I suspect everyone is excited to see the snow melt away, to feel the warmth of few 65 degree blue sky days and to watch as NASCAR fires up for the 2014 season. Happily these are all precursors to the coming of the spring season. The winter "break" was welcome but now we're very much about what spring has in store. But before any more on that, let me recap some of our winter accomplishments.

Busy, pretty well sums it up. We've invested a significant amount of time in staff training and participation in numerous industry conferences. Our training has been focused on understanding the application of science and technology to the challenges faced by those in the business of growing and managing turf. We remain committed to representing products where the application of state-of-the-art science fosters improvement in soil performance as a method to optimize plant growth and health.

Beyond our training program we've also implemented process improvements in our back-office and made some very exciting staffing changes. In addition, we continued to invest in our business communications program with renewed commitment to our newsletter, LSI Connections. Along with improvements in the newsletter we've posted dozens of blog articles written by leading manufactures, university researchers and business leaders in the Green Industry.

I encourage you to become a subscriber to the LSI Connections Newsletter and to read all of the blog articles posted on the LSI website. The newsletter is not directed at selling products. Instead, our commitment is to use this monthly publication as a method of presenting information goaled to enhance product, business and industry knowledge.

I'd also call your attention to the commitment LSI has made to establish a strong presence in in the world of social media. Who'd have ever thought a leading regional distributor in the Green Industry would be devoting resources to Facebook and Twitter? But we are - and in a big way. However, the focus is on more effective communications with our customers. Our commitment is to use the social networks as another method to bring added value services to all our customers.

I invite you all to engage us on Facebook by "liking" our company page and by sharing articles we post. Engage us, ask questions, offer suggestions and in so doing, add value to all in the business of turf management. As you read an article we've posted that's worthy of a colleague's time, please by all means share, forward or tweet about it.

Moving forward, you'll also see us issue a number of on-line surveys we'd ask you to complete. They will be short, to the point and all who participate will be entered into a prize drawing as our way of thanking you for your time. Each of these surveys is intended to help us gather information we can use to improve our services.

Last, but certainly not least I call your attention to the link below. If you click on it you'll be formally introduced to all the LSI owners. In about 5-1/2 minutes we've attempted to express our passion for the industry and the obsession we have for our customers. Please take a few minutes to meet Kip, Patrick and myself.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2MbntReLVc

As a new spring season unfolds all at LSI wish you a successful season and rewarding 2014. We stand ready to be of service and encourage a call should you require our help with any aspect of your turf management program.