Garden is prepared and ready for planting.  The deer fence is up, composted manure is stirred in and the rain this weekend is a perfect soaker.  I'll be ready to plant by the middle of this coming week.  All the deck furniture is back on the deck, and most of the flower boxes on the deck rails are planted. Today was the first mowing of the season, so spring is officially here to stay.  I think I have successfully rigged a bearproof bird feeder.  I'll load it with seeds soon and we will see if the bear comes over the mountain.

In other home front news, I had to buy a new dishwasher this week.  The old one,(3 years is apparently the new old), a top of the line Kenmore, had stopped draining.  I was not sorry to see it go.   Everything else on it had half stopped at one time or another over the past year.  The new one, a Bosch, does everything automatically except load and unload.  Hope it outlives the service contract!  May have to make one more home repair purchase soon, the water pressure is getting low and erratic.   Probably a new pressure tank will be needed.  I hope to get a personal call from Ben Bernanke or Obama thanking me for my personal contribution to the economic stimulus program.