In the swing of spring

3/24/10 Two splintery swings and yards of rusty chain, trashed (recycled?) (as of 3/29: given away!)

Today, Joanna's car was scheduled to have the snow tires removed and the all-year tires put on. Ironically, I woke up this morning to find a half-inch of heavy, wet snow on the ground.

I followed a plow/sand truck most of the way to work, which made for a slow but safe trip. I dropped off the car at the shop, which hadn't yet opened, and walked the rest of the way to school in the miserable precipitation, which had shifted over to rain.

I guess spring isn't here in all its glory. That shouldn't be a surprise, since I seem to remember an even bigger snow storm last year on the day we changed Joanna's tires.

By the end of the day, the snow had mostly melted and the sun came out enough to allow Joanna, Chase, and I to go on an hour-long walk. After the walk, I pulled the snow tires out of the trunk and lugged them to our shed for storage until next winter.

When we bought our home, I discovered a pile of half-burned lumber in our back field. Over time, I cleaned up the debris, although there are probably dozens of rusty nails still scattered in the unmowed grass. Among the mess were two wooden swing seats, still attached to lengths of chain. Far too good to discard!

They've been in the shed ever since, hidden by the all-year tires in the winter, and hidden by the winter tires the rest of the year. Out of sight, out of mind. As I carried the tires into the shed and set them down in front of the swings, something clicked in my mind.

It's spring; the perfect time of year to set up a swing. But...

1) My child is far too young to go on a regular swing.

2) I have no tree in my yard that I could attach either of these swings to.

3) No parent in their right mind would let children sit on these swings, anyway.

I grabbed the swings and placed them in the front corner of the shed, with other items slated to go to the dump. The seats will go into the scrap lumber pile, and the chains will go into the metal recycling bin, so I don't feel too guilty about trashing them. In fact, it feels pretty good to know that, for the first time since we moved into this house, there is absolutely nothing hiding behind those tires.

That, folks, is officially my first act of spring cleaning.

Editor's Note, 3/29/10: Not to belabor a point, but teachers really will take anything. The morning after I posted this, my colleague Deb told me she could have used those chains on her woods road. Fortunately, I hadn't taken them to the dump, yet. Yesterday, I removed the chains from the seats, took the seat scraps to the dump, and dumped the chains into a bucket, which I put in Deb's car this morning at school. Glad they'll be put to good use.