The Farmboy Trio and the Sludge!

Today was cold.  We've had unusually warm weather, but today was actually freezing.  The Farmboy Trio was intent that pond in the middle of the woods was probably frozen, and no one was going to persuade them any different.  So outside the Trio went!  {Ahh, the house was so quiet.}
About an hour later into the house burst the Keeper of the Flame(oldest of the Trio).
"Help! The Pied Piper is stuck in the sludge and we can't get him out!"
The Wife stopped making lunch and got on her "duds" to go on the rescue mission.  She found the Pied Piper stuck up to his knees in sludge.  Boots were totally unseen and boy was crying, "I'm stuck! I'm cold!"
{For the record: sludge in this case is made up of half mud and half cow manure.}
All the questions could be answered later, the sludge was acting like quick sand, the more he had struggled, the more stuck he was.  The Wife had on her "duds", but there was no amount of "dudding" that was going to rescue her from getting quite coated in sludge as well.  The Wife made her way out to the boy, leaned over, told the Pied Piper to hold onto the back of her coat, and plunged her hands into the ice-cold sludge to grab ahold of the boots below.  Foot number one came unstuck and the Wife lost her balance.  The Wife was now coated with sludge from the right hip down, both her hands to elbows, and in her hair.  This was not going to get any better, foot number two now had to be dislodged.  With the free-ing of the second foot the Wife picked up the crying Pied Piper and carried him out of the sludge.  With sludge dripping everywhere, the both of them made it inside.  All boots were dropped outside the door-the Keeper of the Flame hosed them all out and off.  Inside the house clothing was stripped off and went directly to the laundry to be hosed off and then washed.  Frozen hands and feet were thawed in water and then by the woodstove. Thankfully no one else followed the Pied Piper into the sludge!  For ONCE!  Thankfully it was just one boy the mother had to rescue and there were others to go run for help! That's why we go in "twos" everywhere on the farm.
And for the record, the pond was not frozen.