We're 3/4 into April and it looks like the 'snow-birds' are back in town!
I spotted the first Goldfinch at the feeders yesterday and a couple of days ago I came across this Orange-crowned Warbler down Houser Rd!

Although not quite rare, it's rather rare to see one since they're really tiny and usually spend their time out of sight in the dense undergrowth of the forest.
Despite the color orange being in their name, you won’t likely see much of it, they only show off their orange crown when they get excited because the head feathers raise.

                             

This one actually did show some color. He was singing very loudly and most likely defending his territory against intruders .. me?
(Fun fact; a group of warblers is called a wrench, fall, 'confusion' (ha!), or 'bouquet' (cute!).

A group of Blue Jays, like this jaunty fella, is called a 'band' or a 'party'.
This one was by himself though, but he (band-leader?) got away with a peanut .. for the party?

 

 

I've been working on setting up a few 'raised beds'. I decided to try my luck with a few large plastic totes this time.
They're cheap, lightweight, pretty much indestructible and easy to take with us if (when) we ever move again.
 

I put some holes in the bottom and filled the lower 1/4 with old, dead branches (they'll break down/compost eventually) to save a little bit on soil :

                                   

Yesterday James had to go to town with the truck and took the opportunity on the way home to fill the back with a 5-ingredient bulk soil that he got at Wilco.
For $60 he got a cubic yard, which is a lot cheaper than buying the brand-named soil in bags!

 

I filled all three totes (all kinds of veggies), 2 smaller self-watering ones (rhubarb and zucchini), 4 black 5-gallon plastic plant pots (blue- and rasp-berries), and 2 smaller ones for tomatoes.
I still have a few large (sand) bags left over for future patio-pots and hanging baskets.

I'm dying to plant something but my seedlings in the greenhouse are still tiny and the weather unpredictable. Better to be patient until mid- May or so!

Hard to see but they are there .. that's how small they are, I guess. What hasn't helped is the fact that the whole greenhouse fell over during a huge wind-gust this week.
I saved what I could but lost quite a few and besides that I don't have a clue what some of them are anymore since they all fell in a heap and lost their tags ..

This is the office, looking through the shed-part to the outside ..

             

James continues to work hard on the office in his spare time. We don't have too many appraisals going on at the moment (it's a feast or famine-thing), so there's quite a lot of that .. spare time I mean.

He put the insulation in ..

                           

                            This is the shed-part, looking in to the office part behind that ..

Followed by the inside wall-panels:

                        

The shed also got some shelves, for tools and pantry-stuff:                             

           

He also finally got the BBQ up and running. The bloody thing kept leaking gas but he finally figured out what caused it and fixed it, so all is good.
Let the summer grilling begin!

We christened the season with a nice fat steak .. which we (as usual) split:

A nice sweat potato with all the fixings (butter/sour cream) and a 'fiesta' veggie-medley of corn, peas and spicy fire-roasted tomatoes. Yumm!
Unfortunately we had to sit inside since the weather took somewhat of a turn towards dinner-time with plummeting temps and a cold wind ..

And since we ran unexpectedly out of bread, and I had to make something fairly fast for lunch, I tried my hand at baking Hamburger buns.
They were surprisingly easy to make and came out absolutely perfect. 'Winner, winner chicken dinner'!

OK. Another week done and over with. It's going to be my birthday next week! Time rushes forward at the moment .. probably because we are so busy .