Little pine trees

Check out these guys.  I know it's crazy to post about tiny pine trees, but I'm always so excited when I get something to grow, especially from seeds.   And these little trees are just thriving.

The taller of the two trees is about 8 inches tall now.  And it's longest limb extends out 6 inches from the trunk.  I'm so delighted to see them growing so well.  They're supposed to be a little bonsai tree set-up, but I wonder if I put them in bigger pots, whether they would grow into full sized trees.  I do like to watch them grow on my windowsill though.  Decisions, decisions.  They seem to be thriving right now though so I imagine I'll leave them where they are for the time being. 

As you can see, the moss is still growing gangbusters too.  I've taken to trimming the moss back with a scissors when it gets too tall. 

I'm thinking about trying to do my taxes myself with Turbotax.  I've always done my own taxes, but I have several new things to deal with this year besides my usual royalties.  For one thing I have two mortgages, but also I have rent on one of them, etc.  So probably I should find a CPA and have my taxes done for me.   I'm thinking I'm going to try it myself with Turbotax first though, and if I have trouble or it doesn't seem right, I'll take it to a CPA.  Like if I try to do it myself and I end up having to pay more taxes.  I won't e-file the Turbotax version, I'll take it to a professional.  I figure it can't hurt to try it.  I'm not quite ready to try it though.  Still waiting on forms to arrive.

It doesn't look like any birds are touching the thistle seed feeder yet, but then it took them 6 months to start using the other feeder so hopefully they'll eventually use it.  You can see from the picture that I've hung the feeders on the old satellite dishes left on the house.  Might as well make them useful, right?  

We got rain last night, which is good.  My lawn is starting to come up, which seems a little early to me.  We've often had freezes in February and March, so winter isn't over.  I have some sort of vine thing blooming pink out by my fence already though.  I guess I'll have to see if I can figure out what the perennials are that bloom around here this year.  The people who lived here before me loved flowers and blooming things, and I have to admit, I like the bright blooming colors also.  If the vine by the fence wasn't a vine I'd wonder about it.  The color of the blossoms is very similar to peach tree blossoms.  My little peach trees aren't starting to leaf out yet thankfully.   It's too early. It'll freeze again this year.  My poor aloe vera have already taken multiple hits.  There will be some serious limb die-back, but I think the plants will all survive despite that.

There are a pair of doves that hang out around here as well as the pair of cardinals.  I wonder where they're nesting.  Doves and mockingbirds seem to like nesting relatively low, so I'm trying to locate their nests.  There's a nest left over from last year in my crepe myrtle but I haven't seen any birds around it yet this year.  I wish I had swallows nesting here like I did at the old house.  Actually, I just looked out and there are five doves perched along my fence top.  Once they start using it, word of the bird feeder spreads fast I guess.   

 I guess that's about all today.  More later.