Signs of Almost Spring

Two years ago when we had that near-record breaking snowfall winter, I remember that about this time in March there were robins hopping around on the tops of snow drifts. With the recent extraordinary warm spell, the birds are not in the same predicament.

Now that spring is officially here -- the equinox occurred on Saturday -- it is time to go through my personal checklist to see if spring has truly arrived:

• Robins: check.
• Geese: check. Apparently, all they wait for is the retreat of snow cover, not warm weather or lots of green stuff to eat.
  
• Chipmunks: check.
• Groundhogs: all quiet around the burrows. I pass a lot of them on my frequent runs, but I've not seen even one poking its little head out and blinking the sleep out of its eyes.
• Midges: check. Clouds of these little pests can be seen all season long swirling in the sunlight doing their mating dance, but they usually wait until the weather spends more time above the freezing point. So far there are few of them, but they are here.
• Squirrels: check. Of course, that isn't saying anything since they're active all winter long.
• Motorcycles: check.
• NCC pathways: mostly clear.
• Flood warnings: nope. The creeks are running ice-free, and the snow melt looks inadequate to cause flooding. Looks like Glencairn is off the hook for now.
• Street sweeping: partial: On some streets the grit has been swept from the road onto the sidewalk, while on others the grit has been swept from the sidewalk onto the street. This battle of the sweepers is a yearly event.
• Mosquitoes: nope.
• Tree buds: nope. They're still tightly bundled up inside their little shells.
• Sap running: check.
• Performance sports cars out of storage and roaring down the roads: check.
• Neighbour's deck chairs out: check.

Well, this list can go on forever. I think we have enough signs that spring is well underway, and it is ahead of schedule in comparison to previous years. Of course we'll probably pay for this with another cool summer. And, no, none of this is a confirmation or a disproof of global warming.