Turn the Page

Sorry for not writing yesterday, but a whirlwind trip down to MN to attend Haydays and back ended up providing me with only around 12 hours of sleep in a 72 hour period. It was all worth it, as the event was another fun one and the weather great. However, as always, it was great to get back onto the island and be with the family.

So the first big snowmobile event of the 2017-18 season has come and gone. I have to say that for some reason, I am probably more excited about the snow season after attending this event as I have after any of them I have attended. I’m not quite sure why that is, but on the ride home after the event, I was really looking forward to: first, getting home to be with the girls and pups; second, really getting going on the little addition project I am doing and third, snow to fall! I know we are still a ways off before the snow really starts to fall and stick around, but I am getting pretty excited for the snow to fall and to get busy playing in it!

The past week was a not so good one for weather up here. Monday, Labor Day was not so great with clouds and some rain, then Tue, Wed and Thur all had rain in them. That kept me from doing any work on the addition, but I did manage to keep myself busy with other projects. One of them was to send the girls off to the first day of school for the 17-18 season. Gracie was as cute as a button and she and Nora have fun getting ready for school together. It is really something to watch each year pass and watch her become more and more grown up. Hard to believe that in 3 years she will be going to the school that Nora works in and just a few years later…high school. Time sure has been flying by, but in some ways it seems to be moving along at a pretty regular pace. I guess you could say I am comfortable at the pace the years are passing by.

So back to the first and biggest snowmobile show of the season. I forget how many years I have attended the event, but it has been 6 or 7. I have only missed one since the year after they moved to the new location. I am grateful to have missed that first year that they had it at the current location, as things were a real mess to get in and out, but not really their fault. Each year since has seen improvements made to the event and I would say that there is probably not much else they need to do to make it better. I am sure that they will figure out some ways to improve it, but getting in and out is a breeze, considering the size of the event and the amount of persons that attend. Many of the walkways between the spaces for vendors have either been paved, or have gravel, so the dust storms of the old days are not a problem. A few walkways are still dirt, but they manage them well with water tankers. The food vending has really improved as well and while we did not spend a ton of time in the swap area, it looked like there was less non-snowmobile related stuff than in years past. Still the occasional oddity, but for the most part, the swap was full of stuff a snowmobiler would be looking for.

One of the more unique and snow-related items there were some custom ice fishing trailers. I specifically refrained from using the word “shanty” as these are not shanties at all. They are different sized enclosed trailers that have been decked out with about all a person would need to comfortably ice fish and not have to leave all weekend! They come with a kitchenette and bathroom, as well as an eating/sleeping area. The suspension of the trailer is adjustable and can be set so that the bottom of the trailer is sitting directly on the ice, so all you need to do is pull the tops off the holes in the floor, drill a hole and get busy fishing. I have never been any kind of an ice fisherman, but I could be talked into a day or two trip with one of those…especially if it was stocked with the proper food and beverages!

I did spy a few things that I am interested in adding to my sled for this season, so the trip was worth it from that aspect. About 70% of the reason I go is to be with the same group of friends that usually attend every year, although a few of them were missing this year.

Getting back to things going on at home, I talked about how poor the weather was last week and that has been the trend for more than it should have been this summer. As a result…I think!…the trees up this way are changing sooner. We are still a long way away from the full show, but I would not be surprised to have our peak happen a week to maybe 10 days earlier than it typically does. That would put it in the final week of September. Last week, the trees really seemed to be changing faster than they should have, but the past few days they seem to have slowed down some. Some trees are further along, while others are still mainly green.

The pool got drained of most of its water back on the Sunday of Labor Day weekend, but it always takes a bit of extra work to get the last bit out and just as I was about to do that, the weather turned for the worse and we had the rains for much of last week. So it sat. The weekend was sunny, but I was not here to do any thing. Yesterday, I did work on getting some of the left-over water and rain water from last week out and also got some help from Gracie. I guess you could call that her last swim of the season in a way. All of this week is suppose to be precipitation free and mostly sunny, so perhaps I will just let mother nature evaporate the remaining water out and then take it down, fold it up and put it away. We’ll see.

So as many of you have noticed, the warm season text forecasts have ended and the graphics will continue for a bit longer, basically through the color show season in the Northwoods. There will be improvement made to one of the existing features on the site and one totally new item. Both will likely make you all happy and the site more fun to be at. I am going to keep them under wraps until they get rolled out in a month or so. I will also be putting together my annual “Seasonal Outlook” and plan to have that out by early October.

Another bit of news is that the Keweenaw Snowmobile Club will be having their annual trail work session on October 20 and 21. Free lodging for workers will be available at the Trailside Lodge and I am hoping to get the AmericInn in Calumet on board, I just need to talk to the manager there.

I guess that about covers it for this one. With a little luck, hopefully I can show you some pictures of a shelled-in addition by next week’s entry!

Good night from the Keweenaw..
JD