Signs of Spring and a pile of rocks

Here are the contents of this spring's harvest. Pretty piddly for the amount of time I devoted to it, but it kept me warm and I'm pleased to report that I don't have much of a farmer tan on my mug.

All that straw on the compost pile below is a sure sign that the first crocuses are up, and I'm pleased to report that I started biking to work on Friday. It went well even though I was a few minutes late. The hill I have to bike up is insane, and about 10 seconds after I turned left to scale the monster, Lance Armstrong just breezed by my on a fancy bike with all the fancy duds on and everything. His jacket was yellow, and he even said, "Be strong." Nice guy, but I couldn't help but laugh. Those saddle bags on the back of my bike were loaded up and it was amazing how much they slowed me down. He was riding a porsche and it was like I had a beat up old station wagon. But notice that I have fenders!

The snowmelt also revealed one of my three major piles of rocks. This particular batch is from the original cobblestone streets in downtown Minneapolis and were originally laid about a century and a half ago. The city ripped these up about 50 years ago and my wife's grandpa brought them home, later moved them to their next home across town, and after a couple decades of patiently waiting for their next use were passed down to my in-laws. Now after a couple more decades of being piled up in the woods, my Father-in-law is hauling them up here for us. We're hoping to put them into some good use this summer, but jeepers, if we ever move from here I'll probably want to take them with since they've been passed through the family for so long just waiting to be fully appreciated.