Sandra Neily here: It’s mud month in much of the northeast. I’m washing off my snowshoes and waxing my X-skies to rest them for a while. What to DO when it finally does melt off the high-up slopes?

If you look hard, you’ll see Moosehead Lake puddling up out there. Black dots: Raven my dog and granddaughter too tired to walk back.

Distancing is still with us! Here’s something very cool to do. (And then find Maine’s mud anthem, “I Love Mud,” at the end of this post. Sing along with Rick.)

Big Night!

Roads, Rain, and Amphibians. Big Nights are fascinating and unique natural events that occur every spring. With spring rain and warming temperatures, frogs and salamanders move to their breeding grounds by the truckload. However, these miniature migrations often put them in harm’s way on roads. How we can assist and protect these ancient populations will be the subject of this presentation (April 6, from 4-5, offered from Maine Audubon.) Sign up to join in for this presentation so you can get ready for Big Night.

This is solid citizen science. Here’s more from the Amphibian Migration Monitoring (MBN)! MBN is a community science project where anyone can participate in collecting important data on migrating frogs and salamanders while directly influencing their conservation outlook. The project occurs every April and has over 300 locations statewide.

Owl courtship and home building is heating up. Here’s Maine Birding Trail founder Bob Duchesne laughing at himself but calling them in, just a few days ago.  And a guide to various owl sounds so you can try, too. 

We’ll be back to camp on Curtis Creek, NC.

And my news:  I’m moving a scaled down version of my desk into a box that travels with my husband and me to North Carolina for a few weeks as we take our small camper into National Forests and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. (In between forest campsites there’s great ribs and good laundry opportunities in Asheville where my sister lives.)

My third novel, “The Deadly Line,” is unfolding, even if I have to write longhand pages on picnic tables.

My second interview with Bryan Wentzell’s series “A Walk In the Woods,” is up on line now as well as his earlier interviews with an Steve Tatko, a Maine forester who has decades of deep woods experience and lore to share. Bryan likes to interview folks in the field. We snowshoed in subzero weather while he quizzed me about my river guide and conservation work, and outdoor family anecdotes. Steve’s interview happens in a truck on remote back roads.

MUD ANTHEM! Please, learn the words to this song if you don’t already know it by heart from your child’s years or your young years.  You can sing along with Rick, here. (Warning, the chorus sticks in one’s head for constant replay.)

I Love Mud

Mud, mud, I love mud!
I’m absolutely, positively wild about mud.
I can’t go around it. I’ve got to go through it.

Beautiful, fabulous, super duper mud.

Big Teddy White, his clothes were mighty clean.
Went swimming in a pool of mud, he made quite a scene.
He started with the backstroke, followed by the crawl.
You should have seen him swimming when he heard his father call.

Mud, mud, I love mud!
I’m absolutely, positively wild about mud.
I can’t go around it. I’ve got to go through it.

Beautiful, fabulous, super duper mud.

Julianna Root had shiny yellow boots.
Saw a pool of mud that she wanted to go through.
She only took two steps and then she disappeared.

Nobody’s seen her for twenty-five years. Mud, mud, I love mud!
I’m absolutely, positively wild about mud.
I can’t go around it. I’ve got to go through it.

Beautiful, fabulous, super duper mud.

Little Rusty Night, he was only three.
Was working in the mud on his favorite recipe.
With sticks and bugs and sour milk, it looked like brown ice cream.

When he started tasting it, he heard his mother scream. Mud, mud, I love mud!
I’m absolutely, positively wild about mud.
I can’t go around it. I’ve got to go through it.

Beautiful, fabulous, super duper mud.

Now I would be the last to tell you what to do.
And when it comes to mud you know it’s really up to you.
So if you can’t decide and you’re sitting on the fence,

The most important thing to do is use your common sense.  Mud, mud, I love mud!
I’m absolutely, positively wild about mud.
I can’t go around it. I’ve got to go through it.

Beautiful, fabulous, super duper mud.

Sandy’s novel “Deadly Trespass, A Mystery in Maine,” was a finalist in the Maine Literary Awards, a recipient of a Mystery Writers of America national award and a national finalist in the Women’s Fiction Writers Association “Rising Star” contest.. Her second Mystery in Maine novel, “Deadly Turn” is now in Sherman’s Books and on Amazon in Kindle and paperback. She lives in the Maine woods and says she’d rather be “fly fishing, skiing remote trails, paddling near loons, or just generally out there.” Find more info on her website.