Progress

Hooray--it looks like Blogger and my computer are cooperating again! Now maybe I can get caught up on my blogging. Quick, get this posted before they stop speaking to each other again!
In the last weeks,
--we bought and "installed" four large arborvitae bushes. We also ended up buying a flowering currant tree to put in the center of our garden. This tree was talking to B and me as we explored the wonderful Kimberly Nursery. What a great place--huge selection of trees and shrubs. They even had Daphne. (Daphne in South Central Idaho! I got to show B what spring smells like.) There were also two tire swings set up in the middle of the nursery. One was shaped like a horse and the other like an elephant. I set K on one of them while we waited for Brent to buy the tree and wrestle it out to the truck. She completely relaxed into the swaying swing, sucking her thumb and watching the wind whip the nursery's tent ceiling.
--B planted the currant tree too, but so far it hasn't bloomed. It's been just sitting there for the last couple weeks, shocked about being out the nursery's protection. We have also had several nights that have gone down to or below freezing, so it's trying to figure things out before it makes any moves. Just in the last days, a few buds have almost imperceptibly started leafing out. Here are a couple pictures of how things look now:

Bonus spring picture

--I've got all the flowers I picked out ordered. Twelve companies, over fifty plants. Unfortunately, the Mystic Meidiland rose is sold out and and the Salvia Rose Rhapsody is unavailable. I've been searching for replacements. Apparently the rose is one hot item this year. I can't wait for the part when I have all the plants all in the ground and I can tend and hover, watching for new growth, keeping the weeds down.
--Most of the seeds I ordered have arrived. I have planted the Whirligig Zinnia, Angel Hair Grass, Verbascum Southern Charm and Pacifica Burgundy Halo Vinca seeds indoors. (Can you tell that I like saying/writing plant names that I've learned?) I have very little experience growing things from seeds, especially starting them indoors, so we'll see how this goes. But good news, the Whirligig Zinnia and the Angel Hair Grass have sprouted!

--First prize goes to White Flower Farm for being the first to get my entire order of plants to the front door!
--Inside, I'm nearing the completion of wallpapering the dining room! No more corners left and only one more outlet. I'm guessing I have about 5 more drops to do.

Switching gears completely, it's been an interesting couple of weeks in that our next door neighbor was suddenly killed in a single car accident. He was young, 26. He liked living it up with his myriad friends and his comings and goings set my teeth on edge. When going, he accelerated as though residential speed limits were an optional suggestion; when coming, his thumping car stereo announced his arrival from a block away. But he was a friendly chap. When B ambled over to request that he keep things down in the evenings as K's bedroom window was right next to his driveway, the two would end up having lengthy, amicable chats. Death was a shock. His roommates disappeared and what had been a house of constant commotion was suddenly (deathly) still. It was strange to live next door to this reminder that death may come calling at any moment. On the day of his memorial service, a large group of his friends descended on the house en masse, and filled his front porch with flower arrangements. Then they stood hugging and leaning on each other's shoulders as a hip-hop song about "missing you" played over and over. (It was days before I could get the refrain out of my head.) After awhile they loosened up, talking and carrying on, telling stories. Then, as the sun began to go down, they all leaped back into their cars and roared away. Now the house seems to be approaching a new state of normal as the place is slowly cleaned out. Of the eight houses immediately surrounding us, five have changed ownership in the fifteen months we've lived here. Two of the long term neighbors we have never officially met. I guess some people are hardly ever home, or if they are, like to keep to themselves. But I better stop before I digress too far.