The fifth season

Up here in Vermont we have a fifth season known as mud season. It is when the snow pack and the dirt roads combine and make mud.
Now one thing about dirt roads during this time of renewal is they do not act like your normal paved road. Oh they have pot holes but then they also have soft spots, ruts, washboards and are slicker than all get out. Whatever you do don't slam on your brakes. Hit the deer or squirrel, its better than slamming on the brakes and doing a long, slow motion slide into a ditch. Because once you hit the ditch you will not be going anywhere any time soon. One of the other unique qualities of a ditch at this time of year is the sides have a tendency to collapse. And of course they are full of ice cold rushing water. 
Dirt roads are exciting during mud season. You don't know from the time you left in the morning till the time you get home at night what condition your road will be in. One year we had a soft spot so big that our full size school bus sank up and beyond its axles in it. And so did my car and a neighbors car. Soft spots look okay until you drive on them. They are a dirt road equivalent to quick sand from the old movies. Looks okay but one wrong move and its goodbye car, truck or even bus.
The ruts are like driving down a course you cannot get out of. If you turn your steering wheel too hard and try to direct your car out of the ruts you might find yourself in a ditch or up against a tree because at some point you will hit your brakes in desperation and go sliding across the road.
Washboard is what it sounds like. Many bumps one after another whose only goal in life is to shake loose every screw and bolt in your vehicle and every filling in your head.
Mud becomes ingrained in every fiber of your being this time of year. Your vehicle is covered with it, you walk through it (hey, the driveways around here are dirt too!), your animals track it through the house and at some point you will slide on it and fall into it. 
Mud, its not just for face masks or body wraps. Its also for driving on, skidding through and hell, up here we just plain enjoy the challenge. That is one reason why you see so many of us with beat up 4 wheel drive trucks. Mud, share the fun!