Gus and Trudy Greet Spring

It was a warm April morning. Gus walked out of his tiny house in the garden on Bloomfield Avenue. He faced the sun and stretched his arms wide. He was so very happy that Spring was finally here. Gus had spent this winter hibernating. Gnomes don't usually hibernate, but then they get to a certain age and are very, very tired they sometimes do sleep through the winter. Gus was getting older. He had been very, very tired when winter started. He had talked it over with his best friend, Trudy, and decided that hibernating was the way to go. Gus had set his alarm clock to April 6, 2012. He figured the weather would be nice by then. It would also give him time to plan out the garden with Elaine. "Hoot,Hoot, Hoooray!", said Trudy as she flew down from a nearby tree branch, "I am soo glad that you are finally up Gus! I've missed you!" Gus and Trudy hugged. Gus was so happy to see Trudy. He turned around to look at his house. "OH NO", Gus cried,"What happened to my house?" "Well, that darned groundhog got hungry and decided to chew on your roof this past winter. Didn't you feel it," asked Trudy. "I most certainly did not know that my house was being used as a winter snack for that pesky groundhog!" The little gnome house did look afright. The roof was really chewed up. The chimney was completely gone. It didn't look like it could even be repaired. Gus and Trudy decided that Gus could stay awhile in Trudy's nest while he set abput building a new house. "First things first," said Gus, "Let's check up on the kids." Trudy flew Gus around the neighborhood. They checked in on Anna and Nick, Gianna and Anthony, Carmela, and finally Abby and Tommy. Gus couldn't believe how tall Abby and Tommy had grown! He checked in on Florrie to make sure that everything was OK. Florrie explained that there had been a lot of changes and a big family secret had come out. She explained everything to Gus and Trudy. Gus and Trudy understood. They were glad that Florrie was around to help Abby and Tommy. "Maybe Abby and Tommy could draw a picture of what our house should look like," said Trudy. (She shared Gus' house with him. "Sounds like a great idea. Florrie, could you ask them to draw a new house for us? We cold use their drawings as plans to build our new place!" Gus said. Florrie agreed and Gus and Trudy flew to Trudy's nest high in the trees and decided to take a nap.