Mud Season. It falls between winter and spring, and on any farm in the north country, is dreaded more than the deep freezes of January, or the huge amounts of snow that we tend to get right before spring finally springs. What is so bad about it? Massive amounts of mud aside, the ruts that you get on any dirt road are enough to destroy any car that doesn't have enough clearance. I have a friend that lives way out on dirt roads and I don't visit at all during mud season. My undercarriage would never survive the trip.
Mud happens to be 10x' s more slippery than snow ever thought of being. It's one thing to push a stuck car our of the snow. It's completely another to push one out of the mud. You probably won't need a shower after pushing the one in the snow....you will need to be hosed down by your local fire department after pushing one out of the mud.
I know I complained about kids wearing their boots inside and through my house this winter, and how much I HATE wet socks. Well, I'll take those wet socks now. My house has a mud trail. Trying to sop it u while it's wet is fruitless, it just smears it all over the place. You have to wait until it dries and then take a stiff bristle brush to it.
Dog paws. OMG...they are akin to little sponges in mud season, and for some reason my dogs HAVE to jump either on the back of my legs making my pants filthy, or onto my bed. Did I mention my bedding is white?
Last year the only vehicles we had were the van and the Saturn. This year we have two four-wheel drive vehicles as well, which is good because trying to get out of the driveway in this stuff you NEED 4wd. Unfortunately the 4wd also tears up the lawn...yes...this is lawn that we have to drive over to get the hay to the barn. In a couple of months Ill be trying to mow this. Lucky me.
More of my "lawn". The ducks are having a blast though...every 8" rut out there fills with water and they have their own individual "rut tub". If you don't hear from me for another month it probably means I've sunk in the mud and was unable to get myself out. Hopefully my children will bring me food.
You just have to love spring in Vermont. Next season? Black fly season! I can hardly wait.
PS. Lambing starts in 2 weeks.
5 comments:
I hate mud season! (Un)fortunately it SNOWED AGAIN last night and what little non-snow area is covered again, I guess the mud can wait.
Your barn is huge! How about some inside pictures?
The worst thing we have here is we can never get rid of the ruts once the mud goes away. It is a nightmare trying to avoid having your ankle sprained while just walking out on the lawn.
I'm not looking forward to mowing the lawn...I'm hoping we can do something about the ruts before that...If not maybe I'll have to put big tires on the mower and just do some 'extreme' mowing :P lol
As it is with barns, they are never big enough....once I get everything mucked and the 32 bales of hay are used up I'll take some pics....a lot of rearranging to do this summer...It will be nice to get the chickens and ducks out of the barn...they're poop machines.
I totally have to quit complaining about my short summer season. I hate mud and really have none. I couldn't deal with that. And black flys? No way. OR snakes or anything else that is gross. I really have it pretty easy, don't I? I hope you don't sink too far.
Deep snow, horrible mud and black flies. Wow - you should write the state travel brochures. Or...maybe not. :D
Mud...YUCK! I hope you won't get stuck this year.
The one big rule I have for the family is: Shoes off inside; shoes on outside. It's part of my Asian heritage and it also saves the floors. ;)
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