Sure Signs of Spring!

Spring is here!  Hurrah!!  Yep, spring is definitely here.  Our weather has said this long ago with the temperatures reaching the mid-eighties during the daytime hours but some things take a bit longer.  Today, however, I can truthfully say that the season is in full swing.  How do I know this?  Grasshoppers and berry blooms!  It seems that these two things are harbingers of spring here on the Bayou.

The grasshoppers are of the Eastern Lubber type and are the ones that wreak havoc on the hillside.  They have a tendency to eat every green leaf in sight.  I was a bit disappointed to see quite as many this year as in the past.  I thought that we were getting rid of a good many and perhaps would see a lull in their reproduction this spring.  No such luck.  The critters are covering the volunteer blackberry bushes.  (These are the little ones that are not in a row yet!)  It will not be long before the entire back yard is jet black with their squirmy little selves!  Everyone in the household will start doing the "Grasshopper Dance" as we try to kill as many as possible.  (Before anyone complains about this...come take a walk through my yard and see if you do not agree that something has to be done!  If a goodly many of these critters do not meet their doom, there will not be a sprig of green anywhere within two weeks!)  In just a matter of five or six weeks, the grasshoppers will be a full three inches in length with the appetite of elephant! Yep...these guys do scream spring with their coming.  Not a happy part of spring by a long shot but still, spring.

The other sure sign of spring is the berry blossoms.  The blackberries or Boysenberries (whichever you prefer) are in full bloom!  The hedgerows are solid white with their one inch diameter blooms! This is such a pretty sight in the early morning sunlight! I love seeing the millions of blooms although this does mean that next month (in the summer's heat) I will be picking those millions of berries!   Still, that delights me as all of that picking leads to jars and jars of jelly!  The shelves can be restocked and there will be plenty to share with others who come to the Little Bayou House.

So, in all honesty, I can say that spring has come to the Bayou.  All signs point to no more winter for this year!  Now to get ready for heat, humidity and the coming of hurricane season..oh, my.