I woke up the other morning around 5:00 a.m. and could not get back to sleep. This is not an unusual experience for me. I usually hate just lying there waiting to drift off into a little more slumber before I need to get up. But on this morning I found it rather pleasant. The neighbor’s rooster was crowing every now and then; the peepers were still singing; and an owl was hooting in the woods. We don’t normally hear owls so it was extra special to hear it.

And what about those crazy peepers? We don’t normally hear them until late April/early May but for the past week we’ve been hearing them and they are getting more numerous by the day. Yes, Spring certainly is eager to get going this year.

While out in Mia we could see the pinkish-red fuzzy blur of the popped maples everywhere we went. In our woods there is an ever-so-slight tinge of green from the undergrowth starting to leaf out.

The forsythia bushes have clusters of plump buds just waiting to burst open in an explosion of yellow happiness.

I took advantage of the warm weather yesterday to rake part of the big flower bed where the forsythia is planted, and also to clean out all the leaf clutter from the day lily bed in the rock bed by the pool.

Here is a before, during, and after photo of my hard work on the day lilies.

The rest of the large bed and all the ferns in the rock bed still need attention, but at least it’s a start. I might just get out there this afternoon and do a little more. They really need the extra attention this year as last year I had injured muscles and was unable to do much yard work so the beds were left pretty wild.

The warm weather has also brought out the cherry blossoms in Branch Brook Park a few weeks early. Here they are last year. I hope to talk Rick into taking a long lunch on Friday and going there for a few hours to get some photos since it’s supposed to be a pretty nice day. I love the cherry blossoms!