Damn, that felt good.

A long walk down a country road in 55-degree sunshine. Oh, Lordy – I thought this day would never get here.

I found a bud on the lilac bush and a planter rolled past my house. It was daylight at 7 p.m.

God is good.

We still have piles of snow, but they’re just white hills amid the brown ground cover. And I swear I saw bits of green poking through.

I even took my laptop and worked on the sunporch this afternoon. I was writing a story from an interview I did this past weekend.

I don’t trust the Iowa weather enough to move the plants back out there yet. Nor have I “opened” the space by sweeping away the winter’s dust and cobwebs. So it was a little like trying to inject normalcy into a long-abandoned haunted house – the kind that plays best in old black and white movies. But I made the year’s maiden journey none-the-less. At least it’s had a dose of fresh air.

Our Nodaway Valley Wolverines played in the boy’s state basketball tournament today and I listened to the game this morning. My dear friend Gary Bucklin broadcast the game for KSIB. He’s retiring and it was likely his last game from The Well. He’s spent a lot of years supporting and promoting our kids.

That’s what we do here. There were four sections of Wells Fargo Arena filled with black and purple this morning. The state tournament isn’t exactly new to us. We’ve had a string of appearances in recent history. But that doesn’t matter. The folks wee there in force.

Our boys suffered a loss. Always tough. But they learned what it’s like to be part of that community. They’ll take that with them along with their other lessons from this day and this season.

Tomorrow I’m off to interview a farmer about his conservation practices. The weatherman tells me it will be nearly 70 degrees. It will be grand to see the farmland awakening, and take in the warmth and sunshine.

I won’t even mind the mud.