Happy Mother's Day!

Good morning, my friends, and Happy Mother's Day to you. If you are a mother, have a mother, are missing your mother, want to be a mother, are a mother-to-be, or any other way there is to be a mother...even a mf-er (yes, you too)...this greeting is for you! As I'm writing this, Mike is downstairs making Mother's Day waffles for me. "Mother's Day waffles" are like any other waffle, except they're served on Mother's Day. Clever, huh? (Follow us for more holiday tips.)

 It was a lovely day here yesterday...the warmest day of the year so far. By day's end, we were at 85°F.

There you go...that's what I'm talkin' about. 

Smitty started his day sunbathing in the bright sunshine.

Black cats do not enjoy sunbathing for long. She purrfers the comfort of the flannel quilt for her morning nap.

It wasn't long before we took an excursion outside. One of the pickling cucumbers has sprouted already. I expect I'll see more when I check on them today. Zucchini seeds are planted deeper, and I'm not seeing anything from them yet.

One of the sauce tomatoes has a flower and more flowers are coming. I expect I'll be transplanting these into their largest pots of the season by this weekend.

And oooooh! Lookie there!!! One of the dahlias has poked its head above ground. This is so exciting! I'm hoping to see something from the other three very soon.

Some of the peonies have developed "nectar."

It's a myth that peonies need ants in order to bloom. We don't even have many ants here at the Three Cats Ranch, and I've never actually seen any on the peonies. Instead, ants are attracted to the peonies for their nectar, and as a side bonus, they keep other pests off the flower buds in an act of "biological mutualism." Farmers Almanac has the skinny on this right here.

While I was checking on the peonies, I gave the little clematis its own pinwheel. I'm hoping it will discourage the critters from eating the flowers. It can't hurt, and who knows...it might help. We may need to put some fencing around it, as we did with the cherry tomato.

The azaleas are starting to get with the program. With this warm weather, I'm expecting more from them today. I haven't taken my walk around yet this morning.

Finally, we're seeing some flowers on the plum tree. It was mostly leafed out before the flowers arrived. I'm still optimistic about the plums this year. I just hope they ripen before we take our trip this fall.

Also, notice the freshly tilled garden behind the tree. You can see the greenery of the bee garden on the left side. Tomorrow, we'll be planting the rest in vegetables. We're planting green beans, corn, beets, carrots, pickling cucumbers, and zucchini, and lots of sunflowers. Lettuce and tomatoes will spend their time in the greenhouse. (It's our only way of getting ripe tomatoes in our climate.)

Oh, and I noticed the "Poet Daffodil" has bloomed. It's smaller in size than "regular" daffodils, but so pretty.

 

 

I can't recall if I mentioned I'd ordered more fancy daffodils in different colors. We'll plant them this fall and enjoy them next year. Since daffodils seem to be the only bulb flower the critters won't eat, I might as well plant them all over.

 

Smitty was enjoying relaxing in the shade of the cherry tree.

Mike was tilling the garden when I took this photo of Sadie, and he was making quite a bit of noise. Her inner scaredy cat was at odds with her desire to roam free. She stayed on the deck, close to the door.

Back inside, I made good on my threat to bake a Dutch Apple Pie for National Apple Pie Day. It was practically a requirement.

And then, I went to work sewing the binding on the Dancing Chickens and Flying Pigs quilt. I like the looks of that binding.

And now, it awaits my return downstairs. I've turned two corners, and I'm about one-third of the way around the quilt now.

We're expecting even warmer weather today, and so we're taking it pretty easy with outdoor chores. Mike is out futzing with his automatic sprinkler system. We had a plan to go to Alaska pre-pandemic, and then changed our plans when it became too difficult to cross into Canada. Now our "Fifty-Fifty" trip to Alaska is planned for 2025. It'll be our fiftieth state during our fiftieth year of marriage. I hope we both maintain our health until then. Still being alive would be a definite bonus. Okay, and all of that to say he worked out this watering system that is electronically programmed to water certain areas at certain times of the day, and for certain lengths of time. He's just now getting it set up for the season, but he's been having a little trouble getting it to respond to its electronic commands. I have no doubt he'll get it figured out.

Later today we'll head over to Erik and Mae's house for dinner. It was sweet of them to offer. Mae's mother will be joining us too. She's a nice woman, and I haven't seen her for quite a while. I'm also looking forward to seeing what Erik and Mae have done in their yard. Erik tells me it's all spruced up. Gardening is just one of the many passions they have in common. 

 Okay, so that's it from me today. I hope you have a lovely day.