Rain makes mud, the car, the anticipation

Rain continued through the night here and things are quite wet; however, the ground is not what I would consider soaked. It seems to have only penetrated the first ½ inch or so. Beneath that the ground is still packed very hard. I know the farmers and ranchers are pleased about the moisture; can’t say I am complaining either.


We have a family at church that has a house in the semi-country area Amarillo and they have a dirt driveway. They have lived in the house for years but have never put down any gravel. The ruts they call a driveway are more than twelve inches deep but their Suburban navigates the obstacle with little effort. I find it a little hard to understand since the ¾ of a mile access we had to our property in West Virginia took me several years of continuous work to build a base to hold the gravel we eventually were able to put on it.

The ruts were so deep on that road that I had to roll boulders that had been shed over the years from the rock cliffs above the road, onto the road to be busted up with a sledge hammer in order to begin to fill the ruts. It took almost a year to fill the ruts to the point that we could drive to the house. Mama and the kids did a lot of walking, rain or shine, muddy or dry or frozen. It was a great character building experience; too bad the kids were so little at that time.

Anyway, our friends with the dirt drive do not like the rain too much. Fortunately they home school so travel can be restricted during our rare wet times, but if I asked Mama to live there I would be buying some gravel even if I had to (as I did years ago) spread it out by hand using a wheelbarrow, a shovel and a rake. But that’s just me.

I have driven the Nissan the past couple days and it is hard to tell if it is getting good mileage or not. I filled up yesterday and when the gas gauge was at ¼ tank, it took only eight and a half gallons to fill it up. It is only a twelve gallon tank so I may see it move a lot more than I am used to as I drive one hundred miles per day. I will check it in the next couple days to see how it is doing.

Mama could leave for the farm at any minute. I am hoping she stays until Sunday. The foal’s birth seems eminent but we are only guessing. When the horse was examined by someone who knows such things, it was guessed that she was closer to nine years old vs. four as we were told. It does not matter too much since we are going to send her down the road as soon as the foal is weaned and doing well on its own. Rain, since she has not been fooled with too much in her lifetime, is a little too temperamental for my liking. I hope we do not have difficulty in the birth because she really does not like being fooled with.

I am at the point that I think my back is getting better, then I get up the next morning and it takes hours to get past the pain. If I get called to the closing tonight, I will try to see the chiropractor afterwards – if possible. I need some help before I take time off the week after next.