Adventuring before spring

We can do this people!

Thirty-three days, or put more manageably, five more Thursdays. Our countdown until spring 2020 ends on March 19.

Although we haven’t had a frigid winter full of horribly icy or snow-laden streets, spring is always welcome and full of hope — like a hug.

But in case you’re going stir crazy for good weather, may I make a few suggestions?

From Feb. 14-17, sign up to count birds for 15 minutes on one or more days of the Great Backyard Bird Count. You can register with the Cornell Lab of Ornithology at gbbc.birdcount.org or you can download the free eBird mobile app to enter data on a mobile phone and also submit your sightings during the count.

Order your spring plants now. There are numerous online vendors and catalogs to purchase or just ogle their array of perennials.

Get your seed starter flats, planting mix and seeds so you’re ready to sow your seeds indoors in a few weeks — cabbage, spinach, broccoli, head lettuce, sage, chives, etc.

A mere eight miles north of Greenwood, the lush Garfield Park Conservatory will feel like a trip to the tropics, for only $2.

Buy new planters and repot your indoor plants. Research for the past 14 years has shown that a certain bacterium found in soils, Mycobacterium vaccae, quells stress-related disorders. In a 2007 study, the journal Live Science noted that “Exposure to friendly soil bacteria could improve mood by boosting the immune system just as effectively as antidepressant drugs.”

I haven’t gone duckpin bowling at Franklin’s 10 Pins, but it’s definitely on my February/March “Go have fun” list.

Bargersville, Franklin and Edinburgh have some charming antique shops.

For those warmer days we continue to get periodically, Atterbury Shooting Complex is a 4.1-acre outdoor facility that provides a safe and enjoyable place to practice. The complex offers 66 lanes for pistol and rifle, in addition to the shotgun clubhouse and four fields for shooting trap and skeet. It’s $7 an hour per lane for rifle/pistol and $7 for 25 clays to shoot one round of trap or skeet. Their winter hours are 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday, but the shotgun range closes when weather is 29 degrees or colder, so it’s always a good idea to call first.

Of course, you could always start your spring cleaning. On second thought, nah!