Quagmired

I'm beat after a rough day bouncing around in the excavator, and I don't have much to show for it. That's not entirely true. I actually accomplished almost everything I set out to do. There were a few stubborn stumps frozen in place. And I dug drainage trenches and holes where I wanted to. I fixed much of the road coming in. But the mud! I nearly buried the excavator in mud on more than one occasion. The rich clay soil is saturated with thawing water creating a viscous muck a couple feet deep. The more you mess with it, the worse it gets. Right where our driveway ends is a natural drainage site. Working in that area I came dangerously close to getting hopelessly stuck. The trenches should help to drain the water away and down the hill. But the depressing fact is that mud season is upon us, and it will be a few weeks before it gets any better. Right around the time the roads become unposted. When I wrote that I don't have much to show for it, I was referring to the appearance of the place. It looks like a disaster area. Not much can be done about it until things dry out.