I can hear the rain beating upon the skylights above me. It is early March, the snow has melted, all except the residual ice mounds left by the driveway snowplow, but the ice on the lake remains. We have had two snow melts in the past 2 months, mid-January and last weekend with a half-a-foot of snow in between melts. Our Emerald Lake is about as high as it gets and the other flood plain lakes in our wetland area are still at flood stage. After the last thaw, although the days were sunny and at times above freezing, the nights were in the single digits, night after night after night. The flood waters froze in place, so these great ice sheaths have frozen to the very edges of the shores. I presume our rain today will further melt the lake ice, although going from 6 to 8 inches thick to 2 inches still leaves a cover of ice, delaying the onset of spring, heralded as it is by geese coming to nest and breed. This morning I awakened to the honking of a pair of geese, walking the yard where a neighbor lady feeds the wildlife. The area has long ago been picked over, the deer it seems, no longer coming. So the geese, in their quest to obtain the choice nesting spot, have arrived but find no food, and most important to their safety and survival, no open water. They are gone now, they will have to wait for another time to return.

Kathy and I went on our 2 mile walk today, sheltered by our raincoats, one red the other orange, colorful, on a cloudy rainy day.

To put this all in perspective, I have been thinking of the cottage, Lake Huron water levels, and I am pleased to inform you, all who hopefully will be coming to the Cottage's 50th Anniversary, that with all the snow, the bitterly cold winter causing ice covering major portions of the Great Lakes, reducing evaporation which accounts for 95% of Great Lakes water loss, the Army Corps of Engineers predicts Lake Huron's August water levels to be 5 to 12 inches above last years, levels. Hopefully, the foot above last year is the real number; the island will be an island again, which it hasn't been for quite a while now. Grandkids can play in the in between shallows, still with their life jackets on, nevertheless, the water will be warmer, the bottom siltier and hence dig-able and they can get really dirty. Take them to the end of the island, dunk them in, and voila, clean again, ready for another round.

So, a dreary day with a bright forecast.