The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

Schizophrenia doesn't even begin to describe the weather this "spring." Daniel declared, "this year, I'm not planting anything until May, even before the snow predictions." I rolled my eyes and figured he would suffer his decision to be a laggard. His envy was palpable as my veggies thrived, and he would just be starting his. I didn't figure on a snowy April. I'm not sure which is worse, admitting he was right to wait, or being frustrated at the seeds I planted early, now probably wasted.

I thought I waited too long to take off my snow tires, but who expected more snow? I had to dig my car out of the snow, but I also had to dig through the attic to drag out my boots, thermal underwear, and gloves!

Last week, my Los Angeles friends sent me pictures of them enjoying a BBQ in their backyard while lounging in their bathing suits and floating blissfully in their pool on rafts. I sent back pictures of my tulips, limply drowning in snow, my snow-covered car, and Mugsy trying to walk on our icy deck.

My friend Kate, who I consider the tomato whisperer, sent me a text a few weeks ago that she has a variety of tomato starts ready for me to pick up. Like her other recipients, I am lucky she was willing to "foster" them for a few more days. Planting tomatoes in the snow, even I, the novice gardener knows, can't be a good idea. Hopefully, the next few days will be more amenable to planting them. Like Daniel, I'll just wait until May.

My fingers are crossed that my tulips that haven't bloomed yet will eventually bloom when spring arrives. The tulips and baby hyacinth that bloomed before the snowstorm are bright colors and give the illusion that spring will ultimately show up, or are they just tormenting me?

I am envious of everyone that had their gardens full of daffodils. For some reason, yet to be determined, I only had one daffodil bloom this year. And, yes, I did plant more than one. I planted an entire Costco bag full. My friends tried to console me: "some are just late bloomers." My luck, they were just about to bloom before the snow. Now I will never know. There's always next year.

Daniel is busy building a deck in the backyard, in the area that is currently dirt; nothing grows there except goathead and other weeds. He has been unloading the truck, sawing, nailing, and measuring with frozen hands while trying to finish this project. I keep looking out the back door to ensure he hasn't electrocuted himself while using power tools in the snow and rain. Right now, it's just a base with six posts. I'm not sure if it's the weather or maybe just my imagination, but it resembles Noah's Ark. Obviously, the rain and snow are seeping into my psyche.

Yesterday was beautiful. I decided to grab the gardening tools to start weeding. I reintroduced myself to our fattened earthworms. I've decided to make name tags for them; they're so big.

Typical of a Waitsburg spring day, I took a Mugsy walk break and ran into a friend. After a tour of her house and garden, she came to "tour" our deck in progress. The tour evolved into a relaxed glass (or two) of wine on the deck. Warmed by the sun, refreshed by wine, and chatting about the extraordinary length of our earthworms, it's the perfect segue to spring. I hope mother nature agrees!