Mud Babies

I guess it doesn’t matter how old they are, boys like to play in mud !! Off went Greg and most recent WWOOFER volunteer Brian, wire cutters, clippers, chainsaw, wire, staples, insulators, fence poles and a whole gaggle of sundry tools all stacked on the quad. Their afternoon’s mission, re-fencing Lulu’s field. The fencing in Lulu’s field suffered greatly over the past few years after a SUV tested it’s durability by reversing into the mail box stand which started a chain reaction of tumbling mail boxes and a jumble of broken post and wire. Mother Nature also tested it’s fortitude by sending a freak wind storm through, toppling a huge fir tree that had apparently survived intact  at least 80 years of previous wind storms. Last year Bambi the black tail doe( aka Doris the Destroyer) arrived with her offspring (and every relative in a twenty mile radius) to lay claim to our garden ( and contents !) and orchard ( leaves, fruit and bark). Deer are no respecters of fences and when going over became an issue Doris and her multiple  family members just went through !. With the grass and vegetation un grazed and beginning to resemble the Amazon jungle it was declared top of the priority list of “must do’s” ( at least for Wednesday). Once in the waist high, waving grass another…..an even more pressing  problem literally surfaced. As the quad settled fast into the sticky bubbling mud, it became apparent that Lulu’s pasture was quickly becoming Lulu’s lake and our intrepid two weren’t wearing life jackets. Instantaneously the new top priority project became flood control/ water diversion……aka a ditch ! A few minutes after 12 noon ( lunch time), Bran the Border collie and I set out on a search and rescue ( Brian needed his lunch) and it wasn’t long before I found my two mud babies, up to their knees in a freshly dug ditch system, as happy as clams watching the result of their labours as the newly diverted underground streams flowed. I guess if happiness must be measured by just how dirty you can get…..those two boys were surely in heaven !!!

Well, it’s a very wet and not very pleasant Saturday night, the rain is falling and the thermometer level is dropping fast. Brian is currently spending his well earned two days off the ranch, camping in the Pacific North West….probably without a life jacket (again), likely blowing mud bubbles and almost certainly under water again.  Have fun Brian…you deserve it !

Time for a nice warm dry bed….Take care, keep safe, M