Dear Readers,

Last Friday, I saw Andrew Morley's big black truck sitting in the parking lot of the Hannaford Supermarket. It is a cool vehicle, a powerhouse Ford 350.

All winter long, this truck, with a shiny silver plow attached to its nose, appeared in my driveway clearing the white stuff. He provided a great service for us and his other customers. So did a lot of other private snow plow guys, big and small. We couldn't get through winter without them.

While our town's public works crew does a good job on the roads, the private plow guys take care of our driveways. They also take care of the mounds deposited at the foot of our driveways by the public plow guys. But that is another story for another time.

I mention seeing Andrew Morley's big truck for two reasons.

First, I wanted to thank him for his faithful service. Second, I noticed his truck looked strange. Something was missing. The massive silver plow had vanished.

Ironically, earlier that morning, a charter member of our old guys walking group showed up for coffee driving his white pickup. It was sans plow, too.

Is a pickup without a plow a sign of spring? After all, we did switch our clocks ahead last weekend.

Using the proper nouns for a group of critters, I saw a charm of finches at the feeder on Friday. The same day, a rafter of turkeys was clucking under the same feeder. I guess 19 turkeys would count as a rafter. Is this a sign?

While we have not seen the return of other early arrivals, like the the red winged blackbird, or the osprey, we did see a red bellied woodpecker — and that is a new species for us.

Besides the birds, are there other signs of spring? Like early flowers, like snowdrops but they are buried under two feet of snow.

Should we include Maine pickups sans plows on the list of early spring signs?

Maybe, but don't get too excited — yet.

It is only the second week of March. Spring will officially arrive Friday, March 20.

There is still a lot of time before the giant snowbanks lining our driveways permit delicate daffodils to poke their noses into the sunshine. Besides, we all remember late-season ice storms and Patriot's Day events.

If you ask me, despite the sudden appearance of a pair of plow-less pickups, the tiny finches and gobbling turkeys, I am not ready to stuff the long johns back into the bureau.

So, dear readers, it seems to me that if you think our long winter is over, you might just believe I can get you a real good deal on the bridge over the Townsend Gut.