聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 Yahoo! The robins are picking worms in our yard so spring must have arrived in Canada! Well, sort of. It depends if you live at the Wet (West) Coast, or on the Prairies, but east of Manitoba might be a different story. Perhaps the people in Ontario, Quebec and the Eastern seaboard might still be shovelling snow, and freezing temperatures prevail in the Territories, but we鈥檒l take it one worm, one day and one blizzard at a time!
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 It is the season when gardens are planned and planted, people and their pets are basking in the sun, and everybody has a spring in their steps, a smile on their faces, a glint in their eyes, and kind words for each other!
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 I looked up the origin of the word 鈥渟pring鈥� in the Merriam Webster dictionary, and this is what I found: First known use: before 12th century. 鈥淢iddle English, from Old English springan; akin to Old High German springan to jump and perhaps to Greek sperchesthai to hasten.鈥� It can be an intransitive or transitive verb, as well as descriptive of the season between winter and summer, a noun describing certain items or descriptive of a water flow to the surface from a natural underground reservoir. Phew, that鈥檚 a lot! The following is my attempt at writing a story including it all.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Spring had arrived and the farmer had seeded his fields and the oats were springing up, and the other grain fields he had seeded had sprung up as well. He had loaded the burning barrel with sundry flammable refuse, and when he threw in a match the flames sprang up and the fire started.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 The skunk trap alarm beeped and the farmer sprang to his artesian spring where he had left the live skunk trap, and the trap door with a spring had sprung shut. Tears sprang from his eyes when the liquid sprung from the skunk! He brought the live trap into the forest and sprung open the little trap door to release the skunk. He walked back to the house with a spring in his step, but sprang when he saw the sparks that sprung from his burning barrel. The farmer got very concerned as a breeze quickly sprang up, so he grabbed a bucket of water from the spring and put out the fire in the barrel which resulted in the steam springing up and out.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 The artesian spring had been used for cooling the still operated by his son, who had been caught and sent to jail. The farmer sprung his son from jail, and then they drove to the new tavern that had sprung up in town. As it was a beautiful day the farmer had invited his best friend promising him to spring for the beer. The bartender pulled the lever and the draft beer sprung from the dispensing spout and into the glasses. When they heard a big explosion outside they all sprang from their seats and were springing across the parking lot to check out the blast. They found that a town water line which is pressurized had sprung a sudden leak causing the loud noise. The water was gushing up like a spring.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Driving home the farmer suddenly felt his truck sagging in the rear. He stopped and found that both the rear springs had collapsed and the bottom of the truck bed was resting on the tires. He sprang into action and quickly jacked up the rear end of the truck and called a tow truck. The farmer and his son both sprang home and the farmer saddled up an old nag of a horse, who wouldn鈥檛 gallop but trotted with a springing gait back to the garage in town. The tow truck had brought in the farmer鈥檚 truck, and the mechanic sprung the broken springs and replaced them with new springs. A young girl heard about the farmer having ridden his horse to the garage, so she sprang to the farmer and told him that her dad would spring for the money for the horse if she could buy it at the right price. A deal was made and the girl sprang home to her dad who as promised sprung for the money for the horse, saddle and tack.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 The farmer drove home with new rear truck springs. It was a gravel road, and a rock sprung loose off his tire and hit the neighbour鈥檚 car which was driving behind him, causing a crack to spring across the windshield. A deer sprang across the road in front of the farmer, followed by a moose who was slow and not springing faster than the deer had sprung.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 0minous clouds came rolling in with a thunderstorm. The farmer was deluged with water that seemed to come from a spring in the sky. Then the thunderbolt sprang across the horizon followed by a loud crack! The forest denizens all sprang for cover. All of a sudden the sun sprang forth from behind a cloud and the rain went away.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Spring is the time of year when crocuses will spring up and so will tulips, and most, if not all of us, will 鈥渟uffer鈥� from spring fever.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 I鈥檓 happy to have been able to spring this story on you, and if it sprang to your mind, don鈥檛 hesitate to have it sprung on somebody else!
