I know it's been a long time - my apologies to everyone - but we arrived back from Australia on Wednesday evening and have been trying to get life back on an even keel ever since. Trust me; jet lag is a nasty thing by itself, and dealing with head colds is making the experience SO much more fun. I have to show up at work tomorrow morning and I just know I'm going to be expected to come up with some brain function - I'm not looking forward to it!
We left Canada in the middle of March when the snow was just beginning to melt and came back to no snow and full green grass. The trees are just beginning to leaf out, but that won't take long with the temperatures in the low 20's. Glen puttered around in the shop on Friday and got my lawn mowers and garden tiller ready for the season. He even went out and tilled the garden twice that afternoon. If I work up the energy today I'm going to put some potatoes and onions in, and hunt down what garden seeds I have left from last year to see what I need to buy for the rest. The ground is still fairly cool so there is no hurry, though. Our garden experience in Australia was enlightening - they plant garden veggies year round. The backs of the packages tell when is the most opportune time to plant the different types, so Wayne was planting a fall crop while we were there - the peas that he planted were a week from blooming when we left; they had been in the ground maybe 3 weeks.
Today Glen has gone out to harrow down the manure lumps on the hay ground left by the barn cleaners last fall. He spread some fertilizer yesterday too, I guess he's trying to get back into "farmer mode". It sounds like he will be being called back to oilfield work very shortly as spring break-up is over and the rigs are starting to roll again. This afternoon we are going to head into town for a spring auction sale - not that we have anything we want to buy (although there are always those surprise impulse buys that turn up) but it's always a great visiting day.
We left our bred cows under the care of Glen's niece and her husband and it sounds like everything went well for them. Our son, Mitchell, was in charge of the bulls and horses here at the yard, and that went fine too. The pastures are starting to green up and the duggouts are full, but there isn't a whole lot of ground moisture. We sure could use a couple of inches of rain to keep the grass growing.
Well, it's time to think about meal planning. I've been free from that chore for a long time and it appears that I could get used to that! Or maybe my apathy toward food at the moment is just because I can't smell anything and my energy level is at zero ...
