Schluk Schluk Schluk Schluk........

That's the sound I'm greeted with every morning. The sound of horse hooves slogging their way through the slop of thawing mud, melting snow, and receding frost. It's a welcome sound after the four months of frozen earth hidden under a deep blanket of snow, but it sure makes for a mess.

Times like this summon thoughts of how to better engineer the dryot for better drainage. We all become backyard experts in excavation, hydrodynamics and geotechnical engineering this time of the year. We arm ourselves with shovels and rubber boots and head out to divert the flow of meltwater. Sometimes tractors, back blades and box scrapers are brought in, but the slippery mud can render tractor tires useless. And most times the tire ruts do more harm than good.

It's really a practice in futility, but we feel the need to try to beat the forces of nature, or at least come to an understanding. We can never win against an opponent that works tirelessly to keep the tide of the seasons moving. It would be nice to go straight from the frozen tundra to the lush greens of summer, but we must transition there gradually. And the medium between snow and sun is mud.

So we slog forward, fighting against the mud and slop that struggles to keep our feet planted. And we keep hoping for sunny, rain free days.