Spring Finally!

It's warming up here in Iowa. Yesterday I went out and pruned the grapevine. Yes I have grapevine. This is a picture of last year's crop. Nothing else grew but I had more grapes than I or the half dozen people who came and picked some for themselves knew what to do with.
I make grape jelly every fall. I looked into making wine but it looks like a lot of work and very precise. I am not a precise person. That's why my jelly doesn't always set up right. No problem. We just put it on our pancakes.

The cats are restless and want to go out all the time. Yes that's right I let my cats go outside. I've been driven out of cat discussions for that crime. Well this is my blog and I'm telling you I let my cats outside. I have eleven now. They were all feral and strays I took in. Most of them realize outside is where their lives was miserable and have no desire to go outside. I have four however who howl and cry and whine and poop on the floor in protest and run out when the door is open anyway. So I let them out about 15 minutes a day when the weather is nice. Yes it is dangerous outside. But they have already lived much longer than they would have had I not taken them in and they are happy. They are so good - they stay around home for the most part and are ready to come back in after 15 or so minutes.

And I confess another thing that will make some people angry. They kill baby rabbits and eat them when they are out and I let them. There are WAY too many rabbits around here and they are menace to the garden. I figure any mama rabbit stupid enough to make a nest where my cats can get to her babies has no business reproducing. Survival of the fittest. I'm all for it.

I have been known to chase them off a baby bird however.

So today I was tempted to just sit on my fat butt this afternoon but the cats were whining to go out and since I do try to supervise them while I'm out I went out and raked up some leaves that were left over from last fall. I was sort of hoping to see some crocus buds hiding under the leaves but not yet. The iris's have a lot of new growth so there is hope.