Spring is here

What is your favorite season of the year? I actually have two. One is Fall and the other is ... Yep, Spring. I really don't mine Winter, except for all the 'snowbirds' flooding the campgrounds and highways around Phoenix."Get out of the way you slowpoke from Iowa. This is the big city, not a farm town." I really don't say that type of stuff. Sometimes I believe they think they are driving their tractor to the feed store. 45 in a 65 MPH lane? REALLY?

Here in the Southwest, Spring started a few weeks ago, like toward first of March. Now we are into the 90s already, and soon the dreaded 100s will be here, and that will linger on until late October. So Spring and Fall are short lived. But I still love the desert, not the 100s. After a Spring rain, it is like the native plants sprout their colors in a joyful welcoming to Spring. But that doesn't last long. Only a few days and then heat drains them of strength and the flowers die.

Spring is the time of rebirth, a new beginning, rejuvenation and the start of baseball and the ending of basketball. Golf is starting, people get and start RVing, hiking, running and breathing the fresh air, after being cooped up indoors for months. Well, that is the opposite from the Southwest. We are indoors during the summer, or bobbing around in a pool, or get away to a cooler place. I will now stay in my newly air conditioned shop, if we are not getting away.

This Spring (and Summer), people are buying RVs and traveling to break out of the Covid bubble. With restrictions being relaxed, people are get out there to concerts, in-person church, in-person everything. Last year when we traded-in in our old camper and bought a new one, the salesman said they could not keep enough campers in stock for the demand. Demand like that hit many things like cars, car parts, appliances, construction materials, and just about everything. When Covid hit us all, factories had to meet government restrictions for distancing employees, or they were shut down. That created a lag in production, which meant shortages. Then as restrictions were relaxed, many workers stayed home or resigned to start over somewhere else, or start their own business. Which meant a shortage in the workforce. This old news now.

But Spring is here. Well, at least in the Southwest anyway. Parts of the country is still suffering with snow, hail, rain, and cold weather. Sorry folks. If you send us some of that rain, we will send you some sunshine.

Nancy and I are planning few trips. One the the Chiricahua Mountains is southeast  Arizona to camp and hike for a few days. In May, Nancy and 5 others are traveling to Connecticut to hike another section of the Appalachian trail. And in September, we and another couple are flying to Boston to start a driving tour of the New England states. We still don't have any international trips planned YET, but are thinking about the next big one. Who knows?

Wherever you are, Spring is here or coming. Make it a great one and a new beginning, plant some flowers, go for hikes, do a picnics, travel somewhere, and do interesting things. Enjoy Spring, birds singing, flowers blooming and allergies. Just kiddin'. Just enjoy.

Leave me your comments, be curious but not judgemental. Take care.