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Hi All!

It was a pretty exhausting week of travel and appointments at the Mayo, so I am going to take another week off from writing much. I can say that we are all home and I am doing very well. My body is nearly 100 percent healed and now it’s time to get healing the mind and spirit.

I am in no better place to begin that healing and could not be in better hands. I am so, so, so fortunate to have the persons in my life that I do. I have no idea what I would do with out them.

Life is Good…

Good night from the Keweenaw..
–JD

It is with a lump in my throat and a tear in my eye that I have to tell you all that this past Thursday we had to say our good-bye to Millie in this world. On Thursday, March 21st, I noticed a growth on her lower gum line between her two lower canine teeth. I called the vet that day to make an appointment to have it looked at and the vet office we take them to does such a wonderful job in everything, that they were booking appointments out into the second week of April. So I took the first available and also asked to be put on the wait list for any cancellations. Over that next weekend (last weekend), the growth exploded in size, so as soon as the vet office opened up on Monday, I called to see if we could get her in that day.

They were awesome and were able to take us as a last-minute drop-in at the end of their office hours. The vet took one look at things and immediately knew what it was. She had developed an oral melanoma that was attacking her lower mandible (jaw bone) and was causing the mass to be seen on her gum.

The prognosis was not good at all. The most radical treatment would be to remove as much of the mandible as possible and then treat with radiation therapy. The vet said that Millie would still be able to eat and drink, but there is an 80-85% chance of having the cancer spread to the rest of her body, even with such a procedure. So there was no way we were going to put her through that.

I asked the vet what was best for Millie and she said she could give us an anti-inflammatory and antibiotic to help with the pain and swelling and to switch her to a canned dog food to make it easier for her to eat. We did all of that and Millie reacted to everything fine. However, buy later Tuesday, I was really in a mess mentally. I was really struggling with what was best for Millie. I really did not like having such a huge responsibility…to be the one to decide what to do for her. I just did not feel worthy of such an important responsibility and wished she would somehow let me know how she was feeling and what to do.

Wednesday morning my mental stress hit its peak. Most of you know I am a spiritual person, so I said some prayers for guidance. The first bit of help I got was the knowledge of the fact that our family are the ones that know and love Millie the most, so we are most qualified to make the decisions. Nora was out with Grace at the time and when she returned, she was in tears and said she just did not think it was fair to have Millie suffer at all. Immediately I knew I had been given my answer. Nora and I talked about things and decided it would be best to put Millie down as soon as possible, so that there would be as little suffering as possible.

The vet closed at noon on Wednesday and it was too late to try and get in for that day, but Millie was still doing pretty good and neither of us had any issues with waiting until Thursday to call. I did call first thing Thursday and they said we could bring her in that afternoon. Nora stayed back with Huck and Bleau and Gracie and I took Millie to the vet for her final visit. Nora and I did not push Grace into going, but we were hoping she would want to go, so that she could see what a peaceful thing it is when a pet is put down. Grace handled the process incredibly well.

I am so blessed to have had Millie in my life and am blessed to have such a smart and beautiful wife and smart and beautiful daughter. We supported each other and are still are. It is never an enjoyable process to have to do, but having them in my life made it as painless as it could be.

I was also grateful for the spiritual enhancement that the last week’s events gave me. From the time we found what it was that was wrong with her until her last moments in this world, we all cherished each and every minute we had with her. I don’t want to come off as bragging, but the pets in the Dee house really live a great life. There are rules and consequences, but they are fair and not overly strict and also consistent. So to say we spoiled her in her final three days might not even sound possible, but it was. Extra treats, extra belly and rump rubs, lots of hugs and kisses and most of the rules of the house were set aside for the time being.

I also was given the chance to reflect upon all the love she gave our family and the ways that I became a better person for having her in my life, all while still having her around. I spoke of all of these to her. I am not sure she fully understood, but he tail did wag and that was plenty enough of a reply for me.

I was grateful for the ability to make the final days of her life as good as they could be and to be able to make the choice to not let her suffer to any noticeable degree before we put her down. Through the course of the week, I came to realize that we were giving her the last gift we could, to go out while not in pain and with a wagging tail. We should all be so fortunate.

I have spent the past few days going through the 100’s of pictures I have of the pups. Many brought a tear of happiness or sadness to my eye, but I am so glad to have them and be able to use them to help keep the memory of her life with us alive. The first memory I have of Huck and Millie is the day we went to see them for the first time. They were just a few weeks old and of course cute as can be! Several of their brothers and sisters had already been spoken for, but it seemed like it was meant to be when Nora picked up and held Millie for the first time.

We all then went outside. It was February, so still winter. It was actually the first time the puppies had been outside and thus the first time they had ever been on snow. Millie really did not like the experience too much and Huck was not so sure either, but Huck noticed Millie was scared, so he walked over to her and gave her comfort. He has been the “protector” ever since.

Huck and Millie had the run of the house for their first 5 month home. They took to their new digs very well and once again, I was glad that we had gotten two puppies, rather than one, as they thrived with each others attention and equal desire/energy to play. Then in August a new one arrived. Here the pups were only 7 months old themselves, but they both took to their big brother and big sister roles immediately. Millie was more like a mother figure. Never leaving Grace alone and always wanting to be sure “her baby” was OK.

I have only had one other pair of siblings, but I have never seen or known a pair of sibling dogs that got along with each other and so loved each other than Millie and Huck. They never had a fight. A minor quarrel or two, but any of those never lasted more than a few seconds and they were back to being best friends.

Be it laying in the sun on a bed by the front door, or just on the floor with each other, they were seldom separate from each other. Of course when it was time to play, they were like two peas in a pod. They both loved to do the same things, played nicely and always had tails wagging. Be it on the beach with a ball, in the woods with a stick or in the snow, they were best friends.

The snow…oh how they loved the snow. I’m not sure who was more excited to see the first flakes of the season fall from the sky, me or them. Millie got over that first experience with snow very quickly and loved to play in it with her best buddy. I have never had more joy in my heart than when I would watch them both run full speed through the woods chasing each other. The amazing thing is that the worst that ever happened was Millie taking a stick to her face near her eye and getting cut. It was able to heal all on its own (with the help of some antibiotic ointment) and she did sport a small scar for the rest of her life.

Poor Huckie is taking it pretty hard. His spirits are not totally down in the dumps, but it is clear that he is mourning the loss of his best friend. It is more than understandable, as they were with each other for their entire lives. Only three brief moments when they had surgery and recovered separately. Huck is getting lots of extra attention from me, Nora, Grace and even Bleau. His tail still wags and I feel very confident that he will come around fully in time. It is very heart breaking to see him with such low energy though. I sure wish I could communicate better with dogs!

As mentioned, Millie’s last few days with us were filled with as much love and happiness as we all could give her. It even included spying some squirrels through one of the front windows and being let loose to try and chase them down. The special food was a big thing for not just her, but for all three of the pups. Huck and Bleau did not get full servings, but got enough to make them all stand with complete attention on the process.

The final hour was spent basking in the sun with her family. Millie and Huck really seemed to know what was going on and never left each others sides. Millie even gave her brother some kisses, to which he was more than happy to respond too!

Her time with us was nothing but a blessing. It goes without saying that I have probably learned more about being a good person from dogs than I have from humans, with the exception of Nora and Grace. Life is going on and we are all excited for what the future holds. Speaking of which, you will want to check back in next week, as there will be a pretty major announcement about our future.

Good-bye Millie, you were pure, unconditional love and will be missed.

Good night from the Keweenaw..
–JD

It’s not what some of you probably think when you read the title. Nothing so dramatic has happened that it has left me at a loss for words. On the contrary, the last week has been rather uneventful and has left be with a loss for words!

I guess it is fairly usual to not have a bunch to say this time of the year. The snow has been slowly, but steadily melting. We have lost close to another foot since last weekend, but the meltdown has been controlled enough as to not cause any major issues with flooding up here.

Around our house, the most noticeable result of the melting has been the nearly complete appearance of the driveway! The scraping I did of the mat around 2 weeks ago really made a huge difference, as we went from snow covered to bare without any issues. In fact, even Nora had commented on how well the driveway meltdown went this year.

There is still plenty of snow up here in the un-plowed areas. Around 3 feet on average. Some spots more and some less, but still plenty to play in if one were not overly concerned about the quality of the snow. I know that we have continued to groom the trails we can and reports are that they are still in pretty good shape in most cases. Time is running out though. Just 7 more full days of riding left!

About the only news I have to share with you is that the local ice rink in Calumet is one of the final 4 candidates for the Kraft Hockeyville award. The winning rink gets to host an NHL exhibition game and $150,000 to use as rink upgrades. The voting for the winner of the final 4 begins next Saturday at 7 am eastern time and ends at 11 am on Sunday, the next day. You need to register to vote and can do so here: https://www.krafthockeyville.com/#default
So I am hoping everyone will take the time to register and cast their vote to help Calumet win! The rink is really the hub of activity up here, hosting hockey games from beginner through high school and then into JR’s and mens league. It also is where Gracie takes her figure skating lessons and has her shows. Very cool place and the oldest running indoor rink in the WORLD!

I guess that does it for this one!

Good night from the Keweenaw..
–JD

Spring has certainly sprung. We are not basking in 60 degree temps, watching the grass grow, flowers open and birds and bees buzz around, but that is not what we typically call spring up here in the Keweenaw. Spring is more defined by days with loads of sunshine, temps finding their way near, or a bit above freezing and the loss of some of the snows that have piled up in the past 5 months. That is exactly what has been going on up here for almost a week.

My apologies for not writing last week, but I came down with a pretty nasty stomach bug on the night of the 6th, which ended up having a false recovery until early last week. By that time, I figured I would just wait and write today, so here I am!

It’s been quite the 2 weeks, including another round of significant snow and winds a week ago, which closed the schools for yet another day. I do not know the exact number of those days they have had, but it has been more than usual.

The storm a week ago had enough snow and wind to basically fill in many of the streets with snow all over again. I woke up at 4 to start work and let the pups out and could not believe how much snow we had gotten overnight. It was also blowing pretty hard, so we had some drifting at our house, which is somewhat unusual because we are so protected. It also left us with our deepest depth of the season and the deepest depth in some time. 55″ on the level is what I measured on Monday morning. The depth on the ground was impressive, but the banks were even more. In all the years I have lived here and have been coming up here (28), the banks of snow were the biggest I had ever seen and most locals were saying it was the largest they had seen, except for the winter of 78-79, which is the year they almost hit 400″ for the season.

For the past 7-8 years, one of the marks of how deep the snow is had been how much of the swing set gets buried in snow. If I can no longer see the top rail, then I know we are having a very strong snow season. That top bar disappeared a few weeks ago and by the early part of next week was sitting under around 12-15″ of snow. It is still completely buried, although we have lost a meaningful amount of snow since then.

The loss was not a surprise, in fact, on Friday, the 8th. Even though I knew we still had another storm to go through, but really was getting concerned about the shop roof. The forecast for the following week called for warmer temps and even a chance for rain. So I wanted to make sure that the roof cleared itself before the rains hit. To accomplish that, I got up there with the pups and the 4 of us removed the snow along the ridge. By doing that from one end to the other, it would separate the two slabs on each side and make them more ready to slide.

The weekend storm came and brought a bit of warm air with it. That little bit of warmer air allowed a portion of the one side of the roof to clear, but about 80% of the entire shop roof still had the snow on it.

So once we got into the first bit of temps above freezing, I cranked the heat up in the shop and also put a propane heater so that it was blowing its heat into the attic of the shops, to help warm the underside of the metal and get the snow to slide. I did not see it happen, but I did hear and feel it! I stopped my work for a moment and went outside to see if all the snow had slid, or just another section of it. Turns out, all of it slid!

In that one area where I took the last shot, the snow piled up onto the ground so much, that it did not allow all of the snow to slide off the roof, but the amount remaining there was not worrisome to me, so I did clear what I could off the ground with Big Red and left the rest as is.

By Wednesday evening. the only roof to not clear then was the front half of the woodshed. It just seemed to be taking its own sweet time. By the next morning, the part hanging off the roof had broken off and all that was left was small enough that it did not concern me. So before the real rains of Thursday hit, all of my roofs were either completely bare, or without too much so on them that I had any concern.

The rains of Thursday further melted snow on the roofs, as well as on the ground. Including the thick mat of snow on the driveway that had built up all season. Actually, I was able to keep the mat rather thin until around the end of February and then got behind the curve and it just kept getting deeper and deeper. The driveway was getting soft but was not that bad until around midday on Thursday. I almost got the truck stuck in around 7-8″ of slushy snow. I knew Nora and Grace would be getting home later that afternoon, so I hopped in Big Red and got to work in moving that snow and slush off the driveway.

Big Red’s blower can actually do a pretty good job moving that kind of sloppy mess. The main problem is when I finish up a run and the blower slowly runs out of stuff to shoot through it. The lower volume causes the chute to clog and it is a real pain to unclog. So after the third unclogging, I decided I would just use the blower unit to plow the mess to an area that we do not really need to be clear. It took over two hours from start to finish, but at the end, I was very successful in removing all of the sloppy snow and all that was left was a thin layer of the initial mat. In some cases all that was left was the bare driveway. That was another big relief, as I knew I would not have to deal with the mat anymore this season. There have been years when it took several, smaller, clearing jobs to finally not have to worry about removing any more snow. When I finished up with the mat work, I got on my computer and scrolled through the different web cams up here to see how other areas were holding up to the warmer temps and rain. One of the Michigan Tech web cams was displaying a really cool image, so I took a snapshot of it, so I could share it with you.

Those of you that also check the web cams on this site likely noticed that I did not clear the snow off the AL Cam pretty much all season. Part of that was that with the addition, it makes it more difficult to get to, especially when the snow starts to get deeper. I cannot keep a path open to it, so I need to trounce through the snow to get to it.

By early January, the first roof slide took place and made the trek to clear it even more difficult. By late February, the snow was so deep in the area I have to use to get there, that travel was beyond difficult, it was impossible. This is the reason why. I should have trained the pups how to clear the snow off of it and then all my problems would have been taken care of! On a more serious note, I will be making it a priority for next season to have a new spot for the AL Cam that will allow me to clear it every day…just like in the old days!

The weather this week looks to be just about as perfect as for what we need right now. The daytime temps will be getting into the upper 30’s and even some low 40’s, but then dropping back below freezing at night. Lots of sunshine and no rain or snow. So it will be perfect weather for slowly, but steadily melting off some of our snowpack without causing problems. If we can remove about half of what we have remaining right now in such a manner, then that will significantly reduce the chances for significant flooding. It will also put huge smiles on all of the maple syrup makers!

The final bit of business and photo I have to share with you is the Laurium Glacier. It is that time of the year when I will be starting up the contest. I will be putting a discussion in the discussion board under the miscellaneous section, called “The Official 2019 Laurium Glacier Meltdown Contest” at around 9 am eastern time tomorrow. You can go there, post your guess (you have to have a profile to post, they are free, so be sure to register for one before you go to guess) and have the chance to win some Keweenaw Kamo swag! For those reading this tonight and wanting to guess, you get a little sneak peak of what the Laurium Glacier looks like this year.

Good night from the Keweenaw..
–JD