Beware the Hatch of March

“With rushing winds and gloomy skies The dark and stubborn Winter dies: Far-off, unseen,
Spring faintly cries, Bidding her earliest child arise; March!”

- Bayard Taylor

I love March. It's the month I was born in, and the buttercups blooming all over the place right now are my favorite flowers. Unfortunately, the buttercups in my front yard are not butterworth. They're pretty sad, even though it's been two years since I moved the bulbs to where they are. I think the soil is not deep enough there and it has a lot of leftover gravel from when the driveway was paved.

We're going over to the Smoky Mountains later this week. I'm starting a new job on the 13th and I'm in the middle of taking almost two weeks off between jobs. I plan on hiking part of the way up Mt. LeConte and sounding my barbaric "Yaulp!" from the Alum Cave bluffs on either Friday or Saturday.

We'll probably go to Cades Cove or "The Loop of Death" as my wife and I like to call it. We had no idea what to expect when we first drove it about 4 years ago. It's an 11 mile, one lane, oneway loop and you literally see about 1000 deer. People drive it at about 5 miles/hour and stop every 50 feet to ooh and aah over the deer, like they didn't just see 30 of them 100 yards back. We didn't have any food or water with us and we had to pee like racehorses, so when we finally found the bathrooms about halfway through the loop we were thankful, but were ready to pull our hair out when we finally made it out of the area about 3 hours after we entered it. This time we'll know what we're getting into and will be prepared for it at least.

I've been hitting the greenway and getting lots of walking in this week. The battery in my scales died and I haven't found a replacement for it yet, so I have no idea what the weight situation is right now. I suspect nothing has changed since I've been really spotty about the low carb diet the last week or two but have continued to exercise.

We had Jackson's dedication at church tonight. That went well, although he did fill up his diaper while I was holding him on the stage in front of the whole congregation. He went to the doctor Saturday morning when Marissa thought he might have pink eye. He didn't, turns out it's a mild case of eczema which he's probably inherited from his mother. He weighed 13 lbs 9 ounces, so he continues to grow like a monster.

Happy birthday to everyone I know who has a birthday in March: Dick Sturm, Stephen Archer, Deidre Arledge and I are all turning 38. I'm sure I'm forgetting someone's birthday.