Another week and no spring yet

To start, the photo of the deer wasn't from my yard but from my daughter's. She's had a few deer roaming through her yard for a good part of the winter, and they've decimated the cedars that were planted by the former owner. She had her handyman over doing some work in the house this week, and asked if he would cut down what the deer had left. He did, so I suspect the visits will end now. It's sad they were ever there in the first place, and because they are very nearly becoming domesticated - D says they even look both ways before crossing the street! 

I'm just as happy not to see a deer in my backyard. Several years ago, one of my co-workers had a deer find it's way into his yard, and it crashed through a bedroom window and bled to death on his daughter's bed. It was quite the mess to clean up. Large animals like these don't belong in the towns and cities but with the deep snow, it becomes difficult for them to find food in the rural areas. That's part of the reason my brother leaves bird seed in the yard for them.

It's been a pretty quiet and routine week again this week. I did my grocery shopping on Tuesday, and stopped in at the thrift stores. I found two tee shirts at the Salvation Army thrift store, one for me, one for D, and a pair of lightweight pj's for me at Value Village. Total spend for all four pieces was about $15. Groceries were much more expensive than that. 

I'm continuing to work on the flowers for my large afghan. I should finish these this weekend and will start putting pieces together. I'm not entirely sure how many of the small flowers I'll need, so once I have the larger flowers put together, I should have a better idea. Not looking forward to this part of the process, but I knew what I was getting into when I started it. For a break from crocheting I've started another small cross stitch project. 

I've also spent several hours working on Ancestry. It's interesting to see where the branches of the tree take me. My favorite part is finding information that no one else has added - especially those where there is simply a birthdate and little else to go on. It doesn't happen often, but when it does I get a real sense of accomplishment. Sometimes it is a simple as reading through several wedding/obituary notices to identify family members and occasionally locations to input that one piece of info that solves the mystery. Yesterday, from an obituary, I found a  deceased spouse of a distant cousin, which led to a daughter that I didn't know he had. Her marriage information allowed me to to more searching and I discovered she and her husband had moved to the Domincan Republic in 1941 to work as missionaries. They had two children and the family returned to the USA twice, once in 1947 and again in 1960. That is when the trail goes cold, as I can't locate any of the four family members, though I did find a newspaper article that may include the youngest child.

Our weather has been stupid again this week. Tuesday morning was bitterly cold. At that moment I was ready to book a flight to anywhere warm, except my wallet wouldn't allow it. 

Since then we've had some afternoon melting, though the temperature hasn't reached above freezing. The sun feels warm now even if the air temperature isn't. The ground is still frozen so my back yard is mostly underwater - it faces south. With the warmth of the sun, I've been able to open the sunroom. Saku, the cat, has been enjoying his afternoon naps out there, and the furnace only cuts in once or twice in the afternoon. You don't want to be in the basement those days - it's pretty darn chilly! We're supposed to reach a high of 3C (37F) this afternoon, but Sunday is supposed to bring a "wintry mix". Do I sound excited? I'm not.

The seedlings are starting to appear, though I've given up on the petunia seeds I thought I saved last fall. So far, four tomatoes and two marigolds have been transplanted to larger pots, while the peppers (red and green), more tomatoes and marigolds continue to sprout. This week I added cucumbers to the mix - I'm going to try to grow these in containers as well this year. I'll do potatoes as well, but those will wait until the third week of May. I'm not sure why but I'll probably do lettuce as well - the rabbits tend to enjoy what grows before I do. 

Curling starts again today, this time the Men's World curling. The event is being held in Ottawa, which means no middle of the night games! I expect our Canadian team will be in the mix throughout the event. They are very strong, as are the teams from Sweden, USA, Switzerland, Scotland, and even the team from Italy. The latter won the gold in the Olympics last time so they cannot be counted out. Neither China nor Russia are participating, so there are teams from New Zealand and Turkiye in their place. 

I'm off to do a few chores before the curling starts. Then I'll plant myself on the couch with my crocheting and a cup of tea. Have a wonderful week ahead everyone!