February Findings: 2016

It's March! How did this happen? The days are flying by and I'm still way behind on my reading list for the year. Eep. 

February was a pretty jam-packed month. A snowstorm, the Super Bowl, Valentine's Day, bee school... February was pretty cool. I've got plenty of pictures from the month, so let's dive right in!

We had a small snow storm to start out the month. We had a good 4+ inches of snow for the first week of February. It was pretty stubborn about sticking around. The dogs hated it.

So did the birds. With temperatures never getting above 30º, it was pretty impossible to keep standing water in the bird bath. Luckily, we have a creek nearby that never froze completely. 

The snow was gone by the time the Super Bowl rolled around and we were able to deep fry our wings outside. 

And boy did we! The wings were, as usual, football perfection.

The hubby got his Christmas present in February- a panini press! We have loved this purchase. We've made way more panini's than is normal. 

A panini recipe will be up on the blog before you know it! But seriously, we've used the panini press to make sandwiches, grill bread for bruschetta, to make cinnamon toast, to grill steaks... We've pretty much tried all the uses.

In fact, our Valentine's steaks were grilled on the panini press. Served with plenty of red wine and artichoke leaves dredged in garlic butter. Decadently delicious. 

Our Valentine's New York strips.

In February, one of the neighborhood dogs started harassing mine. In reality, she is just a puppy and does not understand that my dogs want to eat her. She thinks they want to play. Which leads to her sitting down and apparently waiting for the dogs to come out. It's pretty cute. She'll sit and wait for about 5 minutes before running off to someone else's property to play with their dogs. And she does. I've seen her roaming around with many other neighborhood dogs. Because when you live somewhere long enough, you start to recognize all the dogs :-)

I'm normally not a person to be happy about a roaming neighborhood dog, but this one is too sweet. She surprised me when I was outside the dogs one day. I turned around and she was there. I moved fast to try to collect my dogs, but I wasn't fast enough. Pretty soon all 3 Chihuahuas had surrounded her and were barking like crazy. I thought she might attack. But instead, she just laid down and looked up at me like the small dogs in a frenzy were crazy. Well, she was right. They are crazy. 

Long story short, the dogs all get along. I don't know who lets their puppy roam like that, but I kind of want to keep her. Her demeanor is just sooooooo sweet. I know she belongs to someone because she has a collar, is beyond friendly to people and dogs, and her body feels well-fed. We'll see how the situation plays out. 

Mariota was exhausted after first meeting her. So cute :-)

I planted my tomato seedlings on February 15th! Crossing my fingers they make it. Some seeds were fresh this year, and they are all green. I also planted some of last years seeds though, and they are kind of yellow. Not sure about those ones...

This was the first month we've lived here that I've seen a pair of hawks hunting in the yard. I've had a one off before, but never 2. 

I think these 2 were camera shy. I'd been trying to get a good shot of them for 5 minutes when they left. They were in the very back of my yard and it's always hard to get a good shot when they are that far away. 

On February 26, the hubby and I attended beekeeping school in Marysville, KY. We were really impressed with the presentations, and everyone we met was sooooo nice. My kind of people. You know, people that love animals and want to save the planet. One of the presenters was talking about how to get into your hives and then put them back together without killing any bees. I whispered to the hubby that she could be my new best friend. Ha ha. We ended up buying a hive, and ordering bees that we will get to bring home April 16th. We are excited!

We also learned a ton about honey bees. Did you know that you can't stand 10-15 feet in front of a hive because that's all they see? It's called the "bee line" and if you are in it, that's when they can become aggressive. But you can come up from behind, stand to the side of the hive, and peep at them- and they won't even know! I never knew that. You can also pet them. I don't think you'll see me doing that anytime soon...

So, we were having a great day. We had one class left when the hubby's mom called and told us she couldn't find Haloti. That he'd been missing for 30 minutes. That was all either of us needed to hear. We jumped in the car for the 75 minute drive home. Well, the hubby's mom called us after about 45 minutes and let us know that Haloti had somehow gotten into her car. Mystery solved.

If we learned anything from that experience, it's this- Fencing in the backyard? Completely necessary if we want to be able to relax when we go out of town. We've been on the fence (haha!) about building a fence, but now, we are doing it. The very next day, the hubby got up and set up posts so we could get an idea of what we want to fence in. 

It was pretty warm, so the boys enjoyed some exploring while the hubby and I pondered the fence. 

Mariota wanted in, not realizing we were staying outside. Needless to say, he was not pleased :-)

One thing that happened as a result of beekeeping school? It's gotten me all excited for the growing season. 

My chives are starting to pop!

Tulips. These started sprouting last month. I was afraid they were going to die with all the cold weather and snow we've had, but they seem to be chugging right along.

I've got a little patch of wild mint that's starting to grow again too.

With starting beekeeping, we are planting TONS of wildflowers. I couldn't love this idea more!

I also get to do some planting in March. Parsley, radish, kale, spinach, and lettuce will be planted around March 15. I can't wait to get my hands in the dirt. Hopefully, the tomato sprouts have true leaves by March 15th, and I can transplant them into larger containers too. 

Anyone else super ready for Spring like me?

And finally, these are a few of my favorite recipes that I made this month-

Kung Pao Chicken Zoodles

Cookies & Cream Cupcakes (Red Velvet Style)

Jessica's Special Margaritas

~And that was February. On to March, spring planting, and March Madness! Have a great week everyone!~