Susan Says

Spring is officially here but most days don't feel very spring-like yet. There is a lingering chill in the air and, although we've had some nice sunny days, the blustery March winds have kept temperatures pretty nippy. But we all know March is a fickle month, one day roaring like the king of beasts and the next appearing mild as a lamb.

I've put a couple of flowers on the front porch, the daffodil from the cellar and the silver squirrel plant from the living room, but I'm reluctant to move most of them outside until the weather moderates a little more.

I've seen crocuses blooming in neighbors' yards and a few forsythia are already blooming, but so far ours show no signs of life. I've scratched through the dead leaves in the yard hoping to find a few peonies emerging, but my search was in vain.

A friend in Decatur who's built a small greenhouse from cattle panels and sheets of plastic says she has spinach and onions coming up, so at least someone's getting a start on producing some garden stuff.

Folks who have no garden started, especially if they have children to participate, can satisfy their urge to dig in the dirt by making Jell-O pudding dirt cups. Instructions in an old Jell-O pudding ad explain how to make "dirt" from crushed chocolate sandwich cookies. Place some in the bottom of clear plastic cups, followed by a layer of chocolate pudding topped with more "dirt." Decorate the top with gummy worms and frogs, candy flowers and "pebbles" made from chopped nuts. And, best of all, when you've finished gardening, you can "dig in" and eat your creation!

The prospect of visitors last week prompted me to do a little early spring cleaning. I removed a long-neglected stack of newspapers from the living room floor and cleared the clutter from the coffee table, leaving only the candle arrangement in the center, a basket containing my African violet and a few books. A flat basket under the table corrals several books and booklets and a wooden storage cube with black wrought-iron hinges and latch is a handy container for a number of magazines. It's a recent garage sale purchase and adds an attractive rustic touch to the room.

The basketball phenomenon called March Madness is in full swing and we watched a few games over the weekend. Although our Hogs didn't make it to NCAA competition, they were selected for the NIT tournament and we were able to listen to their games on the radio. Our neighbors, the Sooners and the Jayhawks, were knocked out in the early rounds of play, but we were delighted to see Kentucky pull off an upset win in a nail-biter Sunday afternoon.

We always enjoy our wildlife and it was a delight to see the tiny bird tracks and rabbit footprints during our last snow. Despite the chilly weather, I've heard a few birds singing a cheery song. This is a good time to study the birds for, being a little short of food, they come close to the house if you put out something to eat. Right now they are not as shy as they will be later on when they begin nesting.

Author John Rowlands says March is the month to build birdhouses. "It's a fine way of keeping these friends close by," he says, "and we take particular pains to make the kind that please the birds we like to have nesting in our woods ... Birds are choosey and know just what they want in the way of a house, so you must build your boxes the right shape and size before they show any interest in starting housekeeping."

He points out that having birds for neighbors is more than a pleasure because they help to keep down insect pests that ruin your garden.

Jo Northrop, "Simple Country Pleasures" columnist, was puzzled about how the wrens knew March had arrived, but they returned on schedule and busily built a nest in the longneck gourd she hung from the limb of a tree in her backyard. She cut a small hole in one side of the gourd and added a tiny perch just below the opening to entice the tiny migrants to make it their home. The gourd would bounce up and down as the wrens went about their business, chattering as though trying to agree on the suitability of their nesting materials. When she would go outside and sit in the sunshine to watch their efforts, Northrop said they sounded as though they were scolding her for daydreaming.

Susan Holland, who works for the Westside Eagle Observer, is a lifelong resident of Benton County. She can be reached by email at [email protected]. Opinions expressed are those of the author.