Well, it's that time again. =)  But before I get going with the pics.... I think I've been given a sign that I need to keep my butt indoors this year, or at least stick to the porch and deck rather than hanging out in the yard. Twice in less than a week I've gone out with Jenna, and run into a snake. Now - I'm not mortally afraid of snakes. I am scared of them I will admit that - but not to the extent that I fear spiders. (I think most of you know by now how terrified I am of spiders, and WHY...) I live in an area where snakes in warmer weather are just commonplace. However, USUALLY I don't have such close encounters with them. And the fact that in less than a week there have been two such encounters where I was less than a foot away from them (aka "within striking distance") bothers me. Call me nuts but it's one of those gut feelings you get about things, that sometimes you brush off because it sounds so silly and later wish you'd not brushed it off. So I'm going to listen. The first snake was bigger - at least 3 feet in length. I think he was just as startled as I was when I ran into him. But he didn't seem agitated or anything, just in a hurry to get where he was going because as I backed away (pulling Jenna along with me) he looked for a couple seconds then hurried off in the same direction he'd been going.

This other one yesterday though was smaller, but seemed agitated and wasn't about to just go away. I didn't see this one till Jenna had walked past him, but I didn't really want to run past him myself so I backed up as far as I could (being between the garden and the picnic table I didn't have much room) and pulled Jenna back with me then slowly worked my way around the picnic table and to the driveway. My plan had been to chain Jenna up so she could hang out outside, and I was going to sit at the picnic table and read a book. Obviously that wasn't going to happen with an irate snake right there - so I took my book inside and took Jen for a walk up the road instead. I still see snakes on the road occasionally but at least then they can't hide in the grass, I see them from a distance and can turn around well before putting myself and Jenna in any immediate danger of being bitten.

Anyway, on with the pics.

My pink bleeding hearts are blooming! The white ones aren't yet; in fact it is still pretty puny compared to the size of the pink one. But that's because my dad accidentally stepped on it. So it might take a while - at least it's still alive and growing even if it doesn't have flowers yet!



Some random outdoors pics, including the first rose bud that I noticed this year. Doesn't mean it's the very first one, just the first one I saw. Which made me take a good look at all the rose bushes and 5 of 9 have buds on them.







My lemon tree.... which is very sad looking I know. My dad left it outside overnight several weeks ago when it was still far too cold for it (I told him not to even put it outside yet but he did and didn't tell me about it) so I was sure it was gone. But it amazingly has some new growth!




Both of these pretty much break all the rules of photography - but I like them. And rules are for breaking, right?






And, before and after photoshop. I just wanted to add a little blue to the sky; it was bright enough out that the sky didn't really look too blue when I took the picture so the original is accurate to what I was seeing when I took the picture. I really just wanted to play with photoshop a little this morning. lol





And my final note for the day... I ordered this cute ring from Amazon yesterday. click me baby!  I thought it was cute; and it's going to be a temporary promise ring till boyfriend and I have a chance to spend some time together and get real promise rings. Yeah I bought something meant to be a promise ring (even if only temporary) myself. I'm weird like that. We made an agreement about the promise rings, but I really want a ring to wear in the mean time. I found some really cute cheap silver rings but of course I can't wear them. I've discovered if I coat them with clear nail polish I can wear them - but that's a bit of a pain to have to do, and re-do when the nail polish has worn off. So I started looking for an alternative that was just as cheap... acrylic it is! It might not be fancy or scream "I'm taken" - but it's cute, I like it, it won't turn my skin blackish green or cause irritation/bumps the way silver does, and it was cheap. So for now, it'll work!

Enough of my rambling. Have a great day everyone!