When it Melts

One of my kids' favorite outdoor activities is squirting water bottles. Okay, it's mostly Joshua that loves it, but occasionally the other two want to join in as well. They were so pumped that the temperatures were warm enough this week that they could go out and play with water!



And how exciting..there was a little extra water because all the snow was starting to melt. In fact, because the high clay content of the soil seems to prevent proper drainage of the runoff...

cheese!

There was a LOT of water. And mud. Whoopee!



Who needs Bear Lake when we have our own lake right outside our house! Plus, how cool is it to squirt extra water into the puddles? That's right. It's awesome.




Not to mention all the water sports we have available! Or not. (He put that scooter there himself, and was very upset when I took him and his vehicle out of the puddle.)



So it can be a little messy, requiring extra loads of laundry and soaking wet boots and socks (nobody really has rain boots..the pair Elora is wearing below was given to her by a former friend, and they have holes. They're not quite as waterproof as they should be).



We still might catch a few fish, right?

And now, a story.


This is our new van. We had to buy it because of the accident we got in last month. This is also a picture of the mud I get to drive in when I want to go get the mail in the car: a much more desirable option than walking when you can't find a way to navigate around the deeper puddles. (I don't have rain boots either!)
Sadly, the other day there was some extra runoff from the buses being washed by the school, and the road was a little slippy-slidey. I decided to take an alternate route home down the other road that I've never been on; the equivalent to driving around the block the other way.
I didn't know the other road was soggier. And squelchier. With deeper mud. So my new van almost got stuck. The tire ruts below are similar to how deep my van was getting stuck:




Oh wait, this picture better illustrates the depth of these ruts (which are from the garbage truck):


Anyway, I miraculously got out of the deep part by driving up onto the grass nearby, digging more ruts into the earth and scaring a dog that was chained to his doghouse. He was very upset that I messed up the grass by his house, and he barked indignantly the whole time. I saw that further on, the road was even muddier, so my best option was to turn back and re-navigate the swamp I had just escaped. By driving quickly I somehow escaped the quagmire and returned home by the first slippery-yet less dangerous- road.
And now our whole car was covered with mud.

The end.