It’s officially spring---in every way. Not only have we experienced the equinox, seen the sun—briefly, but it was THERE—started our lawn mowers, noted the return of the robins and wondered if we should hang our hummingbird feeders and documented the various blooms and buds in our gardens, but ----sorry for the run-on sentence but I’m pretty excited about the ULTIMATE sign of spring---but I saw my first dandelion this weekend! 

And right after I saw My First Dandelion, I saw my second. And my third.

Yup. It’s spring.

And I have a confession to make. For all my big talk about growing grass and starting lawnmowers I have yet to get mine to fire up. Last fall I gave my machine a week’s stay at a fancy lawnmower spa---or a tune-up, whatever--- and when it when it returned to me I very carefully parked it in the garage and ignored---as one does--- it until the sun came out. One weak cough when I turned the key was the only response I got. Alas, it seems my lawnmower requires either a jump or perhaps a new battery. Coaxing didn’t seem to work. 

Abby and Annie

So, rain or shine, mow or no mow, my grass will keep growing and the dandelions will keep blooming. I remind myself that dandelions are good for the bees and if I miss the brief window of opportunity to mow my grass between showers, no problem. I have plenty of neighbors that have cows and tractors and will probably be happy to “hay” my front yard come June.I used the time I would have spent mowing my grass to work on cleaning up my flowerbeds. Removing the dead stalks that they elk didn’t eat made my gardens look much better, even if the “lawn” surrounding them were a bit “native” and “enthusiastic."

Looky There

Did You See it?

On Monday the sun made its glorious debut---and by “debut” I mean that it came out from behind the clouds long enough that I could get my shoes on before the sky succumbed to gray again. Ah, but Monday! Monday was a day chocked full of sunshine. Everywhere I went the birds were singing, the lawnmowers were humming and people were smiling.

Another good reason to put off mowing....

I know all this because on Monday, instead of staying home and playing outside like any reasonable person would, I chose to use THE ONE SUNNY DAY this week to go “Out Town” and take care of chores. SIGH. It was a nice day for a drive, at least.

This time of year it’s such a struggle, trying to find sufficient time to get the grass mowed. The grass is happily celebrating the snow’s retreat and is growing double time, rain or shine. But on those days when the rain takes a break and the sun shows its face, I don’t think there is anything better than mowing the grass, picking up sticks from the lawn---wait---first you should pick up the sticks, THEN you should mow the grass. On the page, as in real life, I tend to get a head of myself.

I know that there are some readers out there with perfect recall who are now scratching their heads and saying “Mowing the grass is the Best Thing Ever? I thought it was  ‘Is there anything better than cleaning up winter debris and then getting to set it on fire? Except maybe getting to poke the resulting fire with a stick?”’

True! I did say that. But like most of my opinions, I change my mind frequently, and right now I’m thinking it would be glorious to ride around on my lawnmower, taking occasional breaks to go poke at my winter debris--- properly permitted---with a stick.

Best. Thing. Ever.