Spring Garden Cleanup

It’s warm enough to work outside now and I’ve been busy cleaning the garden. It’s nice and privacy to live in a wooded lot but certainly a lot of work having to clear the leaves around the house, otherwise we’ll get a lot of slithering visitors.

I saw several in the garden and most are baby brown and black snakes. I used to be so afraid of them, but thinking now they are probably afraid of me more.

We had a lot of trees down this winter, hope to make good use of them in the garden as planting bed borders.

I can’t remember the name of this plant now, but I think it’s in the Swiss chard family. It tolerates both cool weather and heat and survived the cold weather in our area.

The mints survived the winter as well but still doesn’t have the strong minty aroma yet.

The spring flowers came out at the beginning of March. I’m more of a vegetable gardener and not so much of a flower gardener, but so fortunate that the previous owner planted plenty of pretty spring flowers around the house. Spring is here, I’m just waiting for the weather to get warm enough to start planting in the garden.

Happy Chinese New Year

The year of the Rooster flew by and it was a challenging year for me having to start a new job and adjusting to the unfamiliar new work environment. It took me almost a year to learn the culture and establish my credibility, looking back now I’m glad that I switched job and so much happier at the new place.The Chinese New Year for 2018 arrived on February 16, 2018, it’s the year of the Dog. According to the Chinese Horoscope theory from Chinesefortunecalendar.com, “Male Earth is connected to the mountain. Dog mainly contains Male Earth with little Metal and Fire. The sign of 2018 Male Earth Dog year is two mountains sit side by side or another mountain beyond a mountain. That will be a strong Earth. People will focus on real estate, agriculture, environment, territory integrity or religious, spiritual area. 2018 is a Mountain Dog year. Mountain Dog might be a wild dog. It could block your way out. That implies you might encounter some obstacles before executing your plan. You need to use your wisdom to remove the blockage first, then you will see the wide-open road.” This sounds like another challenging year for me.

We have our Chinese New Year tradition, my dad paid homage to his ancestors on Friday, I went by to photograph for him after work.

It’s an exciting time of the year for the kids, Lee said that it’s like receiving a paycheck. My dad, sisters and I gave her money in the red envelopes.

Exciting time for my niece also.

It’s a small decoration but sure makes the room more festive.

We went out to eat at a Chinese restaurant on Saturday, certainly beat having to cook.

I found some interesting reading here of what is expected for the year.

Snow

This is one of the coldest winters and we had our first snowfall for 2018 yesterday. We got more than expected and didn’t have to go to work so I’m out and about photographing the snow.

The chicken and ducks are cold and they have to be well-fed to keep their bodies warm, they also fly back and forth to keep their bodies warm.

The snowfall overnight and made the net very heavy.

The ducks don’t mind staying outside in the cold, but I’m sure they can’t wait for Spring and warm weather to arrive.

The chickens stay inside the cope and only come out to eat.

I’m happy to see the snow but can’t wait to work in the garden again.

Max loves playing in the snow, and I enjoyed a day off from work. I went back to work today, the road was treacherous in the morning especially the secondary roads that were packed with ice. The drive home was not so bad, most roads were cleared.