Buckthorn

What a week it has been. Last Sunday I had over six inches of snow all over the lawn. Today I have a few patches of snow with lots of bare ground in between. This morning my vegetable garden was covered with a layer of snow. This afternoon all traces of snow are gone from the garden. I can't remember ever seeing snow melt this fast. The chickens love it. For the first time since November, they are free to walk around the yard. They hate to put their feet in the snow so they limited themselves to the few feet next to the house all winter. Today they wandered under the sunflower feeder and ate; kicking up and spreading the empty shells with their feet. The chicken quartet went to the east side of the house where they spent the summer. The chickens acted like they remembered the place. They immediately went to the side of the house where they had dug up the sand to give themselves dust baths. They had such vigorous dust baths that I had to brush the sand off the windowsills. The chickens have dug holes worse than dogs. I don't mind not having to mow right next to the house. All four chickens went to their favorite black spruce tree and sat under there like they used to do. Meredith went under the canoe. Kelly used to lay her eggs under the canoe last summer. I hated reaching my hand under the dark canoe to get the eggs. I am scared I will touch a snake or a rabbit or something even worse. So I rocked the canoe a few times to scare her out of there. Pamela even got herself up on the deck rail to eat the leftover canary food. Now, she had to remember that from last year. Why else would she get herself all the way up on the deck railing? Frankly, I am surprised. I guess I underestimated bird brains. The weather was so nice I looked for a chore to do outside. Then I remembered. I could cut the buckthorn. I found buckthorn late last fall. I want to keep it off my property because it is an invasive species and will take over the other trees. I thought I'd start by cutting the trees bearing fruit. If the stumps sprout branches this spring I'll spray them with herbicide. I was busy cutting down buckthorn trees in the northeast corner of my yard when I saw a pair of white tennis shoes appear. I looked up and saw Offspring #1 standing there. I don't know how he found me in the woods like he did but I was very glad to see him. I was even more glad when he went and got another nippers and saw and helped me finish the job. When the leaves appear and I'm 100% positive which young trees are buckthorn, I can finish the job.