Our winter this year is disorganized. We had January temperatures in September. February snow in January, and now we have March temperatures in February. I guess you could say we've been living inside a weather blender. Likely wouldn't matter too much to most, but when you've moved to the country, it matters a lot. All of life is about our reliance on weather patterns. Meanwhile, I have packs of heirloom seeds I'm wondering when to sprout and shoes are lined up like troops because we need so many different types on any given day. Phil's muck boots are permanently mucked, so they stay in the pickup. Instead of hiring a snowplow this year, we're spreading bales of straw over the muddy ground where plant life was disturbed last fall and not reseeded. You've heard of Montana gumbo? Eastern Washington gumbo is much the same: gooey, tenacious, and slippery as egg yolks. You pick up a pound of mud on your shoe with each step. There's a reason every business in our region has those prickly boot scrapers outside the door. The message is plain: keep your mud off our floor!