Spring has Sprung

I'm officially declaring that Spring has Sprung, at least here in Omaha. Although my friends in the north central and northeast parts of the country are still stuck with mounds of snow on the ground. I'm going to try not to rub it in for fear that they might come and whack me over the head with a frozen leprechaun leftover from Monday's St. Paddy's day festivities.

Why am I declaring spring sprung, you might be asking? Good question. I'm glad you asked because I have a list of reasons that I've complied.

1. We have no snow on the ground here....none, nada, zero, zip. And not only that, there have been more nice days than crappy days, weather wise. Now usually those two things go together-snow on the ground and crappy weather, or vice-versa (derived from the Latin phrase that means " the other way around" for any word geeks out there). And even though we could still get a early spring snow-dump, in fact it flurried just the other night, for now, it's starting to look like spring. 

2. My yard and garden are passing the spring "eye-test".  If you just happened to be in a coma and suddenly woke up today and looked outside, you might say, "gosh, it looks like spring". 

3. The lawn mower is back from the shop and ready for the first mow. And we cleaned the gas grill and cooked steaks and potato packs for dinner last night. Some of you may not be able to see your grill under the snow drifts, I get that, but we're cooking with gas here.

4. My garden is 80% cleaned up. All the ornamental grasses are cut down and the waste hauled away. The sweet autumn vines have been torn down and removed. And the main flower garden has been raked and tidied up just in time for the spring bulbs to sprout.

Now, I have to confess. I hired a guy, "Jim-I Do the Work" (that's what it said on the side of his truck) to cut down all my grasses and vines and to haul away all the waste. This is a job that usually takes me several weekends and results in a sore back. ( We've got a lot of large ornamental grasses). Plus, I needed two extra large grasses dug out of the rose garden in the front yard. They had simply grown too large and were overcrowding the bed. And they are not easy to dig out.

So last Friday Jim stopped by and gave me a bid and by Sunday afternoon, the job was done. In 5 hours, Jim and his son did what would have taken me 20 hours and while they were doing that, I was raking out the flower garden. And I put out a cold frame and planted a row of lettuce, spinach and radishes in it. Voila...the garden is ready for spring.

Can you imagine the joy in this garden nerds heart when I surveyed the yard and garden as I looked down from the deck while grilling our steaks on Sunday night?

It wasn't quite as easy as it sounds. I resisted having someone else do my work for me. It wasn't about the money. It was about letting go of a job that has become physically more challenging each year-bending, lifting and hauling cans and bags of yard waste up the slope in the back yard out to the street.

And I loved doing it...until it started to come with a price.

It's too easy for me to forget that 18 months ago I had pain running through my right shoulder and down my arm for nearly 4  months. An MRI and a consultation with a spine surgeon revealed arthritis in my spine that was probably agitated when, without thinking, I grabbed a can of garden waste with each hand and hauled them up the hill and out to the street. I was lucky-I avoided surgery and the pain went away with the help of a steroid injection. There are still occasional reminders that ping my shoulder, neck and arm and warn to me to take heed. This spring, I listened and took heed. I hired "Jim-I Do The Work & Son". 

I guess it's better that my ego gets adjusted instead of my back. Actually, it wasn't long after "Jim and Son" pulled away that I said to Georgette, "Why didn't I think of that sooner?"

But this is about spring, not my achy back or aging gracefully. And with spring comes hope, renewal and anticipation. So again, I'm declaring that spring has sprung. And wherever you are, I hope it springs soon for you too.

Or is that sprangs?

Spring has sprang? No. That doesn't work....Who sprang? Some guy in a Christmas poem?

Never mind.

Spring Garden and Cold Frame