Spring has Sprung!

(Today, I came accross this old post I wrote (March 2012) and had never published and decided to post it today on the second day of Summer 2013.)

So Although I wouldn't really call the weather we've experience in So Cal since last December Winter, we have truly begun to experience Spring here in the 10b hardiness zone. Our organic peach tree is in bloom, we started our annual major cleansing of the house, and the baseball season is in full swing ~ pun intended.

Just before St Valentine's day each year I pack away my collection of snowmen and bring out my Spring decor items. This year I couldn't face putting them all away, as it seemed too soon to say goodbye to Winter for another ten months. The daytime high temperatures have barely dropped below 70 all season, there hasn't been any early morning frost, and we hadn't made a trek up to Big Bear to the snowline yet. So I de-wintered the rest of the house, but I gave my snowmen & snow flakes safe harbor in my kitchen.

The first week of March I noticed our peach tree began to bloom, so I've been watering it daily. It produced many blossoms and it will soon be covered in organic white peaches.

Our vacuum cleaner went on the fritz sometime in February and we'd been meaning to take it to the repair shop, but hadn't. Then a Kirby representative showed up at our door one evening last week offering a free carpet cleaning demonstration. We let the young woman in apologizing for the fact that the carpet hadn't been cleaned in over a year and it hadn't even been vacuumed in almost a month! "No problem", she said and she demonstrated her wares. Three hours later we had learned enough about the Kirby vacuum to become sales people our self and we had a living room fit for company once again. Last Saturday we took our trusty 18 yr-old Kenmore canister vacuum to PALS our local vacuum dealer and repairman for service. The upright motor was no longer making the beater bar spin. After having seen the Kirby demo in our home and then learning about the Miele vacuums that Phil & Pete sell at PALS, along with the news that it would cost over $100 to fix our vacuum (the cord retractor was also on the fritz), it was obvious
it was time for us to invest in a new vacuum.

The day we brought home our new Miele Salsa upright canister vacuum, we gave it a stupendous work-out. Steve tackled the office, Ray vacuumed his suite and I removed the dust accumulated in our master bedroom with the fervor of a robin preening and repairing her nest for the chicks who are do to arrive any day. Next weekend we are looking forward to pulling our bed away from the corner to get at the year's accumulation of dust bunnies living behind it. It will be a good day to flip our mattress and give it a good cleaning as well.

I'm very excited that my little buddy Brovin has Joined the Dirt Bags baseball team! He tried out without having ever played the game at all before about three weeks ago. I agreed yesterday to be his designated driver this week on game day. I'll be picking him up after school and taking him to the ballpark and then joining the other parents & fans in the bleachers to watch his third game this Wednesday.

Yesterday, I got my hands in the dirt and planted a pot of succulents. I've come up with a plan for my front garden patch and have decided upon a bed of river rocks to play host to a bevy of potted plants. This spot takes full sun from about 11:00 am thru to sunset, so they'll have to be hardy and sun tolerant so I've chosen a variety of succulents, rosemary, lavender, and an assortment of Marguerites.
Before March 17th I'll take down the snowflakes off my kitchen window and I'll put away my snowmen salt & pepper set and Grandma Sally's snowman glasses. I'll retrieve my St Patrick's day decor and bring the Easter items to the front of their high storage shelf putting them "on-deck" for their annual pageant of celebration next month. But in the mean time, I'm going to continue to enjoy my winter wonderland in my kitchen.
;- )