It is coming...

Although it is 27 degrees as I type this, spring really is just around the corner. You can feel it. The wind still has a bite to it, as it should in February. But this has been an exceptionally mild winter for central Indiana. In the first two photographs above, there are ducks in what appears to be the beginnings of a pond or lake. That is the view out my living room windows, which face south. My property line is about 12 feet from the house. My neighbor, a nice person, does nothing with his yard except mow it. Because this winter was very wet as well as mild, the "lake" is now 3 times larger than it was last spring when I took these photographs.

So. I could try and speak to this gentleman, but he is not particularly social or accessible. My plan, this spring, is to get a load of dirt and build up my own property up to the property line. I hope to create a berm of sorts, then cover it in mulch and plant something. I want a dividing line between my land and this low area. On my side of the berm I will put down more mulch and have a stone path leading to my garden shed. The grass doesn't grow well on that side of the house, so it is not worth the continuous effort to maintain it. Without saying anything to my neighbor (I hate confrontations), my hope is to guilt him into doing something, anything, with this problem.

Sneaky, yeah I know. But if this depression in the land gets any deeper, my house is going to be swimming. His is far from this area and sits higher.

The second set of photographs are my flowering crab apple tree out front. I love the blossoms in spring. They don't last long, but this is right outside my kitchen windows in the front, and the sight of the blooms always raises my spirits. It is the flag that says the seasons have changed.

Enjoy your day.
Linda