Greetings from a steamy Keweenaw! We are currently at 84 and climbing. I doubt that we will hit 90 today, but there is a reasonable chance that we could get there tomorrow. If we did, it would be the first 90 degree temp we have had all summer so far and the first time hitting 90 or warmer since June 10, 2017. All of these temperatures are from the airport, as that is where the data is archived in a manner in which I can get it, so it is certainly possible that some areas up have already hit 90 for the season and upon further review (checked my own weather station data while I was typing), I hit 90 degrees on July 4th of this year. The airport hit 89 that day and has reached 89 a few other days so far this year.
The dewpoint has also been pretty high the past few days, with readings in the upper 60’s to low 70’s. So we are getting the old “double whammy” of heat and humidity, at least for the UP! I realize that these numbers would make someone chuckle in areas to our south, but for us, its pretty hot. I’m not complaining though. Overall, this summer had been a dandy. Take out the Father’s Day flood in June and I think I could easily give this summer an “A”.
Even though our daytime highs have been running up into the 80’s with humidity quite a bit, it still manages to get down into the 50’s and low 60’s at night, so by around 7 pm, we are opening up the windows and sleeping under the covers. The house is insulated enough that most days we do not need to run the AC, by closing the windows at around 8 AM when things start heating up for the day.
We are also fairly dry. Not in a drought by any means. Our rainfall total since June 1 is 14.45″, which is about 250% of average for that period, but take away the 6.25″ that fell during the Fathers Day Flood and then the 3.02″ that fell on July 10th and our total since June 1 drops to 5.18″. Which is below average by almost an inch. The woods are still plenty green and I am not worried about any wildfires threatening us.
We are certainly in late summer mode up here. I have friends that are in the hospitality business up here (food and/or lodging) and they are starting to get that late season dazed look. The one where they are grateful for the busy season and financial rewards it has given them, but they are also just about out of gas and will welcome the more relaxed pace that the lead up to the fall color show gives.
All of Grace’s summer activities have ended as well. Her Saturday morning art classes ended yesterday and the other summer time activity she does Monday through Friday for a few hours ended on Friday. So she will now be home all day with dear old Dad, which should not be too much of a problem. As long as we keep the semi-trucks pulling in with their loads of books, all should be good!
The sun is also waiting until almost 7 am to rise and sets around 9 in the evening, which lends to the late summer feel to things as well. All of these things have had me thinking more and more about summer ending and autumn approaching and it has me a little excited. I am not climbing the walls in anticipation of summers full departure as I was in the past, but have had my fill and will be content for it to give way to the beautiful weather we have in the first half of autumn up here.
That beautiful early autumn weather also is the start of outside work season for me, but I do not have nearly as much on my plate as I did a year ago at this time. A year ago, I was getting ready to add the utility room to the back of the house, whereas this season, all I have planned is to put the siding up on that addition, as well as do a general wrap up of things and get ready for the snows to pile up.
Nora has been out of town since midday on Thursday. She met up with her good friend from lower MI. They met up in the eastern UP, as that is about the halfway point. So it has been Gracie and I the past few days and the house is still standing! Yesterday evening we went down to a bonfire at some new friends place in Jacobsville. They are homesteaders and have a really neat setup, with a large garden and farm animals. They have a daughter that is around Grace’s age and Gracie loves to go there to to play with their daughter and hang out with all the animals.
There were several other couples there and some of them also had kids who were Grace’s age. It was such a joy to see all the kids run around and have tons of fun. It sure did remind me of when I was a kid and would get together with other families that had kids my age or just hanging out on a summers evening with all of my friends, inventing things to do and just basically run around being a carefree kid. That is the one downside to living where we do. Our closest neighbor is about 1/4 mile away and the closest kid her age is probably over a half mile away. During the school year Grace is involved in enough things that she typically is not in too much of a need of things to do, but in summer, Nora and I really need to spend a lot of time with her to keep her from feeling too lonely.
It was nice to meet the others at the bonfire and make new friends myself. Lots of interesting folks all living the dream of calling the Keweenaw home, or in some cases…calling it home for the summer. It was a perfect evening for things, with the temps cooling off enough that sitting next to the fire felt good and made for some good “fire poking”. As with all good things, the bonfire had to come to an end, but I snapped this shot of the setting sun casting a red glow in the skies of the Jacobsville before we loaded into the truck and headed home.
Today we headed up to Eagle Harbor for the art fair they have there. It was getting steamy there, even down by the lake, so we went as early as we could and did not stay too long, but did take in all of the artists booths and even picked up something for Nora while we were there. Grace spotted a good climbing tree and it was not long before she was up amongst it’s branches.
Nora arrives home tomorrow and it will be great to have the entire Dee clan back together. I know that Nora has enjoyed her time away, but is also excited to get back to be with us as well. Hard to believe that in 2 weeks, we will be prepping for the final week of summer! Perhaps that itch will grow into a full fledged fever by then!
Good night from the Keweenaw..
–JD
