The Rites - and Wrongs - of Spring

The last part of last week was a headlong leap into summer here in western NY - both Friday and Saturday we reached a high of 86 degrees, which broke a record each day. As you might imagine, it kick-started everything into growth and/or bloom, and the yard is beginning to have spots of color everywhere. Most of the minor bulbs have come and gone; however, glory-of-the-snow and striped squills are flourishing. Now the hyacinths and daffodils are beginning to burst into glory, and the forsythia is opening as well. Seeing the landscape change day by day, running around outdoors pruning, cleaning and seeing who's coming on next are all cherished rites of early spring that are a tonic after a long, mean northern winter. Spring isn't all beer and skittles, however. Some things can be utterly and absolutely wrong - even when you're doing something that seems so right. Case in point - Friday night I yanked the cover off the gas grill in high anticipation of the season's first cookout, and got a nasty shock. Upon opening the lid, I was confronted with a mouse nest - no, wait: a mouse condominium - about the size of a 6" flowerpot! Mercifully, it was absent any tenants, but my word - I was not expecting that. After gingerly removing the offending object and doing some requisite cleaning, the cookout went off without a hitch. I did take the liberty of dumping the mouse exhaust that I found during cleaning onto the adjacent flowerbed; I figured, what the heck - manure is manure, big or little. It certainly can't hurt.......