Spring: ready or not, here it comes!

I can't remember a year when I felt that spring had come too soon.

But this is such a year. I didn't get the bulbs underground til mid-January; it just hadn't seemed cold enough til then. (True, there was a snowy period in December that caught us unawares, but I really couldn't have done it then.) Yesterday, around town, I saw some forsythia showing that faint but telltale yellow cast. That's like the opening bell, spring-wise. I'm not sure I'm ready.

What I wish for: a strong young person to help on an ad hoc basis with some of the heavy outdoor chores. Mowing, when it's needed (and not when it isn't); mulching; edging, raking (not blowing, thanks). Here it's an all-or-nothing scenario. You hire one of the mow-and-blow companies, and they descend with all their noisy apparatus on their schedule, not yours. Or you do it yourself. Find a kid who wants to earn some pocket change? Dream on.

But of course the exercise is good for me. And, once I get into the swing, you can't pry me away. Still, it seems so soon....