I've loosely been trying to keep track of dates of interest on here, but I missed noting the Vernal Equinox two days ago.  It marks the point at which the daylight hours equal the nighttime hours and after which the days will start to become longer than the nights until peaking at the summer solstice on June 20th when it'll start to move back the other way.  The spring equinox is also one of the indicators that Easter is coming soon because the date of Easter is determined by the first full moon after the Equinox.  

But perhaps the biggest significance of the Equinox is that it marks the official start of Spring.  Spring has sprung.  I can tell it's starting to happen here.  In addition to the weather having overall warmed up a little, I've got a fig tree right outside my window.  It went from having no leaves on it just a couple weeks ago to having a lot of big green leaves right now.  Right around this time we used to get hit hard with a bloom of weeds in our yard every year, but somehow it didn't happen last year and it hasn't happened so far this year.  I don't know why.  We didn't do anything different, but I'm certainly not complaining.  

The worst were these ones I've always referred to as fox tails, although a friend of mine who grew up in Iowa insists they're called burrs.  Whatever they are, they truly suck.  They're pointy and they break off and stick into things really easily.  Our poor dogs and cats would constantly get them stuck in their paws or tangled in their fur and if you happened to walk through a patch you'd have to pull a ton of them out of your socks and shoes.  They're bloody awful and I don't know why we've gotten a reprieve from them for the last couple of years, but I am very thankful.  I seem to recall two years ago we got an extra big crop of them.  

Well, anyway, happy Spring!  Enjoy it because it'll be summer before you know it.