10 April 2026

Springing

Back in late March, the first blooms started showing up in the yard. Galanthus nivalis, commonly known as snowdrops, made their appearance in the bed on the south side of the house, where I expect to find the most warmth, and thus the earliest bloomers:

Then a few days later, the first Crocus vernus showed up in a front yard sunny bed.

Of course, that progress was offset by snow a couple of days ago, about a half an inch on Tuesday afternoon, and another inch overnight to decorate the Wednesday morning landscape:

Good news - that didn't even last the day, as it warmed back up into the 40's and melted off. But the raised beds are still pretty frozen, it'll be a few more weeks before I can start planting in those.

The seedlings in the basement are doing well, not big enough to photograph well, but the beans, the basil, most of the tomatoes, some of the flowers, and none of the peppers have started pushing up shoots.

Today was the second shorts day for walking the dog this year. And there's no 20's or snow in the long term forecast, for the first time this year. That doesn't mean we won't get more snow. I'd be surprised if we didn't. But progress is.

Three Weeks

Three weeks from today will be my first day in retirement. There's lots of paperwork and organizational dancing yet to do. Off corporate insurance and onto Medicare / Medicare Advantage, changing doctors and dentists for preferred staff and coverage under new insurance, etc. It's a lot to keep straight, but I'm pretty good at paperwork. 

Also in the near future, boat and trailer annual registration needs doing, but I won't be getting the boat out of storage until early May, so no rush there.