As I look outside at the fresh 10″ of snow, I’ve come to a realization. I tend to go a bit cray cray around this time of the year. Every time I find myself looking out the window, even if it’s at something totally cute like a puffed up Jaybird or a happily munching deer, in my mind I’m seeing butterflies hovering around daisies and fat bumble bees buzzing across the green grass towards bright yellow sunflowers.

Then the snow plow goes by with a tremendous screech and it’s back to winter again. Sigh. I’ve found recharging in the sunbeam that hits the couch helps, although I learned the hard way it’s best done when Gene’s home so a five-minute break doesn’t turn into a 3-hour nap and an almost-missed deadline.

A little retail therapy doesn’t hurt, either, in the form of seeds. For Valentine’s Day Gene let me place my seed order without supervision, so I’m impatiently waiting for orders from no less than 5 of the nation’s finest nurseries to arrive. I’ve also been adding to Gene’s spring to-do list, which is currently topped with “build Monarch habitat for lovely wife who never asks for much”.

Now I’m not one to air drama on the Internet, but I’m mightily displeased at the direction my Save The Monarchs project is taking. My grand plans have been downgraded as follows: Monarch hatching facility → building → structure → large screened in box. And Gene walked past my latest set of sketches muttering something about “no benches in the box.” Marriage is all about compromise, so if he promises to build me a bench inside it, I’ll quit pestering him to make it recline.

In other news, I haven’t been headbutted into the barn wall by the baby goat lately. But before I let my ego get *too* puffed up, it’s largely because I slam the stall door in her face before she can follow Cocoa into the milking area. Milking is pain free, but nowhere near relaxing. It’s hard to be present in the moment when there’s a raging goat on the other side of the wall, making her displeasure known to all who reside within a three-mile radius. Plus, she’s like dolphin-level smart. I have to open the stall door to close the outer barn door, and she gives me this “I’m so cute, don’t you want to pet me?” look and then she’ll just stand there while I close up the gates. Then I turn around, and at the exact moment I realize she’s between me and the other door – she charges. She’s like that kid from The Omen, only pointier. I’ve taken to Googling “Is goat bacon a thing”.