Sunday, and another hectic week ahead.

UPDATE: Thank you guys.... for letting me know I'm not the only bleach basket case and lid looser. (And today it was 75 degrees and raining! I hope I didn't spill something on winter, too!)

The week has just begun and already is pushing the limits of my endurance.

I placed a basket of my work clothes beside the wash machine and selected the correct cycle. When I reached for the detergent I knocked over a small jug of bleach which promptly rolled out of the cupboard and into my basket and released the lid. In spite of the speed in which I dumped my clothes into the huge garage sink, I was no match for the orange and yellow speckles that began appearing on my favorite slacks and shirt. Not to mention the other clothes that shared the same fate.

Earlier, a plastic jug of ammonia managed to spring a leak in our utility closet. The fluid ran down the wall to the floor and all over the vacuum cleaner. I don't think anything was ruined except my mood.

After both of these events I returned to the utility closet and discovered the lid completely off of a bottle of 409 cleaner.

This was too much, so I grabbed my camera and went outside to cool off. We had one night last week that had a forecast of 17 degrees Fahrenheit. The bird baths were frozen and most of the plants and shrubs responded to the extreme cold.

Yesterday and today, however, the weather has moderated into the low 60's. The concern I have is that plants that have gone dormant will think it is spring and try to awaken. It happens and it usually means replacement costs when spring finally does arrive. This is new growth on our star magnolia. It is normally our first spring bloomer.

This little bee shocked me.
He's enjoying the concentrated sweetness of some concord grapes
that were left on our little corner arbor. (Where did he stay warm when it was 17 degrees?)


In spite of the radical weather swings, the white birch continues to have green and yellow, but I picked up a lot of small branches when I mowed the front yard. Sometimes I can be helpful in the yard, and other times I mysteriously disappear when the rake appears.


This is all that is left of the 100 year old maple tree that is across the fence on the east side. There was a raccoon that made it's home in a hole up in the higher branches. Sometimes I would see it lounging up there. It had a sniff but no scratch relationship with the cat across the way. I hope it finds another tree to raise it's young next year. The tree with the owl hole isn't coming down this year. Magpies chased the owls away and I saw Starlings nesting in their place.
Here's the only hummingbird that doesn't fly away. Of course it is attached to a bird bath that Amanda gave me last year for Christmas. That raccoon tipped it over quite a few times. Once the Pond was completed the birdbath wasn't bothered so much.


The Pond has been winterized. The water lily's and other plants were sunk to the deepest spot and the floaters removed. We put two floaters in our aquarium just to see if they would survive as seed for next spring. We're not sure about the goldfish. We think the racoon ate most of them. If there are any left down there they are hiding. Apparently they hibernate or become dormant.

The hubby bought a net to cover until the leaf fall has ended. The trick is shaking the net before they start disintegrating. That water is cold and I won't be the one stripping down and shoveling out the goop. Aye yi yi! Brrr.

The calendar has something written on it every evening this week. Blogging may be splotchy, like the pile of clothes in my bleach splattered basket. Sigh.