Is Spring here to stay till Summer?

Last fall after making an offer on my house, I came over and planted tulips in the front garden, something I have wanted to do for many years...

Here is a picture of them coming up with lime on the bed.

Here they are with flowers and buds.

Close up of the red tulip and the yellow bud.

And closer...

More flowers for the "Touch of Dutch"

Marigolds and geraniums.

Email from Kees and Saskia van der Meer...

This diary calendar was given to Grandma Jetske de Boer by J. Gerbensma de Boer on March 19th, 1912 in Langweer.

Grandma Jetske de Boer wrote on May 19th "Gerrit de Boer"

Grandma Jetske de Boer wrote on February 20th "Our son G. de Boer left for America, 1947"

Kees van der Meer wrote...

"Hallo Sidney,

As we were looking through Uncle sip's papers we found an old notebook with each day a special philosofical thought, dated Langweer, 19 march 1912 given by J. Gerbensma- de Boer to your grandmother

She used it for a long time ( till the end of the 1940's ) as a calander for special days like birthdays.

I thought maybe you would like to see 2 special days

1 .20 febr. It says : Onze zoon G de Boer vertrokken naar Amerika 1947 = Our son G. de Boer left for USA 1947

2 .19 may Gerrit de Boer ( Birthday)

3 . = frontcover of the notebook.

greetings kees"

Screen shot of the email from Kees on April 10th, 2011.

As the familiar lyrics of the song...

by Hank Snow..."I've Been Everywhere".

It all started with the State of Iowa and went from there to included all 50 United States of America states and ended with State of Rhode Island just yesterday (March 26th 2011).

Mango again...

Close

up

of

Mango on Colin's bed.

Mango has a charming personality with the curiosity of a cat.

Is spring coming?

Today, it was a pretty nice day, so I began to do some outdoor work, feels good, eh?

Behind the garage is a little garden shed:

but it had some rot around the doors from getting wet, so I took the doors apart and fixed them up, add a rain gutter. Here are the pieces:

and the final results:

Minnesota snow, just like in the U.P. this year...

Today, I took the task of scooping snow off the roof of the house, we have had so much snow, more than usual.

Here is the roof before (notice the depth):

and after:

The pile on the ground:

and snow blowing it:

Living room...

Living room before I moved in.

Living room after I hung sheers, curtains, curtain rods, and with couch, chairs, and lamps.

Now with rug... (see Grandpa's baby on the couch.)