Happy Spr-inter

Today is May 1st.

Today it is Spring.

Today it is Winter

I guess you could say that it’s Spr-inter.

A few years ago, I was amazed to learn that people in southern states are planting their gardens in February. February is winter here in Northern Michigan–although we do start dreaming of planting gardens in February. In reality, I am not surprised if we get snow in May–and I’ve read that typically there is a slight chance (10%) of frost until the middle of June. So when winter re-emerges or lingers, I simply shrug my shoulders and go about my day.

I do like the overlap of seasons: flowers, green grass/trees, and snow in the Spring or colorful leaves and snow in the Autumn. The clash of seasons is beautiful.

As soon as we have another warm-ish day, I’m going to go out and clean out my herb garden.

Several days ago, I wondered aloud, “I wonder when the bluebirds will return?” Two days later I noticed a pair of bluebirds building their nest in one of the birdhouses we provided for them. I wonder when the hummingbirds will return?

Saturday was our township’s “Clean-Up Days,” which is a day when residents can get rid of unwanted items for free. In preparation, on Friday EJ and I loaded up the pickup with the old dishwasher we had replaced with our little egg fridge and a few other unwanted items. In previous years, we dumped off our unwanted items in large bins at a recycling place. The area wasn’t very big so there was a long line of cars on the road waiting to turn in. Last year we were told to haul our items out to the road and big garbage trucks (which EJ calls “packer trucks”) hauled it away. EJ heard that that was a nightmarish 13-hour workday for the workers. I could have told them that. When we lived downstate, our village used to haul away curbside items on Clean-Up Day, but they stopped it because residents’ friends and relatives from other areas would haul their junk in so there were mountains of junk to clear away. The Village finally had residents drop their items off at a drop-off point and checked their ID to make sure they actually were residents.

This year, our Clean-Up Day was held at a local park. There were maybe 5-6 large garbage trucks parked next to each other. Residents drove up to them and workers helped them throw their items in. The process went smoothly with no long lines or wait times.