Spring signs descend like birds on worms

I know spring is near when pitchers and catchers for the Seattle Mariners report for spring training. When crocuses emerge from the frozen ground. When I consider pruning the fruit trees in the backyard. When it’s time to pick up a winter’s worth of dog poop that surfaces when the snow melts. But the Huckleberries Online gang looks for other signs. For commenter Wondering, the first sign of spring appeared Sunday when “at least 50 roly-poly robins descended on (her) garden.” Bent agreed that robins are a good spring bellwether. Then comes “buds on the tree, and the clincher is the return of osprey.” On the Palouse, JeanC, of the cleverly named blog, JeanC’s Cat House And Shooting Gallery, knew spring was almost here when she heard “the sound of a crop-duster over the field next door, practicing at 6 a.m.” Commenter TC knows winter’s almost over when he gets “crazy busy with soccer club stuff.” In Vancouver, Wash., Side Note, whose family has a cabin on Twin Lakes, sees change coming when “the texture of the rain becomes a bit lighter.” In Seattle, North Idaho émigré Idawa knows weather’s a-changing when his wife’s cats “leave little coughed-up fur balls in the corners.” Commenter Bree said her mother anticipates spring when her male neutered dog begins doing things that male neutered dogs shouldn’t do. Finally, commenter Acemart sez, Hagadone Hospitality informs him when spring is here by issuing “my bill for my boat slip at Silver Beach Marina!” Acemart should switch to robins. They’re not as expensive.