I Hate Mud

I hate El Nino. It means that, while the weather here is mild in the winter time, it’s a soggy mess.

In the past fifteen days, we’ve had 4.3 inches of rain here in Central Ohio. That on top of the second or third wettest fall on record, and the wettest December ever. There is river and small stream flooding all over the state as a consequence of all the rain and nowhere for the water to go. Needless to say, my back yard, which does not drain well under the best of conditions, is a bottomless sea of muck.

Aurora is a year old today, and she has all of the youthful exuberance of any puppy. She loves to run and play, and she particularly loves running in the back yard. The problem with that is that golden retriever puppy + thick mud = incredible mess. And, the ground is so saturated that every time that she goes out, she comes back a muddy mess, even when she just goes out, does her business and comes right back. Mix in Nero, who is two years old and equally exuberant, and it makes for a hell of a mess.

On Saturday, she had to have six baths. On Sunday, it was another six. We spent all day, both days, bathing dogs, doing loads of towels, and mopping floors. Needless to say, it was NO fun. I’m not sure my back has yet forgiven me, and Susan’s knee just loves it, as you can imagine.

Tonight, we are celebrating. It’s going to go down to 17 here tonight and stay cold for at least a week. That means that the mud bog will freeze solid, and hopefully stay that way for a few days. I never thought I would be so happy to see really cold weather in my life. 🙂

I hate El Nino. And I REALLY hate mud.