You Know It's Spring When

You know it's spring at Seven Oaks when...

• Peepers are peeping!  Yes, I can hear peepers...faintly...probably back on the boggy part of the land way in the bank, near the creek, but they're peeping.
• Moles are tunneling EVERYWHERE.  I suspect I've got some mole-courting going on. I wish Mr Mole would bring his girlfriends flowers and candy instead of worms, but if he finds a few Japanese beetle grubs to give her I won't complain.  I will, however, be mighty mad if I turn my ankle again in a mole hole.  The tunnels are everywhere throughout the orchard and on the edge of the woods.  Shadow continues to harass the mole whenever he tries to live in the vegetable garden, and while she makes a mess, he leaves. Thank God.
• Shadow snaps her first wasp.  Have you ever had a dog that eats bees and wasps? She'll snap at anything flying by her head but she has a special quit-chomp-chatter that she saves to sever all sorts of stinging insects.  Only once did I hear her yipe as if she got stung.  She's got the swift CHOMP down to a science. 
• Pierre once again jaunts into the woods. 
• The weeds have returned. With a vengeance. I have weeds growing UNDER the landscape fabric on the little bit of pathway we didn't finish last year.  Big, thick, healthy weeds. Guess I made a nice little comfy micro climate for them under the black fabric...high moisture content, warmth, the works.  Sigh...

 So what are the first signs of spring in your garden?

--------------

By the way, I am going to start posting some of those essays everyone likes. The ones where I ramble on about childhood fun, things I used to do in New York, stuff going on here and Pierre the cat stories.  It took me a while to figure out that 1) I can't be serious all the time 2) I need a creative outlet and most importantly 3) you, my readers, like that stuff.  I heard from several folks who wished I'd get back to the good stuff like what it was like growing up in Long Island, discovering the remains of the old buildings on the land here at Seven Oaks, and of course,  Pierre's latest antics.  So I am going back to my usual eclectic mix of posts.  Enjoy and please DO comment or contact me if you have a special requests. I take requests....