The Martins have come!

This is one of the biggest days of the year in the Larson household. The martins have arrived. For the last several days we have been anxiously awaiting their arrival. Should we clean their house, have they all been killed, what's happened to them? They were about four days or more later than usual. While they were not here, the sparrows have been busily nesting in the martin house. When the martins come, they kick the sparrows out. It's interesting that they don't kick all of the sparrows out, though, only enough so that they have the required number of houses for themselves. Then they remain friendly (relatively friendly) through the summer. I wonder if the hurricanes had some effect on their turntable. Just think... they fly all the way from South America to nest here in the summer. Poor things. I bet they're exhausted.

This is an exciting time of year. When you get to be our age, you are always thrilled that you're getting to see it one more time. The earth looks nice and black and ready for something to be planted. The grass is bright green again and soon ready to be mowed. What is it with us that we love to mow grass? Why not grow it and get some goats or something. Oh, no, we must manicure it, meanwhile polluting the atmosphere with our mowers. Crazy. We'd get into major trouble with our neighbors, not to mention the law, if we indulged ourselves in goats or sheep. Double crazy. But we can mow with no impunity. And each of us owning our own mower. Think of the money spent when we could have a joint ownership of a mower and save a bundle. There are those who hire someone to mow their lawn, but that shows you're either too feeble to do it yourself or you're putting on airs. C'mon. It's the American Way to manicure your own lawn with the huskiest machine possible.

Well, enough of the ranting and raving. Off to the gym.