pussywillows, cattails...rocks

We're back. House is a mess - doesn't it always seem worse when you come home? I could have sworn this place was reasonably clean when I left, and the cats seemed relatively well behaved. Really can't blame them for condensation spots on the ceiling, or for the cobwebs that have magically appeared. I guess it is almost time for spring cleaning, but I don't really do spring cleaning. Seems extremely pointless when I have 4 people and two cats dragging in copious amounts of mud every time they enter.
Not so much mud today. There is some - certainly everywhere that the plow had to go last week is horribly muddy. But, Charlotte and I spent the morning out on the snowshoes in the sloughs and ditches gathering up craft supplies. I wanted to grab reed grass for basket weaving, cut some willows for little structures in the garden (no, I don't have a true plan for those yet, but like yarn, I need to have the raw material in my possession for a while before I can figure out what it is meant to be) and see if any pussy willows were out (I found one branch that I think will force really well). And the benefits to going now are extensive - no ticks, no soakers, no mud...and everything is relatively clean since we've had a few rains too!
I thought Charlotte was just out for the walk, but apparently she likes cattails. I turned around at one point and all I could see was this little purple snowsuit buried in cattails (and cattail fluff). Don't know how we're going to deal with this collection - so far I have told her that all of our craft supplies are to be left outside. I guess it beats the rock collection - I know I checked the pockets when I did laundry last night, but somehow I still ended up washing a good portion of Joelle's recent accumulations...maybe she's hiding them in her socks. I don't know!