The thermometer has been above freezing for more than a week now and it's supposed to stay this way until at least Tuesday. Sunday it's supposed to be nearly 50ยบ.
There is a downside to all this January thaw, however. It turns the countryside into mud. That includes all of our acreage that is the domain of a fat black Lab whose main job in life is to patrol the property every day to save us from rampaging rabbits and field mice. When there's mud, she's in it.
Last night we were taking the garbage cans up to the road about 10 and the dig decided it was time to dig for mice. By the time we discovered what she was up to she'd dug a nice trench in the mud and both front feet were caked with mire so thick she had a tough time walking. Nose was muddy, too, as was the top of her head.
Since she's an inside dog, that means extra work for somebody. Well, somebody other than moi.
Every trip outside now means a dog clean-up afterwards. Gets old very fast.
Thankfully we haven't had any hard, soaking rains, so while the top few inches of the ground is thawed and muddy, there's still freeze in it farther down. So the sump pump hasn't been running non-stop like it often does in the spring when the ground is thawing out completely. It'll kick on now and then, but not very frequently.
The respite from the snow and cold has been nice, though, so I'm not complaining.
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