It’s a cold and blustery day in Michigan. Easter and spring arrive close together this year, both are symbolic of new beginnings. Unfortunately with Easter so early this year it’s not going to be very great weather. I am a little apprehensive about warmer weather this year; hopefully we won’t get a lot of storms.

Taco the lamb is being trained to a new life in the barn. I have been taking him out in the morning and leaving him there for the day. I put him where the hay was in the barn and he has a deep cozy bed plus I leave a door to the back of the barn open so he can go out in the east pasture if he wants. He still doesn’t want anything to do with the other sheep and when I put him with them he runs to a far corner and stays there. When the weather does warm up I will be putting him with them though.

We have 7 new baby cocker pups, 5 black, 2 blonde, 6 are female which is strange. Everyone that calls will want males. I had the tails docked last week and I hate that. But if you don’t do it people try to get it done later and some won’t buy a cocker with a tail.

The puppies have to be in our bedroom as we are out of spare rooms until Taco is gone. There is one that is very noisy and fussy all night, but she seems plump and sleek, just a fussy one. I wanted to squash her last night though. All of the rest of the puppies were sleeping but she was fussing and I got up twice to move her closer to mom, which seems to be what she wants.

I am so ready to garden and get things done outside. Last Friday the temperature was in the 50’s and it was sunny and I spent a bit of time outside cleaning out the old car. Sunshine does improve my mood I wish I could get more of it. Things are slow poking through the ground this year. Not much is happening in the garden. I want to get some chickens again; the price of eggs is terrible. I can order chicks and I still may, but it takes 5 months before they start laying at least. I’m going to look for some hens at the market.

Here’s some advice from gardening granny. Get outside whenever you can and enjoy the good weather. Sunshine sets your biological clock to good times. And plant a vegetable garden this year, the price of food is only going to go up. If you do plant a garden and have excess food donate it to a local soup kitchen or food pantry, they will love it. Hard times are coming.

new car

So here’s the news. I have a new car, well new to me. It’s only six years old which beats driving cars over 20 years old. It’s a Blazer, sort of a cross between a truck and a car, easy for Steve to crawl up in. It’s only a 2 door and has less cargo space than the van or maybe even the trunk on that old chevy but it runs! Strange how I seem to end up with chevies, even though I am not looking for one, just a good deal.

New cars have all those bells and whistles that I am not used to. The second day I had it I locked myself out by messing up something in the security system- it wouldn’t let me start the engine. Now I am afraid to use the remote unlock button thingy. It has a remote start but I am really afraid to use that. The radio gets louder as you go faster, can you believe that!

We were going to drive down to my moms since we hadn’t been there since Thanksgiving and she was going to bake a cake for Steve’s birthday, but I ended up having to stay home and work on finishing my book. I messed up on the deadline, It was the last Monday in Feb, I thought it was March 15 for some reason. Well it is all turned in now, hopefully nothing to do until writer review.

The lamb is still here but he will be gone soon, someway, somehow. He pulled a frying pan of grease off the stove the other night, luckily it had cooled. The dogs quickly cleaned up the floor but it could have been a disaster. I took him out to the barn with me yesterday but he panicked when I locked him in a stall and kept trying to jump out so I took him back inside.

Gingers puppies have all been sold, even though it took a while because the weather was so bad. Honey the cocker is due any day, probably Sunday when we have said we will be going to my moms.

Michigan weather sucks. Yesterday it was 50 degrees and raining. The snow started to melt and then today it is below freezing again although we did get some sun. So everything is a sheet of ice. I got my car stuck when I moved it to let Steve get his out. And we are supposed to be getting more snow tonight, ugh.

I guess global warming affects the bottoming out temperature, the lowest temperature you get because it sure hasn’t made winter any shorter. And we have had nearly the record for snowfall since records were kept all ready this year. Even if it’s mild enough to be outside you can’t walk because of deep snow or ice. Maybe the glaciers are reforming here instead of at the poles.

The other problem is that a lot of us animal owners were praying for an early spring because hay is hard to find and very expensive. We are down to 2 bales of what we bought in the fall and we bought two bales for 6.25 each today which will feed for another week here. I don’t think anyone will deliver just a small load to us when they can sell all they have in big loads so we are stuck paying high prices at the feed store.

I have cabin fever real bad. I need to get outside, away from computers and people and dogs. Hurry spring!