And for a landscape that looks a little less arid than Frenchman Coulee, here’s our yard, overwhelmed with cherry blossoms at the moment.

And the garden looking good. We’ve been running frost-free for a month strong now, but everything pictured is pretty cold tolerant anyway (kale, onions, radishes, beets etc.). What’s the patch of re-seeded missing lawn in the background you say? That’s where the dogs ran out the side door to pee all winter long. The minimum distance from the warmth of the house possible. I have a feeling this reseeding will be a yearly spring occurrence.

A few photos from rock climbing at Frenchman Coulee last Friday. This is about an hour away from our house.

Didn’t have much time available, but we were able to sneak in a couple of quick routes in the Sunset Park area. I led They Have Many Names for it but the Chief Among them is the Black Lodge (5.8) (yup, that’s the name) and Bleeding Solar Tomb (5.9). Cruised the 5.8 and barely clipped the 5.9 on pumped forearms. I climbed it a second time on top-rope a little more smoothly. Nothing super special about the routes, but the views were great and it was a nice change of pace from the Feathers/Sunshine Wall area. This was also my first time on rock again in 2014, which is a little sad given how much climbing I got in early last year.

Black Lodge is pictured below left and the overall Sunset Park crag below right.

Phlox (with a Death Camas in the background) and the trail leading to Sunset Park. Just a really pretty arid landscape.

Finally into the 70s this week, feels soooo nice! Lots of plant life in motion. The cherry trees are fully budded and probably will be leafing soon. The magnolia is starting to shake some petals after opening up last week. The radishes I planted a week ago in between the rows of already-planted onions are poking through. A few sections of yard are in need of mowing.

Also, officially outdoor project season I guess. The irrigation water kicked on yesterday, so I dug up and reseeded some sections of lawn the dogs had destroyed over the winter. I also took the first tentative steps toward replacing some of our old, battered windows, by pulling off the old exterior window trim work and fascia from one of the living room windows. I haven’t installed vinyl windows before, so this should be a good learning experience. Mary will be happy to get the junky-looking AC unit out of our dining room. I’ll try to remember to take some photos as I go.

In the meantime, here’s a photo of Parko looking expectant in his cage.