311. Transition to Spring

The temperature sprung up to the mid 70s today as the Left Bank of the Ohio River near Milepost 606 finally makes the transition to Spring. In Louisville, that means that everything that is scheduled in the next several weeks is based on a particular imaginary line, or event, demarcating time - The Kentucky Derby.

While the rest of the Commonwealth (with school age kids) is celebrating Spring Break, Louisvillians are making plans to buy clothes, attend parties, and plant gardens. Tomatoes and peppers are best when planted "by Derby Day." The new shirt you've been putting off buying through the Winter will go good with what you plan to wear "on Derby Day." And, for politicians knocking on doors who are asking folks if they can put a yardsign in their yard, the oft-heard reply is "after Derby Day."

The Kentucky Derby Festival kicks off this Saturday with Thunder over Louisville, an extravaganza beyond belief which starts early in the morning and culminates with the world's largest fireworks display down on the Ohio River (at Milepost 605) at 9:30 pm. I usually try to be out of town as I tend to get claustrophobic. Approximately 1,000,000 will make their way downtown (where I live) to attend the events. I have to be at a political meeting at 10:00 am Saturday morning, but after that I will probably go get a bank loan to fill the car up with gas and then take to the backroads.

It is nice to be in Louisville now that it is Spring.