The Ugly And Stinky, The Lovely And Fragrant

The incredible display is over now, but it was just recently that the orchard was white with apple blossoms and the lawn was yellow with Dandelions. Winters may be rugged here, but spring is pure delight:

The extra large, white blossoms in the foreground were pear blossoms. There was a cherry tree blooming right beside it, but you can't see it in this picture. All the rest were apple trees:

And as if the apple blossoms were not enough, the lilacs bloomed so profusely that the air was perfumed. Simply walking out the door was a treat:

Well, that was the lovely and fragrant. Now for the ugly and stinky. I had a two foot deep layer of bedding hay, mixed with cow manure and urine, next to the barn. I wanted to remove it and add it to the manure pile for future compost:

I found it incredibly difficult to scoop it up in the tractor bucket, but I finally learned how (sort of), and began removing it, one scoop at a time:

Mostly the tractor bucket merely rolled it up into six foot high piles. I had to roll it back the other way and then back again to pull apart the long stems of hay before the tractor bucket could scoop it up (sometimes). It took two days, but I managed to get most of it over to the manure pile. And yes, it was sure stinky:

But lets return to the lovely and fragrant once again. Apple buds are pink, but the flowers are white when opened. They have a wonderful aroma, but I have found that I have to stick my nose right up next to them to detect it:

Here's the fully open, white blossoms:

And a view of the farm house and orchard from the barnyard:

A view from the south lawn. Yes, I took a lot of pictures because I was so enchanted by the great beauty of it all:

More apple blossoms:

And let's not forget the animals. The chickens have been roaming free for many weeks now, but the fantail pigeons took longer to avail themselves of their open window. But they too are happy that winter finally ended: