dual personalities

in this north country town. And because, as Henry Van Dyke observed, “The first day of spring is one thing, and the first spring day is another. The difference between them is sometimes as great as a month,” our maple trees are just beginning to turn green

and there are fresh flowers for the living room.

Unfortunately, spring also means that the highway department has resumed tearing up Main Street. We’re in the second and final year of a massive project. Every morning at 6 am the heavy machinery gets going, the dust starts flying, and traffic slows to a standstill.

Earlier this week as I was grading final papers I heard an ominous, wet, gushing sound very close by. A quick glance out the window dashed my hope that it was external and I soon discovered that water was flooding into my basement at an alarming rate. The diggers had broken a water main. After I raised the alarm, the foreman sent a nice worker to help me move things out of the way of the rising tide, and once they had turned off the water, he cleaned up as well. Overall, they were very decent about it. The soggy aftermath picture doesn’t look bad, but imagine it under inches of icky, sewage-y water and you’ll get the idea.

I’m all for spring projects and we are planning a few of our own (painting inside and out), but the water main fiasco reminded me that we all need to be extra careful on ladders, when moving heavy things, digging, etc… So do be vigilant!

What spring projects are you going to undertake (with appropriate planning and care, of course)?