Spring, Spring, wherefore art thou, spring?

This is what I woke up to on Saturday morning:

SNOW!

We didn't get alot, but it was cold, only 19 degrees, and dreary. Luckily, the beautiful sunshine came out and warmed things up to the high 40's.

Our winter here in Colorado has been fairly mild, compared to other winters, where it dumped on us Big-time (think 2006). That was one of the worst I can remember, with 2 storm, back to back. It left us completely buried for days, and our roads a nightmare for weeks and weeks afterwards. I think my car is still suffering the effects of driving through snow sinkholes 2 feet across!

I thought I'd post a few pictures of my garden last year, for those of us who are suffering from Spring fever, and are sick of the cold weather. My snapdragons, delphiniums, and roses are my favorite, so full of bright, cheerful color.

I'm excited to get out in my garden and start planting. I am totally redoing 2 of my beds, by relocating some of my salvia (I had salvia overplanting issues last year!), and pulling out 2 large Russian sage, to let the Liatrus I planted there last year have some room.

The dang squirrels kept digging up the bulbs, after I planted them, and so I had to keep going out and reburying them! They could smell the fresh dirt all dug up, and knew something was going on, so they wouldn't leave the area alone!

This is not one of MY squirrels; when I went out to take pics of the 59 squirrels that live in MY yard, of course, there were NONE to be found! I borrowed one off of a squirrel picture website. Who knew there were so many squirrel fans out there?

I am an avid birder, so I have no fondness for squirrels anymore. Sure, they're cute when they frolick around the yard, with their stupid little antics, but when they destroy all my bird feeders trying to get the seed out, and gnaw their teeth down on my wood deck, and dig up and eat my bulbs, then they are on my black list!

I have baffles and deterrants on my feeders, but I am really limited on where I can place my feeders, due to the many trees on my property. My inlaws live out in the country, and they get those cute little ground squirrels, you know the ones that look like a chipmunk? They hate them , because they burrow tunnels everywhere, and ruin the lawn.

Today marked the return of Doves to my backyard. I have the Eurasian collared doves, and the mourning doves. I love the way they coo in the morning, so soft and sweet. Soon they will have babies, and bring them into the yard for food and water. Here is a baby from last year.

And a robin, freezing in our late spring snow!

The dove babies are so unafraid, that you can literally walk right up to them, as they are laying in the grass. They just stare at you, so cute and small. I'll post pics of them, when they are finally here. Just today in my yard, I've had Juncos, assorted Sparrows and Finches, Robins, 2 kinds of Doves, Black-capped Chickadees, Flickers, Blue Jays, and a few hungry squirrels. The juncos will soon be moving on, and we'll have spring migration moving through. What do you get in your yard during migration? Comment on your favorite visitor!

Hang in there, it's almost Spring!
(As promised, tonight or tomorrow I will post pics of all of the journals I made, covered with vintage paper ephemera.) I'll also do a short tutorial on how to make these darlings, so start scouring your local flea and antique store, for old paper things to use.