It was the first day of spring and everybody seemed to know it.

In the fields, farm workers and their heavy tractor machines were busy tilling the fertile soil to prepare it for spring planting. Where Plant Sciences harvested root crops in the open fields north of the Highway 120 Bypass west of McKinley Avenue along West Yosemite Avenue, farm equipment looking like a giant UFO kicked up plenty of dust as it smoothed the ground for the next crop.

The day’s comparatively mild weather made Tuesday a perfect day for cutting and mowing overgrown grass as well. Workers contracted by the City of Lathrop spent most of the day operating a bobcat to get rid of the weedy “eyesore,” as the crew described it, on the southwest quadrant of Lathrop Road and Manthey Road on the west side of Interstate 5’s southbound onramp. A few yards farther down Lathrop Road, in a field just a skip and a hop away from the Lathrop High School campus, were dozens of sheep munching on the tall grass. Several of the sheep had little ones, a reminder that spring is the season of rebirth.

Landscaping crews were busy all over Manteca, Lathrop and surrounding areas as well mowing lawns, trimming trees and shrubs and performing post-winter general clean-up. Along Southland Avenue in northeast Manteca, the crew of Vargas Custom Landscaping was performing those tasks in front one of the homes.

Even feathered friends and crawling creatures on the ground took advantage of the first day of spring and came out to bask in the sun. A pair of lizards slithered on top of sharp rocks on the roadside at D’Arcy Parkway near Howland Road, unmindful of the butterflies flitting and flirting around the wildflowers. A tree, with its branches still bare from the winter weather, became a trysting place for a number of noisy birds. First, a flock of red-winged black birds serenaded the tree practically nonstop. After a few minutes of harmonizing with the breeze, they took off only to be replaced by a handful of blue jays which appeared to be there for one purpose only – to scrounge for scrumptious bird feed. A few sparrows shared branches with the blue jays but did not linger long.

Bike enthusiasts were also spotted around Lathrop and Manteca taking advantage of the mild spring weather to enjoy the outdoors.

Mild weather will continue today with the National Weather Service expecting a high of 70 degrees.