the dude abides

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OK. It's March. Finally the third month as Whitman might scribe. Awake my calloused heart, my passion. Time to start looking for early signs of spring: the reawakening, the rebirth, the reverberation.

Go ahead. It's out there. Venture forth.

I have two red buckeye trees planted in my yard. I put them there; they're invited guests. I've lived in this house for over twenty years and kept waiting for one to arrive on its own accord, or camary, but it never did. So they came in a 19-year-old saturn. (The real, ringed one is much older.)

Why did I want red buckeyes? Because they bloom early and attract ruby-throated hummingbirds. In fact, studies have shown that as the native buckeyes with the dangling red flowers bloom each spring, farther and farther north with each passing day, the spirited hummers follow.

This past weekend I discovered that my buckeyes are starting to put out their tender new leaves, poking their toes into the lake to test the proverbial waters, so to speak. If they find it to their liking, their flowers will not be far behind.

Yes, it's that time. The dude abides.

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