The tulips are coming up. Ann and I celebrated a 55+1 wedding anniversary at Taphouse Twenty (formerly Ground Round) last August. We requested “no gifts.” But one dear friend presented us with a small sack of 50 tulip bulbs, which I dutifully (wife’s demand request) planted around the yard light pole in October. The first few poked through the ground on March 23, but the cold weather has kept the rest from rising. This Thursday morning,  I counted 23 breaking ground. I’ve been checking every day. It’s one of those added anticipations of Spring, along with watching the ice go out of Lake Tomah and the swelling of the buds on the maple trees in the back yard and watching the robins hopping around.