The whole area seems to be “under water.” We drove west on M-46 today on our way to our friend George Horny’s son’s memorial visitation in nearby Hemlock, MI. With about four inches of rain this week, and a few inches the week before, we’re more than saturated. Farm fields are underwater. But more rain is anticipated.

I look at Sun City Center, Florida’s weather and wish we could send our over-abundance of precipitation down there.

At least I hope that this soggy weather and massive snowfall this past winter in Michigan will have raised water levels on the Great Lakes – especially Lake Michigan. Our vacation place in the Upper Peninsula (near Thompson) has seen a depressing decline in the water table up there.

Please don’t think I’m in any way bragging about our U.P. retreat. Our place up there was purchased in 1990 strictly because we figured “property” would appreciate. The residence which came with the land is a grungy, smelly, 1960’s 12 x 55 foot trailer but about five years ago we added an off-set pole-barn type roof over it which covers the trailer and a newly built 24 x 12 elevated deck toward the lake (Lake Michigan). It does have a good well, power, and a septic system. But it seems we are always fighting black flies, ticks, beach flies or mosquitoes. The white sand beach which we enjoyed for the first half dozen years is now gone. We purchased the trailer and land (nearly 200 feet of frontage by over 700 feet deep) for a steal price but we have watched the taxes go up and up and up. We thought it was a good investment. Now we’d probably have a hard time giving it a way.

Maybe/hopefully this rainfall will be beneficial in bringing our U.P. property back to the state it was in when we bought it.