Category: Uncategorized

Sorry for the absence folks. I had to go and pay a visit to my good friends at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester last week. It was not an emergency or anything serious. Just some tests and diagnostics that my health care providers cannot give up here. All is well and I was very happy to get back home late on Wednesday. Somehow time got away from me yesterday and I also ran out of steam by the evening, so delayed the writing until today.

So, I am sure I do not need to tell anyone living in the Midwest about the turn of events in the weather pattern that has opened up the flood gates to the arctic, but for those not living here, the entire Midwest has been subjected to two strong arctic air outbreaks in the past week. Temps as low as -28 have been seen as far south as southern WI and there have been temps in the -30’s in the traditional cold spots of northern MN, WI and the southern UP. Our temps have been modified by the still largely open Lake Superior and have been managing to rise above the zero degree mark most days for highs and have seen lows mostly in the single digits and low teens. However, last night, the winds were light and from the south and skies briefly cleared and that allowed the cold air from the south to sludge into our neck of the woods and temps bottomed out at around -20 at midnight and then began to warm and were in the single digits below zero by sunrise. Currently it is a balmy 11 above.

It may seem like I am joking when I say a balmy 11 above, but I just spent around 15 minutes outside with the dogs, letting them play and it actually seemed much warmer than 11 above! I actually had my gloves off for much of the time and my hands did not even get cold. I do know that our bodies can acclimate to the weather conditions to some degree, but was pretty surprised to feel the way I did when out in the cold this afternoon.

The third and final arctic air surge will spill into the region tomorrow and Wednesday looks to be brutally cold in much of the Midwest. Temps of 35 to 40 below will be seen in the Red River Valley along the MN/ND border and -20’s look to occur all the way into southern IA and northern IL. The big lake will help us out and keep us from getting much colder than -10. Although some pretty strong north winds look to create wind chills of -35 to -40 from later tomorrow through Wednesday and Wednesday night.

The cold has been bringing us lots of lake effect snow as well. Sine last Tuesday, we have seen 26″ of snow fall. Some areas more and a few considerably more! It finally looks like winter in the Keweenaw up here! The snow on the roof is deep enough that it will be getting removed soon (not by me!). The swing set is about 75% buried in the snow and the trees have a nice flocking, despite some strong winds at times. The ones I love are the old white pine that have died and have only bare trunks and some rotted stumps for branches. They dress up well in the snow!

The deep snow has presented it’s challenges to the dogs when it comes time to do their business. Huck and Millie are well seasoned and do not even seem phased in the bit and Bleau has caught on very nicely as well. Still, it is kind of fun to watch them bunny hop in slow motion through snow that is up to their backs and even deeper sometimes, just to go potty. I did respect the privacy of the dogs and did not take any action shots, but here it the trench left by one of them.

I do feel sorry for them on the really cold days, as they cannot spend much time outdoors and this really gives the puppy, Bleau, a case of cabin fever. Huck and Millie are old enough to be OK just laying around the house on the warm floors. So this afternoons short little romp was a lot of fun for all of them and after dinner I think Nora, Grace and I will take them all out to play and get rid of as much puppy energy as possible, as it looks like most of tomorrow, all of Wednesday and most of Thursday will be too cold to spend much time outside.

We do look to warm up very nicely by the weekend. I am very happy for that. Not just because I do not enjoy the bitter cold, but because the Keweenaw Snowmobile Club will be holding it’s second annual trail side bonfire and cookout. Last year was pretty chilly, but this Saturday it looks like the temps will be topping out in the upper 20’s! We could even have a bit of light snow falling, just to add to the atmosphere. If you are up here this weekend, please stop by! We will have pulled pork, hot dogs and hamburgers, as well as coffee, hot chocolate, water and soda. All free, although there will be some donation buckets there as well. The event starts at 11 am and ends at 3 pm. It is being held at the Trailside Lodge in Calumet. It is right off the trail, so getting there by sled is easy as pie. If you prefer, you can also arrive by vehicle and park in their parking lot. I will be there the whole time, as well other club members. We will also have the youth sled that is being raffled off as a fund raiser this spring and hope to have one of our groomers there for a while, so folks can get a close up look, or even perhaps climb in the cab and see what the view is like from inside a 1/4 million dollar groomer!

The only other news I have to share is that trail 133 will remain closed for the season due to logging. We were hoping to be able to get a re-route done, but that did not pan out. On the up-side. The Valley Snowdrifters Snowmobile Club has BOTH of their trails open from the Dreamland Motel to trail 122 (Lake Linden to Gay). So folks wanting to take the road less traveled and not have to take the upper trail from Hancock to Calumet have an alternative. You can either pick up their trails off of 122 or can take trail 3 from Hancock to Dollar Bay and then jump on their trail in Dollar Bay and take it to Dreamland. It really is a neat trail, basically a single or 1.5 sled wide trail for most of the way and the traveling is much slower and more intimate with the surroundings than many of the main trails up here.

The Valley Snowdrifters are actively grooming their trails as well. They have an enclosed SxS that pulls a drag. There has been an injection of new blood into their club and this has had the effect of bringing some new persons into the grooming operations. So the guys that have been doing it for 20+ years are getting a bit of relief while the new blood is stepping in.

I guess that covers it for this one. Enjoy the week, stay warm and…
Good night from the Keweenaw..
–JD

I’m not sure if I should call this a late entry for last weekends entry or an early entry for next weekends entry. I guess, technically, it will be both! I have a pretty full dance card this coming weekend and early next week, so will not be able to write then.

There is not a whole lot to report from up this way. Winter is pretty well entrenched. Even though we are probably getting close to being 60-70″ behind our average snowfall for the season to date, the snow pack is very solid and very healthy. 2 to 3 feet in the woods up here in Keweenaw county. Much of the snow so far this season has been from very wet and warm systems, sometimes even mixed with something other than snow. The up side to that is the fact that it falls and is already settled. So there is not much settling going on. The down side is we do not have our typical waist deep powder at the moment, but that cold be changing with lake effect indicated to get going tonight and then continue right on through the weekend.

It has also been a very mild winter so far. Not too mild, at least by my standards. Most of the daytime highs have been staying below freezing and when it does pop its head above freezing, it has not caused any real melting. Its actually been a nice treat to have the milder temps, as we have been able to spend lots more time outdoors and not freezing! Just about every evening we have free, the pups and the humans all go out and play. Nora and I usually toss a ball or fetch toy and the dogs run after it and return it to us. It really has been nice to be able to be outside in the evenings, get some fresh air and then come in, relax a bit by the fire and then head off to sleep. It has been good for the pups as well, especially Bleau, who still has lots of genuine puppy energy!

In addition to the play time in the driveway, we have been taking fairly regular jaunts into the woods. Grace has an early release from school every 2nd and 4th Wednesday of the month. Not quite sure why, but I have a feeling it gives the teachers time to re-stock their liquor cabinets. Anyway, last Wednesday I picked her up and then we came home and went for a romp in the woods with the pups. She was on skis and I was on snow shoes and pups just roughed it.

With the deep snow in the woods, skis or snow shoes are a requirement, unless you want to over exert yourself! The pups all have their webbed feet and do not sink in as far, but still far enough that poor Huck and his sore joints usually will stay back with me and we both watch Gracie, Millie and Bleau go exploring further out into the woods. Huck and especially Millie are still getting around very well for 10 year old dogs. Their birthday was a week ago, January 9th. It is just that Huck had knee surgery a little later in life and I think there was more damage done to the joint before it was fixed than Millie had when she had her surgery at just a bit over a year old. Millie actually gets along so well, you would never know she even had any surgery to rebuild her knee almost 9 years ago!

I am not sure if Labradoodles or in the case of Bleau, Doubledoodles, are prone to joint problems. He sure is getting big and I know that the big dogs tend to have more issues than the small ones. I am just hoping that he can escape having to have any joint work done. He sure loves the snow too! He is content to play in it all day if given the chance. He still has some problems with the snow clumping up on his paws and fur, but it is not as bad as it was when the snows first started falling this winter and the consistency of the snow does not seem to make a difference. I feel sorry for him having the snow ball up on his feet, as I think it bothers him. We are going to get him some boots, but are waiting for his growth to start slowing. So far, not happening! I can say that when the snow sticks to his facial fur, he is extra cute!

His training is going pretty good. I think the biggest issue is that we keep forgetting he is just over 6 months old! He is so big and pretty mature for his age, that we get to thinking he is as old and wise as Huck and Millie are and that is just not the case. He is very smart, but to me, smartness is the ability to learn and recall what is learned, where as wisdom only comes with age and experience. He still has his puppy moments for sure. Mostly barking when excited and occasionally finding something to get into that he should not. Last week, he found the payment slip for our mortgage and decided to help me out with it! No worries though, we actually are set up for automatic payments for it and they just end the payment slips anyway.

He is also developing a pretty good internal clock. Feeding times are pretty well recognized, but more impressive to me is the fact that he will sit in front of one of the front windows and wait for Nora and Grace to get home from school at about the time they are suppose to be home. Today for example, he is planted in front of the window, looking out and they would normally be getting home in about 10 minutes, but today Grace has piano lessons right after school, so they will not be home until later.

This past weekend, we headed down to Jacobsville so that Grace could spend some time with her two friends. The weather was not too cold, so they were able to stay outside and play for several hours. The downside to that is that we were out in the middle of nowhere, so the adults had to be out for that long too! Actually the adults were able to get into our vehicles to warm up some. Much of the fun was had sledding on a road out there. A little later on the day, it transformed into a ski hill. When we moved to our current location, I always thought that we lived in the country. My definition of living in the country has since changed. It is now as follows: If you can use the road you live on as a sledding and/or ski hill in the wintertime, you live in the country!

I have not gotten out for a ride since New Years Eve. I am strangely OK with that. There have been some moments that I wish I could have gone for a ride, but was busy with other things. Then there are times when either my back is bothering me too much or a few times when the weather was not too suitable. This weekend will be one of those weekends in which I would probably opt out if I had my choice. I initially had some friends coming up, but then had to change those plans as other things popped up and took up my time. The temps this weekend look to be in the single digits for highs and that tends to be a bit cool for me. I remember when I used to put the limit at around 10 below and now it is more like 10 above! Call me wise or a wimp, doesn’t matter!

The cold temps will make for some pretty good trail conditions. I know that the groomers have been out every night hitting all of our trails and some of them are getting some day grooms as well. We look to be opening up trail 133 from Gay to Lac La Belle soon. There is logging going on where we typically go and that has kept us from being able to use the regular trail. We did find a re-route and are in the process of crossing the t’s and dotting the i’s with land owners and the state to get the re-route for this season established. With a little luck, it could be open by this weekend.

Not much else is going on. I can put in a plug for the Keweenaw Snowmobile Clubs trailside bonfire coming up the day before the Super Bowl. It will be Saturday February 2nd from 11 am to 3 pm at the Trailside Lodge in Calumet. Free food and refreshments. We will also have the Arctic Cat ZR200 youth sled that we are raffling off for this years fundraising. We will also have a jumbo bonfire going to keep you warm, so be sure to stop by and say hi if you are up here that weekend!

Good night from the Keweenaw..
–JD

 

Welcome to 2019 everyone! I realize I am almost a week late with that welcome and quite frankly, it seems like way more than a week ago when we were getting ready to ring in the new year. In any case, it is here and has so far followed the playbook of the 2018 part of this winter season. A roller coaster ride for sure. I really have no reason at all to complain. We picked up around 8″ of fresh snow from late last night until around noon today. It was like much of the system snow we have seen fall so far this season. Super wet and heavy and good for making a base. We already had a pretty good base, but this was still a good thing to get.

Very difficult to move. Not so much for Big Red, just time consuming. It was so thick and dense that it would clump up into these beach ball sized boulders of snow and just get pushed by the blower and not pulled in and tossed aside. That was especially the case on the ice rink, where it did not have much to hold it in place and as the blower move into it, it would slide across the ice and bunch up. It really did not make clearing more difficult, just time consuming and that was not a big deal to me, as I was sitting inside a heated cab, out of the elements and listening to tunes.

Each winter up here seems to have its own personality and this one sure is unique. We have had only a handful of days that I would consider to be true winter days for us. Meaning the temps are in the low teens and there is a pretty stiff breeze blowing and snow falling. We have had way more days and even evenings where the temps have been in the upper 20’s to low 30’s and it is calm as can be. I have to admit that I am kind of liking that trend…for the most part. Sure more snow or even regular snow would be nice, but the mild temps have sure supported lots of outdoor activity. There have been many nights where we all have gone outside after dinner and played with the pups in the driveway. Tossing a ball or toy and having them take turns retrieving it. It has also been nice to not have to deal with the bitter cold coming and going from the house, vehicle or store.

I suppose that another upside is the fact that we are not using as much propane for heat. Although I have to admit that I do not really track our usage from year to year. I just keep an eye on the gauge and when it gets below 20 percent, give the propane dealer a call. Another upside is the fact that it is highly unlikely that the big lake will get much ice on it this season, which does help provide some protection from the true, bitterly cold air as well as supply the moisture and heat needed for lake effect snow.

I guess the only thing I could really do without is the freezing rain and freezing drizzle we have been getting. We currently have some freezing drizzle falling. The snow changed over to it around 2 or 3 this afternoon. It is not hurting the snow at all, but is making all the untreated roadways and other surfaces very slick. When I was done clearing the snow today, the blower had scraped right down to the old ice surface that existed before the snow started to fall last night. I really do not want to leave any extra snow on the driveway, as it would only make the mat thicker and more of a mess come spring.

It is looking more and more like the pattern we have been dealing with for the past 4-5 weeks will stick around for much of the winter. That would not be too bad of a thing for us, but would not be so good for areas that are not as blessed with snow as we are. So I guess a word to the wise would be to not hesitate this season. If you see good conditions for snow play. Go for it! You may not get a ton of chances this winter. Of course, when I say things like that, Mother Nature loves to prove me wrong, so there is a chance!

So what else has been going on around here? Well, I did take my first snowmobile ride of the season on New Years Eve. I met up with a friend of the site and we did a mini-tour of the Keweenaw. Really a big loop through the bush and we did not get any further north than Gratiot Lake, but the conditions we experienced both on and off the trail were quite good. I will admit that I think we got lucky to have the trails we had once we were on the groomed trail system. Traffic was incredibly busy during the period between the holidays and we had two groomers go down, which led to not as much grooming as would normally take place. Plus they were also training some of the new groomer operators and that happens in the daylight for safety sake. Day grooming helps, but does not hold up for nearly as long as grooming at night when it is coldest and traffic is at its lowest. The good news is that by late last week, they had caught up on everything and were doing the grooming at night and it helped. The warm temps over the weekend did not help much, but we survived.

On New Years Day, we were invited to some friends that are homesteading up here. They have built a yurt type structure, only it has traditionally framed walls and a roof and is built on a slab, but otherwise has the same exact shape and other features of a yurt. The event was called “dessert at the yurt” and the plan was to relax, have some yummy snacks, warm beverages and perhaps even take a ski or snow shoe. Most of the attendees were pretty relaxed and did not exert themselves too much, but there were a few that took a short walk. The three amigos spent a lot of the time outdoors and ended the event with a photo op, joined by three of the bunnies our friends raise.

It was then back to work and back to school for Nora and Grace on Wednesday and for the rest of the week. Which meant that the three pups and I were once again left to ourselves back at the house. Things went extremely well on Wednesday and Bleau was given a grade of A+. Thursday was a bit of a different story, but nothing too out of hand. He ended the day with a C-. Friday was a better day and he received a B. I think that the extra time outside with Huck and Millie really helped his behavior on Friday. He has gotten so big and is very well trained for his age, that we all forget that he is still not even 6 months old yet. I do try my best to cut him slack when he is misbehaving, but also do not let him get away with it for very long. I believe the plan is for him to start spending more time at the school, so that he will be ready for next year and to spend all day there.

Last night we were invited to some friends who live up near Copper Harbor. Technically they are not in town, but close enough to be considered residents of that tiny town. They have a beautiful home with a very interesting feature in it. It is a Tulikivi, or Finnish Fireplace. That was not a picture of the one our friends had in their home, but very similar.

I believe they were invented in Russia, but perfected by the Fins (of course, right?). The way it works, is that you build a fire in it the same way you would build a fire in a standard fireplace. Only the air does not go straight up the chimney. Rather it is circulated through the entire mass of the fireplace and then up. This causes the entire mass of the fireplace (which is massive) to heat up and be a heat source for the home. It can actually heat the entire room(s) that it sits in. The firebox is sealed tight once the doors are shut and the air needed to keep the flames going comes from outside. So you have no draw up the chimney from the heated space in your home. Theirs had a brick oven in it, just like the one in the photo I shared. That oven can be heated up by starting a fire in it and then pulling a lever and allowing the coals to drop into the firebox. Then you can cook in the oven. We did pizzas and they were phenomenal!

If there was a realistic way I could add that to hour current home, I would in a heartbeat. We were told that they only need to toss firewood into it twice a day. Upon waking up and then before going to bed. Since there is so much mass in the structure, it does not cool down very quickly. So when they go to put wood in it in the morning, it is still warm. I was really enamored by this thing. First it is very beautiful and a dramatic centerpiece to the home. Secondly, it works so well! It is not complicated in design, but is brilliantly designed and really throws out the heat. Maybe I should become a Tulikivi dealer!

So our system snows are over for this event, but lake effect snows will start up the second half of tomorrow and continue into Wednesday. Between that LES and the cold temps, we should have some really good conditions for snow play the rest of the week and weekend. Thankfully, it looks like many other areas of the UP as well as some areas of northern WI also picked up needed and welcomed snow, so we will not be one of the only options in the Midwest for snow play. That is very good news, as some folks just do not understand how quickly the trails deteriorate under heavy traffic and unfortunately, I seem to hear from a lot of them!

Good night from the Keweenaw..
–JD

Well, here we are, the closing of another year and the opening of a new one. I don’t know about all of you, but this time of the year always seems to make me reflect on the past year. To think about the good and bad, the gains and losses, which usually leads to some kind of a ranking. Was it the best year ever? the worst year ever? or somewhere in between? I usually end up running away from trying to think too hard about the answer. I am a pretty positive person by nature. Life has thrown me quite a few curve balls, yet I have always had the support and found the inner strength to get past them. So most years end up near the top of the “good” ranking.

I don’t remember too many curve balls in 2018. No major health issues for any of the Dee’s, including the four legged members. We did gain a new set of 4 legs this past August, so that was a pretty big event. We did not win the lottery, or have any other kind of financial wind-fall, but we also did not have any major financial crises. All in all, I guess I can report that other than the addition of Bleau to the family, it was a fairly average year. As I grow longer in the tooth, I find that average can actually be a pretty good thing!

In my younger years, it was all about being the best. Not just striving to be the best, but actually being the best. I don’t think I ever really achieved that status in those years. I was “pretty good” at some things, “average” at others and “quit while I am ahead” for many others! Perhaps it was the failure to attain that “best” category that changed my thinking on life goals. Regardless of the main factor for the change, I am now in “be happy” mode. The thought of being the best at something is no longer in my mind. I still strive to DO my best, but recognize that what is most important is to just enjoy all live has to offer.

The number one thing I strive each and every moment of each and every day to be best at is a husband and father. I know that the competition is very tough. There are lots of men out there striving to be the best at those two tasks. I also believe that there is room for more than one on the top step of the podium. So I do not try and compare myself to other husbands or fathers. I just do my best to observe what works, what doesn’t and apply it to my situation.

This striving to be the best dad or husband is not at all about competition. Quite the opposite. It requires a ton of humility and patience. Things I was severely lacking in my younger years and things I still need to do work on every moment of every day. I have come to realize that all the hardships I went through in the past have allowed me to be blessed with all I have today. A beautiful, smart, loving wife, who is helping to raise a beautiful, smart, loving daughter. I have been given the best of the best and I feel it is now my life’s purpose to nurture and help grow what I have been given.

The interesting thing is, the more I give, the more I get. It is still a huge work in progress, but I am learning to shut my mouth and open my eyes to new ideas. To realize that every human is truly an individual. Things that I may feel or believe are absurd, others feel are 100 percent the right way. It does not mean I have to give up my ideals, or my preferences. It just means that I can respect the differences of others and know that all will be well in the end. As long as someone is not bringing harm to themselves, or someone else, then it is good by me. I have come to realize that one of my largest flaws in the ways of thinking was that “To have control over all that was around me made me safe/happy”. True freedom comes from letting things happen and going with them, not fighting them. I wish I could say that I do this all the time. I still have many times when I am paddling upstream, but the more I practice, the better I become at letting the flow take me where it wants. It an be scary, even terrifying at times, but if I can be patient and strong enough, I find that there are powers much smarter and stronger than I, that will take me down the best route and deliver me at the best spots.

So what does 2019 have in store? I really haven’t a clue. I believe that the future, whether is be 2019 or a future year, will provide changes. Perhaps some of them big changes. I know there is still a lot of learning to be done. Still a lot of work to be done on staying still, staying calm. I believe there will be more good than bad. Most of all, I know there will be love in my life and that makes rolling out of bed all worth it.

Good night from the Keweenaw..
–JD

My apologies for the no-writing yesterday, but for a Sunday, things were very busy for me! My services were in strong need, not just for the snow lovers out there, but for all of my other customers too! Add in some grocery shopping, some present wrapping, a walk in the woods and a 30 minute nap and my day was spoken for!

I think most of you reading this know what the elephant in the room is. I shake a little when I think of all the good people who’s fate is in the hands of the coming days weather. I can only estimate how many snowmobilers plans rest on the idea that enough snow will begin falling early Thursday to provide for fantastic snow play conditions by Friday and the weekend. Perhaps even more important is the business owners who are hoping the snow falls so that these folks will come up, visit and provide the financial influx that they so need after a rather slow start to the snow season in the Northwoods.

This very storm personifies the very reason why I do what I do on this site. I can remember the years of living in northern IL and wondering what conditions up north were going to be like for my trip. Back then, there were no web cams, no highly detailed snowcover maps and if I wanted a reliable snowfall forecast, I had to do it myself! Things have changed on all fronts since then. The world is filled with cams peering out into different vistas. The National Weather Service has an entire branch filled with folks who’s duties are to monitor the hydrology situation across the continental US and Alaska. In the winter, that means keeping a close eye on how much snow is on the ground!

The forecast provided are a whole lot more reliable than they were 25 years ago too. Still not perfect and they most likely will never be. But we have come a long way from the days of struggling to figure out even the simplest of weather factors to come in the next 3 or more days. There is still time for the forecasts for this system to be a bust, or for the main snow area to be moved from where it is currently indicated. The models are not in perfect agreement with the details, but they are in quite good agreement with things and all systems are currently “go” for a major winter storm to impact the majority of the Northwoods the second half of this week.

It’s been an exciting and challenging past few days for me. The ideas of a storm to impact the northern Midwest have been in my forecasts for 7 days now. There have been some adjustments to each days forecast, but since Wednesday of last week, it has been the Northwoods that has been in the cross-hairs. So there is extra hope that the forecast pans out for this storm. Not just because I do not enjoy being wrong, but because so many hopes are riding on it, the thought of those hopes turning to disappointment is not pleasant at all. Only time will tell.

Last week was a pretty busy one. Christmas programs to attend, shopping to do and of course some walks in the woods. Earlier in the week, the Ranger III, the ship that takes folks from Houghton to Isle Royal needed to make its way to its winter berthing spot near the national park office in Houghton. The problem was, the Portage Lake Shipping Canal had iced over and it needed some help. So the ice breaking cutter Katmai Bay showed up on the scene to clear a path. I was working and could not be down there to watch it happen, but I did watch both ships meet at the north entry to the Portage via the display on marinetraffic.com. Then as they drew close to the lift bridge, I was able to watch the ships pass under the bridge via the host of webcams that Michigan Tech have on their website. The cams are very high quality and Tech has the resources to have their images be live streamed. So while I could not be there in person, I did get to watch everything happen live and did not have to sit in the traffic jams that are caused every time the bridge is lifted!

The ships passed under the bridge, then came about. The Katmai Bay then spent around 20 minutes breaking up the ice where the Ranger III moors and then headed back under the bridge and out to the north entry to perform its next task. For those waiting in their vehicles to cross the bridge, it may have seemed like an hour and they may have even thought that the bridge stayed up the whole time, but they did lower it after both ships passed underneath and then raised it again as the Katmai Bay returned to the big lake.

This was the final week before Gracie’s school went on winter break. All of the elementary classes spend several weeks leading up to the break in music class practicing for a holiday program. Each grade level performs their own set of songs and some of the larger grades get split into two. They start with the kindergartners and finish with the 5th graders. They are very efficient in the change over and the entire program takes just over an hour. Grace is in the 4th grade, which means that Nora and I have been attending them for the past 5 years and next year will sadly be the final show. I love the shows so much that even when Grace is not involved, I may still go. It is so neat to watch the kids perform. They all wear special clothes for the occasion and all look so proud to be on stage. Equally as heart warming for me is to see the room filled wall to wall with parents, grand parents, probably some great grand parents and siblings. This really is a community where the children are cherished and most folks know each other and are close-knit. Most likely very similar to how things were 100 years ago when Red Jacket (Calumet) was in its heyday with over 30,000 folks living in it.

The other program I got to attend was the ice skating one. It is not the “Big Show” that the ice skating program puts on at the end of the season in March. Rather it is a less formal one in which the skaters get to pick and choreograph their own performances, as well as pick the others they skate with or chose to do a solo performance. The girls must practice all of their shows on their off time and not during the lesson periods. Grace was not able to perform last year, because we were out of town, but we promised her she could be in this years program. She initially paired up with another girl that was older and at a more advanced level and then there was another girl that wanted to be part of the show, so they included her in their program.

There were 16 separate segments to the show, each lasting a few minutes. Grace and her two partners were around 2/3rd of the way into the program and then they took the ice.

Since it was our first go-around, I was really not sure what to expect. Grace had her usual nervous excitement and all of the other girls were equally fired up before the show. I have to admit, I was completely surprised at how well each program was thought out and executed. It was nearly as entertaining as the big show at the end of the season. Grace had a blast and said when it came to the part where she ducked down and went underneath the other two skaters arms, it was one of the best moments of her life!

Even the beginner skaters got to put on a show. These are the kids in which many had never even been on skates before the lessons started back in October, so here they are just 2 1/2 months later putting on a show for everyone. When the final performance is done, they all take the ice as a group and stand before the audience for pictures and applause.

As mentioned, we did take to the woods just about every day this past week. If there is one upside to the mild weather, it has been that we can head out into the woods without worrying about becoming Popsicles! We even got some fresh snow towards the end of the week. Not a lot, but enough to make all of the ground cover a pristine white again and dust the the evergreens.

The pups enjoyed all of the walks in the woods and no one more than our little Bleau. Or should I say young Bleau?! He is not so little anymore! In fact he is a full size larger than Millie, even with the help of his fuzzy fur and stands even with Huck, but Huck still has him in weight class! I think between his added size and maturity in the past 4 weeks, Huck and Millie have really taken him in and made him one with the pack. He seems to sense this, yet also respects his elders and does not push his luck too far with them. It is so great to see the three of them having fun together. I think it is good therapy for ALL of us to be one happy and respectful pack.

Bleau really did learn a lot while he was at training. He is a magnificently intelligent dog. Probably the smartest I have ever known. He still is young and has his moments, but the trainer did a spectacular job of getting to know him, then figuring out how to communicate with him. She then passed this knowledge onto us and it is like Bleau is a different dog! In reality, he is the same dog, it is us that have been taught how to understand him and communicate with him. Something that will work with any dog and I also believe any human. I believe the vast majority of the problems we have with each other is a lack of communication. We each are different, yet want to paint others in our image. Or we believe that others think the same way as we do, feel the same way as we do or should!

Yet it is our diversity that makes us strong. I think that is one reason why I enjoy the Christmas holiday so much. It seems that even though it is for just one day, or perhaps just for a moment of that day, nearly everyone can seem to respect one another. Be kind to one another. We are able to free ourselves from our own fears for a moment and be kind.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Good night from the Keweenaw..

–JD