RIVER CITY JOURNAL: WHEN YOU WIN THE RACE, IT'S GOOD NOT TO BRAG TOO MUCH

In case you don't have a copy of "The Farmer's Almanac" of your own, it's not too early to put seeds in the ground.

Already I've heard several comments about planting lettuce and spinach. And a few onion sets as well.

Tomorrow, of course, is the big day for planting potatoes. My father-in-law swore that potatoes planted on St. Patrick's Day were far superior to those planted earlier or later.

He should know. He was a gardener for more than 80 years. In his hometown, his vegetables were usually not just the best, but the first.

One of the stories we still tell about his annual race to be first dates back to the year he found new potatoes a few weeks earlier than ever before. He clawed through the rich, black dirt with his bare hands and collected a good mess of the small spuds in the baseball-style cap he always wore.

As he was heading from the garden to the kitchen door, the next-door neighbor spotted my father-in-law and his prized potatoes.

My father-in-law walked over to show the neighbor his loot. She took the potatoes -- hat and all -- and headed toward her own kitchen with a cheery, "Thanks, Jerry, We'll have these for dinner tonight."

After that -- at least this is the way the family tells the story -- my father-in-law would sneak the first of any crop into his own kitchen with strict orders not to go bragging.

He had learned his lesson. What does the Bible call it? Getting puffed up? Not my father-in-law. Not after that.

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Meanwhile, many of us will look for ways to serve the noble potato in celebration of St. Patrick's Day. Some of you will steer clear of potatoes and look for things to do with corned beef.

One thing you could do with it is put it away for another meal.

In Ireland, most folks would give you a pretty puzzled look if you asked about corned beef on St. Patrick's Day or any other day, for that matter.

Somehow, corned beef-eating Americans decided this must be a traditional Irish food.

My wife and I expect a full report on a genuine Irish celebration of St. Patrick's Day from our younger son, who recently moved to Dublin.

Already we know that the current foot-and-mouth disease scare has curtailed most big parades and outdoor celebrations. Travel outside the city has been severely restricted in an effort to contain the outbreak.

When he called last week, we told our son the story of our visit to Ireland nearly 35 years ago.

We had been traveling in England for several days and decided to go to Ireland by way of the boat-train. This involves getting on a train in London and traveling across western England and Wales. Since we were going to Cork in Ireland, we took the train to the port town of Fishguard in Wales.

About midnight, the train pulled up to the dock where the boat was waiting to takes us across the Irish Sea. We immediately ran into immigration officials who wanted to know if we had visited any farms.

My wife, for reasons still unknown to her, mumbled to me, "What about your hoof-and-mouth disease?"

Before you could say "leprechaun" -- much less spell it -- two burly men picked me up and hauled me away. As most of you can imagine, picking me up is not simple chore. Neither is hauling me away.

I think they were going to dust me, or worse, but I finally convinced them my wife was only joking -- Ha! Ha! -- and I really wasn't a threat to Irish agriculture.

They finally took my word for it, and I hadn't even kissed the Blarney Stone yet.

For some reason, younger son got quite a laugh out of that story.

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I suppose you've heard enough about the roundabout by now. I certainly have.

Let's face it. The roundabout is too small. The concrete ledge that looks like bricks is too high.

This can be fixed.

Make the faux-brick ledge the same level as the street so vehicles can run over if, it need be, without having to buy a new set of tires.

When the piece of Silver Springs Road from the roundabout to William Street is opened, the roundabout's shortcomings will be magnified a hundredfold.

The city needs to get in gear and take care of the problem. If street engineers want to put any more roundabouts around town, they're going to have to get the kinks out of this one in order to convince motorists that traffic circles are a good idea.

How about it, street department? Can we get this fixed?