And suddenly there's summer

Like, really. It is 10 pm, I went outside to hang out the washing, and the air felt like summer. Two weeks ago we had snow under the woods. On Thursday the first warm rain came ... and suddenly everything is green and the grass just bursts out from the earth. We started the lawnmowing season today - this could be the earliest ever! Can you believe this after the coldest March in 50 years or so?

On Friday The Dreamer had his preschool's Final Party, also called Leaving-For-School Party. There was a play and some reciting of poems. The Dreamer did wonderfully, he knew all his lines and had no fear speaking in front of all parents. He is allowed to go three more weeks, but from June first we will not bring him there anymore.

Leader Of The Pack will have summer holiday from June 6th till September 2th, I think. This will not happen too late, he is one tired little boy. We will continue homeschooling, but he will be able to sleep longer in the mornings and our homeschooling lasts no more than two hours every day. Also, there will be no 23 other students in the same room with him.

I wish I could post pictures of the boys, but Blogger is not accepting them for some reason.

Still alive

But oh so busy. Spring has arrived fully, the violets bloom and smell so good, the sun shines and I ... dig and carry.

There is an old children's story called "Bumpy" where two kids get lost in the woods, find to some sort of monster's home and finally rescue the monsters' baby boy who will grow up at their home to become a regular human boy. In the movie the big monster (or should they be called ogres?) brothers start fighting over a pot of gold that they brought home. One of them claims that he dug and carried, the other says that he found it!

I have not found any pots with gold in it yet, but I do keep finding carrots that went unnoticed last fall. We will not eat them, but maybe the hares who inspect our compost pile will be happy? I also found the full-length movie "Bumpy" in youtube. The promised English subtitles are not there, but I think it is quite easy to understand what happens. The monsters could seem scary for younger kids, though. Our boys saw this before coming home, so they were not yet 5, three-something and baby, but they have never said that this movie would be too scary. This movie's bad side-effect to orphanage kids was that they thought that real home is all about singing and dancing and hugging - but after being surprised and annoyed for some time, they got used to real life.

Um - what am I digging and carrying? The beds for carrots, peas, leek etc etc etc of course! And all weeds must be carried into the compost. This year, I am going to do some experiments too - like parsnips, chard and black radish. I wonder how they will grow in this climate.

Waterworld

We are not really living in a swamp ... just a little. This place is the most dramatic in our garden right now. The snow is melting in a hurry, actually today it was gone from nearly everywhere. I am thankful for my wellingtons.

In several places little rivers and creeks are overflowing, in one place this morning we tried to guess where the creek actually flows but it seemed too complicated. One town near sea is in real trouble, many houses are under water, even those that are supposed to be on hills. It is not that bad here.

And just in time with snow melting something broke in our well. WonderfulHusband thinks that it is the main water-pipe, either on the lowest point where a sort-of lock is (that the pumped-up water would not flow back, I don't even know its name in Estonian!) or a 90-degree turn. We do get water into the house, but it is a bit complicated (the pump must be turned off for night and turning it back on needs more than just switching in on) and fixing the pipe is impossible because right now the water in our well is so impossibly high, we cannot get to the pipe, it is completely under water! Never a dull moment in this house. I am just thankful that we can have water for 4-5 hours a day, this is enough to run 1-2 loads in washing machine, 1-2  times the dishwasher, to have showers and make soup. And since I can finally use my clothesline again - it was impossible to get close to it in hip-deep snow -, I am even more thankful.

A mouse behind the microwave

Yes, we do have a microwave. It was given us by someone who got her a new one. We use it maybe twice in a month, but sometimes it is convenient. The microwave stands in the kitchen, on the countertop but not really against the wall. It needs some air around it, says WonderfulHusband. With me being lazy and the microwave being bulky, I hardly ever look behind it. Today I did.

WHAT?

So this was the reason why cats were alerted and excited a couple of weeks ago - there were mouse droppings behind the microwave! Mouse! Droppings! In my kitchen! Eeeeeeek!

I don't mind mice living on our property. They are useful in more than one way (like being healthy food for the cats), but the only good mouse in my kitchen is a very dead mouse. Actually, a mouse eaten by a cat. By a cat who does not suffer from bulimia, please. But walking and um, pooping on the countertop ... Eeeek.

I had not planned a Spring cleaning for today, but as it seems, cleaning happens. The countertop is washed and washed and washed and oiled (it is just plain wood, so we oil it from time to time). When the oil sets in, we will put back all the things that belong there like microwave, medicine box, bread machine, fruit basket, hand mixer and um ... various other things. We just don't have enough cupboards and drawers.

It could be worse - once a mouse got into the cupboard and had a feast with flour, sugar and other baking stuff. And as a snack it took big mouthfuls of wood from the antique cupboard.

Other things - the weather is a bit warmer, but we had a snowstorm yesterday and today it was raining in the family room and kids' room - we need a financial miracle to replace the roof, but probably we will try to patch the roof this summer ourselves. But we will keep buying lottery tickets sometimes, just in case God wants to give us money for the roof ... Somehow. Leader Of The Pack had a headache all day, complete with fever. The Dreamer has trouble with his math, he mixes up adding and substracting, but some things he knows just by looking at them. The problem is, he has to understand how he knows them but this is what he refuses to think about. He will have school tests next week, I wonder how he will manage. Lillebror is finally eating - he used to hate food so much that I really  thought that something is wrong with him.

I think the oil is gone into the wood now ...

Ice Age

Almost all Estonia is covered with a 8-inch (or more) layer of snow, said the newspaper sometime this week. So it seems. Even on days when the temperature raises above freezing point, the melting happens oh so slowly. The weather forecast says that it will not get colder anymore, and in a couple of weeks we can even get nights without frost.

WonderfulHusband ordered me a full set of Little House books. Until then I only knew the ones that were translated into Estonian. My favourite spot is still the very first chapter of the very first book, about Ma's stocks for the winter, but "The Long Winter" was also a very moving and interesting book. Suitable reading for this year. :)

The summer must come, and really soon - The Dreamer is nearly out of trousers. The left knee is where the hole always is. I just hate patched clothes, although this is not a sensible way to handle little boys' trouser problems! Also, Leader Of The Pack showed me that the soles of his boots are broken. Hopefully next week the weather will be warm and wet enough for wellingtons.

Once upon a time, there was summer and two-year-old Lillebror was wearing shorts ... Imagine.

Spring? Where?

Officially we have Spring. We even have Spring Break right now ... only the weather has probably not looked into its calendar.
I had plans for Spring Break. I hoped to do some gardening, at least to prune the apple trees. To take a trip to the lake with the boys - or somewhere else. At least to take them sledding and let them play outside every day.

This is what we have in the garden right now:

We cannot prune the trees because the snow is knee-deep in some places, so access to the trees is complicated. Also, I couldn't search for a better angle because with the temperatures around 14'F and "real feel" being around -4'F due to cold wind my hands were freezing and I tried to get back inside as quickly as possible.

Taking the boys anywhere is also a bad idea because they all have runny noses and coughs. Why do we always get sick when we have free? So we stay inside and get something like cabin fever.

At least there is hope for Spring - yesterday we got our first harvest this year!

Onion shoots - I think this is the right word - are very easy to grow. Just put an onion bulb on top of a glass of water, the water should just reach the underside of the bulb. Let it stand on a sunny place and hope that the onion gets the message. When cutting the shoots, do not cut all at once but only the longest, so the onion grows some more. Use the shoots in salads or just on rye bread (a slice of rye bread, a bit of butter, lots of green onions and a pinch of salt used to be a regular March snack in my childhood).

Next week the weather forecast predicts somewhat warmer weather. I just wish that the snow would melt ...

Where have all the trousers gone?

Where have all the trousers gone?
What happened to them?
Where have all the trousers gone?
Turned to shorts is everyone.
How can we get any new?
How can we get any new?

Leader Of The Pack is growing like crazy. He is soon too big for his current size and I have only one pair of jeans of the next size. The Dreamer is still playing a lot on the floor, that means that he wears his knees through - I cut the trousers short and make shorts for the summer. Lillebror is soon growing into the next size, but there is not much left from older brothers, since the knees were worn through etc.

The problem is that in Estonia one cannot get nice trousers for boys! They are just not sold. There are ugly trousers with too many pockets and decorations that cost 20-30 Euros ($ 26-40). I will not pay that much for something ugly - especially this is what I earn in a day. All day's work for a pair of ugly trousers. Does not sound like fun to me. I keep wondering where all the boys get their nice trousers. Last year we brought about 10 pairs from Germany, but this year we probably won't travel that far, also we cannot wait that long with Leader Of The Pack. If he continues growing, he will need new trousers in a month. There is still snow outside, so we cannot hope for a very warm May so that he could wear shorts to school.

Would somebody out there please pray for good finds in used-clothes stores? Or that I would start to like sewing. I could sew some jeans myself, I know how to and I have a very good sewing machine, I just hate this work.