Category: Uncategorized

I’m really hoping to get this one completely done tonight, but my body is telling me I need to rest, after all the hustle and bustle of moving, unpacking, putting things in their place. Getting the house ready for company and Thanksgiving, as well as getting all the things that had been left outside until the bitter end, inside and safe from the pending storm. The storm itself provided its fair share of work as well.

The moving, unpacking and much of the setup was done by Monday evening. Tuesday, I hustled over to the place where we lived in the camper. I had one last thing to bring over and that was a pretty important piece. It was the snowthrower for Big Red. The transport of that went pretty well, although it did take me a bit longer than I had anticipated. The rest of Tuesday was spent getting things around the shop moved from the outside to the inside. Most of those items were large and heavy, like the hydraulic motorcycle lift I have for my snowmobile. A heavy, cast iron workbench that used to be my grandfathers. A table saw and all of my scaffolding. I also got a light put in for the AL Cam, just as the sun was setting.

I did not sleep too well Tuesday night. The storm was the talk of the town and although the snow was not suppose to start until around midnight, I began my night watch of looking out the window to see if it was snowing yet at around 10 am. Each time I checked, the ground was still green. By around 3 pm, I knew something had gone wrong, so I gave it another 30 minutes or so and then headed over to the shop/office to see what was up. My commute was a wet one, with a pouring rain and a temp of around 35.

My first check was the webcams, which revealed it was snowing in the higher terrain and a rain-snow mix was falling in Houghton/Hancock. That and a look at the regional observations let me know that the snows were still coming, but that the change over to snow was late in the lower elevations. Our change over took place around 6:45. First as a mix of rain and snow and then all snow. Big, wet and sticky flakes.

I lost my satellite internet service around 7 am and then the power flickered a few times and then went out for good at 7:15 am. By that time I was over with Nora, Grace and our company for the holiday period. A nice breakfast was made using the grill. We all figured the storm had brought down a tree that knocked out the power and things would be back to normal in a few hours.

It snowed very heavily until around noon and then moderately to heavy the rest of the day. We picked up around 10-11″ of snow between 7:30 and 11:30 and then another 3-4 the rest of the day. At around 10 am, I decided to hop in Big Red and move some snow. I was not able to get the blower attached, as we ran out of daylight, but I did have the loader and bucket. I got the shop driveway cleared and was working on the driveway for the house when the first vehicle of the day came down the road. It was a county road worker. He was in a pickup and was going along and cutting trees that had fallen across the road. We had one near us, but that was all I saw. I asked how many trees he had cut so far and his reply was “I stopped counting at 50”. Yikes! The magnitude of the damage was beginning to become a little more clear.

So while we were all marveling at how incredibly beautiful things were with the heavy and wet snow clinging to everything, we were soon to learn that the damage it did down here in Jacobsville was beastly. Here is a shot of our road with the single set of tracks from the county pick up and the downed tree.

Not long after the pickup went through, the grader came through. Plowing the snow and also pushing the cut trees off the road…all at the same time. Here is a shot of our road after the grader had gone through. Once the grader had gone through, we did a little more exploring of the area. Nora went with her brother and sister-in-law in the truck to check things out. I was a little worried they would get stranded, as the snow was still coming down, the winds still blowing hard and trees and limbs were still falling. They managed to get back to the house, but not without some dramatics. Trees had fallen after they had passed and they did come to a point were the road was totally blocked, but were able to work around those that fell where they had come from and got home. I went on foot with Huck and took some pics of things near our house.

The sight was rather surreal, with everything coated in snow. What had happened is that when the rain changed to snow, the snow turned to slush on the trees, then temps dropped below freezing and that froze and became ice. More snows fell and the strong winds took trees down that had been standing for over 60 years. Some of the trees then fell on the powerlines.

By later in the afternoon, we ventured out of Jacobsville to see how the rest of the region fared. We had heard about some other power outages, but they seemed to be fixed rather quickly. As we traveled up the first mile or two of the Jacobsville Road, it became apparent it was not just one, or two trees, but dozens that had fallen across the powerlines. In that 1-2 mile stretch, there were only 2 sections between the poles that still had wire hanging between them.

My brother-in-law and I traveled up to Mohawk to borrow the old portable generator I had donated to the snowmobile club. The more north and higher in elevation we went, the less snow that was sticking to things and it even looked like Calumet and Mohawk had possibly picked up less snow than we did, although it was plowing like a hurricane in both spots, so it was hard to tell, with all the snow being moved around by the wind.

We went to bed with no power. Woke up on Thanksgiving to no power. Spent all of Thanksgiving day and night without power. Despite no power, we were all able to work together and produce a nice traditional Thanksgiving dinner. We had planned to have other over, but with the storm and no power, decided to tell the others not to come.

Friday morning broke with the power still off. Spirits were starting to sag a little, as it seemed like we were the only ones without power. We had seen two power company vehicles down our way Thanksgiving night. One a linesman’s truck and the other just a pickup. I believe they did not know the extent of the damage down here and when those workers showed up and saw all that had been done, did what they could and then headed back to return with a proper-sized crew the next day.

We were eating a late breakfast in Lake Linden Friday morning when we saw a parade of power company vehicles pass by. Seeing as though we were the only ones in the direction they were heading still without power, we knew the cavalry had arrived! On the way back to the house Friday morning we came across the crews staging for the work ahead of them and gave them a cheer as we drove by. There was at least 5, possibly 6, linesmen trucks, several pickups and even the semi, pulling the tracked vehicle that can pretty much go anywhere to fix things. It took most of the day, but by 6:45, 59 1/2 hours after the power had gone out, the lights came back on. Even though I suspect none of the workers are reading this, I would still like to thank them for all of their hard work. Not just in our mess down here, but for all the work they did to fix what this beast of a storm had done.

I did get a chance to chat with a few of the workers when they had finished up and were waiting for the last fuse to be put in and the lines energized. One said that he has been working for over 25 years and has never seen an area hit this hard. So I guess we all earned our stickers for making it through without losing our marbles.

The ground was bare Tuesday night and we now have 16″ on the ground!

Good Night from the Keweenaw..
–JD

The seeds were sown over 2 years ago when we bought property in Jacobsville. At that time, we had know idea that all that has happened since would. I guess that is a testament to just letting the universe take you where you belong. That should not be confused with the idea of just sitting back and doing nothing, but rather putting ideas and dreams out to the universe to let it nurture them as well as working your tail off when the situation calls for it.

On Friday we closed on Nora’s grandparents home, taking ownership of not just a structure, but a home full of loving memories for Nora and loving memories to be made for Nora, Grace and I. We wasted little time in making our mark on the place, but the real mark happened yesterday, as friends and family gathered at a storage facility in Lake Linden to load most of our belongings into a 29 foot long moving truck and then unload them into the home.

The move went very well. We were able to empty two completely full storage lockers in just over an hour. The truck was about as full as it could get from front to back, side to side and top to bottom. In fact, there are still two storage rack in the one, which will get brought down to the shop tomorrow.

Nora did a bit of unpacking after the move, but mostly to just get things setup so that we could sleep comfortably. She wasted no time this morning getting going on the unpacking and has rocked it all day. The kitchen is fully unpacked and setup and the dinning room is also pretty well setup. There is still a lot to do, but they way she has been going at it, it will not be long before all of our belongings will be just where they should be. The shop? Well… that is a different story. It now has all of it’s belongings in it as well, but there is a ton to do to get it in working condition. Here is a shot I took of the shop about 20 minutes ago when I came in to write this entry. The funny thing is, it looks better in that picture than in reality!

I will admit to being one of those persons that likes to have have his things neatly in their place, so the status of my shop right now is a source of a bit of anxiety, but I also love to put things into their spot, so the anxiety is tempered a bit by the thought of steadily working on getting things organized. The only thing that is a bit of a bummer is that I had really hoped to be able to have the walls and ceilings done before the shop became full of all of my tools, but they will still be able to get done, just with a little extra work.

Speaking of walls, I am looking for some weathered tin roofing or siding. The heavier the weathering the better, but any level of weathering would be fine. My plan is to use the weathered tin on the first 4 feet of the walls and then the rest will be done in rough sawn lumber. The ceilings HAVE to be done in 5/8″ fire-rated drywall because of the apartment above, but I hope to figure out a way to make that fit in with the walls. So if you have, or know anyone that has a tin sided or roofed outbuilding that is falling down or is going to get a new roof, let me know. I know I have been keeping my eyes out as I drive around here, as this area is as good as any to have such material available.

Not a whole lot else happened this past week. I consciously took it easy so that I would be physically rested for the move. I am not sure if that plan worked, as I was the first to poop out yesterday, but I suppose my body has also gone through the most out of every one there! I did spend quite a bit of time working on the new format for the NCN. I have all the cams for the UP done and plan to crunch out the northern WI and NE MN cams before Thanksgiving, as the models are currently making things look very interesting, snow wise, for those areas later this week and next weekend. The current format has really been a thorn in my side and I cannot wait to roll out the new format. It is way more flexible to different formats, as well as way easier to maintain. So gone will be the days of links or cams not working, at least for long periods of time. I will also be getting my Woods Cam going again, but will be renaming it the “critter cam” as it will be in an area of our woods that sees a lot of critters (deer, turkey, bear and even the occasional wolf) come through. If that were not enough cameras to set up, I will also be setting a cam up at my brothers place in Allouez. That will help to show how much snow has fallen in the higher terrain of the Keweenaw. Right now, Calumet has about 8-10″ on the ground, while we have almost nothing. We truly are in the banana belt!

Part of the R/R regime this week was to take some walks with Huck. The woods are not a place for either of us right now, with hunting season going on, so we stuck to the road. On Wednesday we walked down to the Jacobsville boat launch. It was actually a nicer day than it looked, with no strong winds and a few peaks of sun. As we approached the spot where I took that last shot, I saw a bald eagle land in a tree. We were able to get close enough to it that I got a halfway decent shot of it with my phone. However, just after that shot, it decided to fly off and not see what our intentions were.

So I guess that about does it for this one. Next time I write, we might just be grooming the trails up here! Hard to believe that the season is upon us!

Good night from the Keweenaw..
–JD

The next time I write, the Dee’s will be living in their “Forever Home”. We close next Friday, the 22nd. Move all the stuff from the storage lockers and shop into the house on the 23rd and get ready to host Nora’s brother and his wife for Thanksgiving. No pressure! Actually, there really is not too much pressure. They are laid back and we do not need to impress them. Plus, most of what we want to do to the house will happen down the road a bit. At least after the holidays and some of the things not for a year or more.

We have a group of friends to help us move the things from the two storage units and there is not much to move from the shop into the home. Nora is absolutely climbing the walls to be able to get into her grandparent home. I am excited too! It’s a really cute and older home. Not old by the standards up here, but built in the early 60’s.

It’s been one heck of a journey to get this point, but I know if we had to do it all over again, we all would without hesitation. I’ve always said that there is something magical about the Keweenaw and I can say the same for Jacobsville. I think for me, the magic comes from the remoteness of the area, combined with the character of the folks that live here. Many are snowbirds, leaving for a warmer climate in the winter, but there are also a few hardy souls that stick around all year long.

One such group is the friends who we went to last Sunday to have breakfast and take a hike. They, like us, did not grow up here, but were equally drawn by the magic of the Keweenaw/Jacobsville. The fact that they have a daughter the same age as Grace, a younger son and that both sets of parents get along so great with each other is something to look forward to for a long time. I will feel good about being able to reciprocate all the hosting they and others have done for us.

It’s been a slower paced week. I cannot even the work I did on the shop, but know there was at least a bit. I did get the rest of the tools out of the temporary shelter I had put up by the camper we stayed in while the shop was getting underway. On Friday I was able to take down the shelter so that worry is gone. I also pulled a few things from the storage lockers, mostly shop related.

The builders finished up with the siding and thus their work on the shop is now done. Nora and I were very pleased with their work and I actually get a little sad when they are packing up. Between this job and the help they gave me on the addition to the Mohawk home, I got to know all of them really well and consider them all my friends.

Today, Nora, Grace and I picked up all of the scrap pieces of roofing and siding and piled it into the bed of my truck. Tomorrow I will take it all to the scrap yard, so it can be recycled and out of our worries. I also burned the rest of the scraps of lumber from the build. At least those that were outside. I have two large garbage cans full of scraps that we will use in the fire pit that will be relocated to the soon-to-be ice skating rink in the back yard. It will be fun to be able to skate anytime we want and have the ice sheet to ourselves! The main challenge will be determining when it is safe to start it.

In my last entry, I shared a pic and story about the heavy snow Nora had to drive through on her way to work. I got my own taste of driving through some heavy snow this past Monday evening. As I was driving through this snowfall, with a fair amount on the ground for early November, I began to wonder if perhaps the reputation that Jacobsville has as being the banana belt was false! Or perhaps the heavy snows of the Mohawk area decided to follow us on the move! We’ll see, but I am still anticipating noticeably less snow down here than we had in Mohawk.

Friday was a Yooper holiday, the opening day of firearm deer hunting season. I do not hunt, but I did cross paths with a rather sizable buck on my travels Thursday afternoon. I wonder if he will survive the hunt?

Yesterday, Gracie took advantage of the early season snow cover and milder temps to build her first snowman of the year. It is not likely to be her last either. I was very impressed, as I was out picking up a few things and came home to her rolling out the head. She had also managed to roll out the two lower sections all by herself and even lifted the middle section into place all by herself. She sure is growing up fast!

While we all enjoyed living in a house completely surrounded by trees as the Mohawk house was. It is nice to have a bit more openness to things down here. We have better views of the sky and Grace has been enjoying looking up into the night sky to gaze upon all the stars. A few weeks ago, she called Nora to the window in the dormer to see how beautiful the night sky was. I listened into the conversation and could hear Gracie not only calling out the different constellations, but constellations that I had never hear of in my life! I have no idea what path she will choose in life as a career, but I can’t wait to see her rock it.

It is not only the night sky that gives us treats in our new living locale, but the sunrises and sunsets are very beautiful as well. Yesterday morning, I was laying in bed and caught a glimpse of a beautiful sunrise, but was too lazy to get up and look at it from a better viewing spot. Nora was already up and saw the sunrise in all of its glory.

That just about does it for this one. I have just one more picture to share with you. Although we live in the Lake Linden school district, Michigan has a school of choice program, in which the parents of a child can choose which school district their child/children goes to. Since Grace has already been attending Calumet schools for 5 years, it was a no-brainer to have her continue to go there. The main issue with school of choice is that the school does not have to be responsible for transportation of the student to and from school. That can be an issue, but Nora works in the Calumet schools, so Grace just continued her routine of driving into Calumet with Nora and then coming home with her when school is over. Nora has to work 15 minutes longer than Grace is in school for, so she just goes to Nora’s office and waits.

Typically Grace will just hang out, read a book and/or chat with any school employees that come in to Nora’s office. Lately, it has become her thing to climb onto Bleau’s cot and read while laying next to him. The other day, they cuddled up with each other and Nora snapped this picture of the two of them. I love how he has his leg over the top of her and looks to be reading along with her! We sure have been blessed with great dogs and he is for sure keeping up the tradition!

Good Night from the Keweenaw..
–JD

That is the talk of the town right now. Will the snow on the ground stick around for the season, or will it melt? The depth of the snow depends on where you measure. Up in the higher terrain, there is around a foot, even more in spots. The lower terrain has around 3-6″ on the ground. There is more on the way the first half of this week and temps look to be bitterly cold for this time of the year, with highs in the teens.

The general consensus among the public is that it is here to stay. I am not quite ready to go all in on that idea. I certainly am giving it a reasonable chance, but I have seen more snow on the ground later into November or even early December and have watched it all melt away with a December thaw and rain. That is the LAST thing I would want to happen, but I have seen it happen more than once, so that is why I am not full in just yet!

The snows this past week started late Sunday night and continued into Monday and then fell in periods every day the rest of the week. Our total for the week here in the banana belt was 12″, but interestingly enough, on Monday and Tuesday, we had as much or more on the ground than the high snow areas like Calumet and Mohawk. It was strange to drive from here to Mohawk on Tuesday and see less snow there. Both Calumet and Mohawk made up for lost ground the rest of the week, as when I was up through there on Friday, Calumet had nearly a foot on the ground and Mohawk around 8″.

Nora got her first taste of what it will be like to drive from here to Calumet in a heavy snowfall. Monday morning she left and it was coming down hard. It continued to come down all the way to Lake Linden and then actually lightened up a bit as she climbed the hill up to Calumet. Here is a shot she took on her way up the Jacobsville Rd Monday morning. Here is a shot of the road we live on not long after the sun had come up and I was out with Huck, letting him go to the bathroom.

As mentioned, the rest of the week saw periods of snow showers occur and it was cold. That kept the contractors away. Then on Friday, the snows finally ended, the sun even showed up for a bit and temps were warmer. The contractors arrived around mid-morning on Friday and got very close to finishing up the siding on the front of the shop. That is the last wall that needs to be completed, so it look like they have about 3 sheets of metal to put up and will be done. I doubt that they will be coming for the first half of this week, with the snow and cold, but am hoping that they come at the end and finish things up. It will be nice to have the exterior of the building done and also nice to not have any materials laying around any more.

Friday was also the fish fry fundraiser for the Keweenaw Snowmobile Club up at Lac La Belle. No major snowstorm this year and the attendance was very good. I don’t know the final count, but I think we were close to 200 tickets sold. We also had a 50/50 raffle that rose to the tune of $350+. So that will get us one step closer to being able to build the new groomer barn next build season. If you would like to help, you can make a donation here. I can also add that we are going to have a mega-50/50. The tickets will be arriving soon and we will begin selling them this week. We will continue to sell tickets all winter long and stop the selling a day or less before the drawing. The drawing will be held on April 7th at 7 pm at our April club meeting. I know I am excited to see how large the pot gets! 1, 5, 10, 20 thousand? Why not?

Living in Jacobsville sure has been nice. Living in Lake Linden and Mohawk was also nice, but we have made some really good friends down here and the small group of folks that stick around all winter really keep an eye on each other and lend a hand when it is needed. We went to breakfast to one such family that has become our friends in the past 12-16 months. Their daughter is the same age as Grace and the two of them, plus another girl of the same age are all best friends and call themselves the Jacobsville Girls Club.

The folks we went to for breakfast today lead a really cool life. They are transplants from the Appleton WI area and are homesteaders. They built their own home, a yurt-like structure with solid walls and a solid roof. They raise a variety of animals, as well as grow the majority of their produce. It is really an amazing life and also a ton of hard work. While having breakfast and chatting, I glanced at one of the storage areas for all of the things they have canned and was amazed at all of the jars of things. She also made some homemade juneberry syrup that we put on our french toast today and I now have a new favorite syrup to put on my pancakes and such! I just need to wait until next summer when we can pick our own juneberries and make the syrup, or better yet, the next time we are invited over for breakfast to their house!

After breakfast, we all went for a walk and swung by the animal sheds. We paid a visit to their two cows and goats, as well as said hi to the ducks, chickens and rabbits. This summer we got all of our eggs from them and plan to resume that as soon as we get settled into the home. We also walked a portion of their land, including a walk out to two of the old quarries they have on their land. They said that the quarry in the last shot is 40 feet deep in spots and averages around 30 feet deep. Pretty amazing it already has ice forming on it.

The week ahead looks to be a pretty quiet one. I have some electrical work that I would like to get done in the kitchen and upstairs bedroom. When it warms up at the end of the week, I am hoping to get over and get the rest of my shop equipment from the temporary shelter we put up near the camper and maybe even take the shelter down if I have enough time. Otherwise it will be resting up for the big move into the house on November 23rd.

I guess that about covers it for this one. Have a great week everyone and talk to you next week!

Good Night from the Keweenaw..
–JD

Welcome to November everyone! Hard to believe we are just a few weeks away from the start of winter and the snowmobile season! Harder still to believe we have only been working on the barnDeeminium for two months. It sure seems like a lot longer! Progress on it continues to move along, but at a slower pace. For me, that slower pace has come the result of it being nearly satisfactory for us to live in comfortably for the next 3 weeks, until we move into the house. There are still a few things I want to get done much sooner than later. Among them…getting the kitchen sink hooked up and some electrical outlets going there. I also want to finish with the wiring in the bathroom. Other than those projects, pretty much everything else that needs to be done can be done at a more relaxed pace.

On the outside, all that needs to be done is for the siding on the front of the shop (the wall with all the garage doors on it) needs to be put up. About half of the crew that has been working on it went west to do some hunting and those that stayed behind were busy with some other jobs they had. One of the workers came Wednesday to help me get the drier and range hooked up to the main propane line and he returned on Thursday and finished the siding on the dormer.

I was able to finally get the extra lumber out of the shop, so that freed up a bunch of space in the shop. With the help of a friend, another garage door got put up. That makes 2 down and one to go. I also have the kitchen sink and temporary counter tops setup. As mentioned, I just need to finish hooking up the water supply lines and make the final connection for the drain and we will have a fully functional kitchen sink!

Today, Nora, Grace and I spread hay down on all the dirt/mud made from the construction of the building and septic system. That job was really biting at me for some reason. I suppose mainly because we had to keep the dogs out of those areas or suffer the consequences. I think the other reason I was so anxious to get the mud and dirt covered is that it looks so much better. I did spread some grass seed before we put down the hay. A couple of sources I asked said that they have had grass sprout from seed spread in the winter. I guess we will see!

So things are progressing nicely and I am very happy to have the need for speed off my back. It was really starting to wear me down, both physically and mentally. I am also glad to be able to spend more time with the family! On Halloween, we all went to the Bootjack fire hall for a trunk or treat. Several of the locals that are still up in this area this late in the season (lots of snowbirds in Bootjack/Jacobsville) gather in the parking lot of the fire hall and many have their vehicles decorated for the occasion. There is a casual judging of the vehicles that goes on and prizes are given out to the best decoration job and the scariest decoration job. All of the vehicles give out candy and the kids can visit each vehicle and get their treats. They then have more treats, as well as some food, in the old fire hall, as well as games for the kids to play. It was a nice way to trick or treat, especially the going inside to where it was warm part! Here is a shot of Gracie with her three best friends and one of her friends younger brother. He was so darn cute in his bigfoot costume and so excited too. I was told that he has been waiting a long time to be able to be bigfoot!

Yesterday we all went to the beach. Primarily to let the dogs romp around and burn off some energy, also to let them play in the water to get all the mud off of them! It was snowing and blowing pretty good, so needless to say we had the place to ourselves! Despite the weather conditions, it was still very nice to be there and we all enjoyed the visit.

Stepping away from my personal life, not a whole of other things have gone on. I suppose the first area-wide snows might normally be big news, but many folks to our south beat us to the punch this past week, with the accumulating snows. We did start out with snows Monday night and early Tuesday morning. It was not much, only a dusting to half inch in most cases, but still made for a beautiful sunrise on our new road.

Wednesday morning we woke up to the first night ice of the season. I see that temps away from the big lake have been regularly dipping into the mid to upper 20’s, as far south as central WI. That is most likely being very welcomed by the clubs that take care of the trails down that way. The cold temps are likely helping to freeze up some of the swamps or wet areas the trails pass through. If not freezing them up, at least getting that water temp much closer to the freezing point.

Speaking of temps and the weather. I did update my snowfall forecasts Wednesday and Thursday to cover the snow event during that period. I will be doing it on a daily basis starting this week. I also plan to get the AlCam and weather station going this week and with a little luck, maybe the woods cam. Right now I am researching the best cam to use as the woods cam, as it will need to be remote and all on it’s own. I can get power to it easily and probably even internet service, so it should not be too hard. I also want to put it in an area where the deer will be congregating. Jacobsville is a deer yarding area in the winter and we have dozens, if not a hundred, deer spend the winter down here where the snow typically does not get as deep. I know we also plan to do some supplemental feeding of the deer.

So I guess that about covers it for this one. Hope you all have a great week!

Good Night from the Keweenaw..
–JD