Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Do you remember getting pinched in school if you didn't wear green? Ugh!!!   I've got some Irish blood (among others - we're "mutts" in our family) -- that must be where Baby Girl got her red hair from.  She had red hair for a bit, as a baby - sweet, little, fuzzy, red hair that would tickle your nose when you kissed her sweet, little head!  We had the sweetest babies....  sigh.....
Today Baby Girl and Little Man are feeling icky.  They've got colds and are running fevers.  They still have school, though.  No breaks in homeschool!  They're snuggled in front of the fireplace in blankets reading, right now.  
Yesterday, they were putting a puzzle together.  Franny got home early from work and joined in.

Last week was pretty quiet because hubby was trying to nurse his cold.  He would seem better and then we would get out and BAM! it would come back, again.  Saturday was a really big work day - too big - because hubby felt a little worse and that's when the babies got sick, too.  But here's a little of our going's on:
We stopped off at an antique store that is closing for a couple of months and was having a big sale!  Yep, I bought a rusty old metal bucket -- and I've used it, plenty, this weekend.  SO much better than the cheap plastic ones....

This one's to collect cucumbers and zucchini and tomatoes and butter beans and purple hull peas...

This pan to shell those beans and peas in!  And we can weigh the bounty on this antique scale!!!

Hubby and Little Man built a little fence around what will be the watermelon/pumpkin patch -- AFTER hubby had tilled in more mulch and manure...

Isn't it so cute?!?!  I love it!  We're going to have to re-locate the patch when that Pecan tree gets bigger!

The lettuce is still growing! Yay!  I planted some Marigold, zucchini, and cucumbers in the bed.

The collards are still growing!

And the Alyssum is popping up!

I planted some Zinnia around the tree in the garden and in a planter.

A few more in the an egg carton and started some chives.

Just in case the ones I planted around the apple trees don't make it.  Chives are supposed to prevent apple tree scab.  Yuck.

Speaking of which, the apple trees are trying to bloom...

Baby Girl planted 3 more blackberry bushes - hubby bought more because the deer ate a few of the others.

And placed fresh mulch around the blueberry and blackberry bushes.

As well as around the peach trees,

which are starting to bloom....

I just love peach blossoms!

The citrus trees aren't looking so well.  The nursery said that they're still in shock and it's still too cold at night to plant them - so we're having to tote them in and out everyday to water and for the bees to pollinate.

All of this clay/sand mixture was spread out because of the poor drainage.  It's a HUGE help!  We're either going to bring in some topsoil and plant grass or let nature take it's course and the grass will grow up through it!   ?????

The hydrangea bushes are also waking up.  I'm glad they survived all the deer nibbling!

The hens still aren't laying but I bought white Easter eggs to add to their roosting boxes (I read about it somewhere!)  In the meantime....  here's Martha and Betty (Burt) -- we're not sure if she's a girl or not???

And Annie came to check on me while I was checking on the collards.... Bertha and Patsy ran up, too.  Patsy is the big trouble maker in the back - the jury's out on her, too.

Irene didn't want her picture taken.  I want to be mad at her, but I do the same thing if you point a camera at me..............while on the way to get my gun in retaliation for you're pointing a camera at me!

What's going on at your home?   Have you been enjoying your beautiful weather, too?!?!
Many Blessings ~ Julie