It's a Spring Fever Epidemic

Spring Fever! I confess. I got it. Back on the road again, after being snowed in once again (That’s four times in a month!), I considered what might be happening if I get snowed in one more time. Murder and mayhem may occur. Don’t know who I’d commit murder or mayhem on, but the house dog and cat better hide. Still, in our future there is good news and not so good news. The not so good news is annual. Daylight Saving Time begins Sunday morning, always at 2 a.m., meaning we lose an hour. I’ve studied that. Have never been able to figure it out exactly. Just how does moving the clock forward lose an hour? That bothers me, but I just have to take everyone’s word for it, move the clock forward, wake up late but enjoying more daylight at the end of the day. That I like. The good news is Spring, YES, SPRING, begins at 5:45 CDT on March 20, according to the Farmer’s Almanac. And if you can’t trust the Farmer’s Almanac, who can you trust?

I can hardly wait! Got spring fever so bad, I have already bought more garden seeds than I can ever use. Been haunting big stores’ garden departments since Jan. 2. And I’ve noticed I’m not the only one. All the strawberry roots in one garden department have disappeared. That’s why I grabbed what I could on the Internet. Now, if I could just plant the little dudes. But every time I try to get to my little garden spot, it snows me out. No wonder I’ve got Spring Fever.

I’m not alone. My Lunch Bunch friends and family are in the same boat. Linda C. reports her hubby has a big batch of baby garden plants in the garage. That’s great! But how do you plant baby garden plants when there is three or four inches of snow on the ground? Linda doesn’t care. She does her part by painting in response to Spring Fever. Her paintings, as I recall and I may be wrong, are all about summer. I want one-painting that is. Linda likes summer, and beaches, and the tropics. Visit her yard sometime. You’ll feel like you’re on a Caribbean island, with a hammock, sand and all.

And then there’s best bud Delanna, here at KXMX.  She has a reason for developing a bad case of Spring Fever. Her heat quit during our last snow storm. “Are you kidding me?” I asked as I cuddled up closer to my own space heater. No. And, while trying to figure out how to get heat in the house when the outside temperature was about 25 degrees, she reported she broke the thermostat. Oh dear. Don’t know much about that kind of stuff, but I sympathized with her. She told me she was microwave-popping popcorn for the family. I told her to tell family to just hug the popcorn bowl, and soak up its heat under a blanket. Popcorn’s cheap. Think they ate it anyway. But all was quickly fixed, and heat is back on. Hope that helps with her Spring Fever a bit.

I asked Darling Daughter about this upcoming weekend, when the temps are to soar into the 50s. Oh joy. I can hardly wait. “Help me plant,” I begged. I didn’t tell her I’ve got 50 strawberry plants waiting for a pretty day, but did point out my raspberry plants may be in the mail, and I need someone to dig up a planting spot. “No,” Darling Daughter shot back. “I’m cleaning up the horse pasture.” OK. I admit that winter winds have dropped some errant limbs around the guys’ small pasture, and a cleanup may be called for. But I bet those two old horses would eat some raspberries if I could just get them in the ground soon. Darling Daughter doesn’t seem to think the same. Her horses outweigh my raspberry plants, so I’ll be digging on my own I guess. On the other hand, I might even help clean up the pasture. Hey, 50 plus degrees, and Spring is just two weeks away. My Spring Fever is in full bloom. Now, if I can just get something else in bloom, my Spring Fever may be healed. No it won’t. I love Spring Fever, and am going to hold on to it as long as I can. Happy Spring, almost!