Ohio, the muddy heart of it all

I have a love/hate relationship with the place I call home. I love my home because it is where my family is. My house isn't large, it isn't fancy and it definitely isn't clean right now, but it is large enough and I think my kids feel like it is their "home." I hope one day they can bring their kids here to the place they grew up...their home.
This morning when I left for work I saw 3 deer, 2 squirrels and 2 chipmonks...before I got out of the driveway.
Our weather the last few years has been odd, to say the least. Last summer it was super hot and dry. We had almost no rain last summer and the temperature was 90 degrees or over most of the summer. Remember this picture I took in the fall. The weather forecasters were saying that the trees wouldn't be pretty but I still think they were. The ground was so dry it was cracked all over....we prayed for rain.

When we got to fall our prayers were answered.....and it hasn't quit since. That pretty colorful but cracked yard now looks like this.............. I remember a conversation we had when we built our house about 10 years ago when we were picking out the kitchen floor. Somehow I had this idea that I loved the white tile. Me, who will only mop when hell freezes over when company is coming, thought that white tile was the way to go. I seem to recall SH mentioning something about the red clay yard and if we would get a lot of rain, but I knew much better than he how clean I would keep it. To his credit he never rubs it in. He tried to clean it a couple of times and decided it was stupid to even try with all of this wet muddy clay.

Today I went to a friends house to watch an auction. She unfortunately lost her young husband and her mother in law within a week of each other. This is where I tried to pull my minivan into the field. This is also where SH and a couple of his friends had to push me out.

This is the car that was beside my car while they pushed it out. I don't know who's car it was but I'm sure they don't like me very well. I must say that there were dozens of cars and trucks stuck in the mud and SH being the gentlemen he is left his 4 wheel drive and drove my van to work so I didn't have to worry about getting stuck after he left. I love that man.