Michigan’s definition of spring is somewhat confused. Last week, while it was officially ‘winter’, temperatures approached the mid-fifties and the kids were ready to break out the swimsuits and flip-flops. Spring officially started on Sunday and I was greeted by a Winter Weather Watch for Wednesday and Thursday with as much as 8 inches of snow. Michigan, get your act together.
Ahem.
While I do look forward to the warmer weather. I’m tired of my winter clothes and closed-toed shoes. Spring is not my favorite season. mostly because of the soil in our backyard. It’s a mixture of clay that holds water like a basin and hardens to a lumpy crust after a week or two of dryness. Despite numerous attempts to soften it by spreading top soil and aerating it and planting soft green grasses, it remains hard and bumpy and not barefoot friendly. (Given that our dog is a Great Dane, I shudder to think what some of those petrified lumps might be.)
So in the spring when the snow melts or it rains, our postage stamp back yard becomes an ankle deep pond, stretching almost from the back door to the back fence. The kids don’t mind hopping into their muck boots and sloshing around, nor is the dog particularly perturbed by the standing water (now if the water is coming from the sky, it’s a different story). However after an hour or so of jumping and splashing and wiggling and falling over (“I didn’t mean to, honest!”), they come inside. Now the kids can shed some of the gross, mud-caked clothes–when they remember– in the entry way.
The dog, however, is a different story. Despite her size, she is afraid of nearly everything… including the towel that we use to wipe the outside layer of grime off. So after chasing her around the kitchen, trying to scrub her legs and belly, I now have to scrrub the pawprints off the floor. She heads directly to the couch for a rest… the light colored one, of course.
That’s not to say everything about spring is awful. We can get outside to run and walk and ride bikes. The kids can burn off some of their crazy energy at baseball and soccer, instead getting on each others’ nerves in the house.
Angela Schroeder
Patricia Kiyono
Elaine Cantrell
Jeff Salter
Joselyn
Tonette Joyce
Four Foxes, One Hound 
sounds like no end to the entertainment at your place. LOL.
Vivid imagery of the petrified lumps.
Our yard in NW Louisiana was mainly clay also… and the backyard (like yours) did not drain. We tried everything. A guy sold us some replacement gutters and he routed the roof water TO the back yard. [Pulling out my hair.]
We’ve had spells of mild weather here in SE Kentucky. It has confused the pear trees into blooming.
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I think my husband even dug a big hole and filled it with concrete chunks, but we still get a huge puddle. I’ve suggested a complicated water collection system to fuel the irrigation system, but that hasn’t happened either.
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I think quite often, the bigger the dog, the bigger the baby they are, when the littler ones are almost always ferocious-acting.
As much as I love Autumn, it’s the messiest season here.Leaves and debris come in on shoes. It was a little less this past year since my two big mimosas along the driveway died.I love the scent, I love the hummingbirds and butterflies that gathered on the blossoms, but the little leaves that fell came in the house with everyone who entered.
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I cringe at the thought of a muddy dog on a sofa. Your yard sounds like an awful mess. Does it fill with water often?
Spring sports are fun, I can’t get my kids interested. The youngest is but he can’t join a team since he’d miss half the games.
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Unfortunately, every time is rains more than a drizzle.
My son is signed up for soccer and the girls decided they want to do karate. That will be interesting.
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I remember those days! I had one daughter who hated to get dirty, but my younger one was much more of a free spirit. My husband would be home when they got out of school and he told me when there were puddles in the street, one would walk around them and the other would wade through them!
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