The weather is really starting to turn warmer in our area and it’s actually looking like spring has sprung.

As I drive down my narrow, winding road toward our home, it’s easy to see the new birth of spring from the birds in the air to the blooms on the trees. It really is a beautiful time of the year.

This year has been a little tricky because it will seem like we should pull out our overcoats and quilts one day and the next we are wearing sleeveless shirts and wanting to plant our perennials.

Since the weekend left us with such great weather, my husband and I decided to spend just a little bit of time tidying up the outside of our house.

We have planted grass the last two years in our yard and yet we still have several dirt spots when you survey the land. My husband actually said “I don’t remember us planting clover in the yard.” It doesn’t matter how fancy we want this lawn to look, it’s going to look like the outfield of a junior softball field, and we’ve just got to learn to accept that.

But with this weather beckoning us to go outside, we decided to take advantage of the opportunity. I offered to help a little with the outside work, mainly because I wanted to soak up some of the vitamin D.

I hopped on the riding lawn mower and he started weed eating and we immediately looked like the perfect little couple. I kind of felt as though we should have been in one of these cute little neighborhoods where the husband and wife always do yard work together as the children play merrily in the back yard.

Things went well until I somehow almost caught the whole lawn mower on fire. There was smoke bellowing from under the hood and I shut the thing off to save my life. Of course, then it wouldn’t crank back up and it shot me back to the reality that we aren’t those cute little people in that cute little house in the neighborhood. We live down a dirt road where I feel the need to mow half of the forest in order to make it look like we have a decent lawn. That may have contributed to the blown lawn mower.

After that adventure I was relieved of my duties and later in the weekend my husband decided to attack a leak we’ve been fighting in our roof. He asked for my assistance to which I happily offered to hop up there and lend a hand. Perhaps he could see the underlying fear in my eyes as he said, “Naw, I just need you here to call for help if I fall off.” Well now, it seemed he completely understood my outdoor capabilities after watching me destroy the lawn mower the previous day.

I did what any good wife would do. I pulled up a lawn chair and watched him prance around on the roof like the man I knew I had married. He had that drill in his hand, caulk gun on his belt and he was saving our family from the impending doom of a collapsing roof. Well, that’s how I interpreted it in my rose colored glasses as I was required to do nothing more than sit back and watch.

There is something to be said of the couple who work together, even if one of them is only capable of watching from afar with cell phone in hand in case of emergencies.

I didn’t intentionally become an awful outdoor helper, it seems to be something I just fell into.

Once when I was younger, I was cutting the grass with my dad and I somehow managed to wrap the whole volleyball net (that was standing before I started mowing) around the blades of the lawn mower. The simple answer in my dense mind was to put the thing in reverse. Of course this worked about like you’d expect and he came running over, asking if I was just trying to ruin his lawn mower. As with my father before him, I feel as though my husband will still accept my help on the mower, but it may be a more supervised task.

So whether you have a green thumb and can do anything at all in your yard, or if you have a running tab of failures and mishaps with your lawn, get out there and do something with this good weather.

If you aren’t even capable of riding a lawn mower over your lawn without causing forest fires, then perhaps you should stick to the chair sitting and bird watching side of things with me.

Either way, don’t miss the opportunity to enjoy this beautiful weather and make the most of every day that you’ve been given on this earth.