Category: Uncategorized

I have to confess, I would be a perfect case study for instant gratification. All one has to do is take a look around our property and see the tools and toys to know that I am not a penny pincher at al. I suppose I do have at least a bit of an excuse in the fact that I have faced many do-or-die situations in my life. At current count there have been 14. I even keep a list on my phone of the instances (all medical) that I have been in a situation where I needed that medical procedure or treatment, or I was dead There are even two instances where I was not “clinically” alive anymore and was brought back. Sorry, I have no “tunnel with a light at the end stories, but I do believe the folks that speak of them.

Some might think that it is morbid or depressing to keep such a list. I do it to remind me of what I have had to fight through and survived. It helps me to have the confidence to face new challenges, be they medical or otherwise and also reminds me of how blessed I am to still be here.

The point is, I have a hard time holding back on things that I think would be fun or useful in my life. I am by no means a financially wealthy man, so there are times when I cannot act on my impulses and Nora is good about keeping me from throwing us into bankruptcy! So there are times I have to wait to make the purchase or make an improvement to the house.

I think a lot of you reading this can identify with what I have said, but what about having to wait for something to come that is inevitable? Like a baby to be born, or to be released from the hospital, or sunrise on the opening day of firearm deer season, or…this will hit home with A LOT of you…the first snowmobile trip of the season? Seems like it will never get here! Especially when you see pictures or watch videos of others playing in the snow before you get to.

Delayed joy. A very difficult thing to deal with for a lot of us. Why do we have to wait, especially while others are having the time of their life? Sure it can put a smile on our face to see a sled riding down a pristine trail or through snow so deep that it flows over the windshield and cakes onto the rider who is standing up while riding. But there is also a tinge of jealousy behind that smile. I know I have dealt with it, the year I broke my leg in early February and watched it snow nearly every day I was laid up. Or the past 4-5 years when my health kept me from doing much riding at all. It’s been a difficult pill to swallow.

I do have some tricks I have learned over the years and a big one is to stop focusing on the things you don’t have and focus on the things you do. No matter what your situation is, there is always joy to be found. This autumn as I have been driving to and from town, I have watched the trees turn from deep green to pale green to shades of orange, yellow and red. I know I go on and on about the magnificence of the color change up here, so I will spare you the tourism pep talk. However, I never grow tired of the change and am amazed every year. So as I drove down Jacobsville road today, admiring the colors about 70% changed, it hit me that those colors are ALWAYS there. At least while the leaves are on the trees and growing. It’s the death of the leaves that causes the dominate green color from the chlorophyll to go away and reveal the beautiful colors lying in wait for their turn to shine.

I have known this fact for many, many years, so it is not an earth shattering revelation for me. However the fact that the beauty is always there and I just need to be patient and it will always show is now a new reminder for me to be patient. That things will change, if I just am patient. 

As for the color change, I have not been all over this great peninsula, but I have seen pictures and gotten reports that much of the inland areas south of Houghton hit peak this weekend. Sunday was a very rainy day up here, but without a lot of strong wind, so my guess is that the leaves have not yet been stripped from their branches, but if you want to see the colors there, best not wait very long at all. I have been to Houghton/Hancock and Calumet today. The colors there are nearing peak, but I would say that this Thursday through the weekend will be their peak. Some areas will be a little later than that. The Jacobsville area being one of them, although, when I say Jacobsville, I mean the immediate Jacobsville area. Go north just 4-5 miles and the peak will be the same as Houghton, Hancock and Calumet. Probably areas like Mohawk north as well.

The upcoming weekend look kinda wet, but hopefully that will change. Tomorrow through Thursday looks to be very nice up here and that is when I plan to take my color tour. My mom is visiting us for a few weeks and the last time she saw our color show was when Nora and I were married 17 years ago!

In last weeks entry, I talked about the coming changes to the website. One of them was an upgrade to a better forum software for the discussion board. That migration will be taking place this Friday, so the board will be shut down while that takes place. The good news is that I did find someone that has done this type of migration many, many times. So odds are quite good that it will go off without issue. All user profiles and posts will also be transferred. I hope to move the AL Cam this week as well. Still not even a hint of snow in the forecast. In fact we are suppose to be in the 70’s for the rest of the week. I am formulating my ideas for the seasonal outlook and plan to have it out late next week.

That just about covers it for this one, but I do have one last item to share with you. That being John Dee is getting a new sled! Yep, that’s right. I’m sure many of you are now thinking of the instant gratification theme I was on earlier in this entry. However, the sled currently in my stable is a 2012 model. It runs fine and only hs 2004 miles on it, but is extremely difficult for me to start when the engine is cold and would be impossible for me to pull start when the engine is cold in the winter. So a sled with electric start was a must. So what about a used sled? Well, as anyone who has looked has seen, prices for used sleds and just about anything outdoor recreation related are very high. So high that when they do correct themselves (I have no idea when), any used sled will instantly lose 10-20 percent of it’s value. So to be buying new makes more sense. Sure a brand new sled loses some value the minute it is used, but that is nothing out of the norm. The prices of used are. The final selling point was the ergos of the sled itself. I will get to that in a second, but first, I introduce to you my new ride for this season, and likely many to come! For those of you not into snowmobiling, that is an Arctic Cat Riox X. The think that sold me on it most was the fact that is has a single slide rail on the rear suspension, rather than two. That makes leaning the sled over to one side or the other in soft snow much easier. At this point in my riding career, easier is better for me. I am feeling much better than I was the past several seasons, but am still not strong enough to be carving all day long on a traditional suspension. I have asked several people that have them and the answer was unanimous that they would be a good fit for me. Last but not least was the fact that I got an absolute, huge deal on the sled. My good friends at Rt 12 Arctic Cat in Arlington Heights came through in a BIG way and made the decision to get that sled from them a no-brainer. If you recall, they were the same folks that let me ride a sled of theirs for many, many seasons. So if you are in the Chicago area and looking for a great group of guys to work with, head there! I CAN”T WAIT FOR IT TO SNOW!!!

Now, I guess that covers it for this week. Have a great one and I will talk to you all next week.

Good Night From the Keweenaw..
–JD

I have reached the time of the year when it’s “All Hands on Deck”. Not quite “Battle Stations” yet, that comes in about another month, but I have two main areas to concern myself with. First is making sure all that needs to be done outside before the weather turns is done. Second is to fire up the big engine that is JohnDee.com. On the first item, I am about half way there. Still on the list is to take the pool down, make a bit more firewood for the fireplace in the house and prepare the golf cart for winter storage. In the short term, the leaves that have fallen already need to be swept up and the grass has to be cut.

With regards to the second item, the best I can say is: “work has commenced”. The biggest job at hand with regards to the website is the transition of the discussion board from it’s current train wreck software to a first-class one. There have been issues with the discussion board since day one, but most of the problems were not too big and were able to be rectified fairly quickly. About a year ago, the problems started to become more numerous and dramatic and it finally reached the point this spring when it just had to go. So I have been busy the past few months researching and demoing many different forum software packages and I am pleased to announce that I found a winner.

The current board is so large and the current environment that the website works on is someone unique, it took some real digging into to come upon the best possible solution. So last Friday I got the ball rolling, but it is not going to be a “flip the light switch” type of transition. There are three main phases that are involved here at the beginning. First was to find a host server capable of handling the new forum. That took some digging and research. The second phase is to get the new forum installed on the new server and third will be to get all the current user profiles, forum topics and at least 30 days worth of posts moved over. 

With regards to the first task, it is done. I just got the word from the folks at the hosting service that all is set. It took over 30 emails between myself and several persons at the hosting service to work through things. If I knew anything about setting up a domain and all the behind the scenes settings that need to be configured, that number of emails might have been 2-3! Thankfully the hosting service was super nice and had LOTS of patience walking me through my blindness. 

Rather than try and install the forum software on the server and configure it myself, I have opted to have the makers of the forum software do the install and configuring. I just notified them that the server was ready, so hopefully in the next 24 hours, the forum will be out on the internet. Unfortunately, the makers of the forum do not provide the service of migrating data from one forum to theirs. They did provide me with a link to a forum topic on their website where I can put out a “wanted” notice to find someone that can do that. The migration is by far my biggest concern. I am sure it can be done, but it must not be too easy because the folks at XenForo (the new forum software) do not offer that service! It could be an outright disaster to ask everyone to re-register. I currently have over 20,000 user profiles on the old board. I realize that not ALL of them are active, but would guess that 80% of them do come to the board from time to time to check things out. So say a prayer that I can find a competent programmer that can move the profiles and some of the posts to the new forum. If you are reading this and are thinking: “Moving that data from Vbulliten to XenForo is a piece of cake!” PLEASE contact me! Needless to say the new discussion board will not be going live until the migration has taken place or I have exhausted ALL avenues to do it.

Other things going on with the site will be a relocation of the AL Cam. It is just not in a good spot for much of anything. I put it there because I was able to have the camera in my office and look out the window. Last season I switched to an indoor-outdoor camera and it has proven to be extremely reliable, so the new location will be in the backyard of our house. The view will include the snow gauge as well as a picnic table that will help to show the depth. I will also be clearing off a section of the table to show the new snow in the past 24 hours. I may even create sections where I do the last 24 hours, week to date and month to date. The woods cam will also be finding a slightly better location and will be upgraded to the same type that the AL Cam is. 

Last, but not least will be a change in format for the Snowscoop Video. I am going to be re-naming it, but am not quite ready to give the name out yet. The change in format will be from a paid subscription to a free YouTube channel. I have absolutely no experience with doing a YouTube channel, let alone having it provide income. I know half the world seems to be doing it, so hopefully it is not that hard! I plan to have other videos than the daily forecasts on the channel. So if there is someone that has experience with the marketing and monetization of a YouTube channel, I will welcome any and all advice. I do plan to have the channel up within the next week or so and will announce with that happens.

As far as the goings on outside of JohnDee goes…I really have no clue! Haha, just kidding, sort of. I really have been busy with getting things ready for the new season. The color show is most certainly progressing. I have not traveled too far. I did go to Houghton/Hancock today for a Dr’s appointment and to pick up a few things. I pulled off onto a side road between the airport and Calumet to snap this shot of the colors there. I did the same while heading down Jacobsville Rd, about 5 miles from Jake. The colors are still less changed here, but that is par for the course. I would guess that the peak WEEKEND for the higher terrain south of Houghton will be this weekend. It may not be a full peak, but by the next weekend it could be past. The peak for most other areas in the Keweenaw will be that of the 9th-10th. Come on up, you will be BLOWN away!

Good Night From the Keweenaw..
–JD

83 yesterday and 80 so far today, then reality hits. I am much less enthusiastic about the “heat” the past two days than I was all of the summer. It has not been unbearable, but still warmer than I would care for. It has given us an extended pool season. Early in the week I could see that it was going to get warm again this weekend, so we kept it up. After today, it will begin to get drained. Some day we hope to have a pool we can keep up all year long. I would also like to have a hot tub as part of the pool as well. I know that sauna’s are the UP thing, but I just have never enjoyed them much.

It was a fairly slow week, with not a lot of stuff going on. We did have rain a couple of times, including some severe weather. As far as I could tell, the severe weather did not cause any big problems, with some moderately strong winds and some hail. We did welcome the rain though. We are still running way behind and every drop is welcomed. The grass has not greened up a whole lot and I think that is because we are just too late in the season to see much greening of anything. 

While several of the day’s this past week have still been very summer like, it starts to cool off by around 5 pm and by 7 pm, a jacket or sweatshirt is likely needed. We have had several early morning lows with temps in the low 40’s. We still have not turned the heat on in the house, but there sure has been a few mornings when I wish we did!

On Thursday Bleau had his first school year hair cut of the season. He does not go all summer without a cut. In fact he gets his hair cut every 40-45 days. At that point, he is quite ready for a cut. Mostly his face and especially his eyes. So I guess he really needs a trim every 40-45 days, but could probably get by with a full cut every other visit to the groomer. There is a reason besides, I am starved for material, that I am discussing Bleau’s grooming practices. It’s because they are the only two pics I have for this entry! On the way there, I pulled to the side of the road and took a selfie of us with his long shaggy hair in his eyes. On the way home, I took the after selfie before we pulled out of our parking space. 

So far this week is starting off like last week ran, pretty slow in the activity department. The temps look to cool noticeably, with tomorrow’s high around 20 degrees colder than todays. Some rain to usher in the cooler temps and lag a bit into tomorrow morning. Not a lick of snow seen on the horizon at this point. Seems strange to even be mentioning snow with temps in the 80’s two days in a row, but it is not out of the question for us to see the first flakes of the season fall by the very end of September or early October.

As far as the color show goes, it seems to be running pretty close to average time-wise. Most areas will peak out in the October 7-11 time frame, with the higher terrain south of Houghton peaking 4-6 days earlier and areas right down by the big lake 4-6 days after. I was in Twin Lakes on Friday and the colors there were much more changed than here in Jake, where we are still almost all green. I would say that in around 10 days they will be at peak. Houghton/Hancock are around 3-5 days ahead of us and had some color, but nothing to get excited about yet.

I think that will cover it for this week. Have a great one and…

Good Night from the Keweenaw..
–JD

Apologies for not writing last week, but Monday was a holiday and Jacobsville had it’s second annual Labor Day Picnic! The weather was about as perfect as it could get with temps in the 70’s, sunshine and a nice breeze. We had a good turnout with about 30-40 folks there. See how there is only around 50-60 folks living in the neighborhood, the 30-40 that came was a good turnout! Nora and some others have really done a great job of resurrecting some of the social events that used to happen “back in the day” as well as creating some new events. The population continues to grow as well, especially in the year-round category. There was two folks from the Wausau area that built a home last fall through this spring and moved in as soon as it was done. Another couple is building a new place just down the road from us and it looks like a family of 4 will be moving into the area this November. They will be living within walking distance or a short bike ride from us and have a daughter that is Grace’s age and a son a year older. So Grace could potentially have some new friends close enough to visit on her own.

Speaking of Grace, she started 7th grade last Tuesday. It’s hard to believe that she is in 7th grade already, seems like the first day of kindergarten was just a few years ago. I realize that before I know it, she will be looking at universities. What a bittersweet day that will be when she heads off to college. So far she has her mind on a university that would be close enough to get home to visit for a weekend or long weekend. That would be nice. I know when I went off to the University of Wyoming for my freshmen year, I only came home for Thanksgiving, Christmas and then met my family in Florida for spring break. I had a ton of fun at W…Y…O… and made some awesome friends, but also did miss my family. So we shall see in 3-4 years what her thinking is. I am not a parent who dreads their child growing up and getting older. I can remember the excitement of getting older when I was young and I want her to never feel guilty about getting older and more independent. 

Tuesday of last week was not only the first day back at school for Grace, but Bleau too! So after the picnic, we took him down to the beach and gave him a nice bath. He took it very well. He is still afraid to go in all the way to where he has to swim, but has gotten braver and will go in as far as the middle of his body. With all of our past labs, bathing them was easy. Toss the stick, when they got back, lather them up and then toss the stick some more times to let them self-rinse! After bathing, Grace ran him up and down the beach to help dry him out. As they were getting close to us, Bleau decided to run and shake at the same time! I don’t believe I have seen a dog do that before!

Our weather has been extremely nice. Still in the dry spell, but lots of heavy dew and with the sun at a lower angle, things are actually turning green. Even with many of the days topping out in the 70’s the nights have been chilly and there is no mistaking that early autumn is here. Lows many mornings are in the 40’s and it is taking until around 10 am for things to start warming up. The evening cool off also comes earlier than it was a month or so ago. By around 4, the temps are headed down.

As far as the color show goes, things are still very green up here. A few early turners, but about 95% of the trees are still green. I have no idea what kind of a color show it will be. I say this every year, but I do believe it needs repeating- especially if you have never been to the Keweenaw to see the autumn colors, our bad years are generally a better show than most other places good years. Our good years are flat out jaw dropping. You will hard pressed to find anywhere better. Several folks from New England that I have come across all say our colors outdo theirs. 

With the weather being so wonderful right now, I am fine going a few weeks more with this type of setup. Last Friday an friend and I took a boat ride up to Houghton and had lunch on the deck of a local restaurant. As we were approaching Houghton, a float plane returning from Isle Royal landed on the water way. I did capture a video of a deHavilland Beaver making a successful landing.

I think that about covers it for this one. Hard to believe that the next time I write (currently planned for next Monday!), it will almost be the end of September. The march towards the snow season is on! I better look for my chook!

Good Night From the Keweenaw..
–JD

 

For most of this past week, I could have swore that in the last entry I said I was ready for the heat and humidity to head south. I even thought I was more specific and asked for the humidity to leave and that it could remain warm to even mildly hot, that it was the humidity that bothered me the most. Well somewhere in the communications, the messages got crossed, because this past week was cooler, even cool enough at times a sweatshirt was needed, but still very humid. To tell you the honest truth, I don’t know which is worse in my opinion; hot and humid or mild and humid. Hot and humid is no fun while outside- unless you are at the beach or lake. Although with hot and humid, at least one can get inside into the air conditioning (most can anyways) and the air conditioned air is . With mild and humid, there really is not much escape. The air is already at a comfortable temp, so air conditioning is not needed and would only make things too cold. If ran, it really does not even remove the humidity. So everything is just sticky and clamy. 

Sunday started out like the other days. Cool, but humid. Your bare arms stuck to everything and it was just not very comfortable. Nora, Grace and I were busy in the morning and then in the afternoon took to the pool. There was a mix of clouds and sun and temps in the 70’s so it was comfortable to be in the pool. Then while were swimming, the humidity dropped like a rock. It was easy to tell, because all of a sudden, the 70’s felt chilly because the lower humidity allowed the water to evaporate off our skin more quickly and that cooled our skin down. So we stayed in the water for a while longer and then got out into the brisk, dry air.

The good news is that the less humid air looks to stick around for the rest of this week and most of the weekend. We may see a bit of mild humidity occur on Saturday, but currently, dewpoints only look to get into the low 60’s. If this forecast holds, then the rest of the week will be my perfect late summer weather. A mix of sun and clouds, temps in the 70’s and comfortable humidity. 

The main action this past week for me was continuing to work on the office. The ceiling did get done and the one wall is also covered in the left over cedar shake that was in one of the old sheds on the property when we bought it. I need to stain the shakes and then put the flooring in. Last will be the trim and then it will be up to the apartment to get some stuff done there. THEN, finally, I will be able to devote my time to the shop, getting it in full working order as well as putting the rough sawn lumber that we cut last summer onto the walls and getting it stained.

The Houghton county fair was also this week. Our tradition has been to go the first day it is open, Thursday and to get there not too long after the gates have opened. The crowds are not too bad yet and they also have slightly discounted prices that day, but whew, that fair is getting expensive! Maybe I’m just getting old, but 12 dollars for adults and 7 dollars just to get inside the gates. Then rides are 5 bucks a piece, or you can purchase an armband for 25 bucks that gives you unlimited riding for the day. If there was an abundance of rides, I would not think that price is too bad, but there were only around 4-5 rides that fit the bill for Grace and her friend Flora. Two others were too intense, although they were tall enough to go on them and the rest were kiddy rides. There was a climbing wall that if you made it to the top, you won a prize, but that was 10 bucks! The food was no bargain either. 4 dollars for a bottled water (that was warm) and 5 dollars for a slice of pizza (that was cold!). OK, I’ll stop my rant, but holy wa! One of the unique things to this fair was that we drove to it with the air conditioner on in the truck and with the heat on as we were driving home!

The girls did have a lot of fun and I did tell Grace I would pay for everything but the games. She had no problem with that and played a game or two and even won a small prize! The handful of rides they went on gave them a good thrill and they both always came off the rides with big smiles. About that climbing wall, yes, Grace did give it a try and I paid for here to try. I was hoping for some kind of a payback for the rock climbing class she took this summer at Tech! Haha, just kidding. I knew she really wanted to give it a try and I really wanted to grant that wish. So the wall at the fair had 3 sides to it. Each had a different level of difficulty. The climber had three chances on each side and it they made it to the top of any of the sides, then they one a small stuffed animal. The wall did not look that hard, however, Grace was in her sandals and not climbing shoes. She had been walking around in the sand and gravel of the fairgrounds, so the soles were slippery. Lastly, the wall itself was that worn, weathered fiberglass that was extremely slippery. There were hand/footholds but they were fairly small. They start the climber out on the hardest side first, then to the middle and end with the “easiest”. Poor Grace really struggled with the slickness of the wall on the first two sides, but rested and took her time on the final side and ended up making it to the top and hitting the button that rang a bell, signaling she was a winner. One of the cool things for her was that when she started, no one but Flora, her dad and I were watching, but as she went higher and higher, more and more people were watching her and she was able to notice that and fed off of it. Pretty neat that she fed off the attention and did not get more nervous. She never said anything about it until I told her about how more and more folks watched her as she went up, to which she replied that it gave her more will to make it to the top and was not arrogant about it. I am a proud poppa.

 Changing gears, the dry weather has accelerated the color change in the trees a bit. We are nowhere close to any kind of real color show, but there are splashes of orange. That was a pair of maple trees, but it is really the birch trees that are turning the most. I would say that 50 percent of them have fully changed and the rest are at some level of change. I have no idea if this will be a good year or bad for the colors. If I had to bet, I would go with an off year and probably a bit early. We continue to get missed by much of the rains. Sunday a line of sever storms work through just about all of the western UP, but the eastern half of the Keweenaw (including Jake) saw just a few drops.

Friday was a cloudy and windy day. The winds were from the east-northeast, which is the prime direction to build waves along the shoreline of Jake, so Nora, Grace and I took to the golf cart and headed to the beach to catch the wave action. No matter the mood of the big lake, the lower entry and beach are really a beautiful site. It was cool to watch the waves hit the breakwall at the entry and as this video shows, the waves would bounce off the wall near the shoreline and then back out to encounter the incoming waves. I’m not sure if you saw it, but at the beginning of the video, there is a seagull that is flying into the wind and is stationary. Grace gave it a try, but did not get airborne.

After hanging out at the beach a bit, we headed up the road to the look out of the cliffs. Lake Superior is such an impressive and humbling body of water. Even though the waves were only around 5-6 feet high, they and the wind still created a sound similar to a landing jetliner and even some pretty good thumps when they hit the sandstone cliffs.

Today was Bleau’s last day of summer vacation. He has had the summer off from going to school, but tomorrow is back to work for him. School does not start until Tuesday or next week, but the teachers return for in-service days tomorrow and Wednesday and Nora wants to get him back in the groove of things before the kids arrive. So it was off to Lake Superior this afternoon to get a good scrub down. He really has become a great dog as he has grown a bit older. He is only 3, but listens and obeys nearly perfectly and his wild side has backed off too. His only Achilles heal is food. If he is eating something he should not, he is deaf to any verbal correction. On the plus side, food is also a great motivator and will get him to come every time! He handled his bath in the big lake like a champ. He stood still as we poured buckets of water gently over him and gave him a good scrubbing with our hands and the shampoo. At times he even seemed to enjoy it!

As we drove to the beach, there was a big work barge from the Army Corps of Engineers docked at the wall. The water at the beach was pretty warm, so after we went back home and dropped Bleau off, Nora and Grace returned to the beach to swim, while made dinner. They stopped to take a picture Grace in front of the barge and then a bit later, the barge and it’s tug had made way and Nora snapped a shot of them.

So my excitement for winter continues to grow. It’s funny, the first few years my yearning for winter and the big snows hit a crescendo and then after maybe four or five years, it started to slowly wane. My love of snow never waivered, just the excitement for it to come. In the past 3-4 years, it hit an all time low. I believe this was because I was just so sick that I knew I would not be able to do much in it, so I was sort of your generic snow lover waiting for winter to come. This year I am feeling much better and with good fortune, I will be feeling as good or better once winter sets in. So my excitement for the beauty and fun of winter is already quite high! I know I still have at least a little over two months before it would even begin to look like winter around here, so I am not climbing the walls, but I have found myself going through some of my old pictures and also perusing the web for pictures and videos of big snows. With that thought in mind, I will leave you with this one from 2014.

Good Night from the Keweenaw..
–JD