10 on the 10th: 03.10.2021

Hello spring chickens, coming to you on the 10th day of the month for 10 on the 10th:  03.2021.  For today’s post we are listing 10 things we love about spring.  Hope you will join me!!

10 on the 10th:  03.10.2021

Isn’t 2021 zipping right along?  But it is just about this time last year that we got stuck in the nightmarish days that Covid brought to 2020.  However, I am feeling so much more optimistic this year, with spring right around the corner and my vaccines on board.   Pretty sure that from here on out 2021 is going to be just dandy!  Which brings me to the subject of this post…

10 Things I Love About Spring

All day long I have been suffering from a bad case of spring fever.  Probably partly brought on by our 80* afternoon high.  And the thought of writing this post.  Why, it was 65* when I got in the car at 7:15 am to go across the mountain.  How could one not have a bit of spring fever??

Allow me to share all of the things I love best about this glorious season of renewal and rebirth.

For Starters

• Anticipation of the return of our poppies.  Depending on the amount of precipitation we have gotten early in the new year, and probably lots of more complicated things, we may or may not have a bounty of California poppies growing volunteer all over the foothills of the Franklin Mountains.  Last year we had a bumper crop.  Restrictions were just being put in place with the virus also in full bloom.  But El Pasoans flocked to the mountainside to enjoy the poppies.
  The first photo below was taken on 03.10.2020.  The slopes were already glowing with gold.  Which is not yet the case this spring.  But I am still hopeful.  The second photo was taken 2 weeks after the first.  Such a lush blanket of color.

 

• Anticipating the return of baseball.  For PC.  For our Triple A team, the Chihuahuas.  And for all of MLB but most especially PC’s favorite team (other than the El Paso Yankees for whom he plays), the Cincinnati Reds.  Many years we’ve traveled to Phoenix to catch a weekend’s worth of spring training games.  But we haven’t really talked about that yet.  Paul’s team has had their first practice.  The Chihuahua’s first home game of the season is scheduled for 05.13.2021.  The Reds spring training runs through the end of the month with their first home game of the 2021 season on 04.01.2021.  Woohoo!!

• Spring cleaning.  I happen to know, from reading everyone’s blogs that I am not the only one who likes to spring clean.  Declutter.  Organize.  Spring is the time of year to do that.  While I am doing the declutter and organizing challenge all year with Taylor at Home Storage Solutions, I also plan to get down and dirty with my spring cleaning.  I shared some of my favorite spring cleaning tips, here, in a 10 on the 10th post for 03.2018.  Can’t wait to get started.

Then There’s

• More daylight.  This Sunday we spring ahead.  While that first day or two can be kind of tough, it’s totally worth it in my book.  Because now we will have more daylight!!  What’s not to love about that?  So call this a reminder to set your clocks forward this Sunday.  And check those smoke detectors, too.
• More green.  True, I live in a desert.  But there is a big difference in the desert in spring.  There’re the poppies, for one.  And the cactus, the palo verde, Mexican elders, oleanders, and our blooming peach and cherry trees.

• Perfect temperatures.  Check us out!!

Month  High / Low(°F)   Rain

March   73° / 44°               1 day

April       81° / 51°               0 days

May       89° / 60°               1 day

June      98° / 69°               2 days

• Pool time.  It’s too chilly to swim most of March and April.  But you can bet by May we will be in that pool every chance we get.  Last summer was one of the hottest on record.  It was almost too hot to swim many days.  Hoping this spring and summer will be just right.  We revamped our outdoor space last year with new furniture, a sail for over part of the pool and a pull-down shade for the hot tub.  You might remember reading about it in this Where Bloggers Live post, here.

• Sleeping with the windows open.  Airing out the house during the day.  We are so fortunate that we really don’t have to worry about bugs.  Really don’t have to worry about bugs of any kind.  Maybe the occasional fly but that’s it.  Even today I had the back door wide open – no screen door – and it was wonderful.  I could hear the birds chirping.  Sounded like baby birds.  And Fluff, the stray kitty we feed, came in for a visit.

And Finally

• Mom’s birthday.  I am so thankful that we still have our mother with us.  It has been a long hard road since 04.2011 when she first attempted suicide.  Then we lost my dad a year late in 05.2012.  Mom attempted suicide again in the fall of 2016.  Made an outcry in 10.2018 and had a stroke in 02.2020.  It has been such a difficult ride but Mom is still with us.  I am grateful to hear her voice everyday.  To have her ask about my grandbabies, my daughters, my PC.  Every day is a gift.  As I type this, my sister and I are shopping online for Mom’s 94th birthday which just happens to fall on the first day of spring.  The first photo below was taken on Valentine’s Day by someone at the facility where Mom lives.  A little over a week ago, our prayers were answered and for the first time since Mom moved into this apartment in June, my brother was available to be with her face-to-face in her home.  He called my sister and me so we could celebrate with them.  Pardon the poor quality photo, we were all just so excited!!

 

• Hopefulness.  What is spring if it isn’t hopeful.  New life.  New opportunities.  Rebirth.  Renewal.  For the first time in months, I truly feel hopeful that 2021 is going to be okay.  Life is beginning to return to ‘normal’.  Our governor has lifted the mandatory mask requirement for Texas and businesses are now permitted to reopen to 100% capacity.  People are being vaccinated.  Sadly, we still had 17 Covid-related deaths reported today, and over 250 new cases, but that is down from a one time high of 3,000 new cases in a single day’s time.  There is light at the end of this very long, dark tunnel and we can finally almost touch it.

Your Turn

Hope this 10 on the 10th:  03.10.2021 post has given you a case of spring fever, too!!  If you have a 10 on the 10th post, please link up your post with mine.  Can’t wait to read your list.  And of course, if you don’t blog, you can jot down your 10 favorite things about spring and share them in a comment below.  Either way, hope you will also stop by the blogs of some of the others to read their reponses.

I am jetting to Orlando early in the morning (03.10) to surprise my granddaughter in order to accompany her, my daughter Brennyn and son-in-law Mustafa to Disney World.  Have only been to Disney World once before…50 years ago…the year it opened!! Cannot wait to see the look on Cady’s face when she sees me. Stay tuned for a blog post all about our adventures.  I am so excited.

Have a beautiful, spring-like weekend, dear ones.  Praying life is feeling more hopeful these days for you, too.

P.S.  Hope you will join us for next month’s 10 on the 10th when we will be talking about money, money, money, money…just in time for Tax Day!!

Hugs and kisses,