Want Rain? Wash Your Windows

The dog sits under my chair seeking comfort from the thunder.  It's 59° and pouring; it probably will not reach the forecasted 63°.  Still not bad considering this time six weeks ago we were up to our schnutzes in snow.  Forsythia, helleborus, and daffodils are blooming and every day another perennial pokes above ground. 

Yesterday and Saturday we cleaned out all but three of the gardens, cutting back kniphofia, Dutch irises, and any dead remaining from last year.  We cleaned out all the pots, throwing away those that deteriorated over the winter,  readying the remaining  for new soil .  (This is the first year that I hadn't stored them all in the garage.  The snow came so early, we didn't have a chance to -- I won't make that mistake again).  Now I need to get to work designing what colors and plants I want to place in them.  Partial to combinations of purple and orange-red, I 'colorscape', first, then find plants to match what colors I want. 

We also washed the nine sliding glass doors around the sunporch, using a Windex wand which worked quite well;  I used the wand and pad on the windows while Richard followed with the hose and as promised, the windows dried without streaks.  Of course, it's raining today....