SPRINGTIME 2022: Week 1 begins with Tuxedo the cat and his favorite bush, which last year (and again this year) was the first to bud out.

Here's my usual pond view from the deck.

This year, however, it's the entire pond, almost completely unobstructed. We've had a number of trees taken down and brush cleared as part of this year's landscaping project. We're hoping that as the trees leaf out, it'll be mostly canopy with a good view underneath as all the smaller stuff has been cut down and moved out.

Here's the barn and our (hopefully soon to be) new front yard. We had about 10 trees taken out, including (sadly) the massive pine tree next to the garage and the two oaks from which the grandchildrens' swings used to hang. This week, God willin' and the creeks don't rise rains don't come, the landscapers will be out to flatten, slope, and fill in with new soil so we'll actually have a yard. Then replace the fences and gravel in a new driveway.

For the first time ever: our creek! This picture was taken about halfway down the stair to the pond. It has always been so overgrown that even in the winter the creek was invisible from anywhere except the back side of the dam. The slope of the mountain is too steep to see the creek from ground level at the house, but from the loft we now have a great view.

Here's Tuxedo on the pond freeway as I look back at the house from the same place the previous picture was taken. All the trees/brush that obstructed our views have been taken out, and I'm very slowly cleaning up the litter into 'erosion control' dams.

Here's what it looks like from the pond's dam. You can see the downed tree trunks that I'm moving ever so slowly at the left toward the bottom of the picture. As I mentioned to my neighbor, "that slope is approaching, if not over, 45 degrees (and I'm not yet at the really steep part). If I'm clearing from the topside, I'm sitting facing downslope; from the other side I'm kneeling facing upslope. If I'm upright, I'm praying to be sitting or kneeling...."

Here's a pretty good view from across the pond. To the left is the untouched part of our property -- generally speaking, on the other side of the creek from the house, and on the right is the cleared area. It would be nice to clean up that area that still obscures some of the house, but as a practical matter it would take a major investment in heavy equipment just to get in there....

Finally, a last picture from the pond, looking across to the fountain. The buds in the foreground are (I think) from a small, lonely tulip magnolia growing right at the edge of the pond.

Here are last year's opening pictures for those interested. Come back next week as spring continues....