Just like last year, the wild rose I dug up from somewhere on my landlord's property (with her approval of course), is flowering profusely. 
No scent, unfortunately ..

The weather has been very stable, temps in the high 60s, low 70s and no more frosty nights for quite some time now so I decided to buy my summer plants and warm(er) weather vegetables.
It wasn't until I came home with these cute little Million Bells, similar to mini-petunias, that I realized that my big hanging baskets in the front of the RV are actually planted with the same! They're in a different color at least so it's not very obvious. 

 

  

    

 

What were supposed to be my cold-weather vegetables, like lettuces, spinach  and arugula, are finally waking up (after I re-sowed them 3 times!) and are looking almost ready to eat.

 and I added some dill, basil and cilantro to my herb planter:

 

     

 

Those yellow dots by the way are marigolds, of which I planted two in each box. Apparently their strong aroma masks the scent of nearby vegetables, confusing pests like tomato hornworms and whiteflies. 
I can use any help I can get!

And those strawberries I planted so diligently in my 2 large, self-watering planters, raised on a table and covered with chicken wire so the chipmunks couldn't get them?

     

Well ... that didn't work squat! Already the next morning several of them (still green by the way) had a bite or two out of them!
So I took them out of those planters, which freed them up for a butternut squash and a honey-dew melon:

 

 

 

 

... and divided the strawberries over three hanging baskets I'd saved from last year:

  

 

 

Well, wwhaddayaknow? This time the birds started to peck on them! ... sigh ... so I had to bring out the %$#@! bird netting, that sticks to anything but what you want it to, and wrap them all up!
Who's next? Bring it on!

Sadly enough our landlord got a little carried away with his new big mower and mowed down 'our' wild grasses next to the RV.

 

          

Granted, they looked a little unruly but there was the occasional wildflower popping up and I liked the wind rippling through the high stalks ... oh well, we'll probably have a second growth!
Fortunately I picked some of the wildflowers before he did that, and there's a lot more of them in other areas, and brought them inside.

 

                                    

                                                   

The bees have been flying for a while now and my little bee-house has been used already by both the orchard-mason bees as well as the leaf-cutter bees:

 

                                                       

Masons on the left, cutters on the right ..
 

I've been on a shopping spree this week .. which is quite the adventure for me since I'm definitely not a big spender, but my mum had sent me some money for Christmas and I still hadn't done much with it so here it goes ..
First up; new hiking shoes and sandals! 
I've used Merrell's Jungle Mocs for years as my go-to winter shoes, and I love them, but I was looking for something a little more 'hiking' shoe now and found these, the Merrell Crosslander (top right):

 

                                                        
I love them! Very lightweight, very comfortable, surprisingly 'roomy' for the tootsies and with excellent traction!
I also splurged on new hiking sandals, the straps of my previous ones constantly slipped loose and although I added some Velcro to them they kept doing so.
I went for Walmart's Dream Pairs, a lightweight, comfortable sandal. Waterproof and best of all, the strap stays tight!

But wait, there's more ..
My hand-blender, which I used for our morning smoothies, gave up the ghost so I replaced it with a blender, something that has been on my wish-list for a while:

  

It works so much better for said smoothies, although I might still replace my hand-blender for a new one as well because this won't work for pureeing soup (in the pan) of course.

O, I almost forgot (I know, but I said I went on a spree), I got me a cute new reader case for my Kindle since my old one was falling apart:

This one has two nifty upgrades, besides looking so much cuter than my old, boring black one, it has slots for cards (library, etc.) on the inside and two strips there on the left side which create a stand when you want it upright.

 

                                           

So far I'm happy with all I got, everything fit just perfectly, I didn't have to return anything, which is quite a miracle.

To top all this off I'm planning to pick up this silverware set on Wednesday at our local Walmart:

                        

We're sick and tired of our old set, which has very heavy grips that always find a way to slide off the plates when bringing them to the sink after dinner or tip over the bowl or cup your spoon is sitting in, etc. 
These are supposedly well balanced and quite light, so out with the old, in with the new!

So .. thanks again Mum, I think I'm going to enjoy all of this for quite some time!

 
I also finally finished my puzzle. 
I love this one, although it took a long time to finish, which had more to do with how busy we've been of lately ..