JOY ALONG THE WAY: SPRING THINGS VS. FORM 1040: THERE'S LOTS TO APPRECIATE

We used to dread March 15th, the last day to file income taxes. Now that the IRS has given us an extra month, we can turn our attention, briefly, to other things for 30 days.

What other things? The usual. Are the wren houses hung in their accustomed places? Do I need new ones? I think the latter is in order.

The official wren houses with the sliding floors for easy cleaning are not sturdily made. The ridgepole is quite often just put in place by staples or tiny nails that spin out so easily. Unless one puts a thumbtack at the back or front of the sliding floor, it tends to get out of place and maybe a whole bunch of eggs or half hatched little wrens with it. The first thing I do when I buy such a wren house is put some crazy glue along the sides of that ridgepole and sometimes take an asphalt shingle cut to fit and bend it over the roof.

This is a much more pleasant thing to do than wrestling with printed form 1040 which says at fairly regular intervals to add lines so and so, subtract the total from line so and so and see the instructions as to where to put the result. Quite often one finds the instructions to say you must send for a form that doesn't come with the mailed form. That's an aggravation.

There are more sturdily built wren houses but they take pinch-nosed pliers to clean out all the little sticks and twigs when the wrens have raised their families and vacated.

Since last spring some things have gotten out of place. I look for my trowel which is supposed to be hanging on a special nail just inside the wall leading to the basement. It wasn't there. I sent my mind wandering back through the maze of most recent trowel usage. Seems as if the last time it was in play was when planting the daffodils in the Fall. Or did we use it when trying to wedge the Christmas tree down into a container of rocks? It finally comes to my mind that the last time it was in use, it bent in the middle and I threw it in the trash. So, off to the garden center to buy a new one. So many happy people milling around there, it almost offsets the caution that "if line C is larger than line B, see instructions on page 34. Complete the worksheet and enter the result on line 9, page 2."

Another more pleasant thing to do than read Commissioner Charles O. Rossotti's message about meeting tax responsibilities is to walk around to see if the tiger lilies are showing above ground, if the little pink fingers of the peonies have dug through the dirt to reach the sunlight, if the clumps of phlox are still faithful to appear. I must notify neighbor Bill to raise the purple martin house for me and keep my ears alert for their first cheerful sounds. There's no mistaking them. Faithful to arrive as Form 1040.

From my south windows I'll look down at the Park floor to see if that light covering of snow is on the ground, which is not snow but great patches of windflowers. The Park is like a spring housewife. The floors are rain scrubbed and new little floral throw rugs are scattered around. I wish she could "ground" the naughty children and grown-ups who do not respect her efforts.

Eventually the thirty days will be up and it is back to: If the answer is "yes" you must procure form so and so and file with return on or before April 15th.

REJOICE!

Jean Bell Mosley is an author and longtime resident of Cape Girardeau.