This weekend was pretty dramatic…Over a foot of snow in just a couple of days!
Yes, it was mighty pretty and magical looking for a while up here in the Manzano Mountains of New Mexico. Trees were bent with snow, ice encased yucca plants, beautiful, frosty patterns formed on the windows. And of course a power outage just to spice things up a bit.
But like the darkness follows the light, the mud always follows the snow. I’m not talking about a little dirt here and there. Or “just make sure to wipe your boots before you step inside.”
No, this mud is deep, thick, full of clay, sticky. This is he-man mud. It is slippery, gooey, covering the sides and back window of my Ford Explorer as I plunge through unavoidable puddles while driving through 12 miles of dirt (now mud) roads on the way to town. The very car I painstakingly washed just last week. The very car I drive to town most every day to deliver Magic Zoo packages to the post office!
On the other hand, Minnie the Husky was more than thrilled with this latest weather drama. Minnie ADORES the snow, and sure as heck doesn’t mind the mud, either. She punches her nose right into the snowy rabbit footprints, following them closely, never mind the human who is trying to keep up with her (sometimes) long, low yanking of the leash into bushes, under barb wire fences, etc. Here she is behaving herself pretty well.
As I used to say to my children when they were young, “It’s a good thing you’re cute.” And Minnie is that for sure.
I love having a dog in the family. I am amused and touched when I return from a long weekend with friends to find her overjoyed to have me, part of her pack, back home again.
But I’m glad she lives in the other part of our big rambling house, where her shedding fur, lost nuggets of food, abandoned bones, round doggie bed and big dog crate reside. I get all the privileges of canine companionship and (mostly) none of the drawbacks. And she is not much of a barker. Except, of course, when the family is intensely focused on a movie and Minnie feels ignored and just can’t help herself.
Generally, life in the country has been fun, loud, messy, rarely frightening (the time when a black bear decided to invade our property for a few troubling days back in 2019) but mostly calm and always quiet if I choose to ramble down to our ravine, or go on a rare solo walk through the junipers and pinon trees.
This is early spring, unpredictable and wet. The time of year when I can’t imagine being hot and irritated by mosquitoes and pollen.
But it is mid-March so winter, like a tantrum-prone child, is making her stormy exit.
Hot days will come soon enough. And so will the wild flowers.
How are things in your neck of the woods?
Your animal loving artist,
Merry