I'm Predicting an Earthquake

Photo: Survival-goods.com

Yes, I'm predicting an earthquake readers.  It'll happen soon, mark my words.

I can tell this because of the animals.  Yes, the animals.  They were acting pretty strange today.  And haven't we all heard at least one of those stories where the animals go a bit crazy juuuuust before an earthquake, or a volcano erupting?  I know I have.

In fact, I distinctly remember reading a story about some pygmy goats freaking out just before Mt St. Helens blew it's top back in 1980.  I was in Little League that year, and it was cancelled because of the ash.  That's not really relevant, other than for me to remember my glory days of Little League.

Anyway, back to the earthquake.  It all started today while I was getting Annabelle ready for daycare.  At the same time Mrs. LIAYF was getting Lukas ready for school in the upstairs bathroom, when he happened to look over at the open window and see a raccoon peeking in on them.  A RACCOON! It apparently scampered off right away, but it was being a rather strange Peeping Tom in the full daylight, on our 2nd story roof.

When they told me what happened, I looked out the window and a large black crow was sitting in the same spot.  It flew off when I stuck my head out the window, but I could have sworn it gave me a weird stare before it did. I know!  Very odd.

Earthquake

Then a bit later, when we were all in they foyer getting our shoes on before leaving for school I looked down and right there between all four of us was a dead mouse!  We all let out a collective "Ewwww", especially when I picked it up by the tail with a paper towel  and tried to keep Annabelle from seeing.  Unfortunately it was barely in one piece. Yes Ewwww.

Normally a dead mouse wouldn't be considered too odd, but this was the 2nd dead mouse this week.  This from a cat we have had for over 10 years, and who hasn't ever killed a mouse before.   It was very strange.

Earthquake.

Stranger still, after we left Mrs. LIAYF found what can only be described as a horror scene in Annabelle's play area off the kitchen, where our cat had killed the mouse.   I'll skip all the bloody details, of which there were apparently enough of them to make even the cast of CSI cringe.  But I will say that Annabelle's tiny plastic shopping cart, the one she wheels around all her shiny possessions in - kinda like a tiny transient magpie - ended up covered and looking like a prop from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.    Somehow our sweet and gentle cat had turned into some kind of feline Leatherface.

Earthquake.

Mrs. LIAYF gingerly moved it out to the back deck so yours truly could scrub off the blood later, but upon seeing it there when she returned from daycare Annabelle made a b-line for it with a smile. However, Mom got there first and quickly hurled the shopping cart off the deck and into the bushes, obviously thinking this was a good idea.

Understandably that made Annabelle cry.   And so......that is how I found myself not too long ago retrieving a bloody plastic shopping cart from the bushes next to our deck, and scrubbing mouse off of it.  Obviously this was a Dad job.  Of course, I found myself rather jumpy and irritated while doing so.

Earthquake.

Oh, and I while I was doing this scrubbing, I was also thinking about how I needed to be prepared for that earthquake.  It's going to happen.  Because the animals are acting pretty strange around here of late.

I hope I'm wrong.

The 4th Was With Us Today

Happy Star Wars Day readers.

That's right, if you haven't already heard (and I'm surprised how many folks I mention this to haven't), today May the 4th, is Star Wars Day.  Get it? "May the 4th Be With You!"

We have celebrated Star Wars Day with Lukas a couple of years running now, but this year was different in a pretty significant way.  That's because this year Lukas is only a couple of months shy of his 7th birthday, which just happened to be the age that Mrs. LIAYF and I had previously decided was the right age to view the original Star Wars movie for the first time.  But since it was Star Wars Day, and since we felt that he was finally ready emotionally, we decided now was the perfect time.

After Lukas greeted his baby sister first thing in the morning with a hug and a resounding "Happy Star Wars Day, Annabelle!" we had breakfast before starting our Star Wars Day with a trip across lake Washington to the nearest Lego Store, so that Lukas could spend his hard earned chore money (he gets 10 cents per household chore or homework exercise) on a new Lego set. He chose a Star Wars one, of course.

It was a bit on the crazy side there, but we did come out unscathed and ready to head home for the main event.

Once we were home and had lunch in our bellies, I put Annabelle down for a nap which hoped would last roughly 2 hours giving us enough time to watch our VHS version of Star Wars.  Yes, we actually have one of those dual VHS/DVD players, although this was the first VHS tape we have watched in it in years. Don't laugh when the movie was made this was state of the art technology.

We were all pretty excited, and Lukas was pretty quiet watching from his mother's lap.  That is, until the scene came on where Obi Wan told the Imperial Storm Troopers in Mos Eisley "These are not the droids you are looking for". He laughed pretty hard at that.  He probably remembered pulling this trick on his dad.

At about half way through the movie, we had to take a bathroom break.  It allowed me to snap this shot of Lukas, who dressed as Luke Skywalker two Halloweens running, next to his namesake.  I see the resemblance, do you?

Anyway, we had a LOT of fun watching Star Wars.  Once it came to the movies climactic scene, I couldn't resist pulling out my phone to record his reaction.  It's pretty cool, although I apologize for the quality and the sudden zoom near the end.

So much fun.

We all loved watching this movie together.  I hadn't realized how long it had been since I had watched Star Wars myself. My First time wasn't until after I had seen Empire and Return of the Jedi, so I was a wee bit confused until I was able to watch.

Speaking of wee things, Annabelle, right on cue, woke up just as the movie was ending.  She's perfect that way.  And as I carried her into our kitchen and past her dollhouse - which she doesn't normally even play with - she reached out and and pointed towards it, letting out an audible request.

As It turns out, there was something else sitting next to it which she wanted to play with instead.

Makes sense.  It was Star Wars Day after all.

Marking May's Days

With the month of May upon us now, I am realizing just how many days of note there are surrounding the beginning of this month.

Of course Mother's Day is on the horizon next week, and later in the month it's Mrs. LIAYF and my 15th wedding anniversary (exciting!), so those are obviously very significant days of note.

But on top of that, there are several other days this week which also afford the opportunity to mark special occasions.  Not sure we will observe all of them, but in an effort to establish tradition in our household, I think Mrs. LIAYF and I are going to at least dabble in the buildup and celebration of some of  these days.

May Day is now behind us.  The new director in my office is from Hawaii where they celebrate May Day as Lei Day, giving out fresh Lei's.  That actually sounds a bit more fun than the May Day demonstrations which took place yesterday here in Seattle, where scheduled peaceful protests in support of immigrant rights and raising the minimum wage eventually gave way to anarchists who were just looking to stir up problems.

At the LIAYF household we celebrated record high May Day temperatures in the upper 80's with dinner on the deck and a refreshing backyard water table.

For those of you who are unaware of this, Saturday, May 3rd is not only Derby Day, with the 104th running of the Kentucky Derby taking place (If we can spare 2 minutes this would be fun to watch), but it is also Free Comic Book Day.  Free Comic Book Day is a terrific idea, and I would love to go and pick up some free comics with my son, but the problem is that there are no participating stores in our neighborhood. So, we will have to decide whether we are going to pack up and travel to another area of the city when there are several other competing activities to choose from.  We'll see.

Then on Sunday, May the 4th, it will be a big day for us here in the LIAYF household. As many of you know May the 4th is Star Wars Day (May the 4th be with you!), and we plan on celebrating by watching the original Star Wars movie, also known as Episode IV, with Lukas.  It will be his first time watching the movie and we are pretty excited here.

None more than me.

Then on Monday, of course, it's Cinco De Mayo.  We have no party planned, but I'm sure we will mark the day with appropriate fare, and beverages.(Note to self: Find Coke or Fanta in bottles.)

Oh, and to top it all off, today is also Felix Day here in Seattle ( The King is on the Hill for the Mariners).  Happy Felix Day all!

All in all, it's look like a fun month is in store.  How do you all celebrate in May?

Galaxy Quest

I'm cute, but I'm busy here!

I'm pretty excited readers.  That's because my new Samsung Galaxy 4 smart phone has finally arrived.  I say finally, when in fact I just ordered it a couple of days ago.  Even so, I wanted more instant gratification.

I was kidding about that last part.  The finally is actually because I waited around for quite some time before committing to the new phone since I was waiting for the phone to become free on our wireless plan.  I'm cheap that way.

Let me revise that.  I'm not cheap, just a dad with a couple of expensive kids who prohibit me from getting the latest and greatest toys until they become affordable.  And Free.99 is just the kind of affordable price that I like. (Yes, I DO know that I'm not getting the phone for free but I'm going with that interpretation, so don't bother trying to convince me otherwise.).

There were several reasons I was getting frustrated with my old iPhone 3.  One was that it was so crammed with apps and add on's that I didn't have room to upgrade my operating system.  

This left me with an out of date phone that I couldn't load crucial apps on.  Crucial apps like MLB At Bat 14. And without At Bat 14 there were several recent occasions where I had to wait to hear that my Seattle Mariners lost a late inning game, instead of seeing it first hand on my app.  

Okay, so perhaps that's a bad example.  Forgive me, I'm a long suffering fan.

I'm also excited  to get my new Galaxy Phone because it offers an improved internal GPS from that of the iPhone3.  I need this for when I take the family Geo-caching.  The iPhone 3 wasn't very precise for this, so we didn't end up actually doing much Geo-caching.  Thanks to my new phone,  I'll be finding treasures like little rubber figurines in no time.

Those things are good, but now I'll admit that the real reason I'm excited about getting this new phone is because of the camera it sports.  That's right, the camera.  It's a 13.1 megapixel beauty that I can carry in my back pocket.  

You don't realize how frustrated I have been with the low quality camera's we have employed in this household over the past several years.  Hint: They were terrible.

Anyway, I know that this phone camera isn't exactly a DSLR, but I'm hoping it will allow me to snap cute, blog-worthy pictures of the kids without a lot of fuss.  Like the one above.  That picture of Annabelle,  my 2nd with my new phone,  was taken by accident.  By accident!  And it was better than most from my previous non phone camera, which I swear took 90% blurry pictures.  This one's not perfect either, but I wasn't even trying.  I think she was actually pooping.  AND IT WAS STILL BETTER!

Yep, the real reason I'm excited about my new phone is that I'll be able to snap higher quality pictures of my kidos. 

And that's well worth the wait.

Happiest Place on Earth? Not Without a Science Fair

I'm a bit bummed readers.

That's because I am currently on a business trip in Anaheim, CA, right across the street from Disneyland. Bummed? "Why would you be bummed" you may be asking, "Aren't you at the happiest place on earth?" 

Well, sort of. I am actually across the street from the happiest place on earth. And I have to tell you, next door to the happiest place on earth, outside the wall not able to look in, doesn't equal happy.

 I actually visited Downtown Disney last night, which was still outside the park and just might qualify as the most crowded place on earth. Or perhaps the noisiest place on earth. It was actually pretty close to closing time for the park, so I thought I might be able to walk in and look around a bit for free. Instead the friendly person at ticket counter offered me a ticket for $92.

I opted to walk back through Downtown Disney instead.  I needed to find some gifts to take back to the kids. That I accomplished, courtesy of the LEGO Store, which is always a good option.

Still, not getting into Disneyland for free isn't why I'm bummed. Nope.

I'm actually bummed, because I'm at Disneyland and Lukas is back at home RIGHT NOW, presenting his very first Science Fair project. It's very cool, he worked amazingly hard on it, and it's NOT a volcano - rather a cool electric circuit challenge where the person taking the challenge has to try not to touch wires together completing the circuit and lighting up a light and siren. It's fun, it's educational, it's well designed and constructed.

It's all these things, and I don't get to see him present it tonight because I'm away on a business trip.

That's why I'm bummed. 

But I am also amazingly proud too. 

Lukas found the challenge in one of his science books, and instead of buying all the materials listed found a way to use the components from his snap circuit kit to complete the project, which he describes on the display for the fair. Lukas is 6, so Mrs. LIAYF, and to a much lesser extent, myself, helped him with the final polish and presentation, but the idea for the project, the design, and the meat and potatoes of the project was all him. 

This is pretty cool. I miss my kids and my wife too, and even though I'm bummed that I can't be there in person I am pretty sure Lukas is having a blast at this very moment, showing off a project that he worked amazingly hard on.

Way to go Buddy.  Your Dad is very proud of how hard you worked on this project.

The Need For Speed! (Stick)

It's not often that an average guy gets a chance to realize a lifelong dream.  But that is exactly what happened to me recently, thanks to the fine folks at Speed Stick.

It's true, as I was fortunate enough to be chosen by them to participate in the Speed Stick Gear Up Challenge.  The point of the challenge was to see how the new Speed Stick Gear would hold up while the user was participating in an extreme event.

Initially, I was sent a pretty cool kit which included a GoPro camera that I could use to film some footage, a heart rate monitor and watch, and of course the Speed Stick itself.  I just needed to choose the actual event.

This is where the realization of a lifelong dream comes in.  Out of the options offered to me, I chose learning to fly in one day.  That's right, in the course of an hour I was to learn how to fly an airplane.  I have wanted to fly an airplane since I was probably Lukas' age, but never have had the opportunity.

Until now.




No, I didn't actually learn to take off and land the plane in that one lesson.  But I was able to take the controls and actually fly it by myself for nearly 45 minutes, circling around the Puget Sound region, climbing, diving, turning the plane, pegging a certain altitude, and racing a jetliner which had taken off from SeaTac International airport.

Okay, April Fools on that last part as my co-pilot made sure that we were never in the vicinity of any Jet liner that was actually in the air.  We did however, to my surprise, cross directly over SeaTac (we had taken off from a different airport) because of the weather at the time, which included several dark and ominous looking clouds.

"Aren't there Jets landing here every minute or two? " I asked as we passed over the runways.  "Yep, but we have a window to get through" my instructor let me know.  Needless to say, I felt much better once we had cleared the airport.

It was at that point we turned away from the rain clouds, and flew towards the sun - its golden rays glistening over the Puget Sound waters which stretched southwards towards Olympia.  I was at the controls then, and would remain there until we actually came in for our landing.

I have to say, this was as amazing an experience as I expected it to be.  Sure, I felt pretty small and vulnerable from up there, looking down on the world in miniature below.  But I also felt both exhilarated, and empowered too.  It was definitely an experience I will remember forever.

As exhilarated as I was, I was amazingly calm during this whole experience too.  And so my heart rate monitor didn't get much of a workout.  Most importantly though, I didn't sweat either.  At least I couldn't tell if I did, as the Speed Stick Gear did it's job nicely.  I was dry.

At least until I headed back towards my car.  It was a rainy day in Seattle after all.

Full disclosure:  As mentioned, Speed Stick provided me with this opportunity, the lesson, and the contents of the box, including the camera and heart rate monitor.  All I had to do was write about my experience. Easy Peasy.

Circuit Training for a 6 Year Old

"Guess what time it is?" I asked Lukas tonight.

"Is it on?" he asked in an excited response.  "Yep, it just started" I let him know.  "Let's see if we can find it!"

And with that, I carefully carried the contraption, which Lukas had so carefully constructed the day before, to the kitchen island and let him turn it on.  It immediately crackled and let out a hiss of static through the tiny speaker.

At first, I was a bit afraid that we might come across some weird, coded message, reminiscent of an episode of LOST.  After all, that had happened to us before.

But, with some searching and careful adjustment of the multi-functional dial, the output that we were looking for spurted out of the speaker both loud and clear.  It was the unmistakably sound of a baseball game.

"You did it buddy!  You picked up the Mariners game."  This made him smile.  I was pretty excited too.

In fact, there is a good chance this will prove the most exciting Seattle Mariners moment we have this Summer.  But hey, it's not yet opening day and our team is tied for 1st place.  So, I hold out hope.

In case you haven't figured it out by now, what Lukas had built was a Transistor AM radio.  He had pulled out the Elenco Snap Circuit Kit that his grandparents had given him for his last birthday and independently decided to build the radio, because "It sounded cool."

Indeed, it was.

Yes, this is a Radio

And, the only thing he was interested in listening to on his new radio was a Mariners baseball game.  I think that was mostly for my benefit, but now we were getting the opportunity.  And, I have to say it was the most fun I have had listening to the radio in quite some time.   The novelty of it certainly factored in, but this was something my son had constructed for the both of us to enjoy.

The circuit kit has made for a great gift for Lukas.  He loves to tinker with different project with it.  We had an inkling he would, since he has always been very adept at building things.  Be it Lego's or puzzles, our son gets extremely excited whenever he gets the chance to construct something cool.

This particular kit should keep him busy for quite some time too.  In fact, there are quite a few projects in the deluxe kit.  The radio was project #623.

I think there are actually more than 692 projects too

This obviously begs the question "How the heck did they design 622 projects before they thought of making a radio?"  I'm not sure what the answer to that question is, but I'm certainly glad that someone decided to design a radio project.

The manual says AGE 8-80.  Lukas is 6, so I might have to talk with the folks at Elenco about revising that, but I'm sure glad that he is into these types of project at this earlier than normal age.

Because, if he wasn't, we would not have had this father/son/baseball bonding moment together.  

Sure, it doesn't quite live up to another Mariners moment we shared together, but this one may actually be cooler because my 6 year old followed some complex instructions all on his own.  

And was excited to share a baseball moment with his old man.  

You don't get much better than that.

The Go Getter

"Can you go walk with her now?" Mrs. LIAYF asked, as she handed Annabelle to me.

It was more of a 'You're it' than a request really.  I had already taken one turn walking with Annabelle, before giving her off to my lovely wife.  Now, it was apparently my turn once again.  And so, I put her down onto the restaurant floor, and like a shot she was off.  She had purpose to her gait, like she knew exactly where she was going.

We turned to corner, and she paused only for a moment to push on the glass door that served as the entrance to the Fish and Chips joint, before she turned and was off down the sidewalk.  At nearly 17 months I can't say she was running, but she was coming as close to it as I suppose any 16 month old could.

We went up the side walk nearly a half a block, climbed some stairs, slapped some walls, then it was time to head back once again.

Spring has arrived here in the Pacific Northwest both on the calendar, and in the air.  It was a very nice, sunny, weekend here albeit still a bit on the cold side at around 50 degrees.

Mrs. LIAYF and I took advantage of the weather and an unusually long afternoon nap from Annabelle to do some much needed yard work.  I say much needed because, well, because we haven't done anything out there since last Fall.  Yeah.....I think I mentioned a 16 month old.

Let me rephrase that.  We have a baby! (I'm going to use that excuse until she is at least two at which time I'll have to think of a new excuse).

Anyway, we worked hard and got a lot of yard stuff done.  Yay!  We actually worked hard enough that we decided to reward ourselves by walking up to the previously mentioned Fish shop for dinner.  It seemed like a good idea at the time.

As I mentioned Annabelle had her own ideas.  Sitting still while we dined out wasn't one of them.  I shouldn't be surprised though.

That's because she is a 'Go-Getter'.  It doesn't matter what IT is, she is the type of baby who will go get it (And usually toss it aside quickly before moving onto the next item to go get).  Seriously though, this girl rarely stops moving.

Whether it be on the changing table, or sitting in a high chair for dinner, Annabelle is not content to just sit there with a smile.  She HAS to be busy.  Lukas was like that too, and at 6 1/2 he still hasn't slowed down, proving himself to be one of the most squirmy of a highly squirmy group of 1st grade boys.  No easy feat, by any means.

Now, apparently, we will have a girl version of squirmy to deal with until that mythical day far in the future when they both have 'Settled'.  I'm not holding my breath.

I'm sure some of you out there are saying to yourselves "All kids are squirmy though".   This is not true, as too many times Mrs. LIAYF and I see children of equivalent ages to our kids quietly sitting with their parents at restaurants and events.

These parents seem to be enjoying themselves too!

For instance, at aforementioned Fish Shack, there was a nice looking family sitting in the both right behind us with another 16 month old girl.  Did her parents have to wrestle with her to keep her still? No.  Did they have to take her on  several walks in the span of the 30 minutes it took to eat their Cod and Fries?  NO!

You know what she did do?  No? She sat there quietly with a smile on her face.  Eating her food.  Ugh!

Mrs. LIAYF looked over at this little girl at one point and deadpanned "How did we get lucky enough to have 2 kids who couldn't sit still to save their lives?"  I just laughed.  So did she.

The truth is, as hard as it can be to have active, inquisitive kids, we know that those traits will serve them well as they grow year by year towards adulthood.  These aren't kids who will sit by and watch as life happens to them,  but rather will take an active role in their own fates.  This is a good thing, and as much as we look at other kids calmly sitting with their families, we really love our squirmy kids to death.  Life is never dull in our world.

As Annabelle determinedly passed by another table in the restaurant, a kindly older gentleman smiled a big smile and looked up at me following close behind.

"Wow, she's a real go getter!" he let me know.

He didn't know the half of it.

Pimp My Trike

Happy Tuesday Readers.  I don't do a lot of product reviews here, mainly because of time but also because of fit.  Daily, I'll get offers to review items which are too large, or too small, or too hot, or too cold, or too hard, or even too comfy, believe it or not.

 I won't take those offers.

However, every once in a while I will receive an offer which is juuuuuuuust right.  And I can't pass it up.  The good folks at the Radio Flyer company made me such an offer recently.  They offered me the opportunity to try out their new Build a Trike service, to put together a custom tricycle for review.  And since I knew a little girl who would LOVE her own new tricycle, I took them up on the offer without hesitation.

And, it certainly helped that it would be a Radio Flyer!  Annabelle already loves her Radio Flyer ride on car which Lukas lovingly gave her for her first birthday.

And, of course, her Radio Flyer wagon which had pretty much supplanted her stroller as her preferred mode of transportation when cruising around the neighborhood.

So, when the boxes arrived, Annabelle was pretty excited to help out.

And couldn't wait until it was finished.

But of course, our little sweetie had to relinquish her seat so that Mrs. LIAYF could finish putting the bike together (yes, she took charge of this project and had the trike together in no time flat.)

Once together it was obvious that the tricycle was constructed with the same solid parts and quality workmanship we had already come to expect from Radio Flyer products.  When selecting the components on the Build-a-Trike website, we were able to choose the colors, the types of tires(we opted for rubber) and a slew of accessories, including a canopy, a handy basket on back roomy enough for our diaper bag, a personalized license plate, and a speaker we can hook our iPhone up too.  Yeah, I know.

In fact, it seemed like the only thing we weren't able to add was a hydraulics system for the back two wheels. Oh, and a sub woofer. We weren't able to get that either.

After getting her new tricycle fully assembled, and waiting the customary several days for the Seattle rain to let up, we were ready to take for Annabelle's inaugural neighborhood ride.

As you can probably tell, she still has a teeeensy bit of growing to do before her feet will reach the pedals. So thankfully there is a handy push handle in back.

As you can also tell, she was thrilled with her new ride.  And, as expected, we received many comments from passersby who were impressed with her tricycle.  Heck, It may even replace her wagon as her preferred mode of neighborhood transportation.

Maybe by then I'll have added those hydraulics.

Full disclosure: Red Tricycle provided us with the tricycle free of charge for my review.  My opinions are not for sale though.  They did not provide us with the red car, or the wagon.  We bought those ourselves and are very happy with all three.

Feeling the Glove

Even though I have expressed it in person, I would like to take this opportunity to wish my dad a Happy 70th Birthday here publicly.  His birthday was a couple of weeks ago, but I haven't posted here in a while so I have been remiss.

Happy Birthday Dad!

As I mentioned in a post I'd written a few years ago, 'Catch 42', my dad and I have made a habit in the past few years of pulling out a baseball and mitts and playing a game of catch.   This has been a terrific way to for us to connect, talk about the grand kids, the farm I grew up on - which he still owns and operates with my brother, and to reminisce about times past.  I really love those opportunities.

One thing I also mentioned in that old post was the fact that I still have my baseball glove from when I played Little League ball.  I bring that and another glove with me when we play catch together.  I won that glove for selling the most candy in a team fundraiser and it's one of my most prized possessions to this day.  My dad was an integral part of my selling that candy, having 'asked' a lot of vendors visiting the farm if they wanted to buy some candy from his kid.  Of course they said yes.

That was 34 years ago, but it seems like yesterday.

Growing up on the family farm my dad was always busy, but we knew he loved us and would do terrific things for us, like making sure his son won a baseball glove. Dad is an terrific guy who, not surprisingly, is admired by everyone who knows him.  And he is also a man who I admire and love dearly.   So, of course, for his 70th birthday I wanted to give him a gift that meant something.

As you might have guessed by now, my dad received a brand new baseball glove of his own from us for his big day.  A fine piece of leather stitched together by the Rawlings Co. Along with a baseball signed by Mrs. LIAYF, myself, and the kids too.

"I haven't had a glove since I was a kid!" he said as he slipped it on, smiling, and began to pound his opposite fist into its palm.  You could tell that he was genuinely touched.

Mission Accomplished.

Grandma and Grandpa are visiting this weekend.  If the weather holds, I'm hoping my dad, Lukas, and I can get in a game of catch, and we can help him break in that glove.

After all, Spring is coming...and we have some catching up to do.