By Harold Brummett
Denmark Star Route

I have known mud.  

In the Army, all it took was a brigade or less of soldiers and their equipment, a little dew and you would have knee-deep mud for days. The outcome of the last few weeks of weather is reminiscent of that except for the dew. 

The combination of ice, freezing temperatures topped off with a generous dousing and teasing moderate temperatures has made traveling anywhere but paved road an adventure.  It is like being at the ‘end of the road’ everywhere in Lafayette County, not just at the end of Old Sardis Road where it runs into the lake.

The young lady on the TV weather charts the progress weekly where we stand on the drought monitor. We are making progress but still show a drought in our area. The rain, snow and ice apparently has not made its way down deep into the soil just yet. 

In a matter of weeks, I have gone from walking shoes, to low-topped muckers and now gear up for a trip to the chicken house in rubber knee boots. Make no mistake; the observations are not a complaint, but simply observation.  Complaining would do no good and might upset the Deity who could bless us with more wet weather while keeping under the 40 day and night at one stretch maximum. 

The guineas have made the barn their headquarters. They bivouac in the rafters at night and spent the rainy days bored in the dry of the barn only venturing out for grain and grazing. This has made picking up the residue of both horse and fowl a continual effort. If there was any doubt how Noah and his family spent their days on the Ark the answer was revealed to me these last couple of weeks. 

The Little Kettle is flowing as if it has important business in the South with the Yocona River.  

Where the creek banks are not firmly secured by trees or good sod, it is cut under by the surging water and sloughs off.  I wonder about the animals that have gone to higher ground – having recently seen terrapins on the hillside. Daffodils surging forth in the warm to cold days make the promise of spring seem close. The slightly warmer weather has provided impetus for hibernating creatures to stir and move. Frogs are heard occasionally at night, impatient to be about their business. 

Hopeful in the prospect of warm weather and spring, mud is endured.