... ducks, geese, lightning and weeds! There aren't a few of my favorite things but they are some of the early harbingers of spring. I take heart from each of them ~ more this year than usual, it seems. Last night we were watching The Secret Life of Bees when a flash illuminated the room. Thinking it was a utility vehicle or something, John jumped up. Before he could get across the room to look outside, we heard a rumble of thunder. How amazing! We hadn't considered the idea that it could be a flash of lightning.
As we have been driving around lately, there has been a marked increase in the number of skunks, raccoons and woodchucks with their entrails decorating the pavement. Not attractive but definitely another sign that springtime is on its way. I've also seen many geese formations (covey? pride? bunch?) flying north in the past few days. Welcome back! We just saw some ducks checking out a large puddle on someone's lawn.
Looking into the ravine behind and beside our house, the skunk cabbages are beginning to send up pale green shoots. Every spring I watch them overtake the soggy brown undergrowth and carpet the ravine in a rainbow of greens. Of course the dandelions and weeds are already hard at work establishing their territory for the summer season that seems to be on its way.
About the only thing I haven't seen yet is worms but it is still fairly early in March. Once they arrive, then you know spring is truly around the corner. However, I'm figuring they must be active, maybe still in the ground rather than on the sidewalks and driveways, since robins tend to snack on them. I've always liked worms. In the third grade, I helped the boys on the playground find worms and then chase the other girls with them. The few times I've been fishing, I have had no problem baiting my hook. And dissecting them in high school and college was fascinating but then I am always interested in how bodies, human and otherwise, work and look on the inside.
The creeping project
Our home remodeling project(s) continue to creep ever larger. Annie the wonder painter was here this past week and painted our bedroom. It looks beautiful. We have ordered new carpeting for the living room, family room and now our bedroom ("hey, while we have this emptied, we should really carpet it as we planned 15 years ago."). While I took Lucy to The Little Gym yesterday morning for our class, Johnnie started thinking about the master bathroom which we have been mightily dissatisfied with for many years. It's small and we end up knocking elbows if we're both at the sink at the same time. If someone is on the toilet and the other person is getting in and out of the shower at the same time, there's a significant sacrifice of personal space. Not complaining, just saying.
So we're now thinking that we'll get the bathroom at least somewhat improved while we have the opportunity and before the new carpet goes down. The sad part is that part of the painting that Annie did last week will probably need to be done. And in the midst of working on the bathroom, we'll also be shuffling living room and family room furniture around to accommodate more painting and carpet installation. Chaos reigns and probably will for quite a while. I'll take 'before' pictures today so I can show the progress and improvement when it's done.
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