All the amaryllises are blooming at once! Aren't they gorgeous?
Especially this double one:
It's actually more coral than this; I had the flash on (because I forgot to take these until late afternoon) so the color isn't true.
There are crocuses outside, and daffodils in bud:
We should have blooms tomorrow or the next day! It's early for them (the ones in the yard won't be blooming for another couple of weeks), but these are in a bed on the south side of the house, where they get light reflected from the white siding.
Rhubarb is beginning to poke up, too; I can see the red crowns just breaking the ground. And the feverfew made it over the winter, too—it's in the middle of the rhubard bed, and must be moved as soon as it's warmer.
The first of the seed orders is here; soon it will be time to turn the chickens back into the goat lot, clean the chicken houses (oh, what fun! I can hardly wait!) and spread the straw/manure on the garden to be tilled in before we plant. There are several wheelbarrow-loads of peed-on straw in the goat lot, too. (Hey—free fertilizer is not to be despised!)
And radish season is coming . . .
Let's see, what else good is happening?
My electric bill went down $20; I didn't use the dryer last month (well, except for one time when the bathmats didn't get dry, because I was dumb and hung them on the back porch drying rack instead of on the clothesline). It's still higher in the winter, because we have a small heater in the wellhouse where the jam is stored, and lights in the chicken houses, but it HAS gone down.
The gas card bill for last month was only $85, down from $125 the month before—I have pretty much quit going out other than the one day I go and run whatever errands are unavoidable, and John doesn't go as far for coffee now (the coffee shop where he used to go every day to meet his cronies is closed for a month or so for renovations—the plumbing leaked and rotted the floor joists—so they are stuck with the Waffle House, which is a lot closer). Of course, it will go up again in May when the tailgate begins and we drive to Black Mountain every Saturday . . . but hopefully we'll make enough to offset the increase.
My hair has finally gotten long enough for me to stick it up in a ponytail! It's not particularly flattering, but it's out of my way, and that's what I'm interested in.
The ginger root that I've been patiently (well, maybe not quite so patiently) nurturing for the past month or so has finally sprouted! If you look very, very closely at the pot of dirt, you may see a tiny greenish pointy thing in the center . . . At this rate, I may possibly have an actual plant by 2009.
I finished Riley's fleece pig (pink and blue plaid); pictures tomorrow, before I mail it.
There's a doll in the works—not yet, but I'm thinking on her. I have a lovely pile of blue and red prints, and a red and white stripe for her legs. (Also, I found a pretty little blue and white stripe today at Hancock—perfect for doll legs!)
We went to Hancock today to look at patterns (on sale, naturally)—I want to make Eliza a pair of bell bottoms. The closest I could find was slightly flared, so I settled for that until I can look online. When we got home, I cut out her pants (blue and peach flowers and butterflies) and a top to go with them, and a dress for her from some vintage polyester. (Yes, I know 'vintage polyester' sounds odd, but this is some that John's mother had had for ages; it's that lovely smooth thin knit. I remember having dresses made of it when I was in high school, which was longer ago than I am prepared to disclose. She gave me two pieces; this one is a coral-ish small flower print on a beige ground, and looks pretty and antique-y. The other is . . . well, pretty ugly. Maybe it will look better if I stash it somewhere for a few months.) And I also cut out matching outfits for Bella, of course.
I also have a doll body drawn out and ready to sew up, and a little bitty fabric bear (made from the leftovers of Joseph the Rat's jacket), and I'm about to begin working on an embroidery project—it's a tote bag with an embroidered panel on the front; I had gotten everything together back in the winter, and just never got around to doing it. But today I bought a package of water-soluble stabilizer to draw the pattern on and embroider over, and we shall see how that works . . .
The embroidery is my evening project; I don't do a lot of machine sewing at night, for two reasons: one, I don't see all that well at night, and two, my sewing machine is right by the back door and if I'm over there, the cats all take it as license to wander in and out all evening. If it's warm enough to leave the door open, that's fine, but if I have to get up and let someone in or out every five minutes, I might as well just stand by the door and not try to do anything else! So I work on things I can do in my rocker, under the good light: crochet or embroidery, or reading, or holding cats . . .
I've finished half a dozen hats to send to the afghans for Afghans project, and I need to get them in the mail this week, too! (Picture tomorrow also, if I don't forget . . . )
And that's what's going on here . . . and there are always goats, of course!