No Hangover Here!

Well -- OK -- maybe that's just a tiny fib.

Or -- it could also be construed as a big, fat lie following Super Bowl Sunday.

I find it quite amazing actually -- that a surprising number of people developed "flu like" symptoms at some point after the Super Bowl last night and they didn't quite make it to work today.

That would include a -- ahem -- special wife named Venus.

The name of my flu? It's the "Gilbey's" strain. No -- not quite as serious as the H1N1 variety (also known as the Swine Flu) -- but it can still kick you pretty hard after you've been "exposed" to this particular virus over a long course of time.

Perhaps I wasn't exposed for long enough last night -- or perhaps I've been stricken with a repellant known as "Spring Fever." No -- I know it's not spring quite yet. I know that "Lake Bird" isn't going to dry up in the backyard anytime soon (much to my chagrin).

However -- there are signs -- like this one to the right -- that "spring" is in the air. These daffodils represent "Venus Magic." They are the first daffodils to spring up anywhere that I've seen in North Natomas. And they're springing up in abundance now -- all over the front yard.

So -- while I had this strange desire to remain in bed this morning -- the desire to go outside and photograph these daffodils was even stronger. Spring Fever wins out. The calendar doesn't say it's springtime just yet -- but there's just no ignoring what's coming up like roses in the front yard.

Spring.

As much as I'd like too -- I can't really tell you what varieties of daffodils these are. I should know -- but alas -- I don't. We probably purchased these bulbs in bags of ten several years ago from the Man's Toy Store (Home Depot) or perhaps even Capital Nursery.

That's one of the few *nice* things I can say about the clay muck sludge that doubles as "soil" in North Natomas. Bulbs love it. Any bulb. It doesn't matter if it's a daffodil, tulip or even freesia. The bulbs come up in the spring -- die back in the summer -- split during the fall and winter --and come right back up again in early spring.

In another month or two? The tulips will be doing the same thing. How can I tell? They're already popping out of the ground. And -- if this steady rain keeps up? The more the better.

Although the bright yellow show around the front yard is enough to get your average gardener excited -- that's not the only show starting to emerge. The first bloom of the 2010 Fresh Fruit Season also emerged on Super Bowl Sunday.

Does this rather blurry photo taken by a bad photographer with a two-cent digital camera indicate the first Santa Rosa Plum of the 2010 Fresh Fruit Season? Can't tell quite yet -- but it's another indication that the long, cold, bitter days and nights of winter are nearly at an end.

The signs of early Spring are upon us.