Standing in Stink Stew

Everything was already muddy from snow melt and when I added shredded paper, it would just dissolve like cotton candy. I used entire bags of paper until it didn't dissolve anymore. The coops began to fill inch by inch with pulpy mash. Eventually we started getting warm winds that started to dry things up. A hard crust of dried barn mud paper mash formed over the top of the now swollen and oozy layers of stinky muck.


The ducks seemed to think it was pretty terrific because they would dig their bills into it and jab up and down until they scored a tasty treat.  The other birds were light weight enough they didn't sink.  It was actually rather springy and sometimes I could even hear a slosh when I stepped.   It wasn't a horrific problem unless I stepped in an especially wet area hidden beneath the paper mache mud. Then, it was like walking along in crunchy snow and suddenly losing a leg down into a snow drift.

Except it wasn't snow and I had holes in my rubber boots.