It’s now! It’s happening!
SPRING IS HERE!
If you’re new to the north country and you’re used to a leisurely build-up to summer and are taking your time getting your lawnmower serviced, your seeds planted, your perennial beds cleaned out, please take heed. Don’t wait too long or before you know it, summer will be here and it will be too late. Your yard will suddenly be hip high and the neighbors will be giving you the evil eye. Your tulips will already have been choked off by weeds and last year’s dead perennial skeletons and litter that was covered by the snow not too long ago (there is, inexplicably, the bottom half of a plastic milk jug in one of our perennial beds right now. Where did it come from? How did it get there? Why is there only HALF of it?!)
I remember back when I first moved to Watertown, I saw people outside in shorts and sandals when I was still zipped up to the neck in my winter parka. I mean, it was barely out of the 40s and everyone was acting like they were on their way to the beach.
Confused, I went home, shed my socks and looked at my poor, white, toes with chipped red nail polish that I hadn’t even noticed was still there when I had put my feet into hibernation several months earlier. I wondered if I was in some weird weather twilight zone. Or perhaps the wise folks here take care of their feet in the winter too, so they didn’t have to get emergency pedicures when it is suddenly warm enough (relatively speaking) to start wearing sandals. A mystery.
Shortly after that, I smelled smoke. Before I could grab my photo albums and evacuate, I saw my husband running past me with a plate of raw meat to grill. I hadn’t gotten the memo that spring in the north country is an urgent situation.
I’m here to tell you folks. It is.
Our smoker and the Weber grill. In the background you can see our friend driving the kids around
(at approximately 4 mph) in my brother-in-law’s John Deere Gator. Fun times.
Unless you get started on that one weekend where the weather is warm enough to get by without having to end the day with hot chocolate and a hot bath instead of a cold beer, everyone else in your neighborhood will be rolling their eyes while grilling meat or polishing their pretty piggies while you play catch up.
Here’s a list of things we (and by that I mean my husband) like to get accomplished at the first sign of spring:
1.) Pick up the yard – I find this fun not because I like cleaning, but because of the funny and weird – and yes, gross – things I find (like slugs. Love ‘em, or hate ‘em, they are funny, weird AND gross)
2.) Prepare the sandbox – My kids are still little and they have to have SOMETHING to do while I am doing my boring old gardening.
3.) Clean out the flower beds – I really don’t know what I’m doing when it comes to gardening. No idea. But I do enjoy it. I don’t think I’m alone in finding that it is easier to tear out limp, wintered garden leftovers than to try and handle firm, mean vegetation in the late spring when all I want to do is start hiding from the cold.
I did clean out one of my beds in the late fall last year and I sure am appreciative of being able to see the budding spring flowers. Is there a right way to handle this? I’m open to suggestions. But, in the meantime, I’ll be cleaning out my other perennial beds when it stops raining long enough to get out there.
4.) Put away winter gear – Skis, sleds, snow boots, snow pants can all be put away. Keep accessible your gloves/mittens and winter hats and, yes, even your heavy winter coat. You never know when the snow will make a surprise visit. Easter morning, Cinco de Mayo. It’s not unprecedented. But I can almost guarantee you that it won’t won’t be enough to play in. And if it is, what else will you have to do but look for your kids’ snow boots?
5.) Make sure my clothesline is up to snuff – I LOVE LOVE LOVE drying my clothes and bedding outdoors. As long as it’s warm enough not to freeze my laundry, it goes outside.
6.) Try on summer clothes – I want to be sure I can at least throw on one pair of shorts when the weather is actually warm enough. Plus, I like to know what I need to look for when garage sale season unofficially starts next weekend. YES! NEXT WEEKEND!
Happy spring everybody – now go color some Easter eggs!
