I'm still in Nanuet, New York. The weather has been much the same as it has been in Michigan, I believe. Cool weather and lots of rain.

Graduation is the big event in Cedarville this coming weekend and I shall be back in Cedarville to attend the graduation at the Les Cheneaux Schools. Lauren Izzard, our youngest grandchild, will be receiving her high school diploma on that day. Graduation parties are being planned all over the Les Cheneaux community during the next week and we certainly wish all of the graduating seniors a happy and worthwhile future. "Happy" and "worthwhile" doesn't necessarily mean making lots of money. There are other ways of achieving a satisfying and meaningful existence. The necessary ingredient is to enjoy what you are doing with your life.

Even though I am far away in New York, I brought along another story of Bruce Patrick's. This one is about the dredging of a channel by Bob Hamel for Dr. Zeit of Duck Bay. One may recall from a previous story that Dr. Zeit had a boat named Wander. The story follows:

"The Wander was tied up to the big crib that Dad (Bruce K. Patrick) built, but after a few years the water level of Lake Huron went down about three feet. The Wander could not get to this dock, so Bob Hamel was contacted to come in with his big tugboat to dredge a channel out from the crib to the entrance to Duck Bay. Bob put a cable on to the crib and stretched it out to Wisner's Point.

"He hooked the tug to the far end and started the tug motor. When he put the tug in gear, the big propeller fanned a huge channel, so as the tug was pulled back a few feet at a time, the channel was dug. They dug a deep channel all the way back to the crib. Great, but this channel had to be dug each year! The soft mud in Duck Bay would fill in during the year, so it had to be fanned out each year.

"You see, the water levels of the Great Lakes changes from year to year. In the year 1924, Lake Huron was way down. So low that my father, Bruce K., who was a dock builder, had many docks to extend out so that people could use their boat wells. By 1928, water levels in Lake Huron had raised more than four feet. Then by 1932 it was down again by three feet. I think the tug boat was the Alie Bee that Bob used at this time."

From the above story by Bruce, one can see that the rising and lowering water levels that we have experienced during the past 20 years or so is not unusual. One just has to "go with the flow," so to speak, and deal with whatever Mother Nature dishes out. I wonder what it will be this year.

Next week this column will be written from Cedarville. It's fun and exciting to get away, but it's also always nice to return home.