… spring is working its way here.

Which means the Asian lady beetles were out in full force again.  Ew.  One of my tasks of the day, after vacuuming my office window again, was to take the screen out so I could clean it in the bathtub, as well as clean the glass in the window.

Unfortunately, pulling the screen out meant all sorts of things fell on the window ledge.  More of the lady beetles – some still alive – dead flies, seeds from the Chinese elm in front of the kitchen.

Ew.

After using the shower on the screen, I returned to find even more lady beetles had come back.  At least I could just open the window and toss them outside.

Then, as I sat at my computer, some movement in the window caught my eye.  What could it be?  It showed up again.  A quick flash of something, at the very bottom of the window.

I took a look, and it was Squishum!  Directly under my window is the window to the basement, where we used to throw in the wood for the winter.  It’s sunken a bit below ground level, so there is now a makeshift “roof” over it to keep moisture from collecting and draining into the basement.  Squishum had gone on top of this.  It’s not high enough for a cat to see into our window, but when she tried, I was seeing the tips of her ears!

As I was looking out the window, I spotted the new cat, back at the food bowls!  The other cats didn’t seem to mind it being there.  Not like when the Mothman comes, and they get all freaked out.

When I mentioned the new cat was there, the girls decided to head outside to hopefully see it (it took off behind the other house in the yard), and to say hello to the kitties.

Beep Beep decided to get vicious and attach my daughter’s leg. :-D

I took advantage of the slightly warmer weather to walk around the house and check how things were – with several cats following me.  With more of the snow gone, there were a few more “why is this there?” moments!

There was a squirrel under the picnic table, and Butterscotch decided to try and hunt it.  Which is funny, because she’s so small, the squirrel is almost half her size!  She just ended up chasing it up the maple tree in the photo below.

I do wonder about those seats along the shed.  They look like they’re from old cars, and they’re sitting on top of logs and pieces of wood.  I am guessing they were put there so that my parents could sit down when they were working in the garden.  Neither of them is straight, so it would not have been comfortable sitting in them, even if they weren’t all covered with leaves and dirt.

I went and checked out the pile of stuff under the tarp near where we put the deer feed.  It is, indeed, a pile of old pallets.  Quite old.  Whoever put them there took the time to cover them with a tarp, then threw old branches and other things on top, to keep the tarp from blowing away.  And there is sits, with a dead tree fallen at it, as well as branches that look like they’ve fallen from the trees above.

Not sure why the tire is there.  It’s not holding down the tarp.

Just one of the things to clean up, once things warm up.  We’re going to need someone with a pick up truck to haul some of this stuff away for us. :-/

Stuff like…

… this table.  It’s behind an area where we used to cut and stack wood, then store it until we needed to take more into the basement.  The area now has a makeshift wall, part of which is covered with landscaping cloth, and the old doghouse that is now used by the cats.

It’s odd enough for the table to be there, but it’s been there long enough that a tree died and fell over it, held up by the brush that has grown up around it.

Considering the location, I just can’t figure out why it’s there.

I can now see what’s under the dog house.  It’s sitting on a pallet, which has started to rot and collapse in the middle.

Another thing for the list.

Along with this.

At first, I thought it was a broken handle and tried to lift it.  The rake part was buried in the grass and is frozen to the ground.

It also look like it’s partly under that old scrap carpet.  Carpet that has been there long enough for moss to be growing on it.

So if the rake is under the carpet, then it has been there at least as long as the carpet.

Why are either of them there at all?

So strange.

There were a couple of other curious things around the house.  Some curious cats!

Coming back to the house, I found Beep Beep and Butterscotch, checking out the inside cats! :-D

My younger daughter and I headed out into town to stock up on some things for the freezer, since we’re not making our Costco trip this month.  This reminder is now completely uncovered by the melt.

This is where the movers got stuck in our driveway.  There are several others in the ice along the driveway, heading to the gate.  Those ones, at least, didn’t go all the way into the ground, like these.

I’m hoping we can get more gravel for our driveway soon.  Maybe not this year, though.  We’ll have enough to deal with just with the house and yard!

The Re-Farmer