Rain Woes
This is the twenty-first day in a row that it has rained. We've had everything from light drizzle to pounding downpours with high winds. Some areas are flooded. Michigan farmers are getting seriously concerned about getting their crops planted.

Today it's cloudy with light, occasional rain. It's only 58 degrees F/14 degrees C. Some sun would really cheer things up.

The dogs and I go out for walks between rains, but it isn't pleasant. The paths are partially under water. We have very sandy, porous soil. Usually any standing water is gone in a few hours, but there has just been too much rain. To add to the wetness, the paths haven't been mowed because it has been too wet and we didn't want to disturb or mow over the fledgling bluebirds.

The bluebird house is empty, but I haven't seen the fledglings. Since they fledged, probably Saturday or Sunday, it's been cold and very rainy. I hope they're hunkered down somewhere safe and warm.

Monday morning it was cloudy but not raining, so the two Citizen Scientists went to the Nature Center to do plant inventory. We learned that it is possible to get wet even when it's not raining. Our feet were sloshing around in our shoes and it was all very cold and unpleasant. We lasted an hour and went home to change clothes and warm up.

The weather forecast for the rest of the week is rain. The weather forecast for this coming Memorial Day weekend is thunderstorms.

This afternoon I did a little shopping. Everyone was talking about the rain and how they wish it would just go away.

I've been feeling down this week. No reason. I'm blaming it on the weather. I stopped at the library and got five no-brainer books to read. When I was employed, I read to relax and escape. Since I've been unemployed, I haven't read much fiction at all.

When it comes to books, I have no will power. Once I start reading I keep reading and real life becomes an annoyance until I'm done with the book. It will be interesting to see if that changes now that I have a more relaxed lifestyle.

I stopped at a garden center and bought some new garden tools. Then I stopped at a Greenhouse and picked up a flat of impatients, a flat of torenia clown mix, and a hanging pot of non-stop begonias. Impatients love it here. This will be a first time trial run for the torenia. They're pretty little things. I hope I can make them happy enough so they blossom all summer, but I'm not going to work too hard at it. If they aren't happy, they won't be invited back.

Michigan people love to talk about the weather. How's the weather where you are? (Please be sure to tell us where that is.)