It was a busy weekend here on Rustic Road 4; my sister Suzanne came down from northern Minnesota for a visit which began with a trip to IKEA (new bathmat, some little glasses for dessert wine and new chairpads for Jim's cafe) and then the giant Mall of America for lunch at Nordstrom's with my niece Rachel. Rachel works at Nordstrom's in their handbag department where she has been a top seller of handbags that cost as much as my car. A very different life; when I showed up with a dozen of our gorgeous blue eggs she hardly knew what to think...it was one of those moments when I realized I am truly a hick!

At any rate, we put up the little greenhouse and I moved the lettuces out of the house and will transplant the head varieties out of the flats and into pots later this week; we fixed the fences that hang over the little Beaver Creek - this is a yearly chore that really only takes a little time but looms large as a project, I hauled one load of manure out of the barn and put it on the asparagus bed, Jim helped me castrate the calves (better now than later...) then we burned a pile of boxes and branches, and I began the process of cutting buckthorn. Indeed, I also found time to paint a "Open Saturday at 7:30" sign for Jim, did some maintenance cleaning on the kennel, took the dogs for a walk and swim and handled Trouble's pups - along with a little tiny video for their video diary. Last night I watched a great movie about an artist named Vik Muniz called "Wasteland" about a collaboration with Brazilian catadores.

This will be a busy week as spring starts to gear up - and we prepare for Birdie to join us on Sunday!