Spring is in the Air

By Thomas Morrone, CFP®, CPA

There is still a nip that remains in the air, but you can occasionally drive the car with the windows open a crack or pop open the sunroof to move some crisp air around. Mother Nature though, still holds all the cards close to her chest and we can still deal with some nasty, cool weather well into May. Therefore, it may be a little too soon to break out the shorts and tee shirts, but on that first warm day I will be ready. Soon it will feel good to open the windows to allow some fresh air to blow through the house. It is still a little too chilly for that just yet, but soon. If you stare closely at some of the trees, buds are popping just enough for them to be noticed.

Of course, with spring comes the outside chores. There is a springtime walk around the house and yard to survey for damage. Branches and twigs need to be gathered and raked up to make way for the lawnmower. There always seems to be a bush, shrub or planting of some variety that met its fate over the winter and will need to be dug out and replaced. Damaged shrubbery will need to be pruned and reshaped to hide the winter scars. Then, the leaf blower comes out of hibernation to blow leaves and debris off decks and patios and from in between planting beds into strategic piles to be bagged for trash pickup. There always seems to be some weird item stuck behind a bush that blew over from a neighbor’s yard or from down the street that just gets added to the pile. This year I found some insulation from that ended up in our yard from a nearby construction site, along with a water bottle, cigarette packages and other random items that were only worthy of being added to the trash pile to be discarded. One part of the yard inspection is to determine if it is time to spread some new mulch to freshen up the look of the planting beds.

There are the outside chores and then of course the house windows and screens need to be cleaned to get ready for the nice weather. Speaking of nice weather, that means the outside furniture needs to find its way back outside from basements and garages. There is a step in the process before the furniture finds its home for the next several months. The power washer must rear its ugly head and clean the mold and dirt that has accumulated in all corners and crannies over the past 5-6 months. The garage gets some attention as well. Everything is removed from the garage, and I mean everything. The leaf blower does its thing first and then I power wash the floor. Then out comes the big squeegee to get rid of the puddles. After a couple of hours when the floor is dry, everything comes back into the garage. One of the last parts of the ritual on my list is taking the gas grill out from the garage and ever so carefully cleaning every nook and cranny of the burners and cooking surfaces. For me, cleaning the outside of the grill is just as important as the cooking surface so it has that shiny new appearance and looks inviting to use. I apply a coat of wax so the sun glistens off the grill and is smooth and silky to the touch.

When I was a young buck (much younger) I would wake up early on a Saturday morning and get cracking on the springtime chores that lay ahead. By the end of the day, my list would be completed, and I would feel like I accomplished something. Being an old fart, attempting to complete all the spring-cleaning tasks in a single day is not only unrealistic but could potentially be unhealthy (visions of me throwing out my back for one thing). Now, I realize I need to break the list into realistic projects and chip away at the list. What once took me a day, now I attack over a month of Sundays.
 
Anyway, spring has sprung, and I see the need for Advil in my near future.

Until the Next Tom’s Take...................

_{Tracking: 560658-1}