Rain, Glorious Rain - Mud, Mud, Mud
August 9th 2009 07:04
It's wet! By Jove it - is - wet! Now, we're in a pretty lush area, there's no question about that, with plenty of all-year streams, dams and springs that never ever dry up. But this winter has been unbelievable.
The first rains were wonderful. They sprinkled water down which ran across the dry paddocks and down the creeks. They even started to fill the tanks.
Then more rain, this filled the tanks, and then some. The water started to soak into the hard ground and everything went green.
Then it rained some more. The ground got soaked until it could hold no more water.
Then the moss started growing, lots of it. Being winter there wasn't much growth in the pasture, but the mossy plants - don't ask me to name any of them - started to appear everywhere, and the plants that grow in the creeks, all came back with gusto. By the way, alpacas love those weedy plants that grow under water along creeks. Ours will stand in the creeks up to their knees to graze on them. (I guess they figure they're already soaked to the skin due to the incessent rain anyway, what's a bit more).
Anyway, then came the mud. Lot's and lots of mud. Where you have water logged ground - I mean water logged to the point that you can't walk over it without sinking 3 inches and having mud splatter as high as your thighs, - and alpacas (and people), walking on it, then all you end up with is mud. The grass and moss is disturbed, so won't grow anymore and it all starts to smell pretty rank.
It's mainly the gateways and corals between paddocks, as these get the most traffic. It's just slush.
So for all those praying for rain, prayers well and truly answered here. Just that God or Huey, the weather man (or whoever else people hold responsible for these things), must have been on extended leave and just answered every request all at once.
August is pretty calm round here - September/October brings the wind, so that should, with any luck dry it all out in time for the spring.
The first rains were wonderful. They sprinkled water down which ran across the dry paddocks and down the creeks. They even started to fill the tanks.
Mud - lots of mud
Then it rained some more. The ground got soaked until it could hold no more water.
Then the moss started growing, lots of it. Being winter there wasn't much growth in the pasture, but the mossy plants - don't ask me to name any of them - started to appear everywhere, and the plants that grow in the creeks, all came back with gusto. By the way, alpacas love those weedy plants that grow under water along creeks. Ours will stand in the creeks up to their knees to graze on them. (I guess they figure they're already soaked to the skin due to the incessent rain anyway, what's a bit more).
Anyway, then came the mud. Lot's and lots of mud. Where you have water logged ground - I mean water logged to the point that you can't walk over it without sinking 3 inches and having mud splatter as high as your thighs, - and alpacas (and people), walking on it, then all you end up with is mud. The grass and moss is disturbed, so won't grow anymore and it all starts to smell pretty rank.
It's mainly the gateways and corals between paddocks, as these get the most traffic. It's just slush.
So for all those praying for rain, prayers well and truly answered here. Just that God or Huey, the weather man (or whoever else people hold responsible for these things), must have been on extended leave and just answered every request all at once.
August is pretty calm round here - September/October brings the wind, so that should, with any luck dry it all out in time for the spring.
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