Spring Has Finally Sprung

Good morning and YAYYY! As of yesterday, spring has finally sprung in the far reaches of northeastern Minnesota! Sure signs were laying in bed before the alarm went off yesterday morning listening to the songbirds for the first time, it being warm enough to leave the back door slightly ajar so the dogs & cats could come and go as they pleased, listening to the returned red-winged blackbirds trilling (my most favorite summertime sound), and me being able to stand outside to wave Tom off this morning instead of smiling through a window of the house.

So - finally! I love winter (my favorite season, to be sure), but I love spring. Yes, it's dirty and messy but it's also the rebirth of everything! Each day brings new changes like no other time in the year.

A friend e-mailed yesterday to ask how I am and wondered why I haven't written anything here about that. Well, 'cause there's not much to share anymore . . . PLUS I don't want to sound like an old woman who has nothing better to talk about than her most recent ailments! :) But, if inquiring minds want to know: I no longer have abdominal pain unless I physically stress myself (pushing or pulling something too heavy) - which I'm still trying to not do. I still get tired really easily, and my body is still trying to physically "level out" from going from three years of being on HRT (Hormone Replacement Therapy) to - now - neither being on nor having (!) ANY hormones! I still have the "other" aches and pains that we'd hoped (against hope?) would be eliminated by this surgery, but whadya gonna do: surgery doesn't fix everything! So, that's that - my current medical status.

With the return of the sun and the warm temps, the snow has been melting like nobody's business! When we took our "after-work" walk down to the river last night, the opportunity presented itself to take our annual walk down (on) the river . . . before it was too late. The first picture here is from three years ago today: CANOEING (!) on the river! That's a bit of a difference from what we saw walking on the river yesterday! (Pictures 2, 3, and 4.)



I've uploaded a video, too - taken last Sunday, the 13th: two days after the big late-season snowstorm. The back-story to this is that Tom had thrown a snowball for Tucker (a dog who doesn't really "get" the whole theory of playing catch), and it just smacked down on his face! Twice. :) So, we were trying to recreate that for the camera . . . with no luck, of course. At any rate, it was kind of fun to see them romping in the snow. Click here to view that.

And, finally, the last picture is of our freshly messy yard (taken last night). Spring is here!