Local farmers complain that they haven't seen such a dry spring in several generations' time. Some express concern that they will be facing hard financial times; their crops are not prospering and of course we'll all be the poorer for that, not just the farming community but the population that depends on what they raise for us. We've received, this spring in the Ottawa Valley, roughly one-third of the usual rainfall that we depend upon at this critical time of year when crops are beginning to establish themselves locally.

Today's rainfall will certainly help. We're expecting up to 30 millimeters of rain. Funny thing, we're also informed that the UV index is high, despite the presence of sun-obliterating dark clouds crowding the sky.

So this is what nature has given us on the occasion of our 61st wedding anniversary. Good thing we aren't dependent on sunny, warm weather to keep us happy. It is, in any event, a day just like any other; it simply has a number attached to it and an event linked to that number. We'd like to keep counting to infinity.

The years have reduced the numbers directly resident in our household, but in the physical absence of our children, living on their own and advancing steadily in years themselves, we've invited others to share life with us. Last year was a real challenge at our age to raise and 'normalize/housebreak' two mischievous siblings. I believe that small-breed dogs are not as amenable to discipline as their larger breed cousins. Likely because we tend to treat them differently; the smaller the more helpless/dependent we think they are on us, so we treat them like babies and they respond the same way.

Jack and Jill have finally become partly civilized. They have their moments, however, behaving very obstreperously in the presence of other dogs; hostile at first, accepting as soon as they become familiar. And when they meet dogs they already have formed a friendship with, they're delighted to see them; it's that initial suspicion that's troublesome.

Jackie

They still tend to romp at breakneck speed and agility through the house in mad chases. And they do the same in the backyard. Just as well, since we haven't allowed them off-leash in the ravine for over a month and aren't likely to, any time soon. Their penchant for nondiscriminatory grazing has got them and us in too many tight, emergency situations, and we aren't fond of leaving Jackie overnight at the veterinarian hospital to be given intravenous drugs to combat pathogens he's ingested which make him violently ill.

Jillie