Spring Noise

As the weather warms and people emerge from winter's hibernation, the neighborhood noise increases. There is loud music blasting from a house down the street with skateboarders on their sidewalk doing jumps - landing loudly on the pavement and making banging noises. Whoops and hollers all up and down the street. Cars with windows down, music blaring. High school cross-country runners pounding the pavement and dogs barking from every backyard.

All this noise and we haven't even reached 50 degrees yet! I guess it's only natural to celebrate the change of season by getting outside.

After working on my taxes all morning (and finally finishing them!), Charlie and I walked downtown to enjoy what was left of the day. I wanted to walk across the bridge to Barker-Stewart Island, part of the River Edge Parkway, but I could tell from the bridge that the path was still snowy-slushy and I wasn't wearing proper shoes for that terrain. We turned back and continued walking the Parkway instead. The river is still encased in snow and ice, but there are little spots where water has opened up. The sounds of geese, red-winged blackbirds, finches and robins are everywhere.

There's still plenty of snow piled up everywhere, but it's receding little by little. Which I guess is a good thing for Charlie. You see, Charlie was born in the fall and was technically potty-trained on snow. So when spring rolls around and the snow starts disappearing, it's harder for her to find a "good spot" to go. We had to step off-path quite a few times so she could find a snow-pile to pee on. This is her third spring, and she still insists on doing this. Eventually she'll give in and go pee on the grass, but as long as there is snow left, that remains to be "the good spot."

Funny girl.