It only took the few steps from the back door to my car this morning to be hit with two harsh realities.

1) My yard needs serious work. Not just raking of leaves, but pulling of weeds, pruning of bushes, and some general junk-stack-haul-cover before the snow flies tasks.

2) It is cold out.

This is an unfortunate juxtaposition. I don’t mind yard work, but I hate being cold. It’s not that we don’t have enough Carhartt to equip the neighborhood, but I have yet to master layering for yard work, and so I alternate sweating and freezing.

Already the 40 mph winds blew the tarp off the camper, so that at least has to be dealt with. Ideally, the camper would be shoved to the back of the yard, but years of experience tell me it is likely to be smack in the middle of my side yard until it’s time to open it again. Perhaps we can light it for Christmas.

This post originally appeared on ourMidland.com, the online home of the Midland (MI) Daily News. Republished with permission.