It is hard to believe we are already starting this month – one of sun, flowers and promise. Well somewhere. It is still frosty in the morning and snowed a few days ago here. I hear it’ll be 70 on Saturday though!
It is a cowdog virtue to be observant and pay attention, so I will stop on this day and take note.
May first. A day celebrating hopeful expectations! 
Depending on the context, we could be talking about a spring celebration, the half-way mark to summer, the start of summer, a worker’s appreciation day, or a life-threatening emergency for aviators and mariners! It is even a tree. 
Once there were Maypole and dancing, May baskets with small gifts – really any excuse to focus on Spring and just maybe, will it to come soon.
Maybe that’s just me – I tire of the cold. I have waded the creek a few times; it is down from snow-melt and rain for now. It’ll run high again in a few weeks when the mountain snows melt off. But that water is still cold!
Today marks the return of spring and the renewed gift of life.
One superstition associated with May Day was the belief that washing the face with dew on the morning of May first would beautify the skin and bring good luck. 
I do that every morning, snow or dew. I think my skin and fur are lovely, don’t you?
You might “bring in the May” by gathering cuttings of flowering trees. You may find forsythia, lilac, magnolia and more. The only flowers I’ve seen are pussy willows and one rugged little forsythia.
There used to be May baskets, a tradition that needs to return.
Kids would go barefoot on May Day for the first time.
Beekeepers traditionally moved bees on May 1. Fishermen expect to catch fish on May Day.
Traditionally, farmers planted turnips on this day.
Of more importance than root crops, though, it is National Adopt a Shelter Pet Day! That should be every day of course.
This one day of joyful celebration launches quite a month. We have the Kentucky Derby, Mother’s Day and Memorial Day. There is Be Kind to Animals Week, and The National Day of Prayer. That is one this old canine won’t miss, since this world needs more divine intervention every day.
But if you hear “Mayday!”, don’t go picking flowers – find help! If you hear “Mayday!” repeated three times, it is an urgent distress call. This started nearly 100 years ago as an internationally understood signal, used mostly in air or water emergencies.
So today we will pick a few chilly flowers, walk barefoot [I always do!], make a May basket with the little boys, for their mom. 
And I think a perfect tradition would be to make May baskets for your favorite Heeler. Bones, biscuits, chews, a good ball and a squeaky toy! You could make a few extra, and celebrate Be Kind to Pets Week and Adopt a Shelter Pet Day, too, by taking them to those who haven’t yet found their own home.
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
Jeremiah 29:11
