Contributed by Cindi Pearce, Catalogs.com Top 10 Guru

Spring is here or at the very least right around the corner. You just know it.

You don’t even have to look at the calendar. You can feel it in your bones.

Here are the top 10 signs of Spring, heralding its arrival:

10. Singing birds

When you hear birds serenading before your head is off the pillow you know it won’t be long before the grass is green, and you can shed the boots and gloves and toss the windshield scraper (good riddance!) into the car trunk Yep, you have managed to survive yet another bad ass winter.

Do you know why some birds vocally carry on in the spring? They’ve got sex on the brain. More light in the Spring causes hormones triggered by the brain telling them to get off their duffs and find a mate. In addition to making them sing, the light stimulates the growth of the male’s testes, and this prompts the happy gent to burst into song in an attempt to attract females. They want to show off their newly grown body parts.

9. Baseball

First it’s spring training and the next thing you know your television is seemingly permanently programmed to broadcast only the Cincinnati Reds, thanks to the uber baseball fanatics in your family. Baseball fans don their fan gear, trek to the ballpark and talk World Series. Take me out to the ballpark. Well, maybe, if you buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jacks.

8. Holidays

Passover, Lent, Easter and Carnival or Mardi Gras happen in the Spring. Not everyone observes Lent but for those that do it is the 40 days that span Ash Wednesday and Holy Saturday, the day before Easter. Sundays aren’t included. It is considered a time of prayer and preparation for Easter Sunday.

In New Orleans, Mardi Gras or Carnival, which means the removal of meat, is the three day period before the beginning of Lent, which starts on Ash Wednesday. These three days are called Shrovetide, meaning to repent. Shrove Tuesday or Fat Tuesday is a day to party and eat a lot because fasting is a part of Lent, which starts the next day.

Passover is the Jewish eight day festival commemorating the emancipation of the Israelites from slavery in ancient Egypt. Chinese New Year, Arbor Day, Earth Day and Victoria Day also fall during Spring.

7. Longer days

Sunlight when there was darkness before. You suddenly and gleefully notice that it’s light at 6 p.m., whereas only the day before (or so it seems) it was dark. Hurray! The shortest day of the year is Dec. 21, which is the winter solstice. So every day after that we’re on an upswing toward longer days and more sunlight. We thrive in sunlight. We get Vitamin D from it. Generally speaking, people are healthier and happier when they emerge from the winter darkness and into the spring sunshine.

6. Blooming flowers

Daffodils and forsythia and crocus: Those delicate, dainty, colorful yet brazen flowers from bulbs planted in the Fall and bushes that brave the early spring weather and defy nature by bursting through the ground and blooming when it’s really not warm enough to do so. Did you know that forsythia bushes are weather predictors? How many times is it going to snow after the forsythia bloom? Three! This prediction is generally quite accurate so when you see the forsythia, as welcome as they are, don’t get your bikini out just yet. You’re in for another (three) brushes with winter weather.

5. Lawn mowers

Time to mow the grass; lawn mowers and weed eaters and … oh, chainsaws, too. People seem to like to cut down things during the warm months. Especially after a long and messy winter.

4. Smoother legs

Yeah, yeah, ladies should shave regularly all year long, but it’s so easy to ignore those hairs on your legs when you get to cover them up in tights and long johns. Spring reminds ladies not to forget the armpits! It’s time to show some skin in a flirty sundress!

3. Garden catalogs

The plethora of garden catalogs and websites really get you in the mood to tramp around in the backyard, digging, hoeing, planting and waiting with bated breath to see the (hopefully) picturesque results.

2. Road construction

Argh!%#*&#$%#!. Enough said. Time to fix winter’s potholes.

1. Pregnant bellies

Obviously, they were there all or most of the winter but were hidden under parkas. In the United States most women tend to give birth during late summer or in the early fall, meaning that the majority of women get pregnant when it is cold. By the time spring rolls around, they’re getting ripe.

It could be that people are celebrating the holidays (Thanksgiving and Christmas) and get just a little carried away after those hot toddies and nine months later, voila, watch for a mailbox full of birth announcements! In America, most babies are born in August. However, births in Europe peak in the spring just as the birth rate dwindles in the U.S.

For those not yet married, watch for wedding invitations. June is still the number one month for wedding ceremonies, so invitations tend to go out in March.