My son Anders, his beautiful wife Emily and their 2 boys Joel and Stuart came up for a visit this week. They live in Kentucky where they are homesteading/farming. We don't get to see them as often as we would like.

We had a nice visit under the Magnolia tree and a picnicky lunch of 3-cheese grilled cheese sandwiches and homemade apple sauce. Joel had a particularly good time playing on the cellar door. It made me smile to watch him as I had spent plenty of time sliding on the cellar door when I was little.

It was a wonderful day to spend outside visiting, but I do wish we would get some rain. We are watering the garden and filling the hogs' wallows at least twice a week now. The dust is unbelievable. The slightest breeze stirs it up on any little patch of ground that doesn't have grass cover.

While I am waiting for water tanks and wallows fill, I find myself watching the western sky for any hint of a rain cloud.