Spring's Little Surprises

Happy belated May Day! We spent this past weekend in Santa Fe, NM and on May Day were hiking among the cliff dwellings in Bandelier National Monument. I will be blogging about our trip soon, and will probably be breaking it up into a few posts because there is so much to share! 

I have been meaning to share pictures of the flowers popping up in our yard this spring... it has been interesting to watch as this is the first spring we've spent in our new house. Everything is a surprise... now if I can just keep them all alive! I tried looking up the blooms I don't know with little luck. I'm going to have take pictures to our local nursery to learn more.

Daffodils, a little worn after the snow the night before...

Tulips, with it's poor leaves nibbled by the bunnies.

Bright pink tulips!

More tulips... with a view of the "lake" in the background.

Flowering tree (what kind?) outside our kitchen window! 

Beautiful! The buds are all blooming now.... need to take an updated picture.

Flowering bush in our front yard.  I think it may actually be a plum tree but not sure.

An unfocused picture of the pretty ground cover in our front yard flower beds. 

Earth laughs in flowers.  ~Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Hamatreya"

We also have a ton of bunnies, birds, and ducks around here along with a few snakes. Right after we moved in, a bunch of trees and ground behind our house (not IN our yard) were removed because it's supposed to be an area for water retention and drainage and apparently it was out of code for some time. I don't remember the lingo... but we were so sad and I was a bit (OK a lot) angry to see the trees ripped out. Never mind the fact that a few trees became many trees *sigh*. Well, now we have a pond... and a couple of weeks ago when we had a lot of rain, it was more like a lake. So now we joke that we have waterfront property! I have warmed up to our lake, as we now have Canadian Geese and ducks enjoying the water... Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of the geese yet. But here are a few that were taken in our yard.

Taken through a window since Koda (or me) would scare it away.

One of the many kinds of birds, not sure what kind it is yet.

This guy likes to hang out next to the garden bed.

We've found a few snake skins since moving in... which I think are cool. As long as they're not poisonous, I think snakes are a good thing (I know, I'm weird).

So what changes have you been seeing around your house this spring? I'm glad to say that the short bursts of snow we've had recently (which don't stick or melt quickly) haven't seem to damage our flowers. I haven't planted anything new yet... I'm waiting until mid-May when supposedly there is no risk of frost. I have plans for a vegetable garden, and pansies in our window boxes!