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Hi everyone, Grace here. I decided to give my dad a break and try writing the journal. I really like it!

Monday was beautiful, and we just had to go to the beach. White City was packed, though, but our neighbors let us come down and use their beach. we all went swimming, even my dad. We also found a ton of beach glass!

On Tuesday we went swimming at our friend’s camp, and had a big storm! At Lake Medora, (my friends’ camp) we only had a little bit of rain and some thunder. But dad says that it poured in Jacobsville! That means that it was our first big storm this summer. It stopped raining by the time that my mom and I got home, but it started again in the evening. Our new dogs were scared, and Dune was whining. At about 9 o’clock, my dad let them out, and they stopped being afraid! When we let them back in the house, though, they were scared again. They sure were outdoor dogs!

On Wednesday we had a problem. We have this mosquito trap in the back yard and the trap was full. Because the trap was full the machine was still attracting the mosquitoes, but was unable to suck them into the trap. We had mosquitoes covering the whole side of the house!

This Friday was my friend Ashlyn’s birthday, and she invited Flora and I, (Flora is another friend) over to her house. Ashlyn has a dock and we had a lot of fun swimming, and jumping off it. After swimming, we ate ice cream for her party treat, and, you guessed it, went back in the water. After the party, my mom and I went home where my cousin Amy was waiting. We went to the beach and I swam for a little bit. (It had really cooled down.) After hanging out at the beach for a little bit, we went and ate dinner at my house. Hamburger time! (We also had local strawberries)

On Saturday, my uncle came over to run with me. (I am planning on signing up for cross country this year.) We ran 2 miles. A few hours later my dad took me kayaking. We were going to take my mom, but she had a hornets nest in her kayak! Anyway, enough about hornets. We offloaded the kayaks from my dad’s truck in the water at the White City boat launch. we kayaked from the boat launch to our other property, about a mile’s ride. When we got to the property, we tied up our kayaks, (I did, my dad beached his) and went for a swim. My dad went out all the way, just like me 😮 He just had to, the water was so warm!

Signing off for the week, I hope I can write the journal again soon, it was so fun!

                                                                                                       See Ya!

                                                                                                        Grace

I think a lot of us that believe everything happens for a reason have been struggling with why the events over the past 4 months have happened. I wish I could provide the answer to that, but I can’t. Of course, sometimes the answer is not singular in nature, sometimes it is plural. Sometime if we do not look hard enough or have our hearts and minds open enough, we miss those answers the first time they come around. I also believe that the coverage of all that has happened has been so narrowly focused on the negative, that it is not even our own fault for missing the positive.

I have said it several times already, but will say it again. My family and I have been blessed to not be too negatively impacted by the virus and have not had to deal with any kind of fear of the violence being conducted by a few bad apples. None the less, there have been some changes and sacrifices we have had to make and those were probably hardest on Grace. She has championed through most of it very well, but struggled with the premature dismissal of school and the opportunity to be with all of her classmates.

The staying at home has strengthened our family bonds though. As soon as Nora and I noticed Grace feeling depressed about things, we both immediately went into action to provide her with fun things to do with one or both of us and it reversed her attitude dramatically. It also helped to be able to get together with her two friends that live in Jacobsville and further help came when family came up to visit for the past week.

Nora really has a deep rooted love for Jacobsville and all the neat things that the community used to do. Many of the members of that community have since passed, but a few still remain. There are quite a few new folks living in the area, including us, and many of them know nothing of the past activities, but seem to long for an even stronger sense of community. So Nora has taken it upon herself to get a re-birth of some of the old traditions going and create a few that a new.

An Independence Day tradition for us the past 9-10 years has been to attend the kids bike parade and picnic in Mohawk. It was always a lot of fun, but we now live over 30 minutes from there and I am not even sure that event was held this year, due to the virus. So she decided we would have our own Jacobsville bike parade, followed by a picnic at our house. So yesterday at 11 am, Grace, her friends, cousin and some others that are visiting Jacobsville for the holiday weekend got on their decorated bikes and prepared to head up the street. The grand marshal, Bill, lead the parade in his golf cart and was followed by the parade of decorated bikes and some that braved the heat to follow behind on foot.

All told, the parade traveled about 1/4 mile up our road and back. It was not the biggest or most grand. There were no marching bands, no emergency vehicles and thank goodness, no politicians. But I can say without a doubt that it was the most heartwarming and beautiful parade I have ever witnessed. The joy on everyone’s faces, in and watching the parade, was simply joyous. It became one of those hidden positives for the events of the past 4 months. Had it not been for the virus and the restrictions it has brought about, we might not have had it.

No sooner did the parade participants return and everyone was already talking about next year! The picnic was a ton of fun too. Very simple, with hot dogs, some salads, cold watermelon and a couple of deserts, but sometime the simple things are the best. A boccie ball game was played and the rest of us relaxed in the shade, as the temps topped out in the upper 80’s and it was also humid. The ideas for next year are nothing that will make the event much larger, but will make it even more fun. Within an hour of when folks headed back home, Nora’s phone was buzzing with text messages all saying what a fun time everyone had. 

The day did not end with the picnic. In the early evening, there was a mini gathering for a bonfire and to let the kids play with some sparklers. A pair of grandparents in their 90’s were up and staying in Bill’s house, so the girls headed there and lit up their sparklers to put on an impromptu show for them.  

A bit after that, the show went on down by the lakeshore. We were invited to watch a fireworks show. While we waited for it to get dark enough for the main even to take place, the kids got to take turns lighting off some smaller displays for us. Watching them light the fuse and then run away to safely watch the fireworks go off sure reminded me of my childhood when we would light off fireworks on the dock at the lake. There was still a bit of time before it got dark enough to have the main display, but the full moon rising over the lake provided the needed entertainment.

The main show was excellent. The shells were not as large as the ones shot off at the community fireworks, that would actually be illegal. However, they were no slackers either and the fact that the did not go as high into the night sky and also that we were sitting directly underneath them made is just as good. Hopefully that will become a tradition for years to come too!

On the topic of the weather, it has been hot and humid. Just as hot and humid as it has been in many areas of the Midwest to the south of us. I have not been keeping track of the number of consecutive days with highs in the upper 80’s to low 90’s, but know for sure it has been at least 8. It looks like we have at least another 5 more in the week ahead and perhaps even longer. The surface of the big lake has really responded to the hot weather and now has a lake wide average temp of 61 degrees. There are areas along the north shore where the temps are only in the 50’s, but there are also areas along the south shore where the temps are in the 70’s. These are temps seen in late August, which is the typical peak for surface temps on the big lake. If we continue the summer like we have been so far, it is likely that the big lake will set all time records for warmth. Grace spent a lot of time in it this past week and I managed to wade up past my knees! The lake fluctuates a bit on a daily basis along the shoreline locations and when I was in it, it was a colder day. However, I feel very confident that I will be taking the full plunge this summer. Probably more than once!

Not much else is going on. There was a definite spike in visitors to the area for this weekend, although I don’t think it was as large as it typically is. We have not seen a lot of rain and the mosquito population has finally taken a solid hit. You can still get yourself into trouble if you go into the deep woods, especially where there is still wet areas, but you no longer have to worry in the open areas. The other flying insects like the deer and horse flies are out, but are fairly tolerable. I am really looking forward to things in a few weeks when most of the flying nasties have gone through their life cycle and we are in the low bug, but beautiful part of summer. Until then, I’ll be on my best guard!

Good Night from the Keweenaw..
–JD

First, my apologies for not writing last week. Just plum ran out of day. I had a friend that used to use the term: “There’s just not enough time in the day” all the time. I think it was because he used to spend a lot of it just hanging out and shooting the breeze with lots of people. However, I think I can legitimately sympathize with the phrase these days. So much to do and so little time! I am not complaining by any means. I have chose to have so much to do and none of it needs to be done immediately, except for maybe cutting the grass in the backyard!

Anywho, summer is certainly here in all of it’s Keweenaw glory. We have had some very wonderful weather since I last wrote. There have been some hot days, with temps in the upper 80’s to low 90’s, but the dewpoint really did not get out of hand on those days, or really any of the other days. Most of the days have brought us temps in the 70’s and 80’s, with loads of sunshine and a nice breeze. I sure am loving how the breeze is so much more noticeable down here in Jackobsville than where we were in the woods in Mohawk. 

I have been busy cutting grass, doing things in the shop and hanging out with the girls. We have been pretty dry, but yet our lawn is still deep green and grows at the rate of needing to be cut every 5-6 days. Between our front and back yards, the yard around the shop and my brother in-laws, I am kept pretty busy with that. The shop is making progress. Slowly, but steadily. This will be my final shop, so I am taking my time and doing EVERYTHING with as much care as I can. Some things will not even be seen when all is said and done, but I am just trying to remove short-cuts from all of my work these days. That counts for any work done on the house as well.

A week ago, we woke up to a magnificent morning. So after a nice Fathers Day breakfast of bacon and Pannukakku (Finnish Pancake and is 100 times more delicious that it sound correctly or incorrectly pronounced!) We all headed to the beach to allow the dogs to get in some swimming before the crowds arrived. We had the entire beach to ourselves, which was a huge plus as the dogs just love to go say hi to anyone or anything they can and some folks just don’t appreciate a big, wet dog coming to say hi. 

Up until now, Bleau has been rather unsure about the water. Choosing to only wade up to a bit past the top of his paws. This has been a different experience for me, as I have had labs in my life for the past 25 years. As anyone who has owned a lab knows, you can lead a lab to water, but you cannot keep them out of it! Last Sunday started out no different. Huck bounded into the water to fetch a stick, while Bleau stood in the safety of the shallows to watch. But something felt different that morning. Myself as well as Nora and Grace all had the feeling that Bleau might finally reach out beyond his comfort zone. It took a bit of coaxing by Grace, but little by little, he went in further and further. He never did go in past where he could touch, but they way the beach is, that would have meant having to throw the stick further than we probably could, but he did go in up to his neck to retrieve the stick and bring it back to shore. I suspect that it will take a bit more coaxing to get him to go in over his head, but think that he will be a strong swimmer before long. 

Back on the beach, Huck did his usual fosbury flop onto the sand and proceeded to roll around until he was covered in the sand from the tip of his nose to the end of his tail. I believe all of my labs have done that and always wondered why. It hit me last Sunday that is is likely because it helps to dry off their fur. The sand absorbs the moisture, they shake repeat and they are already on their way to being dry. I am not 100 percent sure as dogs do not give up there secrets easily, but it makes sense to me!

This past week, Grace and I made plans to go to the beach and Nora caught wind and joined us. The weather perfect and a slight on-shore breeze made it a great day to be there. I cannot express how fortunate we are to live not only in the Keweenaw, but in this new little piece of heaven in the Keweenaw. Grace took to the water pretty quickly upon arrival and I actually followed her lead. I did not fully immerse myself in the water, but did go up to my knees! Which was enough to cool me off and make the decision to not go in any deeper easier. The waters are warming and I have little doubt that I will go in all the way this summer. There is a buoy just off shore of Jacobsville and it is currently reading 60 degrees. Pretty warm for it not even being July yet.

In my last entry two weeks ago, I talked about how I worked with another gentleman to harvest a large red pine that had fallen last November. We had taken the logs over to a friends house that owns a portable saw mill and yesterday was the day the logs were turned into boards. It was my second experience with a portable sawmill this summer and I am still amazed at how efficient they are at cutting logs into lumber. This one had a semi-automatic loader. I saw semi-automatic as it still takes some manpower to crank a handle that reels in a cable that is looped around the log and pulls it up and onto the saw. That simple crank, cable and ramps eliminates the need for a machine to lift the log into place. Once set onto the saws bed, the log is adjusted to be in the correct spot and clamped down by some very simple, but effective clamps and is then ready for cutting.

My friend, Tim, had me back the trailer up so that it was just ahead of the saw. This was a brilliant idea. It allowed me to just lift the freshly-cut board off the log and put it on the trailer. It did not take too long to cut up the boards. 4 hours was all that was needed and we did take a few breaks as well. Here is a shot of the trailer after we had cut 2 of the 4 logs. The board were just incredible from that tree. Most were 15-20″ wide and we cut them at 12 feet long so that I can use a single board to cover from the floor to ceiling in my shop. I don’t know the exact amount of wood that I took home with me, but I do know I had estimated how much I needed, around 1300 square feet, and we were only part way through the second to last log when we hit that mark. So we cut the rest of that log and I left the last log for him to use for any projects he has. Later yesterday evening, Nora and her brother helped me stack and sticker the boards to dry. Truth is, they did almost all the stacking and stickering as I was pretty pooped by the end of the day! The boards on the very top are 1″ thick as that is the thinnest the saw can cut when you are at the very bottom of the log. They will be saved and use for something special, as they are 20″ wide and pretty much clear of things like knots and any other defects. The rest of the boards were cut at 1/2″ thick and will be dry enough to hang on the walls in about a week. I took home a 1/2″ board when I was visiting another friends sugar bush and we cut some of his dead falls. It only took a week to go from 48% moisture to 14%! Normally when you air dry lumber at an inch or so thick, it takes at least 6-8 months to dry and you also have to weight down the top so that they dry flat. These boards are thin enough that the weight of the top and thicker boards are keeping them flat.

So I guess that about covers it for this one. Have a safe and fun Independence Day holiday! Talk to you next month!

Good Night from the Keweenaw..
–JD

The phrase “If you don’t like the weather, just wait a minute” is used in many locations and the Keweenaw is certainly among them. Our weather can and does change by the minute, especially due to the influence that the big lake has on it, but I think a more accurate statement would be wait an hour or wait a day. This week, we had just about everything the weather can supply…except snow I guess. 

On Monday, the temp bottomed out at 42 degrees at the airport early in the morning. By around 5 pm, the temperature had risen to 93 degrees. That kind of a change in temperature, 51 degrees in around 12 hours is pretty rare in most of the world. That kind of a change in the Midwest is even more rare and when it does happen, it typically happens in the opposite direction. Cold air is more dense than warm air and can “shove” it out the the area much more easily than warm air moving the cold air out. I do not know for sure if the warming of 51 degrees in less than 24 hours is and also in 12 hours is an all time record for the airport, but I strongly suspect it in both cases. I do know that the 93 degree for a high was a new record for the day.

Interestingly, the temp here at our house only topped out around 71. We had a good breeze off the lake and it did a fine job of providing natural air conditioning. I know I complained about how the lake was keeping us so much cooler last month, but I sure am happy about what it is doing now! I had gotten the air conditioner ready in the house as well as the portable one I will be using in my office, but did not have to turn either of them on. I know if we were still up outside of Mohawk, we would have for sure.

We had also planned to go to the beach with some friends, but it was so crowded, we decided to skip the beach and just head to their place and hang out by the waterway. This was right next to where we lived in the camper last August through October. The girls had fun towing each other around using a kayak and they also both went swimming in the still chilly water. Although they said it was not as cold as Lake Superior and I believe that.

Tuesday was just as warm for us here in Jake, but the rest of the Keweenaw did not warm to what was forecasted. It was thought the temps would warm to around 88, but only made it to around 75. Some high clouds and more importantly, an easterly wind developed earlier than expected and put the kibosh on the warming. Grace and I headed to the beach Tuesday and found it a lot less crowded. I hung out while she swam or played with a girl from her ice skating program. The beach is one of the nicest in the Keweenaw and used to be pretty much unknown to everyone, including the locals, but when the Fathers Day flood 2 years ago closed all the beaches in the region except that one, it was discovered. So gone are the days when we used to show up and see less than a dozen people there on a hot summer day. Good for those that discovered it, but not so good for us. Oh well, that’s the way it goes sometimes!

On Tuesday, I also fired up the smoker for the first time. I had ordered an automatic temperature controller and decided to wait for it to arrive before I fired up the smoker. We actually did a turkey, the first turkey I had ever smoked myself. It turned out fantastic, although it did finish up sooner than I had thought. I had planned to cook it at 250 degrees for 2 hours and then 350 for another hour to help crisp up the skin. After the first 2 hours (when Grace and I returned from the beach) the internal temp was 169, so I quickly got the smoker up to around 400 and cooked it for another 10-15 minutes to crisp up the skin. It was already pretty crispy before making the smoker hotter, but wanted to see what would happen. It did not dry out at all and was delish. I now realize why it cooked quicker than I had thought. It was a small bird, at 9 lbs and was only the breast. I really love how well the temperature controller works. Keeps the temp exactly where I want it and in addition to the thermometer for the temp inside the smoker, it also has a probe for the meat inside the smoker. I can tell that I am going to be using the smoker a lot more this summer and am looking forward to trying all kinds of things in it. One thing that will not be happening anytime soon will be brisket. I was at the store the other day and looked into picking up one and it was $125! Sorry, too rich for my wallet! I even see that Fitzgerald’s has taken it off their menu until the price comes down. It is typically one of the most expensive cuts of beef and have often wondered why, as it is one of the toughest and thus requires special cooking. Anyway, I hope it does come down in price before it gets too cold for me to be able to use the smoker.

Wednesday started out in good shape, but the clouds filled in as the remnants of tropical storm Cristobal approached from the south. The storm itself had lost it’s tropical features soon after making landfall along the Louisiana coast early Monday, but still had a decent enough circulation and rains when it passed over the UP and Lake Superior late Wednesday night and Thursday. It was the first extra-tropical depression to pass over Lake Superior in modern times and brought some heavy rains and fairly strong winds. We only picked up around an inch in our gauge, but I know there were 2-3″ totals in other areas of the Keweenaw. The center of the storm must have passed quite near us, as the signature on the plot of atmospheric pressure was very similar looking to that of a tropical system passing over. On that chart displayed, the red line is air temperature, the black line is the dewpoint temperature and the blue line is atmospheric pressure. The “V” shape plotted shows that the atmospheric pressure dropped quite rapidly and then rose just as quickly. I tried to get the coordinates for the storm, but the National Hurricane Center had stopped issuing statements on the remnants when it was in WI and thus the last coordinate they gave for the center of the storm was when it was in WI. In any case, another bit of history making weather occurring for the week!

On Thursday, the Calumet Elementary School held a little end of the school year event. Wednesday was to be the last day of school had there not been the shut down of regular school due to the virus. Typically the 5th graders get to walk the halls and have all the students in the other grades stand in the halls and cheer them on as songs play that were picked out by the 5th grade class. Sort of a graduation from elementary school program. This year they were not able to do it, so on Thursday, they invited the 5th graders and their families to the football field for an event. They had all the students sit in the bleachers at least 6 feet apart and the families were able to stand on the field as they called out each students name, their achievements and then let them walk around the field on the track. It was a neat way to end the elementary school carer for them. Only about half of the 5th graders came, which did not totally surprise me, as many families plan vacations immediately at the end of the school year. So now Grace will move on to middle school and be in the same building as Nora!

Friday I had to go to Marquette again for some more skin cancer removal. Nothing that was life threatening, but still a good idea to get rid of. Picked up a few things while there and then headed home. Our friends Tim and Lisa had invited us over for a cookout to thank us for our help with their high tunnel. It had only been about 10 days since we had been over to help with the plastic for the roof and walls, but not only had they already planted some veggies, but many of them were already germinated and emerging from the ground! So cool and it will certainly boost the amount of foods they grow for their family. They also have a large outdoor garden, as well as fruit trees and berry bushes.

So those that are reading this and are an adult, I am sure you can relate to how things change with birthday and Christmas presents when you no longer are a child. In fact, if you are like me, you might even buy yourself something and consider it a present to yourself. Mainly because it is either way to hard or way to expensive to ask someone to get for you. Thus was the case yesterday as I celebrated the 25th anniversary of my 29th birthday! A large red pine had fallen during the pre-Thanksgiving storm last year and once the snow melted and I could see it laying there all alone and in good shape, I had hoped to work out some kind of a way to be able to harvest it and use it for the walls of the woodshop. One fortunate event led to another and due to the generosity of the land owner that the tree fell on and the hard work of Clarence, the man that helps the land owner out with projects like this, we were able to harvest the tree Saturday, load the logs onto a trailer and bring it down to Tim and Lisa’s to use his sawmill to cut the logs into boards. It was even done in a manner in which the wild Lady’s slipper orchids were not disturbed.

That about covers it for this week. I will leave you with one final picture of Grace making friends with a dragonfly. Something we all should do, as they eat other flying insects, such as mosquitoes and biting flies!

Good Night from the Keweenaw..
–JD

The title is not about what some might think. This blessed little part of the world that we are so fortunate to live in is too special to bring all the ills of the outside world into. We are not completely out of touch with what is going on, the last entry I did talk about some of those ills, but one of the very special things about living where we do, is that it is easy to unplug and keep it all at a distance.

You will find out very soon what the title was used for, but first, I need to do something. In the last entry, I had pics of all the dogs but one. To me the most special one. All of them are special, for sure. However, Huck has been with us for 11 1/2 years. He has been with us through the joys and hardships and has personally gotten me through a lot of the struggles I have faced in those past 11+ years. He is my best buddy and is always at my side where ever I am. So I was really feeling bad about not having a picture of the old boy in last weeks entry. So, here you go…Gentleman Huck, in all of his nobility. 

So the weeks weather was a winner for sure. Nice warm days in the upper 70’s to low 80’s and good sleeping weather at night, with lows in the low 50’s. Today is a different story. If it were not for all the green outside, I would think it was November. Our temp right now is 45 and we had some light rain this morning and there is a light rain that just started back up.  Tomorrow, we are suppose to warm into the 90’s! Crazy.

The summer weather has brought a very summer look to the Keweenaw and Jacobsville. All the trees, except for the oak in our front yard, have completely filled out. The oak has finally burst it’s buds and is filling out. The blossoms on the cherry tree have given way to tiny green fruit that will transform into beautiful and sweet red fruit in a month or so. The lilac bushes are blooming and yesterday, Nora and Grace picked some to bring inside and sweeten up the air inside the house. The apple trees are also in full bloom and it looks like we will be having a good crop again this year. It is our plan to pick as many as we can and save them to feed to the deer when they come down here to yard up for the winter. The most beautiful flowers in the trees are the ones belonging to the crab apple trees. We have three of them on our property. The wild strawberries are in bloom and today Nora and Grace picked some wild asparagus to eat with supper. 

The woods are also full of critters. This morning as I was doing my Sunday work in my office, I looked out to see 5 wild turkeys picking at the seed the other birds and squirrels had dropped from the feeder. The turkeys were around a lot during the winter and then disappeared for a while, but now are obviously back. It’s going to be fun to learn the behavior of all of these woodland creatures. Nora snapped a picture of this squirrel having a snack and while I did not get any pictures, I saw a bald eagle briefly land in our yard yesterday and then fly off through the woods, which is something I have never seen and we all have been spotting turtles- both on our property and around the neighborhood. There actually turtle crossing signs on the bottom end of the Jacobsville Rd to try and get folks to slow down and not run over them.

An entry or two back, I mentioned how we helped some friends with the superstructure of their high tunnel. This week we returned to help them put the plastic over the structure. They had built the end walls and bracing for the side walls. The plastic for the top and sides comes in one large sheet, so it was definitely a four person job at the minimum. Tim had the process well thought out and things went very smoothly. We did have the wind pick up just as we were doing it. Figures! but we got it done and all that was left was for them to trim the excess plastic. 

Nora, Grace and I got our gardens up this past week as well. They are actually Nora and Graces garden. I am the fruity one in the family. These beds are for veggies. They are going small scale this year, but next year we plan to get back to the raised beds like we had at the old house outside Mohawk and at least double the bed space. I plan to have a raised bed or two for blueberries and strawberries. We already have a nice plot of raspberries. 

Despite the cold weather today, we all took a short walk down to the Jacobsville lighthouse. I think that there are many folks that think this is the Jacobsville lighthouse, but it is actually the south entry light. Some call it the Jacobsville light. So there is your Jacobsville lesson for the week!

The weather not only made all the vegetation pop out in all it’s glory, it allowed the Dee’s to spend a lot of time outside in all of our glory. The mosquito’s are in full fashion and thus you need to either need to be in full sun when it is warm out, or need to have some kind of bug-dope on. Grace has been looking for her hammock since we moved and finally found it this past week. So I helped her hang it up and she has practically been living in it since. I tried to show her the proper way to lay in it, but ended up breaking the aluminum caribiner on one side, so I guess it will be up to her to figure it out.

I guess that about covers it for this one. I will leave you with one last shot. It is of the two luckiest people I know of.

Good Night from the Keweenaw..