Muddling

The word “muddle” is defined as a state of confusion or disorder. “Muddle through” means to do something when you don’t know how to do it.

On the farm, on those days when the weather couldn’t decide whether it should be winter or spring, we had lots of mud. And did lots of muddling. The barnyard was mud, and the cattle stomped around in it. The path from the house to the barn, once snow covered and firm, was mud. Oozing, dirty, despicable mud. Mud that got on Ma’s nerves. “Leave those muddy boots on the porch.”

The road past our farm was mud. A challenge for the milk hauler; a problem for the mailman. In the mornings, when the mud had become frozen ruts in a once smooth road, we walked to school with little difficulty. Coming home was the challenge as mud sucked at our boots and made walking difficult.

As the definition of “muddle through” suggests, we tried to make the best of it—but mud is unpredictable. Ask any milk hauler who had to enlist a nearby farmer and his trusty team to help pull his milk truck to drier ground.

In a week or two, the mud disappeared, as spring once more returned, but the ruts in the road remained until the road grader appeared. The path from the house to barn was worn smooth again, and grass once more began to grow.

Photo: A deer outside my cabin window looks forward to spring.


THE OLD TIMER SAYS: When I am alone, I prefer to be myself.

WRITER’S WORKSHOP: Saturday, April 8, 9-12:00 a.m. Patterson Memorial Library, Wild Rose, WI. Call 920-622-3835 for reservations. Limited enrollment. Workshop meets Nine to Twelve in the morning.

UPCOMING EVENTS:

Saturday, March 18, Noon. Madison Area Master Gardeners, Goodman Community Center, 149 Waubesa St., Madison.

Wednesday, March 29, 10:00 a.m., Keynote speaker, Master Agriculturist Award Program, Oshkosh.

Purchase Jerry’s DVDS and his Books from the Patterson Memorial Library in Wild Rose, Wisconsin (a fundraiser for them):

The library now has available signed copies of Jerry’s DVDs:

Emmy Winner, A Farm Winter with Jerry Apps (based on The Quiet Season book.)
Jerry Apps a Farm Story (based on Rural Wit and Wisdom and Old Farm books.)
The Land with Jerry Apps, (based on the book Whispers and Shadows.)

Also available are several of Jerry’s signed books including: Jerry’s newest nonfiction book, Never Curse the Rain, and his newest novel, The Great Sand Fracas of Ames County. Also available are Wisconsin Agriculture: A History,
Roshara Journal (with photos by Steve Apps) and Telling Your Story—a guide book for those who want to write their own stories.

Contact the library for prices and special package deals.
Patterson Memorial Library
500 Division Street
Wild Rose, WI 54984
barnard@wildroselibrary.org
www.wildroselibrary.org
920-622-3835