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Friday, February 29, 2008

The First Signs...


...of Spring are in the air.

Well, that's not quite true. To be technically accurate, snowflakes are in the air, but Spring is just around the corner, the Signs are there!

First, the Red Sox are in training camp and I spend lunchtime reading about the Sox in the sports pages, not the Patriots. That means Spring is almost here.

Also, on Tuesday I suddenly had sun in my eyes in the late afternoon. Our house is oriented exactly North-South (front faces North) and one of my office widows faces due West. In the late afternoon during the Summer the sun shines in, reflects off my computer screen, and generally annoys me. Well, as much as I can be annoyed by a sunny Summer day (which is not much). In the Winter, when the Sun traces a much more southerly course, I don't get it in my window in the afternoon. So another sign of Spring here is that the Sun is moving back into the sky high enough to shine in my eye in the afternoon, and that happened on Tuesday.

Then on Wednesday when I was driving to the dump, I passed a neighbor putting the taps into his maple trees. There are lots of big old sugar maples around here, and lots of folks tap them. You'll drive around in the early spring and half the trees in people's front yards will be ringed with big white plastic buckets with hoses running into them from the tree trunk. And I saw the first taps going in on Wednesday.

So Spring is really, truly, right around the corner.

So here's my question- if Spring is so damned close, why is it 3 fucking degrees outside right now, and why are we going to get yet another foot of snow tonight?

I WANT MY GLOBAL WARMY, DAMMIT,
AND I WANT IT NOW!!!

oh Christ, it's snowing again... shit! shit! shit!!!

- -

There's some new political news over at Mulligrubbers. I swear, nobody can make up stuff like this.

23 comments:

Mike said...

I can't even imagine spring right now. The news said yesterday that this was the 7th snowiest winter on record for the Detroit area and I have to agree.

Shit, it is snowing right this moment.

Spring--April maybe but probably May.

Forrest Proper said...

Mike: Yeah, it is rather hard to Believe when we are digging the driveway out for something like the third time this week.

AngryMan said...

Be careful what you wish for . . .

Forrest Proper said...

Angryman: I checked that out- we are high enough above sea level to have a nice oceanfront property once Global Warmy really kicks in.

pissed off patricia said...

I think we have your Spring right now down here in Florida. Shall I overnight it to you?

Signs of Spring down here are when the tourist and snowbirds go home and we can actually drive on our streets without as much cussin' going on.

As I said a couple of weeks ago, my gardenia plant has already produced it's first blossom of the year. That marks spring for me in the world of nature.

Forrest Proper said...

PoP: My most vivid memory of my grandparent's home in Florida was the Poinsettia bushes the size of Volkswagens.

Yes, pleases end several boxes of Spring via Fedex. We are really going to need them tomorrow.

Thanks!

Moooooog35 said...

I misunderstood what it meant to tap a tree...

...and am now having a bitch of a time removing the splinters from my penis.

Forrest Proper said...

Moooog: Ah, yes, the unfortunate too-literal misunderstanding of the slang phrase "let's go tap the tree" has led to some unfortunate, highly public, incidents around here as well. Other phrases that have caused problems are "want to see me plant some bulbs?", "I want to fertilize your flowers", and "Boy, look at THAT hoe!"

Phoebe Fay said...

***debating whether to tell the Colonel that it's supposed to be 56 here today and 64 tomorrow. No, best not mention it***

So sorry about your snow. And cold. But it'll be okay. Maybe you should tap your trees.

Malach the Merciless said...

Unfortunately too much global warming, and I will be underwater

Forrest Proper said...

Phoebe: My back hurts too much from shoveling snow to be tapping trees. My one last solace is the knowledge that everyone else in the USofA is just as cold and miserable as I am...

Malach: Don't blame me, blame Al Gore, he invented it.

FOUR DINNERS said...

It's raining hard and blowing a gale and freezing over here in England.

Summer has arrived early!

Forrest Proper said...

Dinners: Ah, I knew I could count on Traditional English Summer to make me feel better.

Dogford Park Committee said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Mike said...

I have news and I'm sorry.

The eventual outcome of global warming will be an ice age.

The currents stop and so does temperature moderation.

Sorry dood!

Anonymous said...

all i can say to this is,
A)a north facing house in new england sucks.
B) fuck the red sox

Forrest Proper said...

Mike: Yes, I read about this on the Wood's Hole Oceanographic Institute site a few years ago. That's of real concern here in New England, since we are in line to be directly affected really quickly when the Gulf Stream sputters and tops.

Ted: But one entire side faces due South... and we have a nice wide wrap-around porch on the front that is nice and cool in the summertime.

As for the Red Sox, I''m gonna tell Big Papi you said that.

Hungry Mother said...

One time I drove all the way to Wood's Hole expecting some porn, but all I got was a funny little drawbridge and some ferries.

Malicious Intent said...

We got about two dustings of snow this seaon. Which is kinda scary, everyone is sick and it never got cold enough long enough to kill off them nasty bugs.
I has been feeling like spring here since December. Freaky really.
Just want some normal weather. Warms winters make me worry about hot summers and big storms with lots of wind. We shall see how it goes.

Forrest Proper said...

HungryMo: Oops, yeah, Natalie Wood's hole is on the other side of the country. Well, not anymore, I guess.

MI: Yeah, whatever season it is these days, the weather has become odder and odder. Not good.

fu said...

wrap around porch having bastard. I'd love to have one of those, play my guitar drink my hootch watch the ladies go jogging by. when I was looking for a house there were no porch houses anywhere, for months finally I find a nice house but no porch, the day I close on my cape I'm driving around and see like 4 Victorians for sale with beautiful porches. timing is everything.

Forrest Proper said...

Yeah, I have to say, one of the this that made me fall in love with this house was the big porch. I love porches.

anaglyph said...

So, they really do get maple syrup out of trees? Crikey. Next you'll be telling me that milk comes out of, oh, cows or somethin'. Lol! Wouldn't that be a riot!