Gary's ramblings

It has finally happened, cliche as it may be, spring has sprung in Nova Scotia. I always say winter is six months long here, November - April, Spring is May and June, Summer is July and August, and Fall (my favourite) is September and October. In these few weeks at the beginning of Spring, when it is finally warm enough to get out, and before the black flies, I like to do as much of the outside work as possible. (Anyone who isn't familiar with black flies, count your blessings, I had never heard of them before I moved up here, and let me tell you, they are a curse. When they show their ugly selves in a week or so, you will hear more about them.)

We live on a heavily wooded lot, at least it was heavily wooded before huricane Juan came to town several years back and knocked over a bunch of the trees, and we heat as much as we can with wood, because it is free, except for the manual labour it takes to prepare it. So I spend as much of these few days as I can cutting, splitting and stacking wood. It's hard dirty work and I love it because I get to play with my outside toys, the chainsaw and the axe. But really what I love is people, like myself, have emerged from hibernation. Our lots are a nice size, but not so large that I shouldn't see my neighbours occasionally, but since my old buddy, Kaboosi, passed away, and I don't go for our many daily walks, I rarely see a soul. Anyway, I took a break from working and walked over and chatted with my next door neighbour. I'm not much for socializing really, and maybe it is just because Sue is away and I feel more isolated than usual, but whatever the reason, it felt good and we rambled on about nothing for quite some time.

But ahhhh, the real sign of spring - I strung the hammock up. It was still warm last evening and I'm not in spring condition yet (seems to take a bit longer every year) so I was beat after working all day. Let me tell you, there is no nap, like a hammock nap

Have a great day.