And just like that, it’s winter! The week started more autumn-like, with a bit of snow on the ground here in Jake and a few inches in most other areas. We lucked out with things on Monday for the pouring of the slab. It rained so hard the Thursday before, that things were soaking in most areas. Most of the build site was a big old mud hole, but because of all the good fill and also the sand brought in for the foundation, plus the drainage features they put in, the actual foundation area was in good shape. They did have to brush off the inch or so that covered the foam and other features of the slab, but the concrete pumper arrived at 11am and then the first concrete hauler arrived shortly after.
I had to go to town Monday, so I missed most of the pour, but I know because of the temps and humidity, the concrete was curing very slowly. It was around 9 pm when the last of the workers headed home after finishing things up, which included covering the entire slab. Here is a shot of things Tuesday morning.
Before they even started doing any work, they said their plan was to get the foundation done and then they would take some time off, both for hunting and just to give the workers a break. I don’t think many of them get much of a break during the main building season, so I am glad that they are able to get some time off now. It remains unclear if the break will go through the holidays, or if they will be back to start the framing before the first of the year, either way, I know they will be returning and then they fun happens. I love framing and watching framing. It’s the stage of building that happens the quickest and makes the most dramatic difference.
So we will wait for them to return. The wait should not be too hard, given the time always flies during the holidays and also due to the fact that I will be very busy for the next 2 months at least. I will be starting up the forecasts for the site December 1st, plus., I still have a bunch of work to do in the shop and I have some cabinetry I need to build for my office. Toss all the holiday activities on top of that and it will be early January before I know it!
So mentioned how this week started out more like late autumn, with some drizzle and temps above freezing on Monday. Tuesday was a fairly decent day for the firearm opener, with temps in the low 30’s and nothing to write home about weather wise. We warmed to the upper 30’s on Wednesday, that due to a southerly flow out ahead of a front that would come through early Thursday morning. Thursday was colder with some scattered snow showers, but again, nothing to write home about. Thursday night the lake snow machine got going and did not stop until this morning. As is the case with just every single lake snow event, the amounts varied depending where you put your stick in it, but there were areas that picked up more than 2 feet and most of the snow belts of the western UP picked up at least 12-15″ of snow, including beautiful Jacobsville!
I could hardly believe my eyes when I woke up Friday morning and saw that we had picked up around 6-7″ of snow. It then continued to snow pretty good through the day and the following night and Saturday we awoke to another 5-6″ of fresh snow. The snows did not stop yesterday, but they did slow down a bit and we picked up another 1-2″ from Saturday morning until this morning. It did completely stop by around midday today and we even had a few peaks of sun.
I gotta say that the snows really put a smile on my face. Ever since moving to Jake, I really do not get to amped up when a LES event is forecasted, because we just do not get much most of the time and it can be frustrating to know that just about 15 miles to our west, they are getting pounded in areas like Twin Lakes, Toivola and South Range. Most of my big snow hopes revolve around system snows and last winter was lacking in too many of them. So hopefully this year will be different, although we are off to a pretty good start, snow wise, this season!
We are just 10 days from the first of December and the traditional start to the snowmobile season. The way the forecast looks right now, I think that most of the trails from the Keweenaw west to the WI border will able to be ridden without problems. At least problems from a lack of snow. The same can be said for the trails of the northern 1/2 of the eastern UP from around Munising to the Soo. Not to be outdone by the UP, the LES belts of lower MI also did very well in the past 3 days. They could see a bit of melting and even a bit of liquid precip Wednesday or Thursday, but hopefully not enough to cause too much loss. The weather beyond that sees temps to keep any melting away across the UP and northern lower MI and the potential for a system snow the first half of next week.
I will be starting my forecasts on December 1. Perhaps earlier if the storm for early next week ends up being a real deal and a difference maker in the setup for the opener. I have been spending a lot of free time trying to get the AL Cam back up and running. It’s been a real nightmare. I have tried both a Nest cam and a regular USB cam. For some reason, the USB cam is updating to the server, but when I try to pull the latest image from the server, all I get is an old image. I can go into the server and see that the image is updated, but it just will not get downloaded into a browser!!! The Nest cam is a whole other issue. I have it running too and can see it on my phone in the Google Home app, but in order for the rest of you to see it, I need to change a server setting and to do that I need to connect it to a computer and go into the settings. For some reason, the computer will not communicate with the cam when I plug the cam into it!!! I’ll get things figured out one way or another, but if anyone has any ideas, feel free to help me out! For now, this is the AL Cam shot.
So far, it’s been a year with many challenges. Seems like I really cannot go a year without some kind of a major challenge or two. This year had not just one medical challenge, but 4 that caused me to be hospitalized. I also lost my mom in early spring. None the less, I feel like I have more to be thankful for this Thanksgiving that I ever have. I am in OK health, and the health of Nora and Grace is excellent, we are in the process of building a beautiful new home. I have family and friends who went above and beyond the call to help myself, as well as my family through all of the health issues and there is a beautuful sun setting over a snowy Jacobsville this evening.
Good Night from the Keweenaw..
–JD
