Everywhere one looks, new life is evident

Driving around the countryside, it is evident we’ve had our share of rain. There are green fields everywhere. It’s also evident everything about spring is about to burst into full bloom.

It’s that time of year when gardeners are tilling and turning the soil while gearing up for spring planting.

Oh, yeah, the critters in the fields have multiplied and multiplied. It’s calving and lambing time and don’t forget the goats out there.

I drove to Manton and Paynes Creek the other day and bee keepers have their hives out and about all over the place.

My guess is the bees will be seeking nectar from clover flowers, manzanita and buck brush blooms and whatever else produces what the bees convert to honey.

It reminds me when I was a kid and my friend and I came across a bunch of hives. Boy we would have gotten into big trouble if our parents knew what we did. Yep, you guessed it, that honey was too much to resist and we just had to see what it looked like. Earlier in the day, we both enjoyed a sack lunch and fortunately we saved the sacks.

After lifting the lid on one hive, it was a gold mine. I’m telling you I have never seen so much honey and it was only one hive. Surely the “Great Hivemaster” wouldn’t miss a itsy bitsy piece of honeycomb, we thought. So, we broke off a chunk and put in the paper sack only getting stung once or twice maybe and high-tailed it for home, bees chasing us part of the way.

Whew, were we glad to get home. We sat down and devoured honey and stashed some away in a secret hiding place for later.

Sometime later we told our families about the incident robbing a bee hive and boy were we scolded — up one side and down the other by our parents. Needless to say we never considered going near another bee hive, between the scolding and the bee stings.

I never understood how bears could get honey from tree hives. I guess their outer layer is tough and they can’t feel the stings — poor bees.

Looking out my window at home, the view is, well, very green. The lawns are so overgrown I’m afraid that once it all dries out and we can mow, we might have to weed whack it before the lawnmower can do its job. I’m thinking use the push weed whacker the first time and get it down from the 6-inch to 8-inch height it must be now. The next time around, the lawn mower should handle it.

I almost lost a tree during these last few storms that have first saturated the ground, then produced strong winds. Root systems can only stand so much of both elements together.

Fortunately for my tree, it hasn’t produced much in the way of leaves. It only has small buds that aren’t so wind resistant.

But when I look around my yard, I see nothing but work, work and more work.

Everything in the driveway that I sprayed and killed last year is back again. That’s another part of yard work, the never-ending abundance of unwanted vegetation. Why can’t my vegetable garden do as well as the weeds in my driveway? Go figure.

I bought a new kind of tomato plant. It’s new to me anyway. I am hoping this Giant Belgium tomato will take off like the weeds and produce some nice fruit.

I prefer to consider tomatoes a vegetable, but in reality they are fruit, I’m told.

Right now I can’t even consider the barbecue machine all wrapped up for winter months and the lawn furniture, covered though under cover. The deck really needs a coat of something durable that won’t have to be redone next year. I’m thinking the stuff that you put in truck beds. Anyway I’ll look for something that will stay on those boards better than paint.

Well, at least we have some sunshine, for a while anyway. I hope it stays around long enough to give us some early growing season. With the price of food going up, a lot of folks will obviously be growing their own. It would be great if the Farmers’ Markets keep their prices lower than grocery stores.

If they do, that’s where I’ll shop.