Seasons change and chores loom

Nineteen degrees this morning reminds me that it's still winter. Despite the crocuses popping up in the natural areas and the daffodils blooming beneath the azaleas, it's still February, and February can be viciously cold.

But we're a good halfway through winter, and spring does lie ahead. The harbingers of spring are in the buds on trees and the aforementioned early blooms, as well as in the newly stocked home improvement stores, yearning for the warmth of gardening customers. The days are getting longer; it's daylight now past 5:30, and the sun is up before I head to work in the morning.

Still, this time of year is a time of remorse for me. All those indoor projects that needed doing, from cleaning out the filing cabinet and closets to painting the sunroom to clearing that slow basin drain, have not been completed. And soon it will be warm, spring will beckon, and all the outdoor jobs will take a higher priority. I need to change the oil in the mower, spread fertilizer and seed and lime. And the bigger jobs — painting the trim, remodeling the upper porch, sealing the deck, repairing the old well house, and so many others I cannot count them all — will soon overwhelm me through the longer days of spring and summer when I can put in a couple of hours on weekday evenings after work and still never catch up with all there is to do.

When you own a house, there's always something to do, so I must take my leisure time — Saturday afternoon basketball games, weekend trips, quiet reading and television — with a heavy dose of guilt over all chores I've left undone.