Water, Water Everywhere
A couple days ago we had a heavy rain that melted the last of our snow, leaving this in the field next to my house. The ground is only thawed for a few inches so the water can't soak in. Normally the fields are channeled in the fall so the water can drained off. This is a low spot and the channel is blocked. If this field was planted in winter wheat (planted in the fall, grows and establishes a root system, goes dormant for the winter and begins growing as soon as the ground thaws) this water would kill the plants. The farmer usually plants corn or soy beans in this field. When the channel is working, the water drains into the ditch in front of my house, into a stream, into a river two miles away, into other rivers and finally into Saginaw Bay which is between the thumb and fingers of the mitten. This is Lake Huron.

Best Part of Vacation
The best part of my recent Hawaiian vacation was getting away from everything. I watched no TV and read no newspapers. I did no cooking but ate some great food. And no dishes or clean up. No housework. No mail or phone calls. No list of to-dos or errands. Sunshine and flowers. Seeing new sights and learning new things. The best part of coming home was reuniting with Kipper and sleeping on my own pillow in my own bed.