Signs of Spring - Posted by Steve Mount

Spring is coming, spring is coming! You can tell, because they're making maple syrup around here. You know, that stuff that Log Cabin syrup is 2% of ... of course, up here, we get the real deal. Brittany and Jacob are big maple syrup fans. Ryan, however, prefers Aunt Jemima. I wonder if, during the split in utero, Jacob got all of the maple syrup gene and Ryan got none.

We have construction going on in our new neighborhood, another sure sign. One neighbor, in one of the first homes to be built in the area, is getting a one-room addition built. The poor workers started last week, and one day it was so cold, they only worked for 30 minutes before quitting. Won't have that problem this week. Also under way is excavation in the lot kitty-corner to ours, which means that it sold and we should have a new set of neighbors in June or so. The last lot, the one directly bordering ours, is still not sold as far as we know. In fact, at this point, it is the depository for all the detritus from the other two jobs. Once Spring is fully underway, and the pseudo-season of Mud is over, the mounds of dirt will make for nice places to play for the kids.

We still can't see our sidewalk, as there is still a good four to five feet of packed snow covering it, but it will come, I'm pretty sure. One corner of our lot is now devoid of snow, the corner where the winter wind stripped it all but bare. That just serves to remind us that our lot is not quite done - they still need to do a final grading and seeding. We have to wait for the aforementioned Mud Season to be behind us first.

Movie Review

The Last Mimzy
We saw a sneak preview of this movie this weekend. I quite enjoyed it. It had several recognizable faces in it, people I'd seen in other works but whom I cannot name (well, I know Ving Raimes and Timothy Bottoms, but that's about it - oh - Peter O'Toole makes a cameo appearance). The kids were very cute and did a good job, and were convincingly wowed by their new-found powers, but just as convincingly nonplussed by them. Just what you'd think a kid would think if he found he could control spiders - it's really cool and at the same time no big deal. The story is a parable about the dangers of polution, though I think the moral was lost on the boys as they just thought it was cool the little girl could make rocks spin in the air. Brittany didn't get to see it, and I will have no problem accompanying her to a showing once it is in general release.