Changing of the seasons

It reached 68.8 degrees here at the Aerie this afternoon. You could stand on the deck and watch the snow receding as quickly as Ron Howard's hair line. This morning's snow covered yard is all hay mulch this evening--wet but hay mulch none the less.

Mud season is definitely here. Those of you who live or travel in country where there are dirt/gravel roads will know what I mean. There aren't just four seasons in the country. There are at least five and sometimes six. You've got winter, first mud season, spring, summer,fall, second mud season (sometimes called Indian Summer, this season is skipped if the air turns cold quickly enough and the snows fall and stay) and then winter again.

You can tell it's mud season if you look at the vehicles in the parking lot of your local Wal-Mart. Everyone's ride is the same color. In some areas it may be a light reddish tan while in other areas its more grayish tan or a yellowish tan. Winter sometimes looks like mud season if all you do is look at the cars and trucks on the road, but that is a result of the sand and salt put on the paved roads to melt the snow and ice. On dirt roads they usually only put...well, dirt, in the form of either sand or cinder, and the snow doesn't so much melt as sublimate (go directly from the frozen state to the gaseous state) in the cold dry air.

In any case, mud season and winter are good times to own a car wash. Most people don't want to add all that mud to their driveway (or run the hose out and get their dirt drive even muddier) and there's usually a good chance that ten minutes or five miles, which ever comes first, after the driver has left the car wash it'll look like he's ever been.

I'd take my truck in to get cleaned, if for no other reason than to see what color it really is (right now it's a fashionable reddish tan just like everyone else has on the road), but the windows on the cap leak and if it went through the wash process I might be able to stock the bed with fish. But then all the soap and detergent, not to mention the wax, would kill the fish. I believe I'll just wait for it to rain. Then I can get some brook trout.