Blooming and growing

Have I mentioned before how much I like Spring?  Green growing things.  Flowers blooming everywhere.  This is by far my favorite time of year, even if I have to mow my lawn a lot (yes, I'll be doing that again today).  We got a lot of rain again this week, with the tornado storms that came through, so weed and grass growth is immense.  I was lucky not to be affected by any of the 11-15 tornadoes that came through Tuesday, other than to be evacuated from my office which is on an outside wall and has windows.  I was a little nervous driving home and not knowing what to expect to see, since all I knew was tornadoes had been on the ground in my city.  So many homes were damaged or destroyed completely.  Yes, I've seriously been counting my blessings this week.  

Another thing I'm grateful for is that I'm not an allergy sufferer during the Spring.  To be suffering when it's this nice outside would be a shame.  The guy in the office next to me - bless his heart!  It's a rough time of year for him.  I have a few allergies, but luckily not to growing things apparently.  I have an allergic reaction to most types of beer, some wines and some hard liquors.  Which can be a pain in the ass, but at least I'll never be an alcoholic. 

This morning I have the house opened up and the cat kids are laying inside, watching carefully for any birds that might try to encroach on their domain.  They're perfectly happy to watch from inside the house, Addy on the couch and Zoe in the doorway.  Not spoiled, those two old ladies.  Nope, not much. 

The house hunting is going fine.  I looked at 6 more houses last weekend, and 6 more yesterday.  I'm taking notes or I'd never remember what features were in what house.  Interestingly, several of the houses I've looked at are within spitting distance of the baseball and football stadiums here.  I saw one house I really liked yesterday, with lots of cool built-ins (one whole wall of built in bookcases).  But the place is 3500 square feet!  What in the world would I and two cats do with 3500 square feet of house?  It had 5 bedrooms, 3 living areas, a nice open kitchen, big yard.  Maybe someone will buy it so I won't be tempted. 

My problem really is that I want a house that I don't have to put any work into - no painting or having to replacing flooring/carpet, kitchen appliances, etc.  But realistically, I'd need to buy a new house for that to be true.  And I don't really want a new house on a tiny lot with no landscaping at all.  I kind of like the older neighborhoods with trees and a little breathing room.   So I guess right now I'll keep looking. 

 I'm going to mow my lawn as soon as the grass is dry enough.  There was seriously heavy dew this morning.   I dead-headed the roses this morning, taking off the remains of the big red blooms which bloomed before the little red ones, and the yellow blooms.  They suffered somewhat from the storms, but ragged roses was really the only affect I had (lucky!).  The little red ones are now blooming like crazy (see above), and the little peach seedlings are growing well also. I'm growing a mini peach forest.  My aloe vera are perking up also.   *happy sigh*  I love Spring! 

Sadly it doesn't look like I'll have any nesting birds this year.  I haven't seen any swallows or finches.   And I just went and looked, and startled away a female finch!  Maybe I will have nesting birds.  One of the houses I looked at yesterday had a swallow nest and swallows working on it, so it made me think that it was time for them to be returning to nest.  Since I hadn't seen either the swallows or finches at all yet, I thought maybe the business with the snake last year had made the finches decide to nest elsewhere this year.  I'm encouraged to see the little female finch.  Maybe they'll nest there again after all.

That's it for today.  Got a few things to do today before the grass dries enough for me to mow.