Erratic April

April is an erratic month. You never know what you're going to get. It varies from week to week, day to day, even hour to hour. Shakespeare wrote of 

The uncertain glory of an April day,
Which now shows all the beauty of the sun,
And by and by a cloud takes all away.

That's how the week went here, uncertain, erratic, capricious – there are so many good words to describe it. But frustrating, aggravating, and disappointing also work well. Looking back over past April journal entries, I can see that it has always been this way. And my reaction to it has always been the same. I could not find a single entry going back twenty-six years where April didn't vex me at some point. 

Why does it take so much longer for the world to warm up than it does to cool down? I suppose there is some law of thermodynamics involved that I don't know about. All I know is that it seems unfair. If I was in charge of science, I would make things warm up quickly and cool down slowly. But I'm not in charge. Monday morning it was cold. There was a dusting of snow on the ground. The morning sky was clear and the sunshine was bright. I waited and waited for a little warmth to take hold, but the cold refused to yield. I had a doctor's appointment that morning and I hoped that by the time I got home again, it would be warm enough to work comfortably outdoors. But no. I went out to work anyway, with a coat, and gloves, and a bad attitude. I didn't last long. After twenty minutes of weeding and shivering, the sky grew cloudy, the sunshine departed, and so did I – to a book and the chair by the furnace grate. By afternoon chore time, it was snowing hard little pretzel salt flakes. 

Monday was April 6th, and despite its disappointments, was an important date for several reasons. On April 6, 1830, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was formally organized in Fayette, New York, with an original membership of six members, as required by New York State law. Now, one hundred and ninety-six years later, church membership is nearing 18,000,000 members worldwide. That might seem like a huge number, but with the world population estimated a 8 billion people, that's just 0.225%. The prophet Nephi saw in vision that in the church of the Lamb of God in the last days, the number of saints would be few, but they would be spread upon all the face of the earth. (1 Nephi 14:12). We have 32,046 congregations in over 160 countries, so that's very accurate.

Church meetinghouse locations around the world.

The other significant event occurred on April 6, 2000, when the Palmyra Temple was dedicated by Pres. Gordon B. Hinckley. We had just moved here in January and were able to attend the dedication. Back when we first considered moving here, we were concerned about the distance from our home to the nearest temple. We were pleased when Pres. Hinckley announced in 1999 that a temple would be built in Palmyra. It was the 100th temple to be announced, the 77th to be dedicated. (There are currently 383 temples dedicated, under construction, or announced across the world.) Our house is two and half hours from the Palmyra Temple. We love our little temple. And it is little. At only 10,900 square feet, it is one of the smaller temples in the church. It sits on a hill near some very important Church historical sites, the Smith Farm, the Sacred Grove, and not far away, the Hill Cumorah, and the Grandin Press where the Book of Mormon was published in 1829.

The Palmyra Temple.

Temple locations around the world.

Tuesday morning, not even waking up to 25° and an inch of snow could dampen my spirits. It was chick buying day! I have a special arrangement for raising chicks now. I don't. My friend Pat loves to care for young chicks and I don't. Starting last year, she began raising chicks for me. On Tuesday morning, I met up with her and her husband Terry at Runnings in Wellsville. We selected twelve chicks – four Speckled Sussex, four Sapphire Olive Eggers, and four Rainbow. I bought them and she took them home to raise them for a month. By the time they arrive at my coop in May, they'll be fledged out and won't need to be fussed over. It's a good arrangement.

Tuesday morning.

Speckled Sussex, Sapphire Olive Egger, and Rainbow chicks.

Pat heading home with the chicks.

When I got home from that, I took a walk through the snow covered garden noting all the things I would not be accomplishing that day. Then I came inside and created a queue of spring-themed Classical music. I started with Vivaldi's "Spring" from the Four Seasons, followed by the ravishing The Lark Ascending by Vaughan Williams, Mendelssohn's "Spring Song" from his Songs Without Words, Delibe's "Flower Duet," Dvořák's "Spring Song," and Beethoven's Symphony No. 6 'Pastoral.' It was lovely, vernal music, even if it didn't look very vernal outdoors. 

No garden work today.

It never warmed much above freezing that whole day, but by chore time, the snow was gone. As part of my daily barn chores, I now check multiple rat traps. I've been battling rats down in the barn for weeks and now that Kurt is home, he has joined the fight. He likes to go down at night and sit in the coop and shoot them. He also set some better traps. We manage to kill a few every day and I'm hoping we'll eradicate them soon. I need to get rid of them before I introduce young chicks to the flock in May. I plan to till up the floor of the coop to destroy the rat tunnels, but the small tiller is broken. As soon as it's repaired, that project will move to the top of my list.

I had higher hopes for Wednesday. Despite it being just 10° and very frosty that morning, it was sunny and the forecast said we would near 50° later in the day. I had a haircut appointment that morning and planned, when I got home, to go out and get some work done. I waited and waited.

Frosty Wednesday morning.

It finally warmed to 54° at 4:00 and I went out to see what I could get done in what remained of the day. I was saddened to see that even the very hardiest of the spring flowers were damaged by the frost. Hyacinths that were just beginning to bloom were turned to watery mush. Daffodil buds still in their sheathes were frostbitten and ruined. That's what 10° will do to growing things. I worked for an hour in the long border, trimming the edges, pulling weeds, feeling sad the whole time. I look forward all year to the brief days when these spring flowers bloom. I was robbed of that pleasure yet again.

Frost ruined hyacinth.

Thursday was another chilly morning, but it was sunny and the forecast said we'd hit the high 50s. I had to bundle up when I went down to do the morning chores, but when I came back to the house, I had high hopes for the predicted warmth. I told myself that as soon as the thermometer hit 45°, I would go out and work. While I watched and waited, I listened to Bach's Well-tempered Clavier Book One (BWV 846-869) and made a list of all the things I wanted to accomplish that day. I planted a tray of pepper seeds, 25 bell and 25 hot. Finally, at 9:30 it was warm enough to go out. It wasn't really all that warm. I still had to wear my garden coat and gloves at first. By 11:00 we were at 58° and I was working in shirtsleeves. I continued to work on edging the long border that I began the day before. It was hard work. The lawn is always trying to invade the flowerbeds and every spring I must cut it back. First I sliced the edge with a flat spade and then lifted out the sod pieces. It took me until 3:00 to do that. I was pretty worn out by then. When Hannah got home from work, she helped me haul it all away.

 

Edging the long border.

Another flowerbed edged.

Sunrise on Friday was very pretty. I took a walk down to the beaver pond to enjoy it. It was a chilly 40°, but it was the warmest sunrise of the week. I saw from the forecast that rain was coming later in the afternoon, so I set to work right away to get as much done as I could before it arrived. My first job was cleaning out the rain gutter on the barn. It was full of rotten leaves. I had to use the extension ladder. I don't like ladders, but it wasn't too high up and I did okay.

Sunrise on Friday.

Cleaning the barn gutters.

By the time I was done with that, the dew had dried and it was time to do the first mowing. The grass is growing now, but it wasn't tall enough to need mowing. I mowed to grind up all the winter debris on the lawn – twigs and leaves. I liken it to being able to vacuum a carpet after not being able to for six months. I find it very satisfying.

The first mowing.

Next I cut down a tree for Kurt. He had a plum tree that never gave him fruit and was infected with black knot. I cut it down and then cut it into firewood. The rest of the day I spent weeding. The weather was perfect. We hit 75° and there was a nice breeze, the best possible garden work weather. With that wave of warmth, things have suddenly popped – lilac buds appeared, probably too soon, the white forsythia at the front of the house bloomed with its little fragrant flowers, lily shoots emerged, and the buds on the apple trees have begun to swell. It looks like this nice weather will stay with us for a while, at least ten days according to the extended forecast. It would be great if it just kept on going right into May. I fear that fickle April might pull one of its mean tricks and lure things to start growing only to freeze them. It's happened so many times.

The white forsythia.

Spring is in the air and the peacock is feeling amorous.

The rain came late in the afternoon as predicted. It was a blessing. The Fosters came over for Friday pizza. We had a nice evening together.

Yesterday was a good and a productive day. I spent the day cleaning the back porch, getting it ready for seed trays. I start my seed trays in the woodshed on heating pads under grow lights. That's phase one. When the seedlings reach a state where they no longer need heat, I move them onto the shelves on the back porch. That's phase two. I just need to make sure on the coldest nights, that the door between the woodshed and back porch stays open so the heater can heat both. Phase three will take place some time in early May when I move the trays onto the back porch stairs to harden them off before planting them out at the beginning of June.

The back porch after cleaning.

After dinner, Stacey, Miriam, Hannah, and I did a deep clean of the woodshed. We took everything out, sorted through it all and made three piles – throw away, give away, and put back. Hannah contributed some plastic totes to organize things. I swept up the dirty floor and cleared out all the spider webs. We didn't finish until the sun was setting. I'm glad we got it done and I'm grateful for the help.

The woodshed before.

And after.

It was frosty cold this morning. The sunrise was pretty. There was no sound except for the singing of birds. It was a quiet Sabbath morning.

Sabbath sunrise with sleeping peacock.

Church was good. This is Fast Sunday. We are home now and I'm looking forward to breaking my fast. I just looked at the week ahead and it's a mixed bag, warm enough, but rainy. I'll be out in every dry moment trying to get the garden going. It's going to be a very April week.