"Eat. Spit. Be Happy."

It really feels like spring is here today. Blue sky, puffy clouds, warm sun, cool breeze, fresh-cut lawn, Robins are eating worms, Cardinals are calling to each other, all after a day of rain. Very spring-ish indeed. But there are a few other signs that winter is losing its grip on Coshocton County...Karen's baking for Easter, the garden bulbs are in bloom, and the sunflower seeds are flying.

We'll be with friends tomorrow for Easter and to watch The Master's Tournament. Karen's in charge of the baking. She just made her first "peanut butter pie" which is a dessert mainstay of the local cultural cuisine, she baked a fresh loaf of bread with flour she ground herself, and she just finished a raspberry cream pie.

Karen adds the raspberry filling to the cream base on graham cracker crust. Notice the loaf of bread.

Karen planted a bunch of bulbs last fall and they've come up very nicely. While I don't have a shot of every variety of tulip, daffodil, or purple plant, I did snap one that brings out some nice color representative of the other flowers.

Flowers in our garden

However, the hallmark of spring for me is when I break out the sunflower seeds. That means I'm mowing. Which means the grass is growing. Which means the sun is out and temps are climbing. As the lawn mower needs gasoline to run, I need sunflower seeds to mow. I load up my cheek, keep the bag of seeds in my back pocket, split the seeds between my teeth and then spit the shells into the grass as I walk behind the mower.

I eat David brand seeds and prefer Jalapeno flavor but you can't get them in Coshocton. The best I can do here is BBQ, or Cool Ranch, or Original. I settle for BBQ. While as I believer in Jesus Christ I do have a theology on which my life is based, the David brand philosophy of life, as printed on their sunflower packs, is rather deep and multi-dimensional:: "Eat. Spit. Be Happy."

David brand BBQ sunflower seeds

Indeed. I'm all about that.