All around us are signs that spring is just aroudn the corner, at least north of the equator anyway. Temperatures are slowly rising in general (we hit 95 degrees at the house on Wednesday), football season is finally and officiall over (thank goodness), neighbors are beginning to have their lawns chemicaly treated for weeds and fertilizer, and baseball activities are beginning to pick up.

And this time, I'm not referring to spring training in the Majors or that silly thing they're calling the World Baseball Classic. Doesn't something have to be around for a significant amount of time to be referred to as 'classic' anyway? But I digress.

No, spring is officially arriving becuase activities surrounding the Denton Outlaws baseball club have started. Today, the host families are meeting to start assigning players to families for the season. We'll get our first good look at the roster for the 2006 season today, an we get to bring a few new families into the fold. Plus, the new General Manager will get to meet with the other host families for the first time.

In addition, we've been going to the TWU softball team home games, at least as much as we'vee been able. So many things about women's softball that I'm just not used to. First, the games started in early February, and it's still COLD then, especially when you're sitting facing into a steady north wind. "Uniforms" on the field in some of these games have been layers of sweats on sweats on longjohns for the colder games. And that thing where a team starts their inning with a runner on second in extra innings? Not used to that one.

So yes, spring is coming quickly. I'm so ready for "Play ball!"