Spring is right around the corner, and I must admit, I’m dreading it for one simple reason: all the work.

I’ve enjoyed being in hibernation mode for the last few months, living off the stored-up fruits of fall.

Spring is the season of mud. Between the dogs and the kids, that means that the floors will never really be clean for a few weeks.

Between the last snow of winter and some good cleansing spring rain, everything will look drab and dirty.

Until the flower beds start to bloom and the leaves take over the trees, everything will be bland and colorless. Cleaning it up and making it colorful is going to take a lot of work.

I should feel productive. There is a porch to scrub and make ready for summer evenings. There are beds to rake and prepare for planting. G and I are about to rehabilitate Steve’s old garden. Rehabilitate is too mild a word; G is planning a complete overhaul, with my blessing, and my bankroll.

He’s also got eggs in the incubator, and a list of new species of chickens that he wants to introduce to his flock.

He’s also working out a plan to have them free-range in the garden area, particularly to combat pests.

And, he’s trying to talk me into building a pond and getting ducks. I’m not completely sold on that one, yet.

While I will appreciate all that work later this year, when we’re basking in homegrown tomatoes, right now, all I see is a lot of dirt that needs to be moved around, a lot of holes that need to be dug, and a lot of brush that needs to be cut.

G really enjoys doing that work, so that will help. But still, it’s going to be a slog. There is no instant gratification with any of that work.

I also have to tackle the dwindling woodpile. Although our house is heated with coal, we supplement the downstairs and part of the upstairs with a small wood stove.

I never thought too much about our system until we started spending a lot more time at home during the pandemic, and our wood stove helped keep things comfortable without running the coal stove harder.

I didn’t really appreciate the effort that went into maintaining the woodpiles and would frequently tease Steve about his obsession with them. Well, now I get it.

I’ve kept track of trees that have fallen on their own, and without cutting a single tree myself, I’ve been able to keep the pile stocked. And although the woodpile is just about gone, there is still a good pile of coal left, meaning that I offset the heat pretty well.

Now, though, I have to get to work quickly to get wood cut and stacked so it has a chance to dry out over the summer.

Ideally, I should get an entire year ahead of myself. Some of the stuff that I cut last spring just wasn’t quite dry enough to burn really well this year. But, I’ll do what I can.

Spring also means that for the next few months, part of every weekend will have to be sacrificed to lawn mowing.

I’m hoping that G continues his landscaping projects this summer and we can lose a few more feet of yard space to flower beds and shrubbery.

I also try to let things be as “natural” as I can, just so that the environment can thrive. I don’t go crazy trying to remove dandelions or anything like that, but I do like having the area around the house neat and somewhat manicured.

I know that I should be grateful that I have so many opportunities to provide for myself and the kids, but right now I’m that cranky old bear, deep in hibernation. I’m happy to be hunkered down in my warm cave, happy for the occasional snow day that shuts everything else down, happy to let the snow be a pretty blanket over the mess awaiting me.

I haven’t been a fan of the ice accumulation this winter.

It’s particularly trying to walk the dogs when their balance on it is so much better than mine, but I still prefer sliding over the ice to slopping through the mud. Even if a little bit of snow or ice does make it back in the house with the dogs, it quickly melts and disappears, not like the mud that gets into every crack and crevice.

The end to hibernation is coming, like it or not. Time to get to work.

Liz Pinkey’s column appears on Saturdays in the Times News