Spring in Kentucky - Finally

I think spring has finally come to Kentucky. After several near misses of the Ohio and Kentucky Rivers flooding again as they did in late February, plus a bunch more freezing nights we are finally looking like spring. Hard to believe that last weekend we had a freeze at the end of April and with in a few days the nights were only going down into the high 40's. Last night only got down to 65.
   All the trees are blooming and leafing out and I still don't know for sure what kind they are. I know we have a big oak in the front yard and a couple of big oaks in the back. There are some hickory trees, and some others that I don't have names for.
   This morning we left for a couple of hours and when we got back there was the remains of a dead tree (that we didn't realize was dead) laying on each side of the road about 20 feet from the edge of our property. It looked like it had fallen across the road and then one of the Carrollton Utilities trucks that go through here so much (the Carrollton Water Reclamation Facility is the only thing out past our place other than a few soy bean fields that don't look like they will be planted this year) must have used a chain saw to cut the dead tree in two pieces than used some sort of equipment to move the two parts of to the side of the road. A boom on one of their trucks, maybe. Wish we had a chain saw running as it would make good fire wood for next winter.
   I am glad that some one planted a beautiful azalea at the corner of the front porch. I will have to lean how to take care of it as azaleas don't grow well in New Mexico. To hot and dry there for them. There is another little plant that I have no idea what it is yet that has dark red leaves, very tiny, yellow flowers that are barely noticeable, and lots of nasty thorns. There are also some evergreen shrubs around the porch and a couple of other bushes that I don't know about yet.
  Out in the front yard is what I think might be a Bradford pear tree which I really like as we had them in NM. The other little tree is a dark red leafed Japanese maple. Again it is something that won't do well in NM but I had seen enough of them to always wish I could have one. Now I do.
   In the past week I have put out 8 moldy hay bales and planted my garden in them. It is called hay/straw bale gardening. I had tried it with 2 bales 2 years ago in NM and had fairly good luck with them so decided to give it a try again. Planted cucumbers, pumpkins, zucchini, watermelon, eggplant, and cantaloupe, and beans in them.
  I used some old horse feeders made out of the bottoms of 55 gallon barrels to make big planters for my tomatoes, carrots, swiss chard, lettuce and onions. Added some marigold seeds and pepper seeds to grow and, hopefully, keep some of the pesky bugs of the other things. Not a sure thing but they do help with aphids and some other unwanted insects.

Japanese Maple an ornamental tree that doesn't get very big but has beautiful leaves. Different kinds have different colors but this red is the most popular.

Our big oak tree in full bloom. I had never seen an oak tree bloom so it has been very interesting. 

The azalea by the front porch. It was like the camera and I didn't see the same shade that the flowers are and they came out different at different times of the day. But it is still very pretty.

Great big dandelions everywhere. I couldn't even get them to grow in a pot in NM.

The back yard. The taller tree is an oak.

 I put the hay bales for my hay bale garden along side the sheds in the back and put the large pots for tomatoes down the center. After having to use a spray to drive off a lot of wasps. But the spray didn't seem to do much for the large bumblebees that are a different color than the ones I was used to in NM and these seem to be a lot more aggressive than the ones I was used to. So far no one has been stung but I'm sure it is just a matter of time. I have been stung and didn't seem to have much of a reaction as Lee does or as a friend who is allergic to them.

We have violets all in the grass as well as the dandilions and some other wildflowers. I have always loved violets and we grew them at one house I had in Albuquerque and my mom always had them in Silver City, NM. These seem to be a different verity as the stems arn't as long and they don't have the wonderful odor to them like the ones I am used to.