"They're gonna put me in the movies..."

Okay, so not ME, exactly, but my little hometown of Moose Lake, MN, for which this blog gets its name, is featured in the upcoming animated movie RIO.  Opening April 15, Rio is a 3-D animation feature from the makers of "Ice Age."  Set in the city of Rio de Janeiro, the comedy-adventure centers on Blu, a rare macaw who thinks he is the last of his kind.  When Blu discovers there is another - and that she is a she - he leaves the comforts of his cage in the small town of Moose Lake, Minnesota, and heads to Rio.   Blu and his female counterpart are soon birdnapped, escape, and have to find their way back to Moose Lake, to the only true friend Blu has ever known- his owner, Linda. 

Our little town is all a-buzz with the movie mania.  Film crews have been in town all weekend and the movie apparently premieres in our vintage, one screen, little movie theater here this week before opening across the country later this month.  We'll take our 15 minutes, thank you.  Congratulations, Moose Lake, for being the quintessential little Minnesota small town!

April Fools, Indeed!

A view of the lake from the house this morning

Weather

Tonight   Mar 31

Fri Apr 1

Sat 2

Sun 3

Mon 4

Rain / Snow	Rain / Snow Showers	Mostly Cloudy	Rain / Snow Showers	Snow Shower
--	43°	46°	40°	35°
High	High	High	High	High
30°	29°	29°	31°	23°
Low	Low	Low	Low	Low

				I wish I could get excited about spring, but you can clearly see that there isn't much to get excited about.  We still have snow on the ground, but hopefully the coming rain will get rid of the remaining snow, at least until Monday's snow shower.
				*SIGH*

Cruel, cruel winter

Oh, cruel, cruel winter of 10-11, when will you release your death grip on us?!  In an act of self-torture, I decided to re-read my posts from last March, and discovered that I had the following peeking out of the ground on March 21:

daffodils
creeping yellow sedum
geum
pink mallow
bee balm
evening primrose
jacobs ladder
Autumn Joy sedum
bachelor button
rudbekia

Now we still have at least 10 inches of snow on the ground thanks to the storm earlier in the week, and it's snowing again today.

Thanks to all of this late season snow, instead of spending my day outdoors cleaning out gardens and expanding my front yard foundation planting as planned, I'm spending it reading my newest addition to my gardening library, Edible Front Yard:  The Mow-Less, Grow-More Plan for a Beautiful, Bountiful Garden, by Ivette Soler.  I purchased this after reading about it on the Garden Rant blog.  It's a fast, easy read, and is giving me some glorious ideas!  The longer this snow is on the ground, the more grandiose my plans become.  While a lot of the plants in this book will not work in my northern garden, the book was still a worthwhile read.

Seedlings

Here's a snapshot of the Johnny's Seed Disks that we planted a few weeks ago.  The sweet marjoram didn't do much, but the rest looks like it's coming along.  I'm not sure what happened with the marigolds - may have to replant. 

The seedlings in the trays in front are a few varieties of cosmos, two varieties of zinnias, a packet of morning glory and a packet of sunflowers.  Here's a close up of the cosmos:




 It's nice to see something green growing since you'll notice the view out the window is still snowy and depressing!
 

Mourning Dove

This mourning dove, spotted off our deck, is probably thinking it should have waited a little longer before heading back north.  I'm sure many of the other Minnesota "snow birds" feel the same way today!

Sorry the picture is blurry - iphones are lovely devices, but they do not take very good pictures, especially through a window.

Spring in Minnesota

Well, my wishes for a snow day came true!  Here are a couple of shots of the view from the deck at 10:00 this morning.

Though it's hard to tell, it is still snowing and blowing, and we have several inches of snow on the ground.

 

I guess it was a little overly optimistic of me to put out lawn chairs already.  Spring in Minnesota is so unpredictable.  While others around the country are posting pictures of lovely flowers in bloom, I'm just getting excited about perennials finally waking from their winter slumber.   I try to rationalize living here by believing that the long, cold winter only makes the spring and summer that much more sweet, but in reality, I'd love to be sitting outside in 70 degree weather in March.  Heck, I'd even take 50!  C'est la vie.  Another day to stay inside and dream of spring flowers to come.