Did you know that there are two different Springs? Well, they overlap but have two different sets of dates.

Meteorological Spring occurs during the months of March, April and May each year. So, for meteorologists predicting the weather, spring started on March 1. But for those marking the change of the seasons by the celestial bodies in the sky, astronomical Spring begins a little later, March 20.

I don’t know about you, but I choose to believe that it’s now already Spring, as of this past Saturday. Which means, the pressure is on now to plant some seeds in my house, to clean off the Winter debris from my deck, and to start to ready the yard for a good eight months of use.

And you know what that means … my husband is going to have to put on some boots and deal with the piles of dog poop that were hidden under leftover leaves and piled up snow. It is not going to be fun, that’s why I’ll have him do it! (I did, in fact, recently purchase him a new pooper-scooper … we have three dogs, and he wore the old one out!)

But you know who else needs to deal with some poop? Any and everyone who owns a dog and walks them in public places!! And that ‘dealing with’ should be taking place 365 days a year, not just in Spring. I’ve had a couple of comments in the last few weeks that there are some messy situations developing in our parks and along some of our roads; let’s get this figured out once and for all. It’s pretty simple in my opinion – if you own a dog and you walk it, you need to be prepared to clean up its messes.

Both the Highland Falls and Cornwall communities are fortunate that there are dog poop bag stations located in public places – thanks to those who provide those bags, because occasionally a dog walking person does find themselves without a bag. (I put my hand into one the other day to pick up one of my dog’s messes, and my hand went right through the bag. We had to hightail it home and grab another one and return to the scene of the crime!)

And speaking of those who provide those bags, I understand in Cornwall it is the Chamber of Commerce – thank you to them! In Highland Falls it is the village proper – thank you to them too!

So come’on fellow dog owners … do your part in keeping our public places clean. You can do whatever you want in your yard, I guess, but let’s be good citizens.

And while speaking of Spring, I saw a cute little chart the other day. It said we are currently in the ‘Spring of Deception.’ Probably true!

Have a great week!