I’m playing tennis in the morning,
Ding, dong, the balls all will be signed,
Pull out the hopper, let’s do it
proper,
But get me to the courts on time.

To some, spring means cleaning, courtship, or crocuses. To the baseball addict, though, spring is the end of that dark, languid void of silent suffering between October and April. Not this year.

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Since mid-April, there have been five unexplained forest fires on federal, state, county, and private lands, including Long Island's Pine Barrens region, where some 167 acres have burned.