It's asparagus hunting time on the farm.

Something we can count on in the early spring are the interlopers driving the roads around here, STEALING our ditch asparagus! Well, it probably isn't really stealing because the ditches belong to no one, but when I found them in our driveway, how rude, I ran them off. So I started beating them at their own game, there are about 10 patches within 1/4 mile of our house. Easy driving with the gator and my two faithful passengers, Mollie and Murphy, riding shotgun.

I've had a bad back for a few weeks so wasn't up for running up and down ditches but had a change of mind when I found two different asparagus hunters in one day.

The first thing I always did was don long sleeves and leather gloves to clear away all the old stalks, they are vicious, with little thorny things and without the protection I came home with numerous scratches and cuts. I always used the 4-wheeler on that trip, I threw the stalks into the bottom of the ditch and ran back and forth over them to disguise the patch. That wasn't possible this year because of all the rain we've had. 

The first patch I checked was by the home place and found all the old stalks ripped out and only green asparagus stubs looking up at me. I checked the other patches and found two that the interlopers obviously over looked and brought home a nice mess for us to eat.

Gently steamed with a pat of butter, YUM, YUM!

It's also good roasted in the oven with a little olive oil or grilled, wrapped in bacon, YUM, YUM!

But then you could wrap an old tennis shoe in bacon and grill it....just sayin.......

Rosanne drove up on Friday and I had hopes that we would find some for her, although the weather has been rainy and cold, not the best growing weather for the tender green stalks.

Bruce needed some help at the cabin where he was replacing a set of windows that were rotting, with a big window out of the old house. The house is an organ donor now, the kitchen cabinets went to Carol and Tom's house in MN, the window out of the laundry room is in the MN cabin and now, this big one out of the kitchen, in the cabin at Leo's Pond. Bruce took the inside set of windows out to reduce the weight of the window, he had the old ones out and the new one in but the windows didn't want to go back in.

Rosanne, Mollie, Murphy and I, armed with a big plastic bag and a knife, checked the asparagus patches on the way, and hit pay dirt! Rosanne had a bag of spears to take home with her.

On the way down the drive way we came upon the first goose hatch of the year, both parents were trying to be very sneaky so we wouldn't see them.

On to the cabin and try to figure out the windows, we put them in, took them out, flipped them around, put them in, took them out. Removed the screws holding the frame into the opening and did some adjusting, it wasn't quite square.

After a couple hours and a trip back home to look at the windows still in the house, which was no help because they were a little different, attempting to Google '1974 Gerkin Windows', and getting no help, we finally got all three installed and vowed never to open them!

I guess I should have washed the window while I had the chance but it didn't break my heart,

Too bad, so sad!

Later Sunday afternoon:

The sun came out, I had to go revel in it so gathered the dogs, my camera, a knife and sack for asparagus and headed for the pond in the Gator. We, and I use the term loosely as the dogs just stayed in the back looking thoroughly bored and delivered huge sighs that said, "Aren't we EVER going to get there??, found a nice bunch of asparagus and finally got to the pond. It was too muddy to drive down to Leo's Pond so I cut across the path and headed back toward the bees. A goose had been sitting on the island of the second pond and I saw both parents in the water and something yellow in the nest along with eggs. I took this photo with my everyday lens.

I think I see some little baby bobbing heads......

I thought about going home and getting my big, honking lens, I drove past the bees and was excited to see some out and about. On Friday when Rosanne was here, there wasn't a bee to be seen or heard and I feared the worst.

That cheered me up so much I did go get my big lens, I was setting it up and the parents were having a cow, calling to their children. Just as I got ready to shoot, they lit out for the water.

"Sayonara, Com padres, it's every gosling for himself!"

They made it through the jungle grass.....

....some were slower than others....

....I think in all, there were 6. I have a hard time seeing the LCD screen on the camera in the sunlight so wasn't sure how they came out. And, of course, I didn't want to be too close, they say the first thing a baby goose sees when it hatches, it thinks is it's mother. All I need is 6 baby Canadian geese following me around. My sister has 3 turkeys that think she is their mother, their names are Thanksgiving, Christmas and Justin Case!

Their fate remains to be seen.