Cowgirl Up on LatigoLiz.com

Friday, November 14, 2008

NorthWET!

Yesterday we started drying out. Today was better. There are rumors of sunshine this weekend!

Fall and winter around here can get on the depressing side. Some folks can’t hack it and head south to sunny (and possibly warmer) climates. As I get older, I think it might not be a bad thing to move where there is more sun at a minimum. Not likely to happen any time soon, though. We really like our house and farm and having immediate family close by.

Earlier in the week nearly every river around here was near, at or above flood stage. That’s normal for October/November and also some other times of the year. We’ve been lucky that a major wind storm blow through yet! Saturated soils makes for lots of downed trees.

We’re flat here. And we have very organic soil. It’s from the ancient Osceola mudflow off of Mt. Rainier 5,000 years ago (see this link, too).

As a result, we have awesome for pasture, but it’s also a haven for the nastiest mud you will ever see. And it’s deep.

We’ve been getting by since we moved here as far as mud management goes. It’s an expensive problem to solve and each year other major projects seem to overtake the large task of constructing a mud-free paddock/arena. Thankfully we do have some options to get the horses (and goats) out of the muck a good portion of the day/night by stalling them. I hate to do it, but at the same time, it develops patient animals if stall rest is ordered by the vet for treatment of illness or injury.

Here are some pictures from the worst of the water that we had the other day. And it wasn’t even near as bad as we have had in years past.

Stumble Upon Toolbar

10 comments:

gtyyup said...

It may have only been 8 years since I lived on the WET side, but I can still feel the dampness just looking at your photos!!! It's so green though. We're already frozen and dried up.

Look on the bright side though, nowhere is perfect; ya take whatcha' get! Your place looks wonderful and very homey...where you're comfortable. That's what counts.

dp said...

That looks familiar. We are lucky to live on high land, but, the lower areas of the Fraser Valley were swamped like that last week. We got 60mm of rain here on Tuesday night!

20 meter circle of life said...

Oh man I had to do a day trip to Seattle in that rain. Nasty. I know how hard mud can be. This year we are lucky to have only 2 horses in the big field so its a bit better than where we last year. They also have trees and thats new, but I am not sure either of them is smart enough to come out of the rain. Oh well its only a few monthes and I pick water over snow and ice any day.

C-ingspots said...

Yep, that looks familiar. I don't think that we've gotten quite the amount of rain that you've gotten in Washington, but we're not far behind you. Glory be for the last 3 days and tomorrow is supposed to be sunny too!! Hallelujah!! Sure makes a gal appreciate the sun when it does make an appearance. Keep your chin up and count your blessings that we don't have the storms and tornadoes like they have in the midwest and down south. It could always be worse! I may invest in one of those lights so that I can trick my brain into thinking it's summer! Think it might help?? :)

Pony Girl said...

One particularly rainy day last week I said to my co-worker, "Why do I always say I'm going to move to a drier state, but I never do anything about it?" She replied, "Well, you would probably rather deal with the rain than tornados or hurricanes." Oh yea, I suppose that would keep me in rainville! ;)

Your area is lovely, despite the rain. At least your horses can claim to have waterfront property, LOL!

Amanda said...

Well Liz if it makes you feel any better we have had several days of rain on the "scablands". Looking at your photos brings back memories of the squoosh squoosh sound of every step I took while living in Mt. Vernon and Bow/Edison. Time to snuggle up to the fires and read some good books.

SOSHorses said...

Well I don't know if it will make you feel any better or not, but it rained all week last week and I totally sympathize with the mud fight. This is just the beginning of the early winter mud holes. I fight them every fall and spring when the major wet times come.

Hang in there it is worth the trouble.

SOS Horses
SOS Leatherworks

The Silver Age Sara said...

I see the mud and we do have mud like that every spring here in Vermont from the melting snow but I am so jealous of all your green grass. There's nothing like that here at the moment and won't be until late May. I hope it dries up for you so your horses can get out and enjoy their beautiful grass.

Anonymous said...

I was in Bellevue on Friday and Saturday and it was beautiful! Are you sure that it has been raining a lot?

Greener Pastures--A City Girl Goes Country said...

So THAT'S why my mother-in-law moved from WA to AZ!

Such nice green grass though! Hey, every state has something. I lived in a few different states. You just have to pick what you can live with!

www.GreenerPastures--ACityGirlGoesCountry.blogspot.com