The start of spring

God, somehow even with warmer-than-usual weather this winter seemed interminable. But today, a week into spring, our first daffodil bloomed.

Hopefully the warm weather is here to stay -- we're ready to garden and spend some time outdoors.

The first lil' seedlings

Here are some of my first plantings.

In the middle are French marigolds -- they were planted around five weeks and have been growing quickly. On the right are more of the same marigolds, planted three weeks ago. On the left are seedlings planted one week ago that have yet to sprout -- daisies.

We're lucky because the majority of our windows are southern-facing, but we've been moving the plants around the house so they can get the most sunlight possible. I planted them all in Burpee seed-starting formula and then transplanted the first batch of marigolds into more seed-starting formula in peat pots. Not so sure I like the peat pots though, they seem to dry out quickly.

A room with a view

So, a few weeks ago when I began to notice a piece of flashing popping off the sill of one of the windows on the East side of the house I thought, no problem, I'll just pop it off, replace the lower moulding and we'll be golden. Yeah, right. Upon further inspection it was clear that nothing was left of the sill -- or the rest of the structure surrounding the window. Wood just crumbled in my hand. Twenty hours and countless mistakes later we are nearing the completion of my first completely rebuild window. Exhibit A:

Having never undertaken such a venture, I'll be interested to see how long this thing lasts. For the past few weeks we've had a sheet of plywood as a substitute -- a feeble attempt at trying to stem the unending wind that seems to have settled in the valley recently. I replaced the glass and reglazed the windows and should get those back in place by Saturday, right when the weather starts to get warmer.