Almost Stuck In The Mud

After visiting and photographing the longhorn cattle at Mesa Ridge Ranch, I headed down to Six Mile Canyon Road. I figured I'd take a drive into Six Mile Canyon in the Cibola National Forest.

The drive along Six Mile Canyon was colorful as sunflowers were blooming on both sides of the road.

Above, sunflowers along Six Mile Canyon Road. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

All was going well until I reached the big drainage culvert just before the road bends south. There, in the culvert, was mud that was several inches deep. It had to have been at least six inches deep. I drove in and nearly got stuck. But, made it to a dry spot. Further on, the mud looked even deeper.

I decided to turn around and head back. But, the Jeep wouldn't move. It was in 2-wheel (rear) drive. Seeing that this was unproductive, I put the Jeep into 4-wheel-drive and, after a bit of effort and mud flying around, I eventually got it out of the culvert.

I knew that I had a chore ahead of me to clean the mud off the Jeep. As soon as I got home, I did so.

Some photos of the muddy Jeep before cleaning:

Almost Like Quicksand

Something unexpected happened today while mowing Barking Spider Acre.

I was proceeding along and got to about halfway done with mowing when the mower got stuck in mud. The ground where the mud was looked like the rest of the field, so with that and the fact that I was wearing goggles that distorted my view, the mower was stuck.

Above, the car and mower were stuck in the dark area at the
center of the photo above the gravel road. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Then I got the "brainy" idea to use the car to push the mower out of the mud. Bad idea. The car got stuck, too.

Thankfully, Bo was home across the street and came over with "Edith", his tractor. He, along with my next-door neighbor, James, were able to get the car and mower out of the mud.

Above, the mower after getting it out of the mud. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

James said that the area got a lot of heavy rains this past week and it collected in the area of the acre. It must have been about 6 to 8 inches deep (maybe more). There's a lot of topsoil there. It came up to the bottom of the car's body. The car seemed to sink as if it were in quicksand. That made me think of the ending of House of Frankenstein.

Well, this is one ex-city slicker who learned a valuable lesson. 

I'll have to wait a few days (hopefully the area will dry sufficiently) before attempting to finish mowing.

Nothing like country living!