SPRING & GREEN

Florida gator says HELLO! Hey, this is a small one but can take a mighty fine chunk out of you if you get to close or get fooled into thinking is small and can't hurt you.
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Each of us has our own sign(s) of spring and no calendar telling us this is the first day of spring really counts for much --- it rarely feels like we think spring should feel like, so we usually ignore it!

For some green grass and snow melting is a sure sign spring has arrived and nothing is more exciting that witnessing the melt and run off of snow and ice as our streams, lakes and ponds fill and rush along with a speed that just doesn’t seem fair. In a few months many of these rushing waters will be lucky to see a tiny stream of water or frogs hopping along looking for a place to really cool off!

My spring “guide” is pussy willows! Yup, when they start popping out I officially declare spring has arrived and as soon as possible I grab me a few pussy willow branches, rush home to find a mason jar, add some water and in go those branches. What a wonderful sight to behold and if I was really into this madness, I’d hang simple decorations like they do in Germany, Italy and some other countries, but for now I shall just enjoy the branches themselves.

Much to my delight and surprise on my walk this morning and while collecting pussy willows a young man was pulling his traps from the creek bed. Last day of the season so he had no choice. Believe it or not, folks still trap for muskrat and beaver. They’ll skin and stretch them, just like we did as kids, and sell them to someone in Canada. As kids this was how we earned our spending money and we also cut down on the beaver population too.

It amazes me as I reflect on my own childhood and realize the gift my parents gave me. We had to WORK to earn money, it was never handed to us and from that lesson I developed and maintained a work ethic that served me quite nicely and still does to this day. I feel sorry for today’s youth who find sitting at home, playing on some computer or video game and who get an allowance for making their bed or maybe for taking out the trash once a week. Wow, I can’t wait to employ these kids, how about you? What is even weirder is if they do work they expect to receive a wage way beyond the limits of good financial sense. “Sure I’ll mow your yard, you’ll need to provide me with a riding lawn mower, gas and drinks and I’ll work for two hours only and you’ll pay me $40.” At this point my thought is “forget it, a swift kick in the pants is about all I can muster at this moment!” Hell, I wouldn't pay myself that much why would I pay a kid? Unreal.

Anyway, Spring is here – two days of sunshine and man, my tulips are sprouting like someone is literally shoveling them underneath the ground. I know, it’s silly but I’m enjoying this little number. Rarely does anything I plant actually grow or survive, so this is big news!

Plus with the warmer weather I am once again able to resume my morning walks. Oh how I missed them and now getting my stamina back to where it was is the challenge of spring -- ah, we do need our challenges, don't we? Regardless of what you may think, I actually feel better if I can do these morning walks, it gives me an energy for the rest of the day for some strange reason. I'm not rushing, walking fast or in any hurry so this is a pleasant time outside, alone and just taking in all the sights and sounds. Well, some sights and smells I could nicely do without -- thank you dog lovers for leaving that pile for me to enjoy!


This morning I was allowing my mind to wander (it does this alot but that's okay) and I got thinking about all this going green business. Look I am all for saving the planet and being environmentally alert and conserving energy, etc. Let me ask you, doesn’t this sound like the recycling number we did years ago and it took twenty years to get folks to comply with ? And now we are gonna do all this and that so places in foreign lands can have decent water and housing!

Am I the only dumb one here who is suggesting we look south and see the destruction Katrina did and how our own people are without decent housing and water right here in America. You wanna help someone, how about helping our own for a change!

I'm all for spreading the wealth and trying to make life easier, safer and healthier for everyone but damnit, we got issues right here in this country and we need to resolve them before we head off to other lands and take on their problems too. That's my soap box number for today...now, get outside and enjoy this lovely spring weather!