JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: This past Saturday was the astronomical First Day of Spring here in the northern hemisphere, and amazingly, here in Maine it was the start of several days of bright and sunny weather. (As an aside, when growing up, I learned the equinoxes and solstices were on the 21st. Has that changed? Or do we just know about the exact day and hour because of the internet now?) In my yard, 
piles of snow have melted to a few icy lumps, and you need wellies to walk about anywhere outdoors because the turf everywhere is the consistency of a peat bog. No sign of crocuses yet (I didn’t rake out the bed in the fall, so they’re fighting through sodden dead vegetation) but the daffodil shoots are up.
All of this gets me thinking about… spring chores. We all have them - even you snowbirds will be thinking about cleaning and planning for the move north, right? For the outdoors at my place, it’s going to be clearing away branches and raking. We’ve had a freakish number of wind storms, and wherever I have trees on the property it looks like a massive game of pick-up-sticks. As for the raking, I confess I wasn’t quite on top of it this past fall, and so got caught out when we had a November snowstorm. The good news is it’s a LOT easier to tote old, dead, dried leaves than it is to move them around when they’re fresh off the tree.
Inside, the increasing sunlight has led me to notice the effects of a whole winter’s worth of 1) multiple pets indoors 2) blown hot air going constantly and 3) burning wood, ditto. In the Before Times, I would have been cleaning up the dust/hair more aggressively, but let’s face it - with no friends over, no dinner parties, no one except me and occasional daughters in the house at all - there hasn’t been a ton of motivation. But it’s got to be dealt with by the time the really warm weather rolls around, if only to prevent dust tornadoes when I have the windows open. (What a sweet thought! The open windows, not the flying dust.)
How about you, Reds? What’s on your list of spring chores?
JENN McKINLAY: I just spent last weekend spring cleaning - washing every inch of the inside of the house, including moving the furniture to see what new pets have spontaneously generated out of a few months of accumulated pet hair. Today is yard work day! Here in AZ we have to 
get it done before it gets too hot and with the thermometer flirting with the mid-80’s, that means NOW. My modest yard will be mowed, pruned, and edged and my annual sunflower patch will be planted to welcome the love birds back in June. Yay!
HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Chore number one: waiting for the ducks. Chore number two: watching the crocuses and then tulips coming up. Chore number three: Watching all birds in our back yard. Chore number four: Wondering who is going to dust around here, la dee dah.
RHYS BOWEN: we arrived back at our Arizona house to find it immaculate! We had loaned it to a friend of our daughter who couldn’t move into a new home on time and obviously they paid for a cleaning service. And left us a toaster oven! So no hard cleaning here. However when we get back to CA I’m sure there will be plenty waiting for us. We have been going through closets, throwing out clothes, also John has reorganized the pantry. Otherwise enjoying glorious weather and seeing friends!
HALLIE EPHRON: Our crocuses and snowdrops and blue scilla are starting to emerge and today I took the patio chairs out of the garage. And I walked to the mailbox without a coat. And a screech owl has returned to nest in a tree across the street and the bird bath is teeming with chickadees. Yesterday I saw 8 robins on someone’s lawn. SPRING!
I’m ready for it. Last fall I had the house painted and the yard cleaned up; a few months ago I had all the area rugs removed, cleaned, and replaced. Now I’m looking out through smudgy windows. I’ll call the window washers and soon I’ll be spring-watching through clear windows.
LUCY BURDETTE: We will be packing up and heading north sometime soon, so that’s as close to spring cleaning as I’ll get. John has quite a garden out on our small balcony, so all that will have to be given away or something. Meanwhile, what I really need to focus on is WRITING!
DEBORAH CROMBIE: You and me both, Lucy! But, ugh, my house is so dirty, worse than it's been this entire last year, and I just can't seem to get on top of it. And now spring chores! Putting up winter clothes, throw pillows, blankets, etc. Getting summer clothes out of the attic. Lots of stuff to do in the garden, getting all the dead plants out of pots, putting in new ones. Fertilizing roses, drenching crape myrtles, etc. The house desperately needs power-washing before we can spring clean the windows, but that is NOT MY JOB. A fun thing--the hummingbird feeders should go up today!
JULIA: How about you, dear readers? What's on your spring chores to-do list?
