I Heart Spring

Spring is in full swing around here now.  The first sprigs of lily of the valley started blooming this week!

It smells amazing.  There are a lot of blooms that haven't opened yet, so I'll be enjoying them as they open over the next several days.  I couldn't resist cutting this first bloom and bringing it inside to enjoy.

The peonies are getting closer to blooming, too.  We've had 2 1/2 inches of rain in the past 5 days (after a very dry winter and early spring) and are getting lots of sunshine today, so I think they will do great.

Come on, bloom already!  I'm impatiently waiting to drool over you! :)

Not to be left out of the spring excitement, Harlee got herself a haircut today.

In the winter, when we don't shave her, her whole body is the color of her head.  But once we shave her long fur off, her undercoat is much lighter.  In the past, she has not been such a fan of getting shaved and would sit there and shake while I did it.  But today she seemed to enjoy it and even rolled over onto her back to let me shave her belly.  I think she liked the way it felt?!  Silly dog.

I don't know if shaving her helps her feel cooler (it probably does, since we get rid of all the dark fur) but it makes finding ticks on her a lot easier, and it keeps her from shedding so much when she's inside, and it makes bathing her easier when she gets all muddy, so that's reason enough for me.

Several people have asked how Harlee and Cassidy are adjusting to each other.  Actually, they've both done much better than I anticipated.  I was not at all worried that Harlee would try to hurt Cassidy in any way, but I was worried because Harlee does not like loud noises and tends to get really scared by them.  I figured when we brought the baby home and she cried, Harlee would get scared and run.  Instead, Harlee usually wants to stay pretty close, and if Cassidy really gets to wailing she will look a bit annoyed, but not scared.  Sometimes if I leave the room and Cassidy starts crying, Harlee will come find me and look at me as if to say, "Will you come do something about the tiny human causing all this noise?!"  

I was also worried that Cassidy would wake or startle when Harlee barked (which she does any time the mailman, FedEx man, UPS man, or any piece of farm machinery drives in our yard).  Instead, Cassidy usually sleeps right through Harlee's barking.  I'm not sure how, because she is a really light sleeper, but for some reason she seems to be able to totally tune Harlee out.

So overall I would say they are doing much better with each other than I thought they would!  I hope they'll become friends when Cassidy gets a bit older. :)

New Life

Every year at this time I remember exactly why spring is my favorite time of the year.  And spring on the farm is extra wonderful!  Here's a peek at everything coming back to life in our yard.

The lilac bush is starting to bloom.  I think a few cold nights have kept it from blooming as much as it would have otherwise, but I'm happy to still have blooms.

The peonies are up and growing and LOADED with blooms that haven't opened yet.  I can't wait for them to open, and unless we get more cold weather that damages the blooms, I think we are going to have a lot of them!

The lily of the valley is coming up too, although it seems a bit slow.  I need to go pull all the dead stuff from last year out, that would probably help it grow faster.  But there is a pretty good reason I'm not getting much yard work done these days (see last picture below).

And by far, our favorite new life on the farm this spring is sweet baby Cassidy, who joined our family on March 19th.  She's a very good baby and is rarely fussy, but we are still a bit sleep-deprived. :)  Hopefully in the next few weeks we will get into more of a routine, but for now we are taking frequent naps (when she lets us) and enjoying lots of baby cuddles.