So last Sunday was a great day for working outside and as the saying goes, we had to make hay when the sun shined. I did mean to write the next day, but got busy with some things and by Tuesday, it just seemed to late.
This Sunday was not so good for outside work, but we were busy none the less, so I promise to write tomorrow. I can promise plenty of pictures and some pretty interesting news. So be sure to head back tomorrow!
Good Night from the Keweenaw..
–JD
I often wonder when I create the title to each weeks entry if folks read it first and wonder what it will relate to. This weeks title could apply to seveal things. Me, the covid mess, lots of other things. However, when I used this phrase, I was referring to the weather.
The “big” storm that was to hit us last Sunday night through Tuesday ended up being an under achiever. We got a fair amount of snow, but there were few places in the western UP that saw the minimum of 12″ fall and no one picked up the 18″ in the western UP. There were lots of 12″+ totals in the central UP and some locations around Munising picked up 18-22″. My final total was 12″. We picked up 5″ by sunrise Monday morning and then another 5″ through the day on Monday. Here is a snowfall map that shows the 72 hour totals ending at around 7 am eastern time on Wednesday. It looked like it was all over by Tuesday morning, but then some snow shower brought us another 2″ later in the day on Tuesday. Here is a shot of the front of the house when I was walking the dogs Wednesday morning. Probably around 5-6″ of snow depth, but it was also COLD. At least for april 15th. The temp was around 12.
We never had more than 8″ on the ground, but it was a wet and heavy snow and took all week to melt. In fact, there was still some snow hanging on in areas that were shaded by yesterday evening. None the less, we were able to get some more yard work done yesterday, including some tree trimming in the front yard and removing some of the storm windows so that when it does finally warm up, we will be able to open some windows and let “The Cleanest Air on the Earth” flow in!
Also in preperation for the upcoming warm season, we ordered a garden cart. It is one that can be both pulled around by hand and by a mower. It came in a giant box and come Friday, Gracie was looking for something to do, so I asked if she wanted to put it together? She answered with an excited “Yes!” and so I helped her unbox all the pieces and put them in the office, which is kept at a wamer temp than the shop. I have to admit, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. Grace is exceptionally smart and is good at figuring things out. She follow directions better than I ever have, but it was also a pretty big job. The one thing I did know was that she would give it her best and I was so happy that she wanted to give it a try. No matter the outcome, I was determined to let this be a fun thing for her and also for it to blossom her confidence even more.
So she spread all the parts across the floor of the shop and got to working on it. I kept busy with my own projects, both inside and outside the office. Each time I stopped my own work to see how hers was going, she had completed another step in the build process. She was really having fun and in a little over an hour, she was putting the final touches on things. She did an outstanding job and I made sure to tell her that. There were only a few instances where she needed help and it was not because she did not understand things, but that an extra hand was needed to either lift one of the larger or heavier pieces into place, or to hold a piece while the other was fitted. Nora and Grace did put the cart to use in yesterdays yard work session and it will see a ton more work as the months and years go by.
Not long after we were done with the yard work, the rains started up yesterday evening. I was grilling dinner outdoors and I sensed it was a different kind of rain, one that we have not seen up here for probably 8 months. It was a warm season rain. What do I mean by that? Well, first off, this is not some kind of official meteorological term, although there are some scientific features to support why it is different. Anyway, for one, the air temp was still in the 50’s when it was raining and did not really cool off much once it started. The second thing and this is the biggest factor to me, is that there was that smell that occurs during and/or after a warm season rain. It is not really the rain that I was smelling, but rather the microscopic organic matter that was either released by the rain or nurtured by it. Kind of hard to explain what I was smelling, but sort of a musky, earthy smell. The smell that I only sense during the warm season.
So that smell helped to keep my spirits a bit more propped up, even though it was raining and turning the ground all soggy again, as well as causing us all to remain indoors. I even had thoughts of the summer thunderstorms to come and actually felt a bit of an emotional lift. Upon waking up, I looked outside and saw nothing but white. Temps had fallen behind the front that came through yesterday evening and the rains had changed to snow and accumulated to around an inch or so. I actually had to do a double take, as I was surprised to see the snow. None of the Dee’s were too happy about the snow, but we also realize it is not uncommon at all to see an inch of snow fall anytime in April. I guess the thing that made it harder to stomach this morning was the fact that we have not had a 60 degree temp yet. We all know those days are coming, but cannot come soon enough!
Here is a shot of our road taken around noon as I was headed from the office to the house to have some lunch. It has snowed off and on all day, but by around 2 this afternoon, the suns energy was strong enough to melt most of it off, so we are back to bare ground again. Will it last? Perhaps, perhaps not. We do have a few more light snow shots coming at us into Wednesday and then warm enough for anything that falls to fall as rain.
The creatures of the woods have made their change from winter habits to the warm season habits. The deer all moved out and headed north a few weeks ago. We still have a few down here that will spend the entire year here, but the big numbers have dwindled significantly. That takes a bit of the stress of driving off. Some of the warm season birds have returned. The first robins were spotted a few weeks ago and now we have breeding pairs in the yard, gathering things for their nests as well as finding a meal. Nora said she spotted a finch the other day as well. No bear have been spotted yet, but I am sure it will not be long before they are. One of Nora’s friends sent her some pics of a big old bruin that has been hanging out in her yard the past week or so.
The week ahead looks to start cold and then warm enough that by Friday we will be in the upper 40’s and then low 50’s by Saturday. I have been working in the shop to continue to bring it up to full speed. It is still weeks away, but I am not rushing things either. Plus my finger is just starting to feel good enough to not have to restrict what I work on. It still has a scab at the tip, about the size of a dime, but stretched out so that once axis is longer than the other. It is still quite sensitive to bumps and the cold. Another reason why I am looking forward to the warmer temps!
I plan to head to town tomorrow to pick up the fencing and weather permitting I hope we can get it put up this week. Poor Bleau and Huck have not been able to run around since we moved here. We do take them for walks, but they both, especially Bleau, love to run free.
Once again, I hope you all have a great week and stay healthy.
Good night from the Keweenaw..
–JD
By now, most of you reading already know that much of the central and NW UP is about to be hit with what looks to be the biggest snow storm of the season. It’s April 12th.
I am sure some areas to be hit with this storm have seen bigger snows fall this seaon, but those totals were not widespread to that particular event. This one will impact most areas of the UP from Ironwood in the west to Paradise in the east with at least 12″ of snow. Much of north central and sections of NE WI will also see 12″+ of snow. The higher terrain of eastern Baraga and western Marquette counties look to be the areas hardest hit by this storm with 24″+ totals likely and possibly close to 3 feet.
Here in sunny Jacobsville, all of our snow in the yard melted this week. It was a pretty chilly week, but still, anytime the sun was able to shine without any blocking from clouds, the snow melted. I even spotted a few sprouts popping up from beneath the dead cover from last years growing season. I am not sure what they are, but should be able to tell in a few weeks.
The last remnants of the ice rink also melted yesterday, so we were able to pull up all the plastic I put down for it. I am glad to have gotten that plastic off the ground. That way when all the snow melts from the pending storm, it will be able to green up along with the rest of the yard. Plus it was pretty ugly having that plastic half covered and the other half blowing around in the wind! The look out the back windows is much nicer now!
Nora and Grace got the front yard all raked. There were some leaves that fell and were not able to be raked by the previous owners because the autumn was too wet. We moved in and 3 days later were buried under 15″ of snow and the snow never melted until this week. Nora also raked out some of the gardens on the front side of the house. She is chopming at the bit to expand upon the gardens that were here when we moved in, as well as nurture and add to the existing gardens. I am looking forward to expanding upon the berries growing in the gardens and also going out to pick all the wild blue berries and strawberries that are growing in the neighborhood. We have been tipped off by the former owners where they grow, but I think that since we have remained friends, we will have them over to pick with us, if our govener lets us by then!
Not a whole lot else has gone on this week. As mentioned, the weather was not all that great. Pretty chilly and lots of wind. Yesterday was beautiful, with a high of 56 and mostly sunny skies. Nora, Grace and I decided to do a little fishing at the south entry, but just as we got there, the front came through and dropped temps around 10 degrees almost instantly and another 2 degrees fairly quickly. It also brought with it a thick overcast and strong winds out of the west. So we did not last long at the pier, with the cold wind blowing right in our faces.
Yesterday we prepped for the storm. Grace went and brought a nice stock pile of firewood into the garage and I got the portable generator I bought not long after the pre-Thanksgiving storm all ready to go. The shop has it’s stand-by generator, so if or when we lose power, we will be all set this time!
Other than to report all the Dee’s are doing just great and are all healthy, not much else to say. I hope that you all can report the same thing! Until next time…
Good night from the Keweenaw..
–JD
Greetings. I hope this entry finds everyone in good health. The Dee’s are all doing fine. None of us has been out of Jacobsville in over 2 weeks. Some of our friends have down here have done the same, so it is nice to not have to worry about keeping our 6 feet from them. Out of habit, I think it is still happening more than not. I was thinking, when all of this is over, will it be difficult for us all to be able to start acting normal?
I also wonder if some of the things we took for granted will be more appreciated. Like just being able to go to the store without worry. Or for some, just being able to get some toilet paper. I cannot believe there are still shortages of the stuff! To the best of my knowledge, the store we typically shop at never ran out. I also wonder if we might end up being friendlier to each other. After such a long time of not being able to socialize, will we be more accepting of folks we do not know, or folks that are different? I sure hope so.
Enough of the virus talk. The snows are a melting up here. Our ground is now nearly bare. The only spots with snow are the ones where snow piled up, either via mechanical means or naturally. We were all out today doing some yard work. Mostly picking up branches from the wet and heavy snow we got two days before Thanksgiving. All of the smaller branches are down and we will get to cutting the larger ones in the next week or two. Many of them either have diameters of around 5″ or more and/or are 20 feet long or longer.
The ice rink is almost gone. Some of the corners have fully melted and we have pulled up the plastic there. The main field has around 1-2″ of granular snow on it. It was interesting how the solid ice turned to what is more like chopped up ice or granular snow. About the same consistency of one of those multi-colored crushed ice treats you could get from the Good Humor man.
The buds on the bushes and some of the trees are starting to swell. I know they will not be opening for at least a month or more, but it is a nice site. As I mentioned, all of our family is excited for the main green up. The yard is really beautiful, as are all the fruit trees and the woods. It will really be neat when all of the fruit trees are in bloom. The weather does not look too great this week, otherwise I think we would be putting the fence in, so the dogs can all run around freely. They have been getting out with us. Nora takes a daily walk of a few miles with her friends and takes Bleau. Huck would love to go, but we do not want to overdo it with his joints, so I usually take him on a shorter walk when the girls are all on their longer walk.
We did get some snow Friday night. Our temp during the day on Friday hit 54 degrees and we had brilliant sunshine, so I was doing work outside with no jacket on. By around 6 pm, a cold front came through and dropped our temps to around 38 in less than a half hour. Rains started up around 8:30 and at around 1 it changed to snow. We awoke to around 1″ of fresh snow Saturday morning. Not something that got any of us very excited. Snow at this time of the year is just not very welcomed, even by the most hard core lovers of snow. Not unless it is a ton of snow like we were getting 13 years ago. The big April dump of 2007 started on the 3rd and ended on the 7th. For those of you that are unaware of that storm, or had forgotten, we picked up 43.5″ of snow. The Phoenix Farms Coop Observer just up the road from us reported 57″ of snow and the observer in Painesdale came in with 64.5″.
I remember riding, or trying to ride the day it ended. I met up in the higher terrain of Keweenaw county with the regular riding crew we had back then and all of us getting stuck within around 1/4 mile of where we started! All very accomplished deep snow riders on deep snow sleds! My arms and pretty much the rest of my body were about as sore as they have ever been.
Back to present day. The snow this past Friday night was really more of a nuisance than anything else. I did not even get to see it come down (my favorite part about getting snow), as I was sleeping. Here is a shot of the front of the house while I was out letting the dogs do their morning business. The sun came out late morning and by the end of the day, all that had fallen had melted. At least all that was exposed to the sun.
On her walk that day, Nora and her friends spotted some wolf tracks in the snow. The location was only a few hundred yards down the road from the driveway for the shop. I am for sure going to get a hunting trail cam setup so that we can see all we are missing in our woods. Our friends down here have one and showed us some of the pictures they got this winter. They put two deer killed by vehicles in separate incidents out there and enticed animals to come. Among the those that showed up were flying creatures like crows, ravens, eagles and even a horned owl. The land based animals included coyotes, fox and wolves.
While the snows are melting off into the ground, creeks, rivers and streams, the smaller inland bodies of water are still frozen. We do not dare go onto them. In fact, we do not go on any of the small bodies of water down here, mainly because they are all quarries and I do not trust the nature of the ice on them. Plus, in the event of trouble, it would be extremely hard and a long way for help! Nora passed by a quarry that was just starting to show some open water and took this shot of it.
I mentioned how I was outside doing some work Friday afternoon. That work included dropping the snowblower off of Big Red and attaching the loader. The tractor is not without an implement hanging off the front for very long, so it always looks to be naked to me in that situation. I know, it needs a bath! I am waiting for things to dry up a bit more, so in case I need to go help someone in the area, the washing will not be for nothing. I can report that the loader is on and Big Red is ready for summer duty!
Gracie is still doing a great job at keeping herself entertained. Lots of tree climbing to read a book this week. She did have a bit of correspondence with classmates this week, as the teacher put something up on the classes digital communication software and both Nora and I noticed how happy she was to read things and communicate with her classmates, but also how it reminded her of how much she misses school and being able to be with all of her friends there.
I decided to give her a little reward for being so great and not complaining. She just LOVES to read and has been reading lots of novels and some educational books. So I decided to put an end to that nonsense and get her something that would really suit her better for life down the road. I picked up a set of three books that contain every Calvin and Hobbes ever produced! I had a few of the smaller books and she loves reading them, but did not realize there was actually an edition that contained every single comic Bill Watterson produced. Needless to say she polished off the first book in an afternoon. I am looking forward to reading them too. It was my favorite comic when it was out and still is. Wish something like it would come out.
We also finisned the table for Grace and her friends pallet house. I think it turned out pretty good, especially for using a few scraps of wood we found in the garage. Looking forward to building some more stuff!
I guess this about covers it for this week. Probably going to be another slow week, at least I hope so! Stay well everyone and…
Good Night from the Keweenaw..
–JD
I feels a bit strange writing to you all. It is a very rare occasion that the main topic in my world is the same as the main topic in the world of all who are reading this. I believe the only other time was the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. I certainly hope that you all have been able to avoid this sneaky bug. The UP has seen the virus arrive here. I believe there are only 3 or 4 active cases so far. As I was typing this, the first case in Houghton County was announced and none so far in Keweenaw County. A man from Gogebic County passed away earlier this week from the virus.
The Dee’s are pretty much hunkering down in Jacobsville. I did go to Houghton to pick up come prescriptions on Friday, but was able to do it through a pick-up window and thus did not have to enter the store or even get out of my vehicle. Plenty of disinfectant was applied to my hands and even the contents of the bag once they were out. Our family is far from being frightened or paranoid, but do not want to catch it either and hand washing is a very simple thing to do and something we do very regularly during flu season. So our lifestyles have not changed much at all.
I would have to say other than limiting my trips to town to only the essentials like food or medicine, it is pretty much business as usual for this old buck. I have always been a home body, so avoiding social gatherings is nothing I am missing!
As mentioned in the paragraph I wrote last week, we were suppose to go to Florida for spring break. It was to be a pretty grand affair. We had not been on a family vacation in 9 years and lots of struggles have happened since. We actually booked everything but the flight back in August of 2019. We were very luck to have the property owner refund our money for the house we had rented. We were going to swim with the dolphins at the Dolphin Research Center in Marathon and they too gave us a full refund. Our airline tickets were turned into vouchers, unfortunately they have to be used before Jan 1, 2021, so we will see where we end up. Wish they would have been a year and we could have just re-done our canceled vacation.
Last Friday we paid a visit to some friends that raise and race sled dogs. They have 12 or 14 dogs, but some are nearing retirement age. It was fun to walk through their space in the yard, they are all so friendly and love to get attention. Grace had a ball saying hi to all of them. Here she is with a pair, Kashi on the left and Dune on the right. If it were not so much work and I were younger, much younger! I think I could see myself with a team. Maybe not for racing, but for fun. I have only ridden in the sled and not stood up and been in control, but it really is a magnificent thing to be part of. Maybe in my next life!
The next day was sunny and mild, so Nora, Grace and I went tree hunting. The storm before Thanksgiving took down a ton and we were wanting to harvest some cedar to make fence posts out of. We are going to fence in our backyard so that Huck and Bleau can run free without fears of them running off. Both would very likely come back once they felt like it, but we do have both coyotes and wolf down here and that could pose a problem if they were to stumble upon a pack of either. Nora’s brother bought a place down the road from us this winter and had 3-4 cedars fall during the storm. We went over and cut the tops off of them down to where they were too big to be used as fence posts. I plan to return once things dry out and cut the rest for lumber. We were able to fill the back of the truck, but not long after decided to just use steel fence posts! Cheaper and no need for a hole digger. There goes my chance to get a hole digger for the tractor!
Grace has been handling the stay-at-home order like a champ. She has always been able to entertain herself and Nora and I do make sure that we engage with her as well. Being an only child living in the sticks only makes it that much harder for her. However, she has been having fun baking, reading, building things with her 3-D printer and many other things (some I will talk about in a bit). Her first baking project of the sah period was a giant chocolate chip cookie. It did not last even 24 hours in our house, but Nora and Grace made a sheet version yesterday and it has been sustaining us so far. Nora has been busy in the kitchen making pleasantry’s as well. Today she made up several loaves of white bread as well as several loaves of banana bread.
Grace and I have also been busy with some projects of our own. She is building a fort at the friends house. They call it the “pallet house” as the walls are made of old pallets. It is actually quite large and has some interior walls to make rooms. No roof yet, but they have their eyes on some old metal roofing and siding for that. I have been getting regular updates on it’s progress and on Friday I was able to see it first hand. Quite the project they have going! Reminds me of things I did when I was growing up. Of course as a boy, I called them a “fort”! Earlier in the week, she mentioned how they wanted to have a table for the pallet house and if we had any materials they could use. I said I bet we did have some materials, but asked if she wanted to work with me to build it and excitedly said “YES!”. So we got started a day or two ago and finished the construction today. Grace is going to paint the legs and stain the top. I don’t know who enjoys both of us working in the shop together, but it is also a lot of fun to explain to her the building process and why I do things the way I do. All the design credit goes to her. She had it all in her head and was able to draw and explain how she wanted to me.
Late in this winter, Grace started to climb up on the roof of the shed in the backyard. Her and some friends even built a fort of sorts. The snow has been gone from the roof for a few weeks now, but she continues to go up here. Sometime to read a book, sometimes to just sit and watch the wildlife and the other day I found her up there with a stick and the Swiss Army knife she bought with chores she has done. I guess you could call her- and I am sorry for this but…The Whittler on the Roof! Maybe I should get a ladder out there and join her on occasion.
The weather this week was fairly pleasant. Not very warm, with highs only in the 40’s, but we did have quite a bit of sunshine. On Wednesday we took advantage of the sunshine and afternoon temps in the upper 40’s to head down to Nora’s cousins place and pay a visit to the big lake. It was a little breezy there, so we were glad we overdressed for the weather inland. The pups really enjoyed the walk to the lake and Huck took his first swim, albeit brief. So brief I could not get my camera out fast enough to get a picture. Still great to see him moving so well and wanting to swim in 33 degree water at his age. He and Burt are the two coolest dogs I have ever known. So fearless, but yet so kind and gentle. Watching him climb up on some shore ice and look out to survey his surroundings was quintessential Huck. I think Grace was a bit jealous that Huck found such a cool place to go before she did, so as soon as Huck departed, she got up there!
She snow is going down here in Jacobsville and we have some bare spots beginning to show up. Mostly under the trees where not as much snow made it to the ground. In other spots it is almost a foot deep still. The melting snow has led to run off and the shop and house are almost on an island, as there are drainage ditches on either side of them, as well as along side the road. The rain today only brought their levels up more.
Yesterday, Huck and I took a walk in the woods. I thought that I might get luck and find some sheds- antlers off of the bucks. No sheds were found, but Huck found three deer carcasses. The first was old and likely pre-winter. No teeth marks, but that does not mean it did not die from a predator. The next was much fresher and still had meat on it. Again, no teeth marks, but something for sure had been eating it! The third was also pretty old. It sure is interesting and a tiny bit concerning that these were all in close proximity to the house. I am not worried about myself or any of the dogs when we are with them, but is a big reason why we want to put the fence in.
I guess that covers is for this one. Please stay safe and I will “visit” with you all next week.
Good night from the Keweenaw..
–JD