Changing of the seasons

The swallows hace come (or are they starlings, I don't know). In the last few days I have seen tons of them gliding and darting above the rice fields. They seem to love the rice fields though they must be eating bugs above the rice because they never dart into the rice. So I've learned that swallows (or what ever they are) like rice. I've learned quite a few other things about rice here. For one, it grows like a weed. Rice planted less than a month ago is more than a foot tall now and makes a nice russling sound when the wind brushes through it. Other birds, namely egrets, like to be around when rice is harvested, probably a lot of good bugs churned up. I've also learned from a combination of observation and an article that rice does not need to be under water, it is just tolerant of that state of being semi submersed and it is a good weed provention technique. Finally you can plant rice with these tractors that just drop small plants every few inches. And I have yet to see an ox or yak in a rice field anywhere.

So now you know.