They had hearts for Valentine's Day and shamrocks for St. Pat's and now this. What will be next? Can you mix a Pagan symbol with Memorial Day and flags? We'll see.....

I am still using Windows XP and have no plans to stop. I'll use my droid whenever possible, but there are some things I can only do on the computer at this time. Typing long paragraphs on mybloggers is one of those things and the main one I'm not suppose to talk about. But now that you're curious, I'll say that it involves scanning something every day for a study. Nothing really exciting, just that the people who supply "the something" can't know that I'm involved in studying the process.

Winter is not letting go around here. In every year since I've had the fireplace insert the burning season was over by now (except for '07). I've been letting it go out at night and starting a new fire the next evening. It's supposed to go below freezing again tonight, but the fire is already all but out. Oil will take over in the morning and if the sun finally comes out the house stays warm during the day without burning anything.

Garlic and horseradish and tiger lilies are beginning to sprout now that I have removed the mulch that was protecting them. I hope I didn't remove it too soon, although plants usually know what they are doing. It's the late spring unexpected hard freeze that usually damages whatever is alive. We lost the apple crop two (or 3) years ago when the frost killed the blossoms. Hopefully we'll have a productive season this year. We deserve it after the wickedly chilly winter.

Plans for 4C Camp for Adults are coming together! A dozen or so workshops are already confirmed and some of them are what I want to participate in. I had this idea that Camp rebuild/refurbish the benches that the dog walkers use on the walking trail at the local shelter. The idea was approved as a camp-wide project and the materials will be donated by local suppliers. Community building is what we're abut and building can be taken literally in this case.

Another interesting workshop I attended last year was about cemeteries and tomb stones. It turned out to be really fascinating--who did the carving, how the stones were moved in the 1800 over dirt roads, who resides at the cemeteries and much more. The instructor said last year that she'd ask for an additional hour so we can visit more local rural cemeteries.

So, a few more days of waiting for spring. I have to put new running boards on the truck (so Donna can get into it) and change the oil in the tractor and other fun stuff. But I just enjoy being outside no matter what I'm doing. We burned so much wood this winter that I'm trying to get a tri-axle load that I'll cut and split myself. Even if I can't keep the chain sharpened up to standards I'll still save a ton of money even if I have t buy and extra chain or two. They cost less than $20 on Amazon with free shipping.

Well, that's the scoop. Sometimes boring is best--I'm too old for drama.

Happy late winter!