Cup O’ Joe: Spring has sprung at last

Spring officially arrived Tuesday, March 20, but with this past week’s roller coaster of weather, it’s hard to tell if winter has finally run its course. March is traditionally known as the month that comes “In like a lion and out like a lamb” and that adage seems to be holding true thus far.
    On March 7, Houlton experienced subzero temperatures, but the very next day, the mercury hit 61 degrees.
Last Wednesday, the area received yet another dose of winter as heavy wet snow blanketed the area. It was a great opportunity for the young (and young at heart) to make one last snowman or take one final skiing or sledding trip.
This past weekend, temperatures soared to the upper 60s on Saturday, followed by temps in the 70s on Sunday. That trend was continued Monday and was expected to carry on for much of the week.
Such is the weather in Maine. If you don’t like it, wait a day and it will change.
With the warm temperatures came thoughts of getting rid of the snow as quickly as possible. I, and I’m sure many others, have had enough of it. The snow no longer holds the magical twinkling of Christmas. Instead it’s just a pile of dingy white-gray mixture that refuses to go away.
In any regard, I spent the better part of Saturday and Sunday afternoons shoveling snow into the driveway so it would melt quicker. This is a practice that my father always did every spring, and I normally hated every time he did it. As a child, I wanted the snow to stick around as long as possible, because the coinciding mud season was nowhere near as interesting for me.
With the warmer weather came notions of digging out spring articles of clothing in our household. My daughters asked if they could wear their flip-flops, but sadly we couldn’t locate them. We then had to get their bicycles down from their hanging spot in the shed. For some reason, my father always hung our bikes up in the winter and I’ve continued that tradition. I like to think that I am saving the tires from the stress of deflating or something, but the truth is there is no real reason to hang the bikes in the winter.
The smells of spring were also mixed with the scents of grilling, at least in our neighborhood, as many of our neighbors seemed to have the same idea of getting out their barbecues for the first grill of the season. The first grill is an experience like no other. Is it the idea of being outside cooking after four or five months trapped indoors? Or is there some sort of chemical the brain releases when partaking of food cooked on a barbecue? Either way, that first grill is an explosion on your taste buds that is difficult to match.
I almost feel sorry for those individuals who get to grill year-round because they miss out on this once-a-year experience. And since warm weather is forecast for the rest of the week, it’s a pretty safe bet that multiple grilling sessions will be taking place in our household.
Now that Spring is finally here, Summer can’t be that far behind, can it? One can hope.
  Joseph Cyr is a staff writer for the Houlton Pioneer Times. He can be reached at pioneertimes@nepublish.com or 532-2281.