Wow! That was a jam packed day. I saw Ben off to his new apartment digs in the morning, made bread and got some housecleaning done, went hiking with Kirk at Crooked Lake and Dygert. On the way he said he was hungry so he treated for pizza and beer in Columbia City. While we were going through town on 9 we saw 4 cop cars, 2 of which were already busy with stops. Apparently they weren't fooling about the extra traffic stops for the next several weeks. The beer caused us to become temporarily dislocated and we drove around for aaaaawhile trying to find Dygert. I've been there twice and Kirk says he's only been there once. While we were hiking I got a little stubborn about trying to find the meadow where all the Blue Eyed Marys were in bloom this past April . They'd been through along the ditch which runs through the preserve with construction machinery and ripped a lot of trees out in the process. It made it difficult to recognize the exact spot. Here are the comparison photos.

When we got back, the temperature had really dropped and since I didn't have my leather coat, I decided to head right for home. I was whipped from all the hiking anyway. Surprise, surprise when I got home I had a phone call from Alfred . He just got back from vacation a couple of weeks ago. He went home to Austria to work on the house he's building. Now there's a worthy goal, build a house in Austria to fill with a fine wife and lots of blonde haired babies. I wish him the best of luck.