Yard is blooming

I thought spring would never come this year. But things are looking up. The bluebonnets are sparse due to the drought. I have only about 5 plants in the backyard and only a sad sprinkling of them in the front lane, which is usually busting with them.
My Clematis is back this year. The past two years, it only gets about a foot tall, puts out one bloom, and either dies back or just sits there the rest of the season. Well, it is now a little over a foot tall and the one bloom is out. This is a bigger one that the previous years, so maybe good things will happen with it this year.



















I have a lilac surprise. The blooms so far this year have been tiny and stunted. This morning I happened to look up at the right time and spotted this. Can you see it? It is a set of full sized blooms!!! And the smell....ahhhhh!
When you walk out into the backyard, the breeze blowing from the west brings a heady scent of flowers. It took me a little bit of time to figure out what was smelling so delicious. The Dianthus around the satellite pole are in full bloom. These are a very pretty pink. I just bought a couple more pots of them to fill in the other side.....only in red.
Other things are coming on that I will put up pictures of as they make a showing. My native iris are starting to bud out and I have a Stargazer lily with 3 or 4 buds on it.

What an Awful Mess!!!

This morning, around 11 or so, my father in law came over with the mail he had gotten in town and asked if I noticed the fire. I hadn't. The UPS man later told me it was a fire in the mud pit of a drilling rig across the interstate. I thought I would post some pictures of the mess for Kim.


There were many booms and whoomps all afternoon. It would seem to die down, then I would hear a boom or whoom, look up, and see new black or white plumes. The local fire department is monitoring it to make sure nothing gets out of hand. Around 3, it seemed to die down. Then about 4pm......a big blast sound, and this....

My camera is a disappointment on long range shots. You may not be able to pick it out, but the rig is just to the left of the plume. Also, I didn't catch it just right, but when I took the last shot, there were flames shooting high enough in the air that I could see it from a mile away and over trees and hills.
As I finish up this post at 5:25, the black smoke is still going. If it burns after dark, I will be able to see the flames.

Windy March

I took two pictures of the linens on the line. It was so windy that day, that the other picture showed them horizontal to the clothesline. This picture just seems to embody spring.
Kim and his dad put up this clothesline for me last month. I told him about where I wanted it. This is not it. If you look closely, you can see a small pine tree about in the middle of the line. Is my husband a rocket scientist, or what? I don't think he even noticed the tree, much less thought it might live, and maybe might get full size, rendering the clothesline and all the work that went into it, useless. Oh well....I will enjoy it while I can. I will NOT move the tree!