Spring preparation

 I cleaned up the mower deck this morning. The buildup underneath was not bad, especially since I never cleaned the deck out last year.

 It looks good with the fresh coat of paint and the new blades. That also helps to keep the grass from sticking under the deck.

 I charged the battery, changed the oil and filter, and cleaned the air filter and aired up the tires. One of the back tires was a bit low.

I also sprayed a couple cans of red paint into the bed of the truck. All the shoveling this week had scraped a lot of the paint off the bed and I don't want it to rust out. It really is red, even though it looks kind of orange.

Another load

I got another load of topsoil yesterday and spread it in between the waves of rain that weren't supposed to be falling. I didn't get any pictures yesterday because of that. This load was a little bigger and made it all the way to the cedar tree in the picture. Mowing the yard will be easier now.

Dirt!

Yesterday, I found a place in Jeffersonville that had topsoil. There haven't been any that I found for the last couple of years. So, this morning, I picked up a load to continue filling in the yard indents.

 I had started buying bags of topsoil to fill the yard in, but that doesn't go very far and it's expensive.

 This load actually finished off the front yard all the way to the horses' water trough.

I even filled in the small one from the electric line.

Surprise snow

 We woke up to a coating of snow that we weren't supposed to get.

 It was only about an inch, but it still was a surprise to see it.

 By noon, much of it was gone.

 The gravel in the driveway and the road normally melt first.

 By 4pm, almost all traces of it have disappeared, just a couple little white spots here and there.

It's ok, though. We really didn't want any more of it now. It's time for spring!

Replacement bird houses

 A couple of the old houses were falling down. The first one I pulled down fell apart when I grabbed it.

 I used a couple of pieces of scrap lumber from the pallet factory right down the road. They usually have a small pile of scraps out in front. The wood is too thin for them to use. It IS harder to work with for me, too.

 There were a few missed nails and a crack or two, but the birds really won't care.

They are already checking the houses out. The remaining two houses could wait until next year for replacement if need be. They are in a bit better shape than these were.

Walkway finished again

 I got more rock dust on Thursday and finished up the walkway again. There were more larger pieces in the mix this time. I thought it would help keep it from washing out if we get another small flood.

It's back to being a smooth, even walk over to the barn again.

Replacement trees planted

 I planted all three of the trees I bought this morning. This one is a river birch and it is the one closest to the driveway.

 Here is the red oak in the center of the yard. These trees are to replace the maples in the background. They are rotting from the inside and won't have a long lifespan, so we got some different ones.

 This one is another plum tree. We're hoping it will help pollinate the "self pollinating" tree behind it, as it really doesn't self pollinate and we would like get fruit from them.

I got the new grill assembled this afternoon. Our old one was getting very wobbly from getting blown over too many times.

More walkway work

 The flood washed out part of the walkway, but left a path for Heather to use. At least I don't have to build it all over again.

I started filling it in again this morning. I took a couple extra buckets with me because I knew it would need them. After I dumped them all in, it was mostly back up, but looks like it will need another load.

Barn walkway UNDONE

 We had some minor flooding from the storms last night. That flooding re-arranged some of the walkway.

 The inlet of the pipe got plugged with some debris and the backup went over the walkway. I cleared it out today, but the damage was already done.

All of the fill Heather put down over the weekend is gone and replaced with part of the walkway. There is still a useable path, so the damage will be easier to fix than a total washout.