You have the old-man again this week! Although there is a strong push going on to get Nora to step into the writers chair! Just kidding, there is no strong push going on. She said she would write whenever I asked. Perhaps next week or for sure, sometime soon. I have some material and pictures this week, so it was an easy decision for me to write. I really do like it when I have the time and material. I can remember reading similar journals before I moved north to God’s country. The real inspiration for me to start the journal was a pair of persons hiking the Appalachian Trail. They would write just about every day and then when they got to the next spot of civilization, they would mail the entries back to a friend or family member, who would then type them up and post them to a web page. It was such a nice escape from the big city life for me that when I was suddenly able to do the same, I jumped on it, in hopes it would provide the same entertainment and escape I got. I sure hope that I am still able to accomplish that! It has been 21 years since I started doing them and have only missed doing at least one a week a handful of times.

So what has been going on in the Keweenaw this week.. We started the week on the chilly side, with highs in the 60’s both Monday and Tuesday, then warmed into the 70’s for Wednesday and have been in the 80’s since Thursday. The humidity started to kick in on Thursday and has been pretty unbearable yesterday and today, with dewpoints in the mid-70’s. Temps and humidity will be dropping behind a cold front that rolls through late this evening. It then looks like the humidity will be fairly low (for summer) through Wednesday and then creep a bit by Wednesday, but remain tolerable. The humidity is really the thing that I watch more than the temps. I can handle hot temps way better than high humidity. I am not yet ready for autumn to arrive, but have grown tires of the high humidity that has visited us a lot this summer. 

Hard to believe that in 3 weeks we will be on the second to last day of August and not too far from the traditional end of summer, Labor Day. The schools start up here the day after Labor Day and right now it is looking like the students will be going into the schools and not doing virtual. Any parent that does not want their child to be in the school can always sign up for online learning, but is a different avenue and will not be conducted by the teachers in the school. At least that is my understanding of things via listening to Nora. I also believe that there will be times when the children need to wear masks and I believe the teachers will always nee to be wearing a mask. 

This will be a big year for Grace. She is going to be a middle schooler AND in Nora’s building. Nora is the administrative assistant to the middle school principle. We joke about Grace going to have to see mom when she gets into trouble, but Grace is not a trouble maker and there are no worries. Still, it’s kind of a cool thought that Grace and Nora are in the same building for the next 3 years and then Grace moves on to the big league!

I had actually forgot that I wrote last Tuesday and not last Sunday, so I had to do a little re-shuffling of the pictures, as I had some from the last entry in there. Anyway, she ended having a wonderful birthday. Spent most of the day with friends at the beach. Just like her old man, she really loves the water. I know I am rarely seen in it these days, but that is more because of the water temp and not a loss of love for water. I am hoping that one day we can get back to having a pool in the yard and not one that has to be taken down and put away every season! Until then I will just have to pick my swim events accordingly. 

Another day this week, Nora and Grace headed over to a friends place that is on the waterway for a swim. They also have a nice golf cart and her and her two friends get such a kick from riding in the back seat of it. The three of them are such good friends and have perma-smiles on their faces when ever they are together. I was fortunate enough to grow up with some friends like that too. I still have lots of great memories of my younger brother and I doing lots of fun stuff with them. I have a feeling that Grace will carry the memories of her summer fun (and winter too!) growing up in Jacobsville.

On Thursday, Grace and I traveled all the way down to Houghton to get a ski rope at Walmart, only to find out they were sold out! We were about to order on online, but when I was at the hardware store in Calumet Friday, I saw one there and was able to pick it up. That made Grace’s day, as we were able to get it hooked up to the boat and then hit the water so that she could try the kneeboard that she got for her birthday. She had gone once last summer with some friends and loved it so much that when we got access to a boat, it was a no-brainer to get her one for her birthday. She really loves adventure and new things (like her old man) and was all smiles as we headed up the waterway to the spot where she could go. She managed to get right to her knees and get all strapped in right away and had a blast. The spot we chose was a nice protected area of the Portage Waterway and not part of the main channel. It also happened to be right in front of one of her friends house. She and her mom were swimming when we got there, so we gave her a spin around the water as well. Grace probably could have gone for hours, but needed to save her energy for a big event on Saturday, so we packed it in and headed home.

The big event on Saturday was Grace’s first organized run. It was the second annual Bootjack Fun-Run. Now to me, the words “fun” and “run” do not fit into the same box, but Grace has always liked the idea of being a long distance runner. Even when she was just a 4 or 5 year old kid, she would run along side Nora, the pups and I when we were walking. She could actually go most of the 2 mile walk without stopping! She was not going very fast, but still jogging and not walking.

So for the past 2 months or so, she has been doing a little bit of “training” for the race. First going on a 2 mile jog with a friend of ours who is a runner and coincidentally is going to be her principle for the next 3 years! She also has gone a few times with my brother and I also have been going with her, although I am on my bike. Yesterday morning, she ran the 5k portion of the race with my brother. The weather was a bit iffy when we woke up at a little before 7am, with lightning, thunder and pouring rain. By the time the racers were getting ready, it was down to just a steady light rain and completely stopped for most of the time Grace and my brother Jim were running.

During her training, it had been taking her just under 30 minutes to do the 2.8-3 miles, so Nora and I walked down to the finish line when they had been running for around 20 minutes. Sure enough, at the 27 minute mark, the two of them were rounding the bend and came into view and about 30 seconds later, were close enough to snap a picture of at at around 28 minutes, were crossing the finish line. I was a little surprised to see that look on her face in the picture, as she was not struggling much at all to finish. It must have caught a weird moment. 

She does want to be on the 6th grade cross country team and also wants to be in band. When I went to school, those were probably the two least popular things to be in, but not in her school or other schools up here. They both are pretty popular. Not as popular as hockey, but I think only eating out ranks hockey in the Keweenaw!

So I guess that about covers it for this one. We’ll see what kind of fun and adventures lie ahead for us this week and will be sure to fill you in!

Good Night from the Keweenaw..
–JD