Flying By

I don’t know about you all, but this summer sure seems to be flying by for me. I suppose it’s because of the buy schedule I have, but it seems hard to believe that July is already half over. As I look forward into the second half of the season, I really cannot see it slowing down, perhaps even going faster. It sure seems like it has not been 2 weeks since I last wrote and maybe that is why I am not writing every week right now. The weeks go by so fast, I forget to write. If you are buying that story, I have a bridge I can sell you!

So when I last wrote, we were 2 days shy of Independence Day. That has obviously came and went, so I can share with you the festivities we had in Jake. As has become a tradition, around the midday, we have a parade. Probably the shortest parade in the country, both in participants and in length, but it’s also a lot of fun. This year the parade was led by Mike on the bagpipes and then followed up by some of the kids (and kids at heart) on their bikes. we also had a classic Datsun convertible and an old army jeep. We decorated our golf cart and Grace drove it, while I was the passenger.

After the parade, we have a potluck picnic. Last year the weather was horrible on the 4th, with temps in the 50’s and rain. So the potluck picnic was held inside. This year it was perfect and was held outdoors. The first two were also held outside and on our front lawn and we will be returning to our place for next year and as many more as we can host…weather permitting.

The other main news is of course the continuing house build. The builders are on the home stretch. All of the landscaping has been done, more on that in a bit. Most of the plumbing fixtures have been installed. Here is one of the things I insisted the new place have. Ever since it got fully plumbed, I have been wanting to try it out, but we are still waiting for power to be brought to the house. I could run an extension cord from the temporary power setup to the boiler and fire it up, but will just be patient and wait for the power company folks to do their thing. Actually, we are both waiting on the sub contractor to dig the trench and lay the wire. Then the power company comes and does the connections.

The stone for the fireplace has begun to get installed. It’s a little further along than in this picture, but still has about 80% to be done. It is really looking nice and will really enhance the look of the living room, plus be a wonderful feature when the weather gets cold. We all loved the fireplace we had at the last home and this one has all the same features, but is a bit larger.

Now onto the landscaping. Two weeks ago, the did all all of the landscaping behind the shop, where the new septic field was built. It actually sits directly next to the one for the shop, but they are separate systems. Last week, they did all the landscaping around the house, which included spreading topsoil over the dirt what was there, planting seed and covering it all with straw. At one point, I was really wanting to use sod, but Nora was wanting to avoid the cost and go with seed. So we made a deal, there was a new home built on Bootjack Road last year and they planted seed. We agreed to use their lawn progress as a guide as to which way we should go. Well, much to my surprise, their seed sprouted and filled in quite well and they have a pretty full lawn. So that is why we went with seed. It was really good we did too, because I watered the seed late last week, not even the entire front yard, only about 35% of it and ended up sucking our well dry! It has since recharged, but had we gone with sod, we would have likely lost of a lot of it by not being able to water it.

The watering I did late last week got some of the seeds to sprout, but the rains we got a few days ago was great and has gotten most of the yards around the house to sprout. We have more rain on the way Wednesday and Thursday of this week and that should get the rest going and give enough moisture to allow for some growth too. Even though the seed was planted around 10 days ago, here is a shot of the front yard. As mentioned, the area behind the shop was planted around a week before that around the house and has had more time to get going. Here is a shot of it. The bald spot in the middle is a low area that had some standing water in it. We still have a good amount of topsoil left over, so in late August or early September, I plan to fill in the low spot and plant seed there.

Another thing the crew did as part of the landscaping was to put down some really nice gravel for our driveway at the house. Most of the gravel that you get up here is spoil rock from the copper mining. It makes for a pretty good driveway, especially if it has a lot of “fines” in it. Fines are very small particles that range in size from a kernal of wheat to a grain of sand. They help to lock in the smaller pieces. The gravel we got was pieces all smaller than a marble and mostly fines. It also seems to have a limestone kind of characteristic, by getting well compacted as vehicles drive over it. It also is the color of limestone, so looks pretty nice too.

The final piece of landscaping they did was to relocate the “red shed”. Previously the shed sat in the back, right corner of our backyard. However, since the new home was built back further away from the road, the red shed was sitting right at the end of the driveway and we really did not care to have it there. So they were able to skid it up onto a trailer and drive it over to the shop, where it was placed near to the shop, but away from the snow clearing zone.

I wish I could say that I am on the home stretch with my contribution to the new house, but I’m not quite there yet. I am working my way closer and closer to it, but still have a good chunk of work to do. I forget where I was when I last showed you pics of the cabinets, but as things stand right now, I have all the face frames done and about half of the drawer boxes built and installed. To give me some credit, in actual time needed to finish the drawer boxes and mount them, I am way past halfway. That being because to build the boxes it only takes around 35-40 minutes. The time needed to figure out their exact dimensions and make sure that those dimensions are correct takes even longer. So I have actually built and installed one drawer for each cabinet and now all I need to do is to go into assembly line mode and use the dimensions for those drawers on the remaining.

I believed that I said these cabinets would have some special features, some of which I have never seen done with kitchen cabinets and others only on high end cabinets. One of the features that I have never seen done is the use of “cloud lifts” on the bottom rail. This detail was something invented by the brothers Greene and was used in a lot of their Greene and Greene furniture. I gotta admit, I almost abandoned the idea. It probably took me half a dozen tries on scrap stock before I finally figured out the best technique and another 3-4 tries before I was in the groove and satisfied with my results. I also have to say, it was such a joy for me to master the making of these features and I really had a lot of fun making them once I was good at it. They are things I will want to include on furniture pieces I make in the future and it will be nice to be able to just whip them out, rather than feel intimidated them. 

The weather up here has been mostly good to magnificent. We seem to be avoiding a lot of the rain that is impacting other areas of the eastern 1/2 of the US, while getting just enough to keep things from drying out. ost other days have us in sunshine and temps in the 70’s to around 80. Friday was one of those days, the temp was around 80, with a bit of a breeze and as I sat in my lounge chair, taking in the big lake, I thought to myself it just does not get any better. I do not say this or share the pic to try and brag or cause jealousy, only to illustrate just how wonderful this place is and to take the opportunity to say just how blessed I am to live here. It really is a dream come true!

We are also at the magical time of the year where the fruits of the Keweenaw become ready for consumption. We have a sweet cherry tree in our front yard and it was mandatory that it not be removed or even hamed in any way while tearing down the old home and building the new. The crew did a great job of seeing to our wishes and it is now rewarding us with some beautiful fruits. I spent a few minutes under it this evening and picked enough to snack on and share with the dogs. Bleau must have remembered what they smell like, because when I got into the house, he was wanting to take them right out of the pocket of my hoodie where I had put them for transport to the apartment!

In a few weeks, it will be time for the blueberries and raspberries and then at the end of August the blackberries. Mother nature really does produce the best candy.

I believe that gets you all caught up for now. Until next time…

Good Night from the Keweenaw..
JD

 

 

Independance Eve, Eve

I really need to break this cycle of posting every three weeks. I kinda have an excuse for not writing last week. Nora and I traveled to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester MN because I was scheduled to get restarted on a med for afib and possibly have a caThe culprit is a medication I take to help my heart work better and when I am on the full dose, I feel really good. Probably better than I have felt since my first open heart surgery in 2009. However the med also does not play well with my kidneys, so for the past 5-6 months we have been playing a game of finding the sweet spot where I am taking as much of the med as I can without aggravating my kidneys. In August, I will be headed down to Mayo again so that they can insert a device that will measure the pressure in my pulmonary vein and give them great data to show how my heart function is going.

So Nora and I drove down on Saturday, arrived in time for dinner. Then went back to the hotel and I went to sleep soon after, as I needed to be at the hospital by 6 am. I got checked into a room, had a visit from my nurses and a doctor, they drew blood and about 30 minutes later, the doctor came back and told us the news about my kidneys. So we waited while they worked on the discharge paperwork, which kinda cracked me up, seeing as though all I did was have my blood drawn, but rules is rules I guess. Nora and I got back on the road at around 1 pm central time and arrived back in Jake by around 9 pm eastern time. 

So I was too pooped from all the traveling to write Sunday and even pretty tired Monday, so I figured I would just put it off until today. So here I am!

Not a whole lot of excitement has happened since I last wrote. The day after my last entry I celebrated another trip around the sun. My tally is now 57. I’m getting up there! I remember how 57 seemed like such an old age, probably until I was working through my early 50’s and then each year I get older, the age does not feel that old. Anyone else feel that way? I can tell you that my aches and pains are more noticeable, but one of the meds I am on also enhances that. My heart stuff also impacts my physical abilities quite a bit. I and SO thankful that I have not had to do an ounce of work at the new house. I really am not sure what I would have even been able to do if I had tried. I am building the kitchen cabinets, but more on that in a bit.

Two weeks ago, Nora and Grace were in Eagle River for the week so that Grace could attend a figure skating camp. This camp is pretty cool, coaches from not just around the US, but around the world come to instruct the skaters. This time around, Grace started working on a move in which she does 1 1/2 revolutions during a jump. To aid in the learning process and keep the skaters from falling and hitting the ice, they put the skater in a harness. That gives the skater a lot more confidence performing the jump, until they no longer need the harness.

When Grace was not skating, her and her friends were having a lot of fun hanging out at the campground they stay at, playing games, bike riding and swimming, lots of swimming. They are burning the candle at both ends, but are also young enough to be able to pull it off. Although it does not take Grace long to crash out on the drive back to Jake.

While the girls were gone, we had a pretty crazy thing happen. I had gone to the grocery store and picked up some things. One of them was a glass jar of monterey jack cheese. The jar had a steel lid that holds the vacuum seal to keep the cheese from spoiling. I had put the jar on the counter in the kitchen, thinking I would have it later. I then went down into the shop to do some work and when I came back up, the jar and lid were sitting on the floor in the bedroom. The lid was off the jar and the jar was empty! I could not believe my eyes! I knew Bleau was the culprit, as he has pulled other things off the counter to feast on them. But how did he get the lid off! I am 100 percent sure that I had not taken the lid off and there were some bite marks on the lid, but still, getting those lids off can be a challenge for even species with an opposable thumb! I feel like I should set up some cameras and recreate the scene to see if he an pull it off again!

So as mentioned, I have been working on the cabinets just about every day now. The going is pretty slow, as my poor heart/body just cannot work like it used to be able to. It’s a little crazy to think that I was able to do so much work on the addition in Mohawk, even after two open heart surgeries and a couple of “regular” heart surgeries. However, those days are gone. I can still do the cabine work, but can only last a few hours most days, before I feel like I have just completed a triathlon. Most evenings, every joint and muscle in my body seems to ache and the deeper and deeper into the evening I go, the harder it becomes to just walk to the bathroom!

Now, not feel sorry for me. Even though the work is much harder than it used to be and I really hurt by the end of the day, I am still enjoying the process of making the cabinets. As things sit right now, I have all the boxes for the base cases done that will be along the walls done and almost all of the face frames on them done. The bottom rails still need to be done for each unit and I will be starting them up tomorrow. Typically that job would be an hour or two process, but these bottom rails will have some special details to them, so they will take a bit longe. Once I finish them, then I need to make the doors and drawers, mount them, put a finish coat on everything and they will be ready.

I’ve pondered the thought of not doing the special details on the bottom rails and using either pocket screws or dominos to join all four sides of the drawers together, but I am going to be living (and seeing) these drawers for the rest of my life and I know I would really regret not using dovetail joints at each corner. I also would really regret not having the special detail on those bottom rails. Once these cabinets are done, I still will need to build 5 upper cabinets for the walls and 6 more bases for the island, but really need to get the bases along the walls done so that the counter top folks can come and get their measurements and fabricate the tops. I don’t have any pics of the cases as they sit right now, but here is an “action” shot of my friend helping me surface the cherry boards to thickness before I cut them up into the face frame parts. I’m pretty confident that the next time I write, the cases and face frames will be all done and will be sure to take pics then.

Over at the house, the progress has slowed a bit as well. It’s the heart of building season up here and the contractor has to spread his workers out to the varying jobs they have. I totally get that and am fine with that. We are getting so close at the house that sending a whole workforce would be too many bodies anyway. I can’t remember where we even stood the last time I wrote, but I know for sure that the stairs were completed since then, the backer board for the fireplace brick has been installed, all of the interior doors have been hung and about 90 of the trim is done.

Really, all that is left is for the trim to be finished, the stone to go up on the fireplace, some electrical work needs to be done and electricity still needs to be brought to the house. Last week, they did landscaping over the new septic field and tank, with grass seed planted and straw put over it. The landscaping around the house still needs to be done, but that will be a one day job for them. After that, I guess they will be waiting for the cabinets to get installed so that the appliances can go in and after that, it will be move in day(s)!

Nora, Grace and I are all very excited, but not antsy to get moved in. There are just so many things that will be better for us all once we get over there. Also, we all feel so blessed to be able to make this dream come true. I can’t imagine what I will do with all my free time once it is all done! Well…maybe I can!

Good Night from the Keweenaw..
JD

 

Going Green, part 2

Well shucks, it seems like I did not keep my promise of writing the next day after the last entry! Truth be told, Grace had a down day at school Wednesday and on Thursday, I really had to cut our grass. Friday was the last day of school and Grace also had a piano recital in the evening. Saturday the dog ate my work and Sunday I ended up watching a movie with Grace. So that is how 5 days slips away from me like the flap of a butterfly’s wings!

Anyhoo, in the last entry, I had spoke about and shown to you the changes made in the front yard of the new home. That last picture, was taken a couple of weeks ago and more work has been done since then, so here is the current state of affairs. No sign of the old place at all and boy do we love it! Some topsoil still needs to be spread out over it and then sod will be placed and we will have a wonderful, new, front yard! There may even be a tree or two planted, we’ll see.

Not only was there landscaping done to the front yard of the new house, but a bunch of work was done to the land behind the shop. I don’t have a before shot, which I wish I really had, but there were two sheds that were in the state of falling down as well as several dead and nearly dead pine trees. There was also a few small maples and brush in the spot. The cleared the entire area in one morning with the use of the bulldozer in the back right of the photo. The next day they hauled in the sand for the septic, got it in place and then the washed stone and piping for the septic. In the far back on the right hand side is the brush pile that was created by all the bulldozing, we will burn that when the first snow arrives in around 4 months.

The septic still needs to be inspected, then more rock, landscape fabric and topsoil put on it. The new house also will need it’s own tank, so that will be need to be put in before the waste system is considered operational. The stinky stuff will also need to be pumped from the tank to the field, which will require electricity, which has yet to be brought over to the new home, but I have been told that should be happening any day now.

On the inside, they are chipping away at the final things that need to be done. The guys painted the rest of the trim that Nora, Grace and I had initially said we would do, but then ran into issues and had to give the job to the crew. That trim has to wait for the interior doors to arrive before it can be installed and while there is no official word on the door order, I suspect that it too is in the “any day” category, as it was ordered almost two months ago and we were told 5-6 weeks for delivery.

Also among the items on the inside that have been done include all the tile work in the master and guest baths. The fixtures still need to be installed in all of the bathrooms and I think they are just waiting for the septic and perhaps the electric to be done before they finish the plumbing fixtures. I am really looking forward to my showers in the master bath, the system has a 2 foot wide by two food deep rain shower head, plus six body sprays, plus a wand. We ran extra large supply lines to that shower and if the pressure is still not to our liking, we will be able to put a booster pump to increase the pressure to what is desirable.

The third item that they have been working on is the fireplace. It was installed several weeks ago, but since then, they have build the framework for the chimney and while this photo does not show it, the framing is completely done and they also have put up the cement board that the stone will adhere to. 

On my side of the work need to be done before we can move in, aka the kitchen cabinets, I have about 85 percent of the pieces for the cabinet boxes made. That amounted to around 16-18 pieces of plywood being cut into the pieces needed. I did assemble the cabinet that will be going to the right of the range and brought it over to the house. The guys then wrestled the range into it’s spot right next to that one cabinet and then I was able to take a measurement of the remaining space to the left of the range and to the right of a doorway to make sure everything fit once the cabinets were done. I may do a little work yet this evening and will not likely be doing much work tomorrow, but will get back at it for the rest of the week and with a little luck, I should have all the cases assembled by the start of next week, then will come the face frames, doors and drawers, finish and then donezo!

We still not have any kind of firm move-in date. Nora is thinking sometime in August and I am a little more optimistic and am thinking the middle to end of July. Only time will tell and we are very excited for the move-in day to come, but it is not eating at any of us. We all are fairly comfortable in our current living quarters and once we move in, these quarters will make for a top notch spot for friends and family to stay while they visit us!

So I think that about covers it for this one. The bugs are still pretty bad, primarily the mosquitos and ticks. That despite the fact that up until today, we have had very little rainfall. I suppose there was still enough moisture around from the cold and wet spring we had to keep them from dying off. The woods and grass also has remained green throughout the dry spell. It has been raining all day today. Not heavily, but it will likely insure that the bugs and the grass do not change from their current state.

Good Night from the Keweenaw..
JD

Going Green-Part 1

Howdy strangers! It’s me, almost live and in the flesh! I’m sorry that it’s been so long since I last wrote. I am pleased to say that my absence was not due to health issues, but rather a very busy daily schedule. We are nearing the completion of the new house and tasks relating to that occupy a large portion of my day. Then, by the time the evening rolls around, I find myself just too pooped to do anything else but relax with the family. I must admit that I am also pretty worn out as I type this, so I have a feeling that this will be a two-part entry, with me writing part two tomorrow.

So the last time I wrote, we were still struggling to get any kind of late spring or early summer weather going. The trees were still void of leaves and even the grass was struggling to turn green. Heck, I was even talking about driving past snow still in the woods on my way to and from Marquette. Well, the nice weather finally kicked in around 10-14 days ago and has not let up. The grass turned it’s deep green color of spring around two weeks ago and I did the first cutting of it a week ago. The trees also began to burst their buds around 10 days ago and are now just about 100 percent filled out.

The other event that happens around this time of the year has taken place and that is the bugs are out. At first it was the blackflies, followed by the mosquitos. The blackflies have seemed to die off for the most part, but the mosquitos are as bad as I can remember in my 24 years of living here. You really almost can’t spend more than a few seconds outside before being attacked by a swarm of them. They are so prevalent that, it’s impossible to go from the outdoors to the indoors without bringing several with you.  They are even a problem in the midday sun, which usually is not the case. 

We actually have been very dry for the past 2-3 weeks, so it is surprising to me that they are still so numerous. I really do not know why they are such an issue now, but I do hope that they will die off soon. We don’t have much rain in the forecast for the next 10 days, so hopefully their breeding spots will be going away. Obviously mosquitos and summer in the UP go hand in hand, but what is going on right now is quite unusual by everyone’s standards.

In a way, it’s actually advantageous that the bugs have been so bad that it deters me from wanting to be outside. That has made being inside the shop, working all day on the kitchen cabinets, even more enjoyable. Around 3 weeks ago, the material for the cabinet boxes, as well as for the doors and drawers arrived at our local lumberyard. So I had to wait for the weather to get nice and for the roads to be dry to go and get everything. That day came, so I went down and loaded up the truck with the materials and headed home.

The materials were loaded into the truck by the workers at the lumberyard, but the thought of unloading all of it and bringing it into the shop by hand did not sound like anything fun. So I employed the services of Big Red to do most of the heavy lifting. A friend and I slid the plywood from the back of the truck onto the forks of Big Red, I then carefully got the forks and the sheet goods right next to my assembly table and we just had to slide them off onto that table. I only started breaking down the sheets into the varying parts for the cabinets, but with my tracksaw and some nifty aftermarket guides, the going has been smooth, accurate and quite speedy. I only have two more sheets to breakdown and then can move onto the assembly of the cases.

One of the reasons why the sheet goods sat in the shop for around 2 weeks before I started breaking them down is that I wanted to work the bugs out of the process by building and assembling a “prototype”. I was glad that I did, as there were a few bugs to work out and I was able to work through them without stressing over the fact that I was using material slated to be used for the final product.

Another reason why it took the two weeks to get going on the actual cabinets themselves is that I had the opportunity to use our contractors mini-excavator to clean up the spot the old house sat on. The main goal was to take the chunks of the concrete from the old foundation and use them as rip-rap in front of my friends cabin. The cabin sits right next to the lake. Erosion over the years has caused most of the land that was between the cabin and the lake to disappear. A few years back he had a secondary foundation built underneath it and that has survived the past few storm seasons, but this last season did see the lake erode some of the land on the other end of the cabin. So we loaded the concrete pieces onto a trailer, brought them over to his place and then used the mini to put them into place. Our work will not completely stop the water from getting to the cabin, but it will absorb a ton of the destructive energy the waves have as they reach the shoreline.

So we were able to kill two birds with one stone, er, maybe it’s chunks of concrete. He got some free protection from future storms and we got rid of the chunks of concrete for free! Here is a shot of how things looked when I was done moving the concrete and filling in the site of the old home a bit. The site of the old home has been filled in even more by the contractor using their bulldozer and I will share pic of that with you tomorrow.

The third reason why there was the two week delay is because I spent three days on a trip to the Mayo Clinic last week. Not one due to anything new, just a 6 month checkup with my cardiologist. I drove down on Wednesday, had tests on Thursday and Friday, a consultation on Friday and then returned back home late on Friday. Looks like I will be headed there at the end of this month so that they can get me restarted on a med and then another trip soon after so that they can insert a device that will measure the pressures in my pulmonary vein to give them a more accurate reading on my hearts pumping function.

As mentioned, the woods have turned their beautiful green for the summer. Even though the mosquitos are currently holding domain over the woods, their reign will come to an end and we will be able to get into the woods and enjoy the beauty of the UP hardwoods. Gracie and I did try to take a bike ride over memorial day weekend, but my bike was acting up and we nearly got eaten alive! The issue with my bike has been fixed and Friday will be the last day of school for Grace, so I have a feeling we will be taking to the woods in not too long.

In addition to the woods greening up, the weather has become quite suitable for beach going. Here is a shot of Grace, my brother and his dog enjoying White City beach during the memorial day weekend. With the warm up happening, the creatures of the woods are also out and about. We have not had any sightings of creatures other than a few deer, but my brother did have a visit from a black bear recently. 

The other thing the warmer weather has brought is the snowbirds. They came back one by one, but for the most part, Jacobsville is at it’s full summer population, which is about double that (or more) of the winter population. To celebrate the return of all of our neighbors, a Memorial Day picnic was held at the community center. It is so wonderful to live in a small, close knit community like we do. Everyone is friends with each other and we are all willing to help each other out when needed. Between the beauty of the area and the close knit community of it’s people, Jacobsville really is a slice of paradise.

Good Night from the Keweenaw… and talk to you tomorrow.

John

 

 

 

24

Happy Mothers Day to all the moms out there! I hope you all had an enjoyable and relaxing day! I think Nora enjoyed her day. I cooked breakfast and dinner and did so in a manner that left her with less dishes to wash than she normally has! Haha. Just kidding, I did the dishes too. My apologies for not writing the past two weeks, I just found myself busy Sunday evenings and also the past two Monday’s. I am very grateful to be able to say that it was not illness related and knock on wood, but this is the first time in around 5 years that I did not have some kind of medical situation land me in the hospital.

So not only is today Mothers Day, but it is also the 24th anniversary of me moving to the UP! I can still remember most of that day quite vividly. I drove the biggest U-Haul truck that you can, chock full of all my house and shop belongings. Baileys was in the truck with me and my dad followed us in my car, along with Burt in the back. I can remember loading the truck, taking off from their place in WI and then driving until the turn off for HWY 8. It was there that I stopped and checked to see how my dad and Burt were doing. We then stopped to fuel up at the Holiday station in Eagle River and then arrived in Houghton and picked up the keys to the Lake Linden home. Got to the home, unloaded EVERYTHING and then collapsed while having a pizza and went to bed soon after. I also remember letting the dogs out the next morning, smelling the fresh air, with a hint of pine from the pine trees on the north end of the back yard. It was then that it really hit me that I was living out my dream, living in the Keweenaw.

In some ways, it seems like that was forever ago and in some ways it seems like it was yesterday. I suppose that can be said for a lot of major moments in one’s live. I know the same can be said about the day I married Nora and the day Grace was born. Those three have to be the top three biggest moments in my life.

So what has been keeping me so busy the past two Sundays that I could not write. Well, I really cannot remember. Actually, I don’t think I was actually doing anything important on those evenings, but was very tired from my days activities. I do know that I really did want to write last week and even had the pics all ready for the entry, but just ran out of steam.

I know for the past few entries I had been talking about the cabinets that I was building for my office. They are not 100 percent finished, but are finished enough that I have put them into the office and they are being put to use. As you can see, I still need to make the top for them, as well as the doors for the uppers. Plus a keen eye might see that they are limiting the access to the bathroom in my office, but I am going to move the door to the other wall and then slide the cases flush against the wall that currently has the doorway in it. I also need to build the shelves for the uppers and one more drawer to put underneath the fridge, but most of those tasks will have to wait until I am done with the kitchen cabinets for the new home.

I have already picked up the wood that I will use to make the face frames for those cabinets and the sheet goods for the cases, as well as the hardwood for the drawers will be arriving at the lumberyard this Thursday. It will then be game-on! until I am finished with them. I am getting very excited to do them and have been getting the shop as ready as I can for the build. One thing I really wished I could have gotten done is to get my central dust collection system all hooked up, but I am going to be going with piping that is designed specifically for dust collection systems in woodshops and because of that, I need to design the system and order up the parts. I just have not had the time to take measurements and layout the design of the system, so I am just going to use a “portable” dust collector that I have, along with shop vacs for the smaller tools and sanders.

I did get the layout for the kitchen cabinets all done about a week ago. I was really putting in some hours on that, as they are going to be fully custom cabinets. Each cabinet will have a specific use and thus will have some special hardware like a lift for the mixer, special holders for our plates, bowls, silverware and cooking utensils. Like the cabinets for the home in Mohawk, I am going to be building them out of cherry. I just love the look of cherry and thankfully so does Nora. The countertops will be black quartz and all of our appliances are stainless. So it should be a pretty snazzy kitchen when it is finished. The plans that I showed you in the last pic were my drawings done on graph paper. I do that so that I can add all the details to the cabinets and then use a design software to work out all the cutlists for the cabinet parts. The software optimizes the best use of the sheet goods to that there is the least amount of waste. I’m not really sure I could do that by hand and even if I could I most certainly would not want to!

I have also been pretty busy the past few weeks making trips to Marquette to pick up things for the new house. Mainly appliances, but I also did pick up the vanities for the bathrooms. On my latest trip, which was Tuesday of last week, I drove past snow that was left over from the big storm a few weeks ago. That snow was all natural, not piled up by man and the pic was also a week after the storm had finished! The hamlet of Herman set a new state record for 24 hour snowfall. I forget the exact number, but I believe it was 27″! That’s a ton of snow for any time of the year, but to do it in May is crazy. I believe storm totals for Herman as well as some other high terrain spots between Marquette and L’Anse were over 3 feet! We here in Jake only got around 4-5 inches out of the storm and areas like Calumet got around 10-12 inches.

Speaking of snow still on the side of the roadway, the Laurium Glacier is still hanging in there. This is a picture of it taken on Wednesday of this last week. If you are panicking that you missed the opportunity to take part in the meltdown contest, worry not. I did not do it this year. I meant to get it started in the last half of March and kept forgetting and then we took our spring break and by the time we got back, I felt that it was just too late into the spring to start the contest. So we will have to wait until next year to do that!

Backing up to the first few days of May, Nora and I went to check on a friend/neighbors place on May 2nd. It was just as the big snow event in the UP was ending. We spotted a freighter taking shelter in Keweenaw Bay and I also thought it was cool that we could see some of the snow that had fallen in the higher terrain of Baraga county. As I mentioned, the storm did not bring much snow to Jackobsville, but we got a ton of rain. All told, we were over 3 inches of rain and melted snow. I was beginning to worry if we would go over budget on the house by having to build a bridge across the moat that we had! Believe it or not, all of that water is now gone and I spent a few hours this weekend, grading the dirt around the house, just to make it look a little better and to help it dry out even more. We look to be rain free until the second half of Thursday of this week, so hopefully the ground can just absorb it and we do not have any big mud holes again.

The crews are getting closer and closer to being done with their work on the new home. Just about all of the facia is done on the garage and front of the house. The west side and back side still need to be done. The trim arrived a few weeks ago and they got to painting much of it. The actual painting was done in the garage and then brought in to where that rack was setup to dry. We ran out of paint and so did the store we got it from, so we had to wait almost two weeks for the shipment to come in. Here is the pile of trim that still needs a finish coat. Most of that is actually for the base as well as the doors. The doors will be arriving in another week or two, but all of the windows have been trimmed out and I really like the design that I came up with. The doors will be similar, just a little less involved.

This past week they started to lay tile in the bathrooms. Initially, Nora and I said we would do the tile work, but life kept us busy enough that we just did not feel like we had the time to put into doing an A+ job. So we swallowed our pride and asked the contractor if they could and as you just saw, they said yes. The rest of the flooring also came in, so I suspect that this week they will be finishing up the tile work, laying the floor in the master and guest bedrooms and maybe framing in the fireplace or doing the rest of the facia. I suspect that what will keep us from moving in will not be that the home is not finished, but rather we will be waiting for the road restrictions to come off so that the power company can come and get the electricity to the house and/or the contractor being able to bring in the equipment and material needed to build the septic.

That just about covers it for this one. I will leave you with one last pic. It is of Grace posing with her three projects from metalworking class. I was so impressed with the work, especially the box. Every bend was perfectly square and the lid closed and opened with ease! I think it is so cool that they are able to take these classes in Jr High! The courses available to them as high schoolers is even more impressive. Things sure have changed since I was in middle and high school!

Good Night from the Keweenaw..
JD