Tuesday, April 13, 2021

Mud Season

 I found out this morning that mud season on West Shore Road is definitely a reality. Just when I thought we might be getting off easy this year, the frost began to come out in all the usual places along West Shore Road. 

I had an early appointment for physical therapy (neck and shoulders for vertigo) this morning and left at about the usual time in order to be on time. I hadn't been on the road since last Thursday or Friday, and aside from being slimy and pretty rough in spots, there were no big muddy spots. That had changed drastically over the weekend. From Meadow Lane on, there were patches of deep mud - on the hill from Keenan's driveway to Dudley's, a stretch near Joan Davis's and along the flat by LaPrade's all the way to Walker's. The flat from Shelly Walker's to Barre Avenue was pretty good, but the Danville end was bad, too. It took me considerably longer than usual to carefully navigate the mud. I was a few minutes late for my appointment, but no harm done.  About two hours later when I came back through, Cabot had dumped loads of what looked like small size crushed rock in the bad spots, but it had not been leveled and honed into shape. That was a little dicey to navigate, too, but not as bad as the mud. A little later I saw the grader go down through, so I know it has been smoothed out again. I think most of the usual mud holes were active today, so perhaps we won't have to worry about them any more this year. Some years it's a matter of getting one hole fixed and another previously dry spot will suddenly turn into a mud bog. There are usually islands in between the muddy spots, depending on where the frost hasn't gone out. We are expecting a little rain, or perhaps some snow, Thursday and into Friday. The bad roads may be with us for a little longer.

Today was pretty nice even though we didn't have much sunshine. It's nice to see the pond fully open and I noticed the grass is beginning to green up even in Danville. Not so much at Joe's Pond, but we'll see it by the end of this week, I expect - unless it's covered with snow.

It's nice to hear that almost 50% of Vermonters have had at least one shot of vaccine, and many have completed two shots and are considered fully vaccinated. The numbers are looking better, too, and hopefully things will continue to be opened up without another surge in positive tests showing up.  So if you are heading this way, know that there is still some danger of bumping into the virus, so the advice from our governor is to keep your masks handy and avoid crowds and unnecessary travel to areas that may have a higher incidence of Covid 19. We want everyone to be safe.

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