It's official

Today, March 20, is the First Day of Spring.  It has been as warm and breezy as Spring should be, but not very sunny. I'm not going to quibble about that.

The day was full of spring sights.  Alberta, my next door neighbor, took her mare out for a ride. Ray Churchill let some cows out on a very small piece of dry pasture. Ferns have leafed out in the woods. My hellebores have sprouted (see a picture here.) Someone was enjoying the first four-wheeler ride on Ray Peck's fields, and everyone's dogs are racing and romping.

I have honored the day in several ways:
 
  1. I put the snow shovel and the roof rake away.

  2. I picked up my new lawn mower from Sears. So much of the snow disappeared so quickly that I can get to the shed, to put the mower away. I even read the Owner's Manual, and learned several new things.

  3. I hung the laundry on the porch clothesline with the expectation that it would dry without freezing.

  4. I opened not only Ernie's porch window, but the small crank-outs, to fill the porch with fresh air.

  5. I raked all the driveway gravel (moved to the grass by snow-plowing) back into the driveway, and threw grass seed on the raked spots.

  6. I prepared a raised bed for growing lettuce. I've been looking forward to planting lettuce since January. Guess what I forgot to buy. Of course, lettuce seeds. I'll do that tomorrow.

We know this is just one day. The temperatures will drop tomorrow, and cold weather will return on Monday. But it doesn't matter. Spring has stopped teasing us. Today Spring made a statement.