Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Mud

I know you know it's muddy here. It's really muddy, I mean REALLY muddy.

I grew up living in the country. We moved around the county a lot, but I always lived on dirt roads until I left home. We had muddy roads, often, but not like what I'm dealing with now--here. I've talked to my folks about it, and to a good friend of mine who lives here in the same town I do now. We think the mud here is different than the mud at home.

I grew up in an area with red hills, composed of iron oxide, so the dirt was red. We had sandy roads too and cleache (probably not spelled right, but it's pronounced clee-che). Cleache roads were the best. Water did not sit on them, they were not slick. Sandy roads were good too, you'd have muddy spots, but could get through and they dried out quickly. Red dirt roads were usually fine, you'd slip and slide, but you wouldn't sink very far.

The dirt here must have more clay, because the mud here is sticky, and you can sink in and it clings and you can't get out, and you leave big ruts if you do get out. I've been fighting mud for over a week now, with no end in sight. The snow keeps melting, but there's no where for the water to go. The ground is saturated, so nothing has even begun to dry out. We are parking two vehicles at the highway, but can't park all 3 there. So, I usually get to drive the diesel in and out. And I don't like it. Mornings are OK, because the mud is frozen. But, it's rough, you slide from the tops of the ridges down into the ruts, or bounce over the ruts until you are seated in the ruts. Then you bump and bounce through the mud down the drive. When you get home in the evening, it's thawed, so you slip and slide and slip and swerve and sway and pray. Then, you look for an area that is still firm, where you can park, but if you find such a spot, you've got to figure how to get to the house and not lose your shoes in the mud--or in the very slushy, crusty snow.

If you park at the highway, you've got to make sure you leave room for the other vehicle, and then you've got to pack all your baggage, school work, etc. in to the house, watching every step. Making decisions all the way in. Do you walk on the snow and risk falling through, or walk on the mud and hope it's firm enough that you don't bog down in the mud. Do you walk on the left side or right? Do you go around or cut through the snow closer to the house? And, when you get to the house, can you get in without tracking mud everywhere.

I have never liked driving in the mud. I have never very good at it. I know how to drive in the mud. I know to get in the tracks, to give the car or pickup gas, to not stop moving, to just keep the tires turning, etc. But I've never liked doing it. I don't like feeling my way down the muddy road. I don't like it when my back end swings around in front of my front end. It makes me nervous. (This probably is the fault of my drivers ed teacher, who grabbed the wheel on me once because, at that time, I had never driven in mud and wasn't doing well...)

But, now, I'm driving in mud again. But this mud is different. The ground is so saturated, that as this snow is melting, there's no where for the water to go, so it sits on top of the ground, or runs under the snow. I watched some of the ruts in the driveway act like a creek--the water was just running, downhill, in the ruts. And what doesn't run, pools.

So, on Friday, I had to load up the diesel pickup with all our Archery equipment for the kids I was instructing. I waded through water and mud to load all the equipment. Then, I started to back out of the driveway, uphill to the circle drive in front of the house. From there, I could then go forward, curve around the trees, and curve out and down the driveway to the highway.

Unfortunately, the ground was so saturated, I almost got stuck. I didn't, but I left nice 12" deep ruts in the yard. And these 12" deep ruts are wide, because my front tires slipped and were turned, so I was trying to back up in 4 wheel drive with tires that weren't square, so I didn't make any headway and tore up the ground. Oh, I figured it out, because I kept asking Andy if my tires were straight...he kept saying yes, but unfortunately, was looking at the REAR tires, not the front tires. (Can I blame him for the ruts?)

On Sunday morning, Kev and I tried to take Kev's Dad to see a place further out in the country that is on the market. Kev wants to buy this place. I'm not so eager.

We turned down the dirt road that led to this place, and wenta couple hundred yards down itand found 12" deep ruts, and snow drifts more than 3 feet tall. Seeing the condition of the roads, I told Kev we weren't moving. Besides fighting that mud, there are also steep hills on this road and deep canyons on either side of these hills. Too dangerous. And, besides, I hate mud. I will not fight 3 miles of this sticky icky mud.

I figure that the mud will be around for 2 or 3 more weeks. I pray that it will dry out soon. I like living in the country. I don't mind being snowed in, but trying to maneuver through this mud, it's almost more than I can bear. I can't believe that I'm griping about mud. I have lived my entire life in an area where moisture is a blessing, where mud is a sign of moisture, something to show that we got always needed moisture, and here I am, griping when I should be grateful.

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