and yet it is still fun to dream

     The geraniums in the kitchen windowsill are in full bloom once again.  Their bright red blossoms make it seem more like summertime instead of the cold winter season that waits just outside the front door.  I enjoy seeing them and remembering how each of them started out as just a tiny little plant in a 4-inch container.  For two years now they have made it, just like me.

     It's taken a lot of trial and error (plus some blood, sweat, and tears) to get plant life established here in the soil of Colorado.  I've had to get used to the fact that our season to grow things here is different than back home in Kansas.  The higher altitude, differences in climate, and lest I forget, the clay-filled soil around our house all have presented a challenge or two.  
     Nature's creatures have also caused us to do battle, especially true of the ground squirrels from last summer.  One by one each and every pepper plant that we put into the ground nearby the house was mowed down by a renegade band of those pesky rodents.  Finally we purchased a trap, baited it and waited for someone to pay a visit.  I lost track of how many of them we actually caught and then took out into the wild to release.   We used the trap all summer until one day in late July we caught something different than we were used to seeing.  It was a creature of the black with white striped kind and after that, well after that we decided that we'd done enough trapping for the season.  We never put more peppers into the ground but we were thankful that at least they stopped munching on our basil, one of their original "help yourself to the Renfro's fresh veggies" treats.  It turned out very beautiful once those stupid things left it alone.

     The seed catalogues continue to arrive each and every day in our mailbox, enticing us to sit down and dream of what we'd like to plant in the months ahead.  Although I have said now for two growing seasons that I will never put another seed into the ground again, only to watch it not make it, I know that I probably will.  Our plan is to have lots of herbs that can be grown in large pots on our front deck and a few veggies in raised beds near the house.  The area along the alfalfa field is great for putting in perennials that will bloom and grow all summer long.  I may throw "caution to the wind" and even give Russian Mammoth sunflowers a try here once again.  After last summer's quite dismal attempt to get them started I had said to Mike that never again would I waste the money, time or effort to get those beautiful specimens of Helianthus annus growing. I changed my mind a few days back as I was sorting through some photos that I had stored up on my computer.  When I saw this one, I realized that maybe I should give it a try once again.  Who knows?  Maybe the third time will be a charm.

Summer of 2013~one of seven that made it out of over a gazillion seeds planted by a very homesick and lonely flatlander (that'd be me).
     According to the calendar we are down to the final 62 days or so until the arrival of Spring, yet even when that magical day arrives we cannot just start throwing seeds in the ground here.  Around here folks look to the mountain called "Horsefly" and when the peaks are barren of snow then is it safe to plant.  I can see that gardener's "helper" right outside of the kitchen window and according to what it looked like yesterday, I figure we have a little bit more than 62 days to wait.  We will need to wait and wait we shall.

But in the meantime, it is still fun to dream.

Two kids from the "land of long ago and far, far away".  They grew up, changed and when they least expected it found one another again.  We are alive and thriving here in the Rocky Mountains of southwestern Colorado.