North Country Spring comes all at once--one day the snow is knee deep and the temps are freezing, and the next day the robins are flocking while the snow melts in great dirty puddles. Grandma calls it Mud Season--and it sure is muddy! Hitty Rose has the proper gear for spring, though. Her rain coat is made of heavy rubber, and is insulated to keep her warm in the stiff spring breezes. She also has a pair of black barn boots, which she wears with a pair of insulated socks. Grandpa bought them at the local Agway last year, and he says she can get one more year out of them before she has to have a bigger pair. When Grandma took her to the barn to see the spring calves, she sure was glad she had them on! The mud sucked at the boots, but she had them laced tight, and they didn't come off.

Mom sends her to school days with her umbrella--you never know when it will pour down buckets of rain in the spring. Her bus driver, Betty, let's the kids leave the umbrellas at the front of the bus while they are in school, so they don't have to carry them all over.

Hitty Rose made her purse one afternoon at her Grandma's house. It was a typical spring day, with rain gusting against the windows and the wind rattling the panes. But Grandma and Hitty Rose were snug and warm in the sewing room. Grandma has bins of fabrics, and she let Hitty Rose search through until she found just what she wanted for her new bag.