The Real Mule

One of the nice things about the location of Forever Sky is that the water table is fairly high. Even in the driest months, we can have beautiful pasture--(NOT a problem these days.) But where there are low spots on the property, the ground stays wet. Those low spots aren't an issue at all for the barn, which is built on a huge mound of dirt, and they aren't much of an issue for the pastures, because they were designed to drain. But especially during this perpetually wet weather, those low spots ARE an issue for the Mule.

The beloved Mule.

No, not the animal. Our Mule is a Kawasaki utility vehicle we use for just about everything on the ranch.

The poor thing looks drove hard and put up wet--or in this case, muddy. The body is beat up, the seats are torn, even the frame is bent. Before we replaced the tailgate, we used to have to carry a hammer with us to beat in the corners whenever it would refuse to latch. You'd suddenly hear a loud banging noise and turn to find Janine whacking the crap out of the Mule with the hammer. To someone who didn't know better, it looked as if Janine had finally gone mad, or that she was taking out her anger on a helpless piece of machinery. (She actually saves that for the mice...)

Despite its appearance, we love the mule. It has its own personality, much like the Velveteen Rabbit, all beat up and shabby from years of love and hugs, or in this case, wrecks and getting stuck in the mud.

We bought the Mule new before there was a barn, when there was just a fenced pasture and a lot of mucky mud where trees were being cleared. It became a form of initiation to get the mule stuck. And then get the 4-wheeler stuck trying to pull out the mule. (And on one occasion, getting the tractor stuck while trying to retrieve the 4-wheeler that was unsuccessful in retrieving the mule. We had to call in the Bulldozer on that one, and I'm really glad the guy who pulled me out lost those pictures.)

So when Carla told me today that she sank into the mud while driving the mule through an area where we had recently cleared more trees, I laughed.

"Well, you're not really part of the family until you've gotten that mule stuck."

And so, muddy and dented, with chipped paint and torn seats, the Forever Sky Mule is much more than an old beat-up piece of machinery. It stands for all the hard work that has gone into building the ranch and all the hard work that keeps the ranch going. The Mule is our mascot. And to us, he's not just a vehicle.

Like the old Skin Horse said to the Velveteen rabbit: "Generally by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real, you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand."