Islands In The Stream 

Here are a few examples of the extraordinary homemade dams holding back the Mississippi, as desperate residents try to save their homes. I sure hope they continue to be successful. 

I don't mean to sound pessimistic, but lately it seems there is so much going on in the world at one time it's hard to keep up. The economy is in free-fall, the wars in the Middle East rage on with no end in sight and to top it all off I heard on a CBC documentary last night that France, China and southern USA (Texas & Kansas in particular were mentioned) are all suffering from drought conditions. The fact that it is a spring drought in France and not one gradually brought on by hot summer conditions is especially worrying. The world wheat supply is already strained due to the drought last year in Russia. Food prices are most certainly going to rise and possibly dramatically. This is getting scary. I plan to really stock up over the next few months on non-perishables.

Here in Canada we are flooding in Saskatchewan and out west a number of small northern towns (including Slave Lake) were evacuated this week due to forest fires. Many people lost their homes and livelihoods. 

In light of the above doom and gloom, the pictures below are actually kind of encouraging: they are a testament to the the average man's ingenuity and can-do spirit when his back is up against the wall.