Gardening begins

Today we began work in the garden. Which is to say I raked leaves and hauled branches from the yard while Tanya raked half the kitchen garden. There are two words for garden in Russian:
"Sad" is a flower garden or orchard, the kind of garden featured in "Better Homes and...". The Russian word for Kindergarten is Ditski Sad or children's garden. The other garden is "Ogorod" or kitchen garden, vegetables and such.

The mutts and I strolled along the marsh today for the first time since winter. I took a new plank with me to put across the one low spot where I get my shoes wet and muddy. There had been an old board there but it has rotted away. There were pretty yellow flowers blooming so tomorrow I will take pictures. This was the fourth walk in a row that the dogs did not run off but went peacefully back into their pen with help from their liver sausage treats. The stuff costs about $4 per kg at the grocery store and they love it. Kids and dogs can usually be bribed into good behavious. Emphasis on the word usually.