I love spring. I wait for Spring, mostly because it leads to summer, which is my favorite season. But over the next month or so, I will be vexed by almost continuous aggravation by one small, pernicious creature: the gray squirrel.

Once we are into summer, I will like them again. They will do their acrobatics in the back yard, leaping from tree limb-to-tree limb, entertaining us in all kinds of ways. We love them, and enjoy having them around.

But today, the Spring wars began. They have deflowered (and not in the fun way) every single bud from my small Tulip Magnolia, and they are working on the White Star Magnolia as well — luckily, that tree is larger, and so they can’t get out onto the ends of the branches, though they try. I will have some small white flowers left to enjoy.

Then, as the several hundred tulips I have planted pop up, they will systematically behead those as well. I have a few dozen planted in the circle around the base of the white star magnolia, and I have waited for the big, fat tulips to bust open in that spot outside my kitchen window, only to discover headless stems in the morning, the fat buds ravaged on the ground.

It’s the only time, ever, I have considered a shotgun. Only city ordinances keep those little suckers safe. I call them names I can’t repeat here, I set my dogs out after them, and I run outside chasing them out myself several times a day, clapping my hands and hoping they think it’s a shotgun. (I think I heard them laughing about that once.)

I have tried sour spray — which leads to them pulling the head off and then leaving it on the ground, since it tastes bad; it also was expensive and tiring to try to keep spraying tulips after every rain. Hot pepper did nothing, and I don’t want to use it anyway, since we have neighborhood cats, and I have heard that they can get it on their feet, and then if they scratch their eyes, etc it can cause infection. So no hot pepper.

I did have some luck with mothballs — I put them everywhere, and they did work very well — our entire yard also smelled like an old closet. I’m pretty sure these are not healthy for people or animals as well, and I don’t like the idea of those chemicals all leeching into the dirt — but they DID work. Home Depot was sold out.

I will be fighting these little demons for the next month or so, until the tulips are gone (one way or another), and then the summer flowers start, few of which interest the squirrels. Then I start having words with our woodchuck about eating all of the daisies and coneflowers…. it never ends. But I am an environmentalist, and I am firm believer in nurturing nature, especially as we build our houses all over their turf. I just wish I didn’t end up nurturing them with all of my flowers.

How about you? Do you have a garden? Pests? Or other seasonal love/hate relationships you go through each year? And if you have any tips about squirrels, feel free to share.

For me, a lifelong New Englander, the new year doesn’t start until right about now. January, February, and usually March—depending on what season March decides it wants to be—are much like the initial hour of the morning after waking. Here in the snowy north we spend the first three months of the year staggering around, half-blind with fatigue. By April, we’ve managed to make the metaphorical coffee, get our contact lenses in, and remember what the heck day it is and what we’re late for. With warm weather comes clarity, and for me, that’s when the year really begins.

So I’ve staggered my way through the end of winter—and a very wintery winter it was this year in Boston—and I’m finally feeling awake. April is a lovely month in New England (I say as I gaze up at the rain streaking my skylight). The trees are beginning to bloom and the grass in my park is green again. The air smells like soil and the ocean, instead of ice. And yes, ice has a smell, you temperate folks.

The smell of spring makes me feel ambitious. After all, spread out before me are eight months of tolerable weather! Granted they’ll feel like about three weeks, whereas winter will drag on for a seeming eternity. But still! I can cycle again! I can eat lunch outside (or stroll with a covert six-pack to the ocean with my husband, as we’re wont to do of a Saturday afternoon here on the coast.) I can shut off the heat and open the windows, and recommence shaking my curmudgeonly fist at the motorcyclists who rip up my street whilst I’m trying to write.

The Couch to 10K app interface.

And, I can run outside, instead of on a gym treadmill, for the first time since November! The sidewalks are back and my tendons are warm and limber. And this year, I set myself a new goal—to run a 10K. That’s 6.2 miles, to my fellow metric-illiterates. I have an older brother who runs marathons, to whom 10K simply means there’s twenty miles still to cover. But I’ve never run without stopping for farther than 5.1 miles before. It’s about a hour of continuous running, and for me, that’s a challenge.

Because I love quantifiable progress, I downloaded an app for my iPod Touch to help me pace myself. (I’m naturally very lousy at pacing—I’m overly ambitious and tend to injure myself out of willful, stubborn determination. Hey, I’m a Taurus.) The app is called Couch to 10K (weirdly enough, not affiliated with the popular Couch to 5K app). It’s set up to lead you through thirteen weeks of graduated training sessions (three workouts per week), at the end of which you should have built up the strength and stamina to run a 10K.

I’m already an amateur runner, so I started on week seven. It’s currently got me running for four minutes, then a voice pops up and tells me to walk for two minutes, and repeating those intervals for an hour or so (plus warm-up and cool-down) which is perfect. Challenging but doable. Plus with a stern voice telling me when to run and when to walk, I’m not tempted to either go easy on myself or to overdo it. And at $2.99, an awful lot cheaper than a trainer. It plays nice with iTunes so you can control your favorite exercise playlist without closing Couch to 10K. I really recommend this app.

So that’s my spring goal! I haven’t sourced an actual, organized 10K race or charity run to put myself to the test. I figured I’d keep it low pressure and just make my husband sit in our park for an hour as a witness as I run around the half-mile track thirteen times.

Anyone else have the spring (or autumn, to my Southern Hemisphere crew) goals or projects? Do you get that urge when the weather shifts, to revamp yourself, your home, your garden, your ambitions? Tell me about it!

I don’t know what it is about spring, but it feels like new beginnings to me. Maybe it’s all the sunshine after so many cloudy days. Could be the thawing of my feet, which seem to stay frozen through winter. I always feel like cleaning house as spring begins to bloom outside. It’s that spring cleaning, need a fresh start, I guess. I say I feel like, it but right now I don’t have the time. I have a book due in another month, two (She Who Dares, Wins and Truth and Dare) coming out over the next two months and grad school is CRAZY with deadlines this month. Still, I had to at least clean off my desk. It always makes me feel so much better if I can see the wood underneath. And as the weeks go on I’ll do a bit more. When the book is finished, I’ll go through this mad cleaning spree (I always do). When this happens, my husband comes home and says, “Who are you? And what have you done with my wife?” I’m not kidding.

I took a few moments to take some pics so I could show you some of the other signs of spring around the Havens’ household.

Gizmo loves to play in the mud as you can see from his face and paws. Time for a trip to the Beauty Shop.

If we don’t brush Scoobie every day, we end up having dust bunnies the size of Godzilla as her winter coat sheds.

I woke up the other day and the pear trees had bloomed overnight.

It won’t be long before those gorgeous smelling Gardenias bloom. They make the front entry so fragrant.

My husband’s rose bushes are also starting to green up. I love the way the flowers make the house smell.

Tell me what spring means to you.

Happy Spring Y’all!

CONGRATS TAMMY!
Please email me here and let me know which book you want along with your snail mail address and get it mailed to you!
I’m showing my age, but that song, Celebration by Kool & The Gang always pops into my head when I’m in the mood to celebrate.
My first blog here was April 27th 2009. Wow. I can’t believe it’s been a year already. I think that deserves a celebration. Plus, I had some good news over the weekend. My first Harlequin Blaze, LET IT RIDE, released last May, is a finalist in the National Readers Choice Awards Short Contemporary category!
The winners will be announced at the RWA National conference at a ceremony in Nashville in July. I don’t expect to win; I’m up against some pretty stiff competition. Awesome books like Rhonda Nelson’s LETTERS FROM HOME. Loved that sexy Army Ranger, Levi. Rhonda’s Blazes, (HINT) always feature sexy, hunky guys.
And Cara Summers is a double finalist with her Twin series, TWIN TEMPTATION and TWIN SEDUCTION. Don’t you just love it when twins switch places?
I’m totally honored just to be a finalist in the same category with these outstanding authors.
Also, it’s hard not to want to go running through a meadow of flowers this time of year.
Around here (North Texas) the Bluebonnets are everywhere! All along the highways, for miles and miles, the stunning indigo blooms cover the grass and coat the air with their sweet scent. Last week we drove out to a gorgeous spot and I got a few pictures. The Bluebonnet is, of course, our state flower and therefore it’s illegal to pick one. And when we make our way into a field of them for pics, we must be careful not to tread on them, which makes for some awkwardly cautious tip-toeing around. But it’s worth it. I wish I could bottle up their fragrance and ship it to you, but maybe I can send one commenter today the next best thing: a packet of Bluebonnet seeds. Plus, I’ll send along a copy of my first Blaze, LET IT RIDE, or if you already have that, a promise to send the sequel when it comes out in October, SEDUCE AND RESCUE! I can’t wait to see the cover art on that! You can bet when I get it, I’ll post it here.
Happy Spring, everyone! Go out and celebrate!

So, what is YOUR state flower?