Usually, I am happy to see winter coming to an end and the seasons moving on.

For some reason, this year, I would like to skip spring.

Susie and I just returned from a weekend metal detecting in Arkansas.

I was hoping for warm, dry days. It didn’t happen. Often, we were sloshing through water in some of the areas we were detecting.

We did enjoy seeing some friends we get to see only once or twice a year.

Our grandson was able to go on this trip with us. That was nice because he lives in Fort Wayne, and we don’t get to spend a lot of time with him.

The detecting part of the weekend turned out great.

While driving down the highway, all the fields (most in that area were cotton fields), were flooded from the heavy storms that had been hitting the area for several weeks.

We passed several sections where it looked like recent tornados had damaged hundreds of trees.

Nature was trying to return as the remaining plants were starting to bud and the grasses were turning green.

This reminded me that central Indiana is just a couple weeks behind Arkansas in terms of weather.

My garden spot already has standing water from the heavy rains we have recently received.

Our American Eskimo dog (all white) enjoys running in the backyard and coming back in half white and half black from all the mud. We spend hours washing him, cutting mud balls out of his long hair, and trying to brush him because he doesn’t enjoy that.

I pray for dry weather.

For the first time in decades, I haven’t ordered seeds for the garden. Maybe this is the year my garden turns back into a yard.

I will buy a few tomato plants so the little girl next door can come over and pick them.

She really enjoys fresh tomatoes.

Maybe early July, I will throw some gourd seeds out and see what happens.

Both of my Troy-bilt rototillers went out for service last fall. I haven’t gotten them back yet.

Susie just reminded me I have to get her riding mower out, check the gas and oil, charge the battery if needed, and see if it will start.

Before she mows, we have to pick up all the sticks that have been falling every time the wind blows. Yes, I said before she mows. She doesn’t let me near her mower except to service it.

The small push mower I use to trim close to the areas her rider won’t go has to be checked out also.

Last fall, even though the mower is self-propelled, I couldn’t use it without breathing difficulties.

I’m hoping since my three heart surgeries last fall that will change.

My weed trimmer went down last year. Instead of doing something about it then, I just put it away.

Now, I have to get it fixed or buy a new one.

Thankfully, I didn’t have to use my snowblower much this past winter.

But now, I have to take the tarp off of it and put it back into the shed for the summer. That means I have to move a lot of stuff that just got tossed in the shed during the past few months to make room.

It’s also time to de-winterize (is that a word?) the motorhome. Charge the batteries (three). Fill the water tank. Move a lot of items from the RV back to the garage. (In the winter, we use it for storage so we can get Susie’s car in the garage. In the spring, it has to be emptied before we can travel in it. At eight miles per gallon and the current price of gas, it may not leave our driveway this year.)

Winter is over, so usually time in the kitchen is cut back. I’m not sure that will happen this spring. Every function or funeral at our church brings a phone call wanting me to prepare some kind of food to donate.

My neighbor helps with some of my harder chores and lets me know what kind of food he wants in payment.

He has ordered two pies for Easter. His wife found she really likes my apple pie, and he wants a cookie butter pie. (Look in back issues of this newspaper for those recipes.)

Most of my time in the next months will be spent in the garage making crafted wooden pens to sell at festivals and church bazaars.

I buy exotic woods, cut them to size on my band saw, drill the centers with my drill press, and turn them on my wood lathe.

I purchase all the parts to assemble the pen and end up giving away most of the pens to friends and family as gifts.

When I’m not in the kitchen or garage, we will probably be somewhere metal detecting. Old yards, beaches, parks or paid hunts will keep us busy until the ground freezes and winter has returned.