by Le Grand Chef

Created on: February 25, 2009

The groundhog has spoken, six more weeks of winter. I think one of the first projects I should work on this year is finding a good recipe for woodchuck stew.

Kidding aside, I welcome the end of winter and the onset of spring. I am not an avid winter sports person, but I do keep active by ice fishing, cross country skiing and planning the weeks ahead. But the thought of spring, well it wouldn't be the same if it didn't follow the curse of winter.

Pick ten ways to welcome spring? Ha, I can give you that many and quite a few more. Spring is a busy time in this part of the world. Here in the north the warm and the cold is split right down the middle, so we need to take advantage of every moment.

The promise of warmer weather is like presents under the Christmas tree. You know the time is coming and excitement builds as the day grows nearer.

- The first thing I do every year is to get out my seed catalogues and plan my gardens. The joy of looking at all the beautiful pictures and choosing what will grace your soil is one of the best ways to welcome spring. It is a promise of the good things to come

- Like my flowers and vegetables, my spring fishing in is very important to me. As the snow melts it is the time to dust off my tackle boxes and look over the gear I need to replace from last year. Replacing fishing line while dreaming of catches that were and catches to come, visiting tackle shops and drooling over the new goodies, now that is a true rite of spring.

- Did I mention the sportsman shows? This is a spring tradition among lovers of the outdoors. The rods, the lures, boats and motors, I can hear the hoots and howling now. Like Tim "The Tool Man" Taylor, herds of dreamers, myself among them, men and women troll the aisles in search of miracles, grunting and fawning over the newest toys. The sheer joy, the smiles, like watching kids in a candy store, it lightens the heart.

- When the winter wind recedes, the cottage rises like a phoenix out of the snow. My cottage is my castle for the summer. Nothing feels the same as a opening day at the cabin. Power on, water pumps primed and the larder restocked. The first weekend in springtime is two days without family and without friends. It is a happy weekend of hard work and peace. There are no other cottagers, no chain saws or uninvited guests. At night there are only stars in the clear skies and the hoot of an owl watching from some treetop.

- My spring also brings harvests. Fiddleheads, a treat for those in the know,

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