GRASS WHEELS

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I have a new idea for a book. It's working title is "Grass Wheels." It is about a boy who goes on a road trip with his family, and on that trip he is so bored that his imagination begins to take over. Every time he sees a 'grass wheel' on the side of the road it turns into an animal of some kind. His imagination is sometimes surprising, sometimes humorous. And just wait for the fun surprise ending! 
My inspiration for the story is the actual hay bales here in North Dakota. They are almost all round, not rectangular. While living in California, all of the hay bales I had ever seen were rectangular. The 'grass wheels' here are intriguing because of their different shape. You can see them on the side of the road or in a field. They are wonderful in the fields during the golden light that casts their shadows at the end of the day. After living here for over 15 years, I still love to see them.
cw

Love Them Clouds!

Excellent cumulonimbus.

When we arrived in North Dakota, I was entranced by the excellent cloud formations. Not only  are there big puffy clouds like the one at left, but when they become storm clouds they are absolutely awesome! 

Because I come from a relatively quiet area of the country when it comes to lightening and thunder storms, I was delighted to learn that there's more than enough to go around in North Dakota! We live at the upper extreme of tornado alley and so, tornadoes are rare, but still a concern. We do have sirens that sound every day at certain times, just to be sure that they are in working order. One of the little towns just 16 miles from us had a tornado visit the summer of 2007. I have had the dubious honor of being just a mile from one that showed up at the Grand Forks Air Force Base in 1996. That was the first one I had ever encountered. It was scary. 
Cw