It Is Beginning to Look As Only Stauffer Can
Our yard is like none other . . . so we have been told. Each spring the potting shed beckons us to unload it. 
Each spring we kind of look at the last of the snow that needs to melt, and we think maybe this year we will take a break and just leave the potting shed door . . . shut. So much for that thought. Perhaps we will revisit that thought in the spring of 2016.
Our garden art has been collected over the last 25 years. When you least expected it, a treasure could be found and I could just imagine where it would be put. Dennis has said he doesn’t want the yard to look junky. With the huge yard that we have, there are a lot of places to tuck some here, tuck some there, and before you know it . . . it looks and feels like another great season.
This early spring, with the winds making it feel like a late winter, we bundled up and got a few chairs out on the back patio. If nothing else, the birds made it feel like spring. Before I knew it, Dennis was in the potting shed and came out with a few of his favorite items to put on the north wall of the garage. Over the last month, and today, the final items were brought out and placed in the yard and gardens. The perennials took such a long time to show themselves, I didn’t trust myself to tramp around, until I could see some growth popping up.
As Dennis enjoys his rocking chair in the porch, his view
to the east took on a new look this year.
I have not added to the garden art for several years, but just like in a home it gets rearranged every once in awhile. It makes it seem like a new decor for Stauffer. One of the gals I worked with in the courthouse commented that we decorated our yard much like most people decorate the interior of their homes. Hey, I don’t have to dust the garden art.
Today Dennis got the camera out and was pleased with how the east end of the Koi pond 
was done for this year. If Papa is happy, everybody is happy. We do spend so much time outside on the patios and in the porch, it should be pleasing to the eye. Though our home is not large, in a drop of a hat we can accommodate several people or a crowd in the great outdoors.
The main reason for the energy we expend on the yard and gardens is for our very own enjoyment. Just farmers at heart, when spring arrives, it feels so normal to dig in the dirt and be outside. At the end of the day, more times than not you will find Dennis and me sitting on the patio while enjoying a York Peppermint Patty to close another great day.