Hi Folks, I think I have spring fever!!! What a beautiful day here in the countryside of Shenandoah County with plentiful sunshine and a fresh breeze blowing!!! I got the old golf cart out after lunch, and took the dogs for a run. Ran back through the fields to check out the views and signs of spring. The mountains are lovely on either side of the valley. Lilacs are budding, and a dandelion is blooming!!! Birds are preparing to make their nests. A mockingbird swooped down at us. It's back from last year. Calls, "pretty, pretty". Alfred Bowers has tons of fresh cut firewood stacked along one of his fence rows in a field behind ours. Another neighbor has orange stakes in his field. Looks like he's planning to build something. Hope it doesn't block my view of the Bowers's farm. Wonderful view from our family room looking south and west. Some beautiful sunsets!!! Raked up under the pussy willow tree and the wisteria bush, and hauled the sticks and leaves away. Billy Bob will be mowing before long. Today he's working in his shop. Has our John Deere riding mower ready to go, and working on a push one for a friend. Roofers came today to check out our house roof, and to give us an estimate on a new one. Roof's been leaking all winter!!! We've lived here for 35 years come St Patrick's Day on the 17th. So much going on the next couple of weeks. Hoping to go to the Fort Valley Ham and Oyster Supper this coming Sat, and have a homecoming reunion with my brothers and sister. Then Easter will come early on the 23rd. Won't be long 'til the sarvis berry tree or the shadbush will be blooming. It is the first tree to bloom white up on the mountains and a true harbinger of spring. It blooms the same time that the shad swim upstream to spawn here on the east coast streams, although, no shad in Shenandoah County. I think they are over around Rappahannock River and on eastward. Also, in olden times the white blooming trees showed folks that it was time to have funeral services and burial for the folks who died over the winter, and couldn't be buried in the frozen ground. Here's another poem that I want to include. Wrote it years ago. THANKFUL FOR MY MOUNTAINS Thank You, God, for each day That I can see my mountains--- The Massanutten, cradling in her arms, Fort Valley and the Seven Fountains. Brilliant sunsets blaze the sky Above the Alleghenies to the west Where after each enchanting display The solar ball goes down to rest. >From my window to the northeast When winter's landscape is bare Off in the distance I can see--- The Blue Ridge Mountains standing there. God, You have surely blessed me With nature's beauty all around, The colorful splendor of the fall And glistening snow on winter's ground With ever-changing trees and light My mountains dress for each new season, Especially, in spring with fresh new birth. You, Great Master, are the Reason. Nancy Shrum "Shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life......." Phil 2:15, 16 NIV