Should be.

For some reason, despite all the hoopla about global warming, I have my doubts.

This has not been the worst winter I can remember — last year’s devastating ice storm, the blizzard of ‘82, the killer ice storm a year or two later, and the winter we had below zero temperatures for days at a time — all play out as worse than this winter. But this winter seems to have dragged on and on for longer than usual.

Granted, there have been days of near 70-degree or higher temperatures this winter, but they were followed within 24 hours by a day when the high reached only 20 degrees. Then there were the days when the wake-up high was as warm as it was going to get that day; or afternoons that recorded a 40-degree temperature plunge in a matter of a few hours.

It has gotten so bad that a few days ago I made a statement I thought I would never make, and one I immediately couldn’t believe I actually uttered: “I’m looking forward to mowing grass again.” But I said it and it’s true, at least for the first couple of times the three-plus acres out here need grooming.

The term mowing grass is somewhat misleading. A more accurate description would be mowing weeds. But at least it’s all green in the spring and early summer months and when it is freshly mowed, only a close examination would reveal that what looks like a good stand of blue grass (or some other variety) actually is dandelions and fox tail interspersed with every other weed that somehow manages to flourish where the best lawn mix, no matter how well fertilized and watered, doesn’t.

Depending on rainfall amounts, the greenery on the ground out here can demand mowing every four days starting as early as late March and continuing through June. It gets more than a little tiresome after the first couple of weeks and I begin to look forward to July’s and August’s scorching dry weather that slows growth considerably or turns the mixture of weeds and so called grass a subtle shade of brown. By then, brown is beautiful.

Except when it’s dust. Did I mention the clouds of dust created by the lawn tractor or the riding lawn mower? Huge clouds of dust at times that no matter how carefully you plan around and try to avoid, completely envelop you and the machine, making breathing for either difficult and awakening dormant allergies, especially when the lighter shade of green you are mowing actually is a deep layer of oak pollen. Sometimes, the dust has a green tinge to it.

A dermatologist wants me to wear a wide brimmed hat and long pants topped by a long-sleeve shirt and all left over exposed flesh liberally coated with a SPF 80 sunscreen when I’m outside. An optometrist strongly suggests wearing safety glasses when mowing. An allergist prescribed a construction grade dust mask.

If I follow all those recommendations, I resemble an alien on a small, green space ship landing on planet earth in a billowing cloud of green and brown dust.

Since I pay a great deal of money for this advice, I generally try to follow it. The wide brim hat isn’t so bad, I can live with that. The safety glasses are okay, but I have a tendency to substitute more stylish sunglasses. As for long pants and long-sleeve shirts in 90-degree weather, forget that. I just use more sunscreen which gives the green and brown dust more adhesion to coat skin, thereby providing more coagulate for the shower drain.

So if you happen to be driving along Bem Church Road sometime after the grass (whatever) first turns green and see a huge cloud of dust surrounding someone who resembles the character “Pig Pen” in the Charlie Brown comics, it’s just me, happy that winter is finally over. Spring is just around the corner, isn’t it?