The snow in my back yard was hip-deep only two weeks ago, and today I can see mud and dead-looking grass. Ah, Spring! In Ontario, it’s more like an ambush. Despite today’s bright sun, however, it’s nowhere near time yet to take the snow brush out of the car.

Now that the snow has melted away from the back wall of the house, the wet spot in the basement has dried out. The crack repair must be done anyway — the evidence is all over the wall in the form of great streaks of the mineral salts with which our water is loaded. But it’s not quite so urgent as I had feared.

While the carpenter is here, I shall also ask him to rip out a section of drywall that has a mold stain left over from last year’s furnace condensate pump crisis.

I just finished digging through several bins of doohickeys, from which I sorted two boxes for Goodwill and a large bag of garbage. One bin has been packed with Christmas decorations that were sculling about without permanent stowage. Two others have been repacked with ornaments and photo frames that I may be able to use in my next abode. If not, Ottawa has church bazaars, too. The empty bins will go to Habitat for Humanity. They love bins. The Goodwill boxes will leave the house tomorrow.