Mud Season Blues

The end of autumn and the beginning of winter is our "secondary" mud season here in central Illinois. (The primary mud season comes at the end of winter when the ground thaws out and becomes a quagmire.) Beary is four years old now, but he still gets plenty muddy.


This morning I was so disgusted. It's rained for several days, and after Beary plays for a while in his play-yard, he comes inside with legs and belly dripping mud. There's no use to mop the floor until the outdoor mud has dried up. But this morning, as I walked barefoot across the floor, I knew I had to clean it up. Even if it was an exercise in futility.

I hate winter --- but I look forward to the ground freezing, and even snow.  At least snow's clean. A wet dog's better than a muddy one any old day.

Here's Beary during his first winter. When he was a tiny puppy, my husband had to rig up a ramp so he could get up and down on the deck. I'm sure he had one of the cats cowering under the ramp when I snapped this picture.