White Christmas?

In Winter, Minnesota is lovingly referred to as Minne-snow-ta...but not this year.

Minnesota traditionally has a white Christmas...but not this year.

This is not your typical December.

Thanks for the photo Face Book friends.

I have been patient up until this point. After all, the official first day of Winter was just yesterday. Now don't get me wrong, I am enjoying the warm weather. Average temperature this time of year is 26 to 32 degrees and that's snow-making temps, but we have been riding 14-18 degrees warmer this month. And that means rain, not snow. It's been dark and wet in our part of Minnesota.

According to Cody and Keith, my two favorite meteorologists from Fox 9, we have had .8" of snow and 1.46" of liquid, rather than the 11.5 average snowfall for this time of year. Minnesota (at least our area of Minnesota) will not be living up to its Minne-snow-ta nickname this year. But isn't this rain good for the farmers?

If the ground is not frozen, and the rain water can soak into the soil, this is helping the farmer, and recharging the groundwater supply. If the ground is frozen, most of the rain will run off, or dry up when (and if) we see the sun again. 

Until then we will just have to slip on our waterproof boots, run through the puddles, and perhaps even build a mud snowman.

Warm greetings from Minne-snow-ta! 

Mud, A Sure Sign Of Spring

Mud, mud, I love mud!

   I'm absolutely, positively wild about mud.

   I can't go around it. I've got to go through it.

   Beautiful, fabulous, super duper mud.

 

Have you heard this song before? Sara and Michael fell in love with this little ditty 25 years ago when we made our weekly visits to the public library. Yep, back when we used to borrow cassette tapes to listen to at home; this one almost always found its way into our book bag.

Now fast-forward 25 years. Sara and Michael are no longer borrowing this cassette from the library, but I could have sworn Farmer John was humming a few "muddy" choruses the other day. No, we are not excited about the muddy yard, the mud tracked into the house on our shoes, or the mud surrounding the bottom of our pant legs, but mud does make a farmer a bit giddy.

 

 

You see, mud is a sure sign of Spring. Mud means the soil is warming up. Mud means the frost is coming out of the ground. Mud means Spring planting is fast approaching. 

Farmer John has begun "dusting off" the planting equipment. The seeds have been ordered. A little more sunshine and some warmer weather and Farmer John will be ready to roll.

Until then we will have to settle for another chorus or two of the mud song and the occasional sploosh-sploosh sound of walking through the puddles. After all, it's no fun going around them. You just have to go through them.

Curious about the Mud Song? Take a listen here.

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