After working outside for about four or five hours yesterday, I am happy to report that I made it through the night without shoulder, wrist, or hip discomfort.  Yeah!!  Now.... to not get too cocky and overdo today.

Cliff installed the light-weight chicken wire dog-barrier yesterday on three sides of the vegetable garden.  We used some old stronger gauge pieces that had been saved from other projects plus the new wire.

 Later we'll pick up more and finish the lower end of the garden.  We have to invent an easy way for me to enter the garden safely.  The deer barrier ribbon is 30" from the ground and the new wire is 2' high just to keep the dogs and bunnies out.  Before the wire was installed, I just bent under the 30" barrier to do my gardening.  I have long legs and can stride over the 30 " deer barrier but that's really not a safe practice. To build an entry gate, we'll need to use a heavier/sturdier gauge than the chicken wire that we bought for the dogs.

Sour wood trees beginning to bloom.

Early morning sun greeting the Bleeding Heart.  This morning at 7 the temperature was 28.  The high reached 70 by 4pm.
Yesterday I removed the winter birdbath heater from the water, washed it and set it outside to dry.  Today that'll be stored away until next winter.

The glass birdbath came out of storage yesterday to be placed in the island garden along the path to the vegetable garden.  Potted kalanchoe began their spring growth weeks ago. I'll gently remove the leaves from the gardens when the frost danger has past.  Right now decaying leaves are busy at work protecting plants, providing nutrition and preventing soil erosion, and birds find delicious bugs hiding under them.  We drive some of our neighbors crazy because Cliff doesn't blow every leaf out of the forest. 

To increase pollination of our gardens, I bought a bee house. Right now it's hanging on the south side of the house but needs to be secured in a better place.  It's suppose to attract leaf cutter bees and mason bees which are power pollinators.  Selecting a beneficial location is perplexing.  It needs morning sun near the desired gardens and protection from the wind.  Being surrounded by mature trees poses a problem when trying to locate the best place for my bee house.

Every spring we have at least one bat, that we know of, that hangs on our back porch.  Bats are welcomed here to eat mosquitoes and other insects but they leave their mess on the porch walls and on the floor.  Cliff fastened a new bat house about 12' up this oak tree for me.  As many as fifteen bats can inhabit one house or our one can pretend it's a castle and have it all to himself.