in! Hugs, ~Dawn (mamabirrd)