IT'S FINALLY SPRING IN KENTUCKY!

It's really amazing how suddenly Spring can 'spring upon you' here in Kentucky. Just a few short weeks ago, there were piles of shattered and shorn tree limbs stacked next to the streets, awaiting the dump trucks and flatbeds that would haul them to the landfills. The final vestiges of the freezing ice-storm have been reduced to occasional views of broken branches and trunks that remain high up, in the trees themselves. Last week there were no blossoms, very few bulb shoots tentatively breaking through the soil and even fewer patches of greening grass in the neighborhoods.

What a difference three days can make! Now the white and pink dogwoods are blossoming everywhere, the redbuds are out and the grass is greening all over the place. Cool. Better yet, I've already been fishing twice. Now, there's a sure sign of spring for you. . .frequent visits to Cabela's, Bass Pro Shop and the Walmart fishing aisle. It's often been stated that the first sign of Spring is a red-breasted robin earnestly seeking its first worm of the season in the soft, damp soil. "Oh contraire, mon ami!" If you ask Lynne, she will tell you that around these parts, the first SURE sign of spring is Greg relishing his first cast and earnestly seeking his first fish of the season. . . the worms I can buy year-round.

In any event, here are some dogwood and redbud photos to give you an idea of what we are now seeing and what we anticipate seeing soon in Kentucky: