Spring Thaw

I'm baack! I didn't disappear, I was just taking time to smell the roses. Actually, the crocus. We were in PA for a quick visit with Jerry's Mom and believe it or not, we were experiencing some type of spring. There was NO SNOW on the ground in PA, and the dogs were happy, happy, happy! So was I. I didn't realize it, but I was quite thrilled to actually take a walk and not have to step gingerly. It was wonderful. Bailey seemed quite at home walking on grass and sniffing the shrubs. He is a southern boy after all. With a whole week behind me and no blog to speak of, I am ashamed to say that I was waiting for something to blog about and coming up quite short. Our days seem to be taking on a bit of a ground hog repetition. Wake up, clean up, take care of some minor chores and then settle in for a craft or a movie or something. Dinner, TV and off to bed. Intersperced in this incredibly exciting lifestyle are an occasional activity or night out. Jerry's been doing his stained glass, Allison and I are irish dancing (Allison is dancing, I am suffering) and we are all getting outside as often as we can, just for a ride or a walk or some kind of vitamin D fix. The real news that I have discovered is that I think I may enjoy fresh snowfall over melting snow. As much as I love spring, this is going to be a rough transition. The road crews here do not salt the roads when it snows, they dirt the roads. It is more cost effective and actually saves the vehicles somewhat. However, the melting snow and the dirted roads make, you guessed it, mud. So spring thaw is mud season, and it is terribly gross. I mean disgusting gross. I don't even like to open my car door without wearing a glove because it is just so filthy. But at 17 or 20 degrees,a car wash is out of the question. So, this weekend when I come to Long Island with Allison, I will be passing through a car wash and enjoying seeing the whiteness of my car. Last week we came out of the store and I had trouble finding my car in the parking lot because I was subconsciously searching for a white car, and my car has not been white since mid-october. I finally had the foresight to chirp my automatic door opener and the car called out to me. It was that dull grey/brown car that I never would have found on my own. Ever. The inside is almost as bad because traveling with three dogs and not accessing a car wash is a cumulative pig-sty, without the pig. So, winter is still here, and we may get 6 or more inches tomorrow. The mud will be covered over and I will be happy again. It will have to melt sometime, but I just have to make sure I get myself somewhere that has melted prior to us, like downtown Johnstown. I can drive into town and sit in the park and enjoy spring, and then drive back up the mountain to our house which is going to be about a month behind the rest of the world in spring thaw. That sounds like a plan. Bailey will probably want to join me, I think he really likes the grass.