Mud-luscious and Puddle-Wonderful

"The world is mud-luscious and puddle-wonderful.”

e.e. cummings

Nobody in farm country is going to disagree with author and poet e.e. cummings, especially after two summers of drought.

It's been a long time since our old granary was reflected in a mud puddle in our backyard. But, after 1.5 inches of rain in the past couple of days, we don't mind dodging mud puddles on the way to the barn or wearing our ratty tennis shoes in the mud.

It's been awhile since there was rain water in a drainage ditch off one of our wheat fields. Last December, the county cleaned out the culverts along the road. At that time, there was nary a raincloud in the vicinity. But the culverts came in handy this week.

The fields and the pastures have been getting a much-needed drink of water - enough that there were even a few puddles standing in fields.

Droplets of water clung to flowering backyard shrubs. I figured I'd better get a photo of the blooms before nightfall last evening, since a freeze was in the forecast.

This morning, the thermometer was hovering around 25 degrees. We'll see how the wheat fares in this second round of untimely freezing temperatures. The gardening centers say that April 15 is the "frost free" date for this part of the state. It's clear Mother Nature didn't consult the Old Farmers' Almanac this spring.