November is met with differing degrees of enthusiasm by the man of the house than it is by his wife. From the minute the first trees start to show a splash of color, the Michigan men start counting days until deer season. As wives look ahead they see Thanksgiving, Christmas, shopping, cleaning, cooking and company looming with considerably less excitement. But really now, wouldn't you rather do what we do, than get up before daylight and go to the woods and sit on a frozen stump all day? So pass the sticky notes and let's get at it.

Editor's Note: Five in the Eicher home have fevers, including Lovina. She was unable to complete a column for this week. We are wishing her a quick recovery for next week. This week I am sharing two of my favorite recipes that Lovina wrote for inclusion in "The Amish Cook's Baking Book," available in stores now.

You're riding south to a reunion when a warm flush begins to spread through your body. Your chest grows uncomfortably tight, making it hard to breathe and your heart begins to race. Before you can react, a tingling sensation creeps up your arm, you get dizzy and begin to sweat. Your unease turns to terror as you realize you're having a heart attack.

Annabelle Stachnik is a third-grader at the Grand Traverse Academy and her friend, Anna Jackson, is a second-grader. The two share the same homeroom. When Annabelle received an invitation to Anna's seventh birthday party, Annabelle's mom, Alaina Stachnik, was so impressed that Anna asked her guests to consider making a donation to a local food pantry instead of giving her gifts. (Plus more good news from around the region.)

The Dow Jones Industrial Average has grown about 60 percent since bottoming out in March of this year. As it recently crossed the 10,000 mark, I was starting to sing a rousing rendition of "Happy Days Are Here Again" when I began to wonder what we're all so happy about. What has given the stock market such confidence that it climbed over that psychological 10,000 barrier?

The Thistledown Shoppe, the wee shoppe with a big heart in Suttons Bay, is sponsoring a community project to help children fight the winter chill.

One or two northern Michigan races could be pivotal in the uphill quest of Democrats next year to seize control of the state Senate, now the only bastion of GOP power in the three branches of government in Lansing.

A bilious billboard reappeared again and again as I was ferried, via bike basket-nest all over New York. Huh. Piles of desperate people were seeking out their clinics, eliminating that worry. I bent double, speechless, convulsed with laughter, for what seemed like hours.

You might also have thought that state legislators would have their plates full trying to cope with the ongoing state budget crisis. But no. There is a small band of lawmakers in both the State House and Senate dedicated to either rolling back the will of the people " or throwing enough restrictions in the way that stem-cell research would be practically impossible.