Catching up

I couldn't upload my photos the last few days, so this is several days of catching up...........
I have new friends on the morning walk. We walked a little further the other day and these guys (girls?) came loping up to the fence to greet us. Such sweet faces. It's been "cool" and "breezy" the past few days, so quite brisk for our walk. Still doing 4+ miles every morning except Sunday - our day of rest!
These dainty flowers look like someone has scattered the hillside with toilet paper, so we call them TP flowers, but they are really called Sand Lily, Star Lily, Mountain Lily, or Star of Bethlehem - take your pick. Here is a closer shot of them.
Dean rented a neat little machine over the weekend to drill holes for the fence posts. It's kind of like a huge rototiller with an auger on the front. A lot easier to use than a Bobcat. It doesn't do as well on the hardpan, though, so will have to cement in a few of the holes. Here, Bill is keeping a close watch on Dean......... It's difficult for Dean to see in the front where the auger is going, so Bill guided Dean as to where to dig.
Larry came out on his bike (the motor kind...) and arrived just in time to help Dean with "a little problem" (you'll have to ask Dean about that - I'm not tattling) and also help load the monster (now it becomes big, instead of a neat little machine - probably weighs close to a ton?)
Sorry, Larry, I couldn't afford that new lens, but Photoshop has an X just for you!
We've been acting as doggie day care this week since Joyce's Dad, Poppy, has been in the hospital all week. They're not sure what the problem really is at this point, but he was passing a lot of blood. Exploratory surgery and Cat scan revealed nothing. Bill and Joyce, needless to say, have been spending most of their time at the hospital and we have been watching Bentley. Dean and I were out setting some of the poles the other day and the dogs were playing pretty hard, so everyone was pretty pooped out.
Bentley has become pretty comfortable here.
Life goes on here at the ranch. Dean is gone for a few days, so I'm trying to get some things done. The garden isn't ready to plant yet - no fence to keep the little dear deers out - so I am planting a few things in pots that can be planted before the last frost. We have a fiarly short growing season, so gotta be careful reading packages. I am really anxious to have the fence in so I can plant some color out front. It seems like the deer really enjoy munching on colorful things!

Gals Rule!!!!!!

Girls win, girls win, girls win!!!!!!!
Yep, Carol and I beat Larry and Dean at Sequence. They came for dinner on Saturday and we played 4 games and we won 3 of them - close, yes. But I'm pretty stoked anyway. This is my new little friend. He (she? - can't tell without getting in the fence - which I won't....) comes up to the fence every morning as we're walking by. I go over and give him (her?) a scratch. Cute little thing - but awfully lonely. He (she?) is at about 1 and 3/4 miles into our walk, so a nice break.
We've had a dusting of snow again several mornings. This little group was out for their morning walk, too.
Working on the garden
Got a load of mushroom compost, a big load of nice planting soil, and then this huge load of well aged horse manure. Things will grow really well.
Poor Dean - taking a break from rototilling in the manure. That's the nice planting soil on the left, and the manure tilled in the raised bed at the bottom. Since I don't have a fence yet, I can only plant in last years fenced area, so put cauliflower, broccoli, and cabbage in there for now. Have several other things starting in the house - just waiting for the weather to cooperate.
As a side, we're going down to "the hole" (aka the Sandbagger) this Friday night to hear the local guys do their version of the Eagles song "Seven Bridges Road" They are amazingly good.

The Easter photos

Supposed to rain today - I kinda hope it does - the plants can use some water and it will bring more wildflowers out. Today will be a short town day, so nothing exciting to blog.
Jim sent over a couple of photos taken at Easter - with his new camera!!! (A Canon, no less....)
L-R - Mike, Greg, Denise, Dean, Sue, Janet, Jim
And here is a basket of freshly decorated easter eggs. Bright and sunny - though the day certainly wasn't.

Driving in the Snow - Working in the Garden

We traveled over the pass to Salem on Sunday morning so the guys could check out the gold show. Wouldn't you know it - when we got up, it was snowing. We had to drive in it for about 2 1/2 hours before it turned to rain. Tripcheck reported 153" at Santiam Pass on Sunday morning. This was the view most of the way. Our mascot Murphy rides with us in the green Element which is nicknamed Murphy. Our Irish friend, LA named it for us! The trees in the background are from a forest fire several years ago. A very big one. They used to look like the trees in the middleground. :( The ride back was fairly uneventful - other than it took us way longer because of #1 - people weren't prepared, #2 - end of spring break, #3 - people don't know how to drive. The folks going 20 mph need to get out of the way!! Or, put chains on. Or, better yet, get some decent tires.
So, after Sunday, it started to warm up - very gradually. Was 19º the last few mornings for our walk. Thought that was over......... By afternoon, though, has been upper 50's and low 60's. So, time to work on the garden! Yipee!! Dean built a couple of large raised beds.
I cleaned out last year's garden area. This is the retaining wal that was built, then came tumbling down (see Feb 2 post....)
The columbine is beginning to peek through
And the sedums are growing fast.