QUACK, QUACK, QUACK!

We had another beautiful day here yesterday - you will never guess where I spent it!

Of course you will - I was outside again for most of the day.

I decided to tackle one of the large south-facing flower beds that I have yet to work.  This bed has at least 6 rose bushes in it, all were in deplorable condition last fall, so I cut them all back -  quite severely actually.  Surrounding the roses is quack - so thickly entwined in the roots of the roses that I decided spring when the soil was softer, would be a better time to try and remove it - so I left it.  There was also a perennial of some sort that resembles an evergreen bush that had completely gone wild.  So this was my project for the day.

I dug out all the evergreen, which also was in half of the large planter which runs the full length on the front of the house.   Then I started on the quack.

Oh my aching shoulders and arms this morning!  The roots of the quack were at least 12 inches down and I was pulling up huge mats of it once I dug deep enough.

But happy to say, I now have a beautifully clean and worked south facing flower bed that is just waiting for new varieties to come and live there.  The roses are not looking very happy but I will leave them alone and let them enjoy the freedom of quack tangling their roots for awhile.

I was working so hard, not really paying attention to the world around me, when something landed on the ground beside me and grabbed one of the big juicy earthworms that I had dug up.  I was so excited to see a Robin that I am afraid I let out a screech and scared the poor fellow away.

But I made up for it by hanging a bunch of string and yarn on the plum tree, and cutting some fine twigs and leaving them on the park bench.  Hope  he accepts my apology!

Then I started to listen, they were making such a racket - all the birds.  Finch were singing with gusto, the Robins were having some sort of convention in the fir tree that we are having removed, and a Hawk was circling and either he or an owl was screeching.   What pure delight!  Birdsong on a beautiful March morning!

Of course this morning there is a bit of overnight snow back on the ground, but it is March after all.

Who can be sad about a bit of snow when Robins are singing in the trees out your window!

I will leave you with a little verse from my Mom's "Apples of Gold" book.  This was in the section entitled Joy.

It is easy to be pleasant

When life flows by like a song.

But the man worth while is one who will smile,

When everything goes dead wrong.

For the test of the heart is trouble,

And it always comes with the years,

And the smile that is worth the praises of earth

Is the smile that shines thru the tears.

-unknown