Well I’d say that it’s about time to pack Winter away. As we were putting away our window decoration snowmen, getting ready for a Spring display, it occurred to me that it was time to talk about Spring and the outdoor jobs that need to be addressed this time of year. Mainly this means cleaning up the yard.
Starting with the biggest job, which for me was getting the “yard Jeep” out of the big field. You see, it’s been out there for about two months, after I got it stuck in about hip-deep snow while I was out 4-wheeling. I was afraid that if I went after it with the tractor that I would get that stuck too, so I figured the Jeep could just park there for a while. Now that the snow has melted (well most of it anyway), I thought that I could get it out. It fired right up without even a jump, and after a rocking a few times it came out under its own power. You just can’t keep a good Jeep down.
Now to the yard. My wife feeds the birds all Winter, and between the seed that they spilled on the ground under the feeder, and the water that spilled from the bird bath that froze on the ground, the whole area is surrounded by about a 6 six inch slab of ice filled with seed. It looks like we won’t have to clean that up as it seems an enterprising raccoon is doing the job for us. The last couple nights when pulling into the drive, my headlights have shown him (her?) carefully cleaning up under the feeder. As the ice melts each day, a new layer of seed is exposed for dinner. Sweet!
The next job is picking up all the sticks in the yard. There seem to be a lot of those, both from the trees and from the dog, Velvet. You see, Velvet likes to both chase and chew on sticks when she is out in the yard. Unfortunately, this Winter with all of the snow, she kept loosing her sticks in the drifts. She is pretty smart though, and she knows that when all the sticks are buried, there is one place that you can get a new one. Where? In the wood pile, of course! All Winter she has been raiding my wood supply and now that the snow is gone, the evidence is all over the yard.
Now then, your Spring clean up chores may not be quite as unusual as ours, but if you need any new yard tools for your jobs, we have a good selection at the old hardware store.
