2014-03-31

Signs of Spring

Yesterday was the first 60 degree day of the year. My neighbor spent it with his true love, his leaf blower. He also took a break from blowing every last leaf to scrape dead leaves off of his curb and the street. The guy knows how to really enjoy the little things in life.

It has been a long, snowy winter listening to his snow-blower, I started to miss the sound of his leaf blower. Even though you know Spring is slow to arrive here...


...it's been an especially treacherous winter. At one point I threatened Mother Nature that I was going to start using plastic shopping bags again. We all have our breaking points.

Last week, the snow started to finally melt, and we could see the yard poking up through the snow again for the first time since the avalanche of snow started in November. 











Hey look, GRASS! Remember grass, kids?













Of course Lola still wanted me to pull her in the snow, even when there was the smallest amount left.
We didn't get far.

Once the snow melted, we found our usual treasure of missing toys, nothing as exciting as last year.
We found this cup last year in the lawn during Spring thaw
And now that the snow is gone, this starts Mud Season.
Stinky Pete prospecting in the mud
THIS is why tie-dying was invented

Also the season of:
Muddy boots/shoes,
pants-staining, 
stain-soaking, 
finally giving up and 
calling them "play pants" season.





Speaking of pants-ruining, a recent trip to the mall found preparations for Easter decorations. My 2 yr old was so very excited, she broke free of hand-holding and ran under the rope surrounding these.
We can FINALLY walk outside again, and in doing so we realized we have LOTS of eager beaver neighbors near our house. It's not even Easter yet, and these freaks already have their Christmas decorations up.
It's earlier and earlier every year!
We're not done with the winter weather, of course. Being close to Lake Michigan, especially after this Polar Vortex winter, we won't feel Spring weather until end of May and summer until July. 

There will still be mysterious mountains of parking lot snow here and there for awhile yet. 
Nice to have a view of the mountains!
It will be 40 degrees again this week, but put those razor blades away, there are signs of Spring blooming all over.

21 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Me too! And I think even the people that LOVE winter are done this year! It's been a long, snowy, character-builder of a winter. This is THEE most awaited Spring since biblical times.

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  2. What the heck is that hanging from the candy cane? Are you sure those people didn't die over the winter and you're just now realizing their decorations are still up? It's possible!

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    1. hahaha it's VERY POSSIBLE! Our neighborhood is like a Ghost Town. We always joke about that, like:
      "What if something happened a year or so ago, and all these houses are just full of skeletons?" It's weird, there are almost NEVER anyone outside. Except for the guy constantly manicuring his lawn, but our theory is he just runs the leaf blower/snow blower/lawn mower every day to cover the sound of his REALLY LOUD kid. And we don't blame him at all!
      That candy cane thing, I went back and looked, I dunno I think it's a wind chime maybe ??
      There are kind of a lot of Christmas lights and whatnot still up this year, the snow was plentiful and the temps were 20-50 below zero. No one gave a crap WHAT was happening outside, we were ALL hermits this winter!

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  3. I still have a picture somewhere of the inside of my neighbor's house (visible through their side window that they never raise the blinds on) that shows the entire house lined with Christmas decorations. In July. Some people are lazy, yes, but some are really just that crazy about Christmas.

    Ah, found it.

    Christmas in July

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    1. I already love this picture, and this neighbor. Clicking shortly. Our street has NO street lights, and when it gets dark at 4:30 like it does all winter here, I almost want to go door to door begging people to leave their holiday lights up until at least March.
      I have a friend who spray painted a Christmas tree black and decorates it for Halloween. She puts it up in September. Not the same level as your neighbor, but I love her commitment.

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  4. play pants...hahahaha. Yeah. We have tons of those. Your captions made me laugh. Oh and the tweet - so funny! I bet that one got a lot of play on twitter.

    are those decorations left over from Christmas or are they really just now putting them up?? Either way it deserves a HELLLLOOOO!!!

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    1. I'm assuming they were left over, but you never know, do you?

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  5. So glad for spring to be sort of here! My little dog is like your daughter. She finds the one clump of snow in the yard and runs over and plays on it, while my other dog frolics in the grass!

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    1. Ha, my kids BOTH do that! The little one takes her gloves off, then always cries because her hands are cold, but she won't keep them on :)

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  6. OMG, your post last year with the sippy cup was the very first post I read of yours and I remember laughing until I cried and then laughing some more until I peed. Love it. But not your weather. I had enough all the way down here in South Central Bumblefuck , PA. Remind me never to visit you.....

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    1. Ha! Just visit in October! We have beautiful Octobers. September is still hot, humid, can't-breathe outside summer. November can be REALLY COLD, but October? We always get ONE perfect, glorious, Fall weekend.
      You never know WHEN that will be though, so..

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  7. I don't want to see snow. Ever again. Spring has still not really arrived here in NYC. Still a bit windy and cold but at least it's sunny out. I do remember living in the burbs and seeing those snow mountains in the parking lots. Some would still be there in May all black and ice like.

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    1. Yep. The snirt (snow+dirt) is the most powerful, last to melt. Also the ugliest to look at.

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  8. hahaha..YES!! Signs of spring here also. Except the "Old Shit" we find under the melted snow is literally old shit!! Buster's shit!! And it's all mushy and gross now. So I don't want to the kids running around in the yard because I am certain they are going to find the mushy shit and step in it! They always do! This time of year even if you don't have dog shit on your lawn...the smell of it wafts through the air for some damn reason. It's like all the dog shit from everywhere is now in the air and until it dries out, everyone is going to smell it!

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    1. You paint such a beautiful word picture! hahaha On the first really warm day, make the kids clean it up and then hose them off in the backyard! Then you can reward them with ice cream or something, but they have to eat it OUTSIDE!

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  9. Loved the tweet! I hope it warms up for you soon.

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    1. Thank you! It's been a balmy 40 degrees this week. We've been outside every day because to us? It feels like Spring.

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  10. Great blog. Gotta love neighbors like yours. I'm the guy who neighbors hate because I take 2 months longer to clean my leaves, because I don't want to do it twice. You're funny. That's refreshing.

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    1. Thank you! We're pretty much the same as you. We do have tons of huge, old trees in our neighborhood, so we almost HAVE to break it up into 2 days, also because we're totally out of shape and can't possibly be that active in one day. We do like to wait as long as possible, the wind blows the neighbors leaves into our yard, so we wait as long as possible, for as many of those to blow past us. However, in Chicagoland you can get bitten with that, you never know when that first HUGE snow is going to hit. It's really sucky to rake leaves UNDER snow. It's a big gamble every year.
      Thanks for reading and commenting. Glad you enjoyed it!

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  11. lol, omg all the photos make this an epic post. Hilarious.

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