No, we didn't all of a sudden adopted two giant dogs but we're dog-sitting our landlord's for a couple of days! 
With us living on the property we are the ideal sitters of course and we're more than happy to take care of these two. 
They're sweet and easy-going and since they're running free they really don't need much more than a little walk around the property in the morning and evening, just for fun, and of course their chow ... a lot of that, yes please!

Still more and more flowers are popping up. These wild, white roses are growing in the ditch along our road and are flowering profusely:

My own 'garden', which basically consist of a whole bunch of pots in all shapes and sizes, is doing really well this year (so far).
That French lavender is very happy, as well as the red rose and, in contrast to last year when they didn't have any flowers, the lupine and hollyhock are starting to flower as well.

 

 

All the day-lilies I dug up from all around the property are each sending out several flower-stalks! 
They're 'just' the common, orange ones but I like them nevertheless!

I'd kept my eye on the hanging baskets being offered in town but they all wanted more for them than I was willing to pay (I know, I'm cheap, but seriously .. $29?).
So I decided to make my own. I had kept several of the 'baskets' from last year and filled them with pink Surfinias, white Verbenas and a few blue Lobelias. 

 

Very pretty, if I say so myself, and only $30 for both!

My vegetables are still barely hanging in there, not growing much, I'm trying to stay positive that they might take off when it gets warmer ..
The strawberries in one of my baskets surprised me though by not only making it through the winter, but actually starting to bear fruit! Yeah!

                                                          

Here's something funny .. last year we had swallows nesting in the owl-boxes that are hanging on both sides of the grey barn next to us, which was interesting enough ..

   

And this year we have a couple of starlings that took over this prime piece of real-estate!
I'm trying to catch them flying in, or out, but so far I only have this one shot of one peeking out, before taking flight.

                                               

My camera has a hard time focusing at the moment, James has promised to look at it for me but he's very busy with appraisals at the moment .. which is good of course, but bad for my picture quality .. oh, well, patience dear Watson.

He did work on the car though, I guess that takes precedence as well ..
The roof-rack was starting to rust and leave brown stains on the car so he'd taken it off, sanded and repainted it, and it was ready to be put back on:

                            

The BBQ is starting to get more use now we're warming up for the season and this memorial weekend we made a grand slam for brunch ..

We're trying out some different plant-based sausages and meats at the moment and these breakfast-sausages are not bad at all!

                               

         

In the evening we had Prime-rib steaks for dinner .. you just can't beat 'real' steaks .. 
But we eat them sparingly!

I baked another sourdough bread .. once again following a different recipe than the previous ones. I'm still trying to find the easiest and best one and this one was near perfect .. I even got the coveted 'ear'!
(A "sourdough ear" is a flap of crust that forms on the top of a sourdough loaf while baking, often where it was scored. It's a visual indicator of a well-proved dough and proper oven spring, and it can be a sign of good baking techniques.)  

   

Other than that the week was rather uneventful.
I'm feeling much better, most flue/cold symptoms have gone although I still have a persistent little cough that probably will take some time to disappear and my stomach still cannot hold much before I'm full, bloated and sometimes vaguely nauseated.
(I'm starting to wonder if it is a side-effect from the St. Johns wort that I've started to take for my hot flashes (which were just not stopping, despite being far past menopause!
A common side-effect is nausea and upset stomach .. which would suck because it seems to work for the hot flashes!)

This is the start of my latest puzzle:

It is a birthday present from my mom, a crazy, comic one by Jan van Haasteren, a dutch cartoonist.
This one is called 'Not so wellness' and shows a whole bunch of (nearly) naked people in a wellness center/sauna!

Fun!