I SO would love to call in sick to work tomorrow -- so I could go back outside. But, it's going to rain all day anyway, so I might as well suffer and get paid at the same time.

Soaking in a tub with them is the best thing I've found for sore muscles. And you can use the rest on your tomatoes later this year!

I learned my lesson about starting too early for my zone last year, so I'm still a few weeks away from any real preparation. But there are signs of life-- my sedums are coming up nicely and the lilac I transplanted into a bigger pot last fall is covered in leaf buds.

-- and that is when you know you got all that pain and so tired from accomplishing a lot.

Thanks for posting this. It's encouraging to the rest of us to know how much you got done.

I look like I was in a fight with a closet full of cats. I did not get planters out yet, because I am sure it is still way too early (even if it didn't FEEL like it). But I did get all the tree branches that fell all winter cleaned up, and did a lot of cleaning out the beds---cutting down all the dead flower heads.

What was incredible to me is that the rose bushes had not even lost all the leaves over this winter. The butterfly bush has leaves full out, and I don't know if they were there all winter and didn't get killed or if they have come out with all the nice weather. Crocuses are blooming all over and buds on the daffodils. And the bees were happy to see those crocuses because they were out too!

It felt so good to get things cleaned up and look at all the life.