One thing I can say about the winter months and that is it gives a person a lot of time to think. That is about all it really does allow us and for the most part the longer the winter hangs on the more negative the thinking is likely to be. Since we begin winter with Christmas just how is the rest of that season supposed to compete. Seriously, just how long can a person enjoy long nights, cold zero temperatures, sleet, and snow that just does not want to melt away. As much fun as it can possibly be, I feel safe in speaking out for all of you in saying I have met my quota of winter fun. 
Therefore, while I have been sitting and thinking just as if we are supposed to do I decided to dig out the dictionary and look up what I can only hope is a positive thought. I looked up the definition of spring. Webster says the following. Spring: To originate or arise from. (To this, I thought to myself. What?) Then I read spring: The season after winter, like in March through May. (To this, I thought OK, now we are talking.) Then there was one more definition. Spring: To move or jump suddenly or rapidly upward and forward. (Here again, I was not sure where this came from.) So since I had time on my hands and was snowed in that day anyway, I thought on what I had just read.
I know spring has different meanings and the season was the one on my mind but if you think about it, the other two meanings seem to fit the season definition also. I, of course, think of it as being the next season and for sure am looking forward to it. So, when the sun comes out and the thermometer takes a turn for the better along with some song birds singing their spring songs loud and clear, we move or jump suddenly or rapidly and move forward or upward or maybe even both as we originate and arise to meet a new season. Therefore, it only made sense to me that although different meanings possibly all mean the same thing as to spring. Even though it is technically still winter, I cannot help but think of spring as it is getting so close one can almost smell the fresh air that comes with a new growing season.
Yes, I dared to say growing season. When I had all of the thinking time nowhere, did the rules say I could not think about a better season with a warmer climate? True, I might be becoming too optimistic as we all know this is the Ohio Valley and a locale that can deliver some of the quirkiest weather changes man has ever witnessed and that folks can all take pace in just one day. We have all gone from wearing a coat in the morning to short sleeves at noon and a raincoat by supper and snow flurries in the evening and we see nothing unusual about it. As I hear said often is, “If you don’t like the weather we are having just wait five minutes and it will change.” This would be funnier if it was not so true.
Still there is excitement in the thought the season is about to change. From my years, farming when we could not wait to get our plows into the soil and begin to start a new year of raising new crops that you are hoping will surpass the prior years in yield. Maybe that is why in the sentence of “hope springs eternal” is the word spring as the dominant word. I do not think there is a more hopeful group than farmers and gardeners for they put it all on the line as to seeking the great yield and proof that they can produce it. However, it all starts with a warm day and a lot of sunshine.
With the change in the weather, we get to leave our homes that have almost delivered the feeling of prison and if nothing else walk outside and just stand and look around at what the good Lord has placed in front of us. Driving around in the late winter months is more of a have to do thing where as the world begins to turn green and the trees return to life by producing buds only enhances a drive in the country and we are so blessed to have some very awesome scenery to look at. The drive might take longer, but that is OK. Before we can jump into all of this, there is a time of waiting. Kind of a pause from the season of black and white with spells of all white to the time when there is so much coming alive we will have to endure. More than likely during that time as temperatures warm slightly we begin to hear mostly in the evenings what sounds like the earth is alive with tiny frogs. To me when I hear them sing their song I feel they are singing their song that spring is at the doorstep.
Therefore, over the next few weeks, the world is going to change and I am hoping so will I or at least my attitude. (Captivity is not an uplifting way to have to live.) For now, I will keep my winter coat out and ready to put on. I will still wear flannel shirts and keep a heavy pair of gloves handy. Yes, I will still run the furnace even though it is costly. For now, I will continue to stay in the winter mode but inside my head, I continue to see the definitions I read that says exactly what I wanted to hear. It is time to look for garden seed and fertilizer and whatever else I can think I might soon need. This is not the answer but it is the stall to think about even glancing back at cold weather and old man winter as he has had his time to be here and now his time is almost used up. To old man winter, I say, see you next year!
Rick Houser grew up on a farm near Moscow in Clermont County and loves to share stories about his youth and other topics. If you are interested in reading more of his stories they can be found in his books ‘There are Places to Remember” and’ Memories ARE from the Heart.” He may be reached at houser734@yahoo.com or mail to P.O. Box 213 Bethel, Ohio 45106.