First Day of Spring-- Really

Today felt like the first real day of spring, the day when socks feel so heavy and muffling and dreary and all the clothes I've been wearing day after day suddenly look ridiculously dark and heavy.  Of course I needed to venture out to the new trail because I know that in a matter of weeks this not-exactly-trail will be so overgrown and buggy and snakey that I will need a machete to hack my way through.  I want to map the places where I still get unsure, one of them right at the beginning when the trail leaves the flat clay deposit place and takes off into the dry grasses.  I missed the cutoff three times, and each time I thought I had gone too far.  Finally I went far enough and found it.  Here are two maps/sketches to help in identifying where the new trail starts:  On the left is the view down the cut off, two identical baby pine trees across from one another and a group of four young not-pine trees over to the right.  And on the right is a map of steps between landmarks so I will remember to go far enough -- around 350 steps from the clay place-- even though all the landmarks are overgrown.

 We didn't go any further than the beginning of the trail today, but went home our usual way on Charlie's Spring Trail.  But today I noticed that the chimney is just barely visible through the trees at one point.  At the top it's peeking through trees off in the distance.

At home, Jesse was enjoying the first really springy day, too.  He started out sitting on the picnis table bench watching the backyard and grooming his paws.

Then he slouched over on one elbow in his favorite leisure cat posture, still watching the backyard for territorial infringements such as Ghengis or wild turkeys.

Then we both went outside and I sat on the back steps while he sat on a paving stone.  Then he wandered over to the small deck and sauntered off down the stairs.