Spring Has Sprung!!

The Masters golf tourney is here!!

I have several "frost dates" I look forward to this time of year.

1- March 1st. MY unofficial start to spring. I go by the calendar. And, for me, March...ain't no winter month!!

2- NCAA Basketball. Yes, I'm a sports guy. I grew up around University of Kansas people, and went there myself. So, baskeball a few weeks ago was like religion.....a cruel one, but religion all the same.

3- April 1st. I own a lawncare company and we start cutting April 1st.

4- Opening Day for baseball. I am a St. Louis Cardinal....let's not rehash the religion comment I just made for college hoops. Believe me, it's the same.

5- The Masters golf tournament. This one is a Right of Passage for a golfer. Add in what I do for a living, and you can see how stupid nuts I get for this tournament. Azaleas, rhododendrons, perfectly manicured grass. Does it get any better? Not in my eyes.

There are others I'm sure. But notice I've not mentioned frost dates or the actual equinox. Those mean squat to a guy with MY calendar.

How bout you? Any signs you watch for?

daffodils = spring

Pigeons @#$%^&*() Pigeons

I don't know where they come from or where they're going, but the word is out: stop by boffer's house for custom mixed feed while you're passing by! We lose track counting at 50. They can wipe clean 10 feeders in just minutes. They get so many of them on one feeder at a time that the support pole starts bending over. I have to quit putting out food for several weeks until they move on. And the native plants aren't quite ready to feed everybody either.

It's been a true story for the last eight years. Spring arrives with the !@#$%^&U*I( pigeons! And they haven't made an appearance yet.

Am I missing out on something here? Isn't squab grain fed pigeons? Hmmm.....

Squab (or pigeons) make excellent supper!!!
I'm just sayin'
http://www.justgamerecipes.com/inxpgn.html

My grandfather made me eat squab one time. They told my brother and me to shoot pigeons while they were away on a trip. They didn't think we could hit anything.

Well, they came back to the most gawdawful smell in their backyard, as we just chucked the pigeons over the fence into the easeway. Neighbors were complaining, the whole bit. No one knew what was happening, though, because no one knew my brother and I were shooting from INSIDE the basement window to muffle all the sound....and to sneak up on the birds.

Gramps says, "Son, we don't kill for sport. We kill to eat!"

He made us shoot one, clean it and eat it. I'll never forget him telling me that "squab is a delicacy in New York."

Well, that's one thing I'll never order when I finally get to the big city. And, I ain't killed no pigeon since.