Sunday was the “spring forward” date of our Daylight Savings Time; of course both DH and I forgot about it until the noon siren wailed from town.  We had gotten up, eaten breakfast and then after I started a few things around the house, DH came in and asked if I wanted to burn the prairies in the front yard as it was a nice day and the wind was low.  I donned my “muckers” and after moving a few things from the prairie and hooking up the hose to the front bib on the house, we began the yearly burning adventure.

We have two fruit trees planted at the edge of the main prairie and because buds are starting to swell on them both, we decided to do a couple of spot burns around each tree to save them from a large conflagration.  I wetted down the trunks and we burned around the perimeter of each tree all the way past the tips of the branches.  Our safety circles burned, we stomped out the fires and sprayed them down to be sure they were out.  The small prairie was next, which burned quickly and once that was finished, we began back in the large prairie which is closer to the house.  Once again, we wet down all the edges that we didn’t want to burn and then started it on fire; because we weren’t allowing the whole prairie to just burn as it would, it took a bit longer to burn completely this year – all told, it probably took us 90 minutes to burn the whole works.  Previous years have found us having the whole thing burned up in less than 30 minutes, but that tends to mean BIG flames and a nervous me.

The prairies burned, DH headed off to his workshop and I went on to clean the Happy Chickens pen and move all of their gear back outside since the weather is nice.  Since the day was so nice, I ended up cutting down all the perennials, raking up a bunch of twigs and small branches under a large oak in the backyard and then vacuuming our screened porch and the access to our basement.  I was on a roll, so then it was back inside to take a shower and get the smoke smell off of me so I could wash more laundry, wash dishes, bake “Chewy Peanut Butter Brownies” (which are finger-lickin’ good), put away laundry and then decide on what to make for dinner.  Chicken & Biscuit Bake was the chosen meal (absolutely AWESOME) so I could use up some leftover roasted chicken and gravy.

Today was a super productive day and due to the wonderful weather, I certainly can’t complain.  To top it all off, I’m down almost 3 pounds in the last few weeks, so I’m just about where I was before my trip to Croatia last August.  I didn’t get my seeds started as I hoped, but there is always tomorrow; as this is going to be another BUSY week, we’ll see how much extra I get done.

Oh yeah… Today is my 36th Birthday!  Happy Birthday to Me!  Happy Birthday TO Me! Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday…. Happy Birthday to Me!!  (I’ll be wearing my tiara to work today…)