Even though spring was March 20th, a couple of weeks ago, it feels like this is the official first day of spring. The sunny and 70 degree weather today brought a much needed break from the frequent dreary Ohio days that we endure seemingly for 11 months out of the year. People were out walking, running, and riding bikes everywhere. Being Sunday there were also an extra amount of motorcycles traveling through the area. 
I counted 23 individual motorcycles. Getting a jump on the outside work around the yard, I fired up the John Deere yesterday after cleaning up the branches. I threw a chew toy and a couple of dog biscuits out for Butch, slapped on the iPod, and with a cold one in hand started to vacuum the lawn before I aerated it with my new handy dandy pull behind aerator attachment for the tractor. Joe Walsh was right , “I’m Just an Ordinary Average Guy!” The only thing missing is a wife bringing me lemonade on the tray!
Butch and I love to be outside as much as possible and now I know spring is really here because the grocery store started stocking the play balls again. That is a sure sign that the weather will be getting better soon. Some people look for flowers growing, I look for balls in the grocery store. This is how I tell the seasons. So I bought the first ball of the season and Butch went completely nuts. His soccer goalie skills have somewhat improved over the winter but his main goal is still to puncture that big ball as soon as humanly or dogily possible. Is ‘dogily’ even a word? I don’t know but as soon as he saw that ball it was like turning on a hose because the drool shot out of his mouth with just as much force, probably 60 PSI! 
In any case, I have some really good film of him going at that ball and as soon as I have a free YEAR I’ll get around to editing it and getting it up on the site. In the mean time, take a look at these shots of Butch working up a good foamy slobber coated face lather!
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Oh yeah, Butch and the squirrels are at it again, cursing and hollering at each other, but you can read more about that when the book comes out on Sept. 5th. Bye for now from Jeff and Butch from the garden spot of Ohio!
