Signs of Life

     Not that another snowstorm is out of the question, but there are some signs that in fact we may be nearing spring.  I never held Punxsutawney Phil accountable for the predictions of the top hat-wearing town officials that drag him out of his burrow every February 2nd anyway.

     With the smells of earth and grass re-emerging from under their winter blanket, my to-do list grows exponentially.  And now the thought of necessary jobs to be done on the boat before launch weighs more heavily on my mind.  Which job takes priority?  Picking up the thousands of branches and sticks littering the yard?  Sanding and varnishing the slowly peeling toerail on the boat?  Fertilizing the grass?  Compounding and buffing the hull?  Finding a reasonably priced (not gonna happen) replacement glass table top for my patio table which shattered in a million tiny pieces?  The pressure mounts. It always seems overwhelming this time of year,

the same way it does to me in the fall,  when the boat needs to be put away, but the yard is full of leaves and branches.

     I shouldn't complain.  We have a house with a yard and lots of trees that we love.  And we have a boat that we love to sail. I love my wife and girls.  The work always manages to get done. Life is good.  I can smell that bottom paint already.