Tomato blossoms. Soon fruit will set and later will grace our table.
Zucchini blossoms most will not grow into those tasty summer squashes.
By the barn, day lillies are in full bloom.
Stella d’Oro day lilies grace the formal garden.
Lavender attracts the bees.
And bees.
And more bees.
Today I want to take you down to our meadow. Where we’ll be looking at grasses.
Michigan’s rural roads may be in for some changes. The word is getting out.
The road in front of our house, which is located on the left.
An AP story dated Friday June 12 reports:
LANSING – As goes Michigan’s crumbling economy, so go some once-paved rural roads now being turned back into gravel. About a quarter of the state’s county road agencies largely left out of the federal stimulus package, which focuses on highways and other major thoroughfares, say they can’t afford some costly repaving projects and have crushed up deteriorating roads.
Montcalm County alone estimates it saved nearly $900,000 by converting almost 10 miles of pothole-plagued pavement into gravel this spring.
Reverting to gravel on low-traffic roads has been done to some degree for years and long-term savings and maintenance costs vary widely. But it can be an attractive option for municipalities seeking to save money up front and it’s recently been done in a few other states, including Indiana and Vermont.
More than 20 of the 83 counties in Michigan, home to the nation’s highest unemployment rate for much of the past four years, have turned rural roads back to gravel with no immediate plans to repave, according to the County Road Association of Michigan. About 50 miles have been reverted in the last three years.
You can read the complete story here.
The pain is coming home to many folks in these economic hard times. Fortunately, they won’t be changing our road. It is already a gravel (or dirt) road, and that’s okay by me.
As I sat at the computer I saw Spots, our male cat, heading toward the barn. He walked past a dried weed that lay on the driveway where the mower deck had thrown it.
A puff of wind blew on the weedy wad and caused it to move. Spots stopped and looked back. He was interested. He began to stalk.
Another puff of wind. Another movement. Spots pounced on the weed. (No, not that kind of weed!)
On close examination, he realized he had been had. Then it was look around and see if anyone is watching. (A guy has to maintain his dignity.)
With feline dignity fully intact, he hopped away, showing that old weed his heels as he went to get a drink of water in the barn.
The latter part of May is when we plant our garden here in Ionia County. We plant our vegetable garden on low ground. It is an area that stays damp through the heat of summer, but makes it vulnerable to frost at the beginning and end of the growing season.
Meanwhile across our lawn, the road and the nearest field, we see cows grazing contentedly. Next years steaks and burgers on the hoof.
Looking south, we see a corner of the barn, the garage and our house. Nice view from up there.
If today is Tuesday this must be Lake Odessa, Michigan, USA. Last week I told you that Lake Odessa is a village and not a body of water. There are two lakes here, Tupper Lake and the larger Jordan Lake. From those two comes the name, “Lake.” “Odessa” is the name of the township.
Independence, patriotism and family values are very strong in this part of our nation.
Jordan Lake is on the south side of town. Part of the lake is in Ionia County the rest is in Barry County. This is the entrance to the village park.
Jordan Lake comprises 430 acres and is enjoyed by fisherman, swimmers, skiers and other boating enthusiasts.
The lake is surrounded by year-round houses.
Cargill Kitchen Solutions is the largest employer in this part of the county. This business was previously owned by Sunny Fresh and it specializes in egg products.
This is the narrow end of the Cargill plant.
As you leave the village headed north, Viking Car Wash is on the edge of town. Last year, this do-it-yourself car wash was completely renovated. Like Cargill, which is located just across the road, this is a symbol of optimism. Clean, bright, and do-it yourself. For most of us, it is our way of life.
The mailing address here is Lake Odessa, Michigan. Sylvia and I live 5 miles north of the village and a couple of miles west. The village is located on the north shore of Jordan Lake. The name of the village comes from Odessa Township, where it is located. “Lake” is added to recognize Tupper Lake and Jordan Lake. There is no body of water here called Lake Odessa.
The main street is called Fourth Avenue, and it is the heart of the business district. A decade ago, there were two rival pizza restaurants on Fourth Ave. And then the rivals fell in love and got married. He closed his shop and together they run Penny’s Pizza.
The busiest restaurant in town is located next to Penny’s. It is C&R’s Home Style Cafe. A great place to eat. Ask anyone from the Lake Odessa area. We’re sure to see someone we know when we stop here. It may be difficult to find a convenient place to park on Sunday, but you can probably find room at a table. Good food nice folks.
Just off of Fourth Ave on M-50 (state highway) is the oriental restaurant, Chee Peng. It is one of our favorite places to eat. That’s our car parked there last Sunday. We had spicy pork and chicken. Yummy! We go for that — big time!
Chee Peng serves Chinese and Thai cuisine. It can be difficult to choose an item from the menu. It is all good! I always go for something spicy. To make it more interesting, I sometimes have Chinese and sometimes I go for a hot Thai dish. Never a disappointment here.
Looking north up Fourth Ave. I took this shot through the windshield while we sat in front of Central United Methodist Church, which is located across from the Post Office. Notice the grain elevator on the left.
Atop the elevator you can see an array of antennas.
These antennas are of interest to me, because they belong to my ISP, Reliable Internet, LLC. By radio waves this is about 6 miles from our house. We connect into this site on a microwave link and from there we are connected at high speed to the Internet.
Next time I’ll show you some more of the Village of Lake Odessa. I hope to see you again.
In December of 1995, I traveled on business to Alicante, Spain. Alicante is the main city along Spain’s Costa Blanca. I went a couple of days early and visited my friend, Enrique. Earlier, I shared our trip to Guadalest with you. Then we returned to Alicante.
I took this shot of the nearly empty beach out the window of my hotel room. Remember it was December. That beach will be very crowded during the summer months — especially in August.
Later, the full moon rose over the Mediterranean, which transformed the scene as if by magic. Traffic zipped along the highway while the moon shone down on the lazily moving water.
The next morning found me looking out the window at Santa Barbara Castle, which is located on Mount Benacantil. After business was taken care of, it was up the hill to the castle.
From Santa Barbara castle, I looked down on the town and the sailboats in the harbor. It was a beautiful sight.
A slight turn to the right and I could see the hotel and the boat slips across the way. Then it was back down the hill and the work that awaited me there.
It was a very enjoyable visit. Business was good and it was great to see some of my Spanish friends again. If you get the chance to visit Alicante, don’t miss it!
Home is located in Odessa Township, Ionia County, Michigan. Spring came late this year, or maybe it was that winter just didn’t want to leave. We’ve had an unusually high amount of rain so far. Warm weather has everything that grows shifting into overdrive. Here’s a look at what’s happening these days.
The young leaves have appeared on the maple trees. While we usually associate those colors with fall, they also appear in the spring. We’ll walk toward the house and the formal gardens (as we call them) in the walk-out area.
The phlox have finally taken off after a few years of very slow growth. These white phlox look almost as good as a bride on her wedding day.
More phlox on the other side. These have a nice purple tinge to them.
Closer to the driveway, the tulips reign supreme. The hostas are growing and will be in their glory when the tulip blossoms are gone. The daffodil blossoms are looking very sad. In the back, the purple of myrtle blossoms still grace their part of the garden.
Leaving the garden area, we approach the barn. There in the grass is a large patch of violets. When I was a youngster this was one of our favorite lawn flowers. We’d pick some in early May and take them to mother as a gift. I still think of mom when I see violets growing in the lawn. I won’t mow this area until the violets have ceased blooming.
Unlike the tulips in the formal garden, these are yellow with a touch of red. I find them to be stunning in their beauty. Every year we remove flowers from this area beside the barn and move them into one of the flower beds. Some of them continue to elude us as this one has.
I hope you’ve enjoyed our flower gardens. Please come back and visit again. You are always welcome.
This week, I take you with me on a tour of southern Ionia County, Michigan.
It started on my birthday. Sylvia said, “Come with me. You are going for a ride. She drove me to the Ionia Airport and showed me the high-performance glider. In which I would be riding.
I was pumped! Up there with no engines — it would be a quiet ride, and one I wouldn’t forget. Soon I was sitting in the front and the pilot was belting in behind me.
The tow plane attached a cable to the front, and soon we were circling as we gained altitude. Before long we were crossing over I-96 and I took the shot above toward the west. The extra lanes in the foreground are for truck scales operated by the State of Michigan. The road intersection near the center is M-66, which bisects our county north to south.
We turned west and I took this shot of the Herbruck “Hennery,” an operation that produces more than a few dozen eggs each day. The gap in the buildings is where one of the units had burned just a couple of weeks earlier. This is located just south of I-96. M-66 can be seen near the bottom of the photo.
A few minutes later, the altimeter read 10,000 feet. I pulled the yellow knob as the pilot instructed. The tow cable broke free, and the tow plane dived for earth. We had the sky to ourselves. It was beautiful!
The shot above is of the City of Portland. We used to live there, just below the larger white building in the upper left.
After this, I became so thrilled with the sights that I forgot to take pictures for quite a while.
Finally, I realized that we were nearing our house. I took the above photo of our neighborhood. Our house and white barn are in the black circle in the lower left. Our church, which is a mile north of us in in the middle on the right side. Meghan and Curt of Beacon Bay Farm are around the corner from us. Their house and building are to the right of our house.
We flew just south of Ionia. The race track is on the grounds of the Ionia Free Fair. M-66 enters the picture in the lower right, goes north through town, takes a dog-leg to the west (left) and exits at the top. (The yellow circle near the top on the right side is a reflection of the cable-release knob that I had pulled earlier to free us from the tow plane.)
We are headed east as we come in for a landing on the grassy strip beside the runway. Don’t worry, it is nice and smooth. Hey! Lift your feet. That’s a truck in front of us on M-66.
I hope you enjoyed this brief tour of our beautiful rural neighborhood.