Some people make you wonder, “What could they be thinking?”

That thought crossed my mind Sunday as I spotted a man in short sleeves behind the wheel of a lawn tractor. He was into it. The tractor kicked up a trail of dust as it rumbled across a yard devoid of anything green. There weren’t even tufts of weeds; just an expanse of brown.

But that apparently didn’t matter. It wasn’t snowing or raining. The sun was out and the temperature was in the 40s. As for the tractor, it looked shiny and new, which probably explains why it was running. When there’s a new tool, there’s no waiting for the perfect time to try it. Crank it up and see if it works.

But there’s more to a mowing a yard that doesn’t have any grass, at least no grass yet.

I found the sequel at Pleasure Marina in Oakland Beacon. Except for a truck and a jeep, the yard showed no signs of life. Row upon row of boats, looking like moguls on a ski slope in their while shrink-wrap coverings stood sentinel to a narrow passageway defined by cones.

My boat is one of the exceptions. I’ve never gone for shrink-wrap. Tarps are stretched across the decks and tied together under the keel in an attempt to spare the fiberglass from the harsh freeze and thaw that can open hairline cracks and saturate the core. Nonetheless, there’s no way of sealing the mast that acts like a giant water collector.

I knew what I would find in the wake of last week’s downpours. The water was up to the floorboards. I went to work with the pump, lifting bucket after bucket and dumping them into the cockpit where it drained in torrents out the stern of the boat. This is maintenance and nothing like the spring ritual of preparing for the upcoming season. That’s still weeks away.

But as I pumped I caught the sweet chemical odor of bottom paint.

Could this be? Had someone completed the lengthy preparation of scraping and sanding and actually started what is usually the final step to launching? Was someone ready to start the 2017 boating season?

I spotted the painter with a roller oozing a track of black paint. He was under the keel of a powerboat. Above the waterline, the vessel remained encased in its cocoon of white plastic shrink-wrap. The man was just finishing up, sliding from under the craft to stand back and look for places needing a touch up.

“Helping my friend, just getting a jump on it,” he said in response to my inquiring look.

What was he thinking? Didn’t he realize even if everything was all set to drop the boat in that it is probably going to be weeks before we get descent boating conditions?

I held my tongue and headed home.

I found Carol raking the garden. That seemed premature although according to the city calendar yard waste collections start this month.

I headed for the garage where the snow blower stood ready. For a moment I considered letting it run until the gas tank was dry. Best wait another week, I thought. Then I looked around for the lawn mower, finding it in the corner where it had been stored for the winter. I pulled it out. There was no point starting it, but then it doesn’t hurt to be ready for spring. Just if we could push it along.