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Greetings from the beautiful Keweenaw! I can say that with full appreciation of the term. We have a beautiful, cobalt blue sky, temps in the mid-70’s and very little humidity. The positive side to the catastrophic rains of June and early July are now showing up in the form of a bountiful berry crop. Thimbleberries are ready for picking and being picked. Blueberries are just coming on-line, as are the raspberries, huckleberries and juneberries. Strawberries are done-zo and the blackberries will be ready at the end of August. The summer wildflower crop is also going gangbusters right now. My knowledge of types of wildflowers is limited and Nora is not around to help me out with her abundant knowledge on the subject, but suffice to say there are many different varieties and they are as beautiful and bountiful as I have seen in many years up here.

It has actually been quite dry in the past 2-3 weeks, but the woods are still plenty green and the fire danger is pretty low. The bugs are not overly problematic, with temps dropping to below 40 degrees around 10 days ago and into the low 50’s just recently. We did have a little bit of mid-September weather up here on Thursday and Friday. Temps were only in the low 60’s for highs and we had lots of low clouds and even some light rain and drizzle. That weather could also have passed for late September and early October, but the fact that the woods are still fully green and not showing any signs of autumn color is why I chose mid-September.

I typically shy away from getting really deep into my thoughts and feelings in these writings, but for some reason I feel compelled to do so now. The past week or two have had me thinking a lot about my dad. As most of you know, he passed away 11 years ago, peacefully in his sleep. It was his 89th birthday yesterday and in 2 weeks and 2 days, it will be the 11th anniversary of his death. My thoughts of him have not really revolved much around his birthday or his death. In fact, I had to have Nora’s help with the exact date of his death. I only knew it was in the first half of August.

Most of the conscience thoughts about him have actually been due to his appearance in my dreams the past few weeks. I am one of those that does not typically recall most of my dreams. Sometimes I will remember them upon waking in the middle of the night, but by the time I awake for good in the morning, I cannot remember much, if anything about them. However, I have been having some pretty vivid dreams and in many of them, he has been in them. Primarily as just a casual character in them and not him speaking to me or doing anything extra special with me. I don’t have any idea why this is occurring and am not concerned a bit by it. Just find it interesting and enjoyable is all.

I can say that a very special experience happened to me about 2 weeks ago that might very well be playing a role. When my Dad passed away, a group of fiends of the site banded together to purchase two apple trees to be planted in remembrance of my Dad. A few years earlier, they had purchased two fruit trees in remembrance of Burt and Bailieys. The two trees for Burt and Baileys did not make it. Deer de-foilaged them and they could not recover. Both trees in honor of my Dad are alive, although one was pretty beat up by the deer and for some reason the other was always left untouched.

Anyway, back to 2 weeks ago. All of the Dee clan was out in the garden having a look at things and picking some weeds. When that finished up, Nora went inside for a bit, while Gracie climbed the one healthy apple tree and I hung out with her and chatted. We talked about the tree and how it came to live in our yard. I said that it was a pretty special apple tree and that Gracie could climb it, but not only did she have to be careful to not fall out of it and get hurt, but she had to be extra careful to not damage it by climbing too high and breaking branches.

It was then that Gracie told me that it was her favorite tree to climb of all the trees in our woods (we have a few you know!). She said that she loves to climb up into it with a book and read and that there is a perfect spot to sit and read. She said that she loves being up in it (what kid does not like to climb trees) and that she also loves the sitting spot, as it is shaded, comfortable and quiet. However, she went on to tell me that the reason why it is her favorite tree to climb in our woods is because when the wind blows, she feels safe. She says that it feels like the branches wrap around her and keep her from falling. All the other trees just shake in the wind and make it feel like she is going to fall out of them.

When she said that, I instantly felt the presence of my Dad with us and the hair on my arms and the back of my neck stood straight up. What she described about that tree is how I always felt around my Dad. Safe, like he would not allow anything that I could not handle to happen to me. After inconspicuously wiping away a little tear, I told her about how my Dad made me feel that way when I was around him and that we should name that apple tree “Grandpa-Tree”. And so it is.

Grace was not able to meet my Dad, as he passed before she was born, but I have always gotten the feeling from her that she somehow knows what he was like. I know the two of them would have been inseparable and am glad that she can feel his love and kindness through the safety of that apple tree. I also now have my answer to why the deer NEVER ate the leaves and small branches off of that tree.

Good night from the Keweenaw..
–JD

My apologies for not writing last week. It was a very busy Sunday and then Monday and Tuesday were also busy enough that I could not finish and I figured by Wednesday, I may as well wait for the next weekend…So here I am!

I have come to the conclusion in my travels through this life that most humans need to “humanize many things”. I am guilty of this, naming the tractor “Big Red”, or giving something in nature human qualities. So with that in mind, I can say that Mother Nature sure has a crewel sense of humor sometimes. Not even 4 weeks past the devastating Father’s Day flood, the area once again got hit with heavy rains on the morning of the 12th. Not as heavy as fell on Father’s Day, but still more than the drainage systems could hold. Most of the heavier rain fell a bit further north this go around, but still included all of the hard hit areas like Houghton, Hancock and on up through Dollar Bay, Tamarack City, Hubbell and Lake Linden. Total amounts were in the 3-4″ range and most of that rain came in a 3-4 hour period.

We picked up around 3″ of rain from the event and I was actually awake for all of it, as it started at around 4 am and ended by around 7:30-8 am. I am not going to post any pictures of the damage done, as they were very similar looking to the damage done in June’s flood. However, as mentioned, the extent and degree of the flooding was not nearly as bad as it was with the Fathers Day event.

I heard at least one road that was washed out in the June event and was repaired to the point it was drive-able, but still just a gravel surface was washed out again. I also know they had flooding in some of the same spots impacted in Hubbell and a temporary walking bridge across the Sweedtown Creek just outside of Hancock was swept away. No injuries as far as I could tell, so that was a blessing.

Still no word on the level of FEMA funding that the region will get, but if the rains of the 12th did anything positive, they did show the importance of doing the repairs as soon as possible and to a level as good as can be. Many of the creeks in the ravines that ran hard and washed out in June caused problems again and need to be fixed so that they no longer continue to cause problems. All of these problems are where the recreational (including snowmobile) trail runs and is why it is critical that the repairs be made there too. I know that the was a very large and positive response to my reply for folks to take the time to send an e mail that will get passed along to FEMA stating the importance of repairing the trail. Hopefully word will get to those making the decisions that it is more than a recreational trail, it is part of the storm drainage system up here.

But enough of the grim news. It has been a pretty nice two weeks of weather up here. Lots of 70’s and sunshine the week before and then 80’s much of last week. We did have clouds and spotty off and on showers this past Friday and Saturday, but most of the many activities going on up here this weekend (food/music festival in Hancock Friday, Canal Run Saturday, Antique Car show Saturday, Aura music fest Saturday, Lake Superior Day in Copper Harbor today) did not have much of a problem with the weather and the bugs have also been pretty tolerable.

Today was actually one of those picture perfect days, with highs in the low to mid 70’s, tons of sun and a low dewpoint (humidity). We all got our chores done this morning and then spent a good deal of the afternoon in the pool. It’s so nice to have a dedicated heater for it now. No more worrying about keeping the wood boiler going and manually handling the temperature by turning the pump for the heater on and off. I just set the temp on the heater and forgetaboutit! I really should have done that years ago, but such is life!

The week ahead looks to bless us with more mild summer air and low humidity. Great for getting out and doing things during the day and sleeping with the windows open at night. It’s really hard to believe that we are reaching the end of July already. I can remember when I was less fond of the summer weather and it seemed like July was 61 days long, not 31! I am not even close to wanting winter weather to get here. I am fully enjoying the summer and then the weather we have in autumn is an automatic love and no need for me to mention my feelings about winter!

About a week or so ago, I was out with Nora while she was tending to her garden and was suddenly ambushed by Gracie with some water balloons. Thankfully, I spied the working end of the garden hose nearby and also got lucky when I discovered the water was turned on. So I went to work with a counter offensive and was able to re-gain the upper hand. I managed to remain pretty dry, as most of her balloons were not filled up enough to burst when they hit me, but I was able to put quite the hurting on her. So I did cease-fire for a bit and even taunted her to try and get me with the balloon filling jug, which provided nothing more than a refreshing spritz. Fun times!

The entire family has also been getting lots of mileage out of the screen porch. It has become our go-to spot for all of our down time. Just about every evening is spent out there, electronics free. Reading off of a phone or tablet is OK and music with headphones is also allowed, otherwise, the rules are to create as little disturbances for the beautiful noises of nature as possible. I enjoy laying on the swing and either listening to the girls talk and laugh, or if it is quiet, listen to the birds. The other evening we had a larger visitor come through and Nora was able to snap a picture of her from inside the porch. There is another doe that comes through from time to time and has a little one with her. I think I saw that fawn not long after it was born, as it wobbled across the road near our house and was smaller than Huck and Millie!

This past week I saw my first black bear in some time. We have had one around the house and property from time to time this summer, but I have only seen it’s prints or had to clean up the mess it made with our garbage once. I have not seen it. Last week, I was driving into Calumet when one crossed the highway around 100 feet in front of me. Both it and I were moving too quickly for me to get a picture of it, but Nora and Grace saw one about 10 days ago and were able to stop and get a picture of it.

I always find it funny how I know they live up here among us. Sometime I even have to pick up after their midnight foraging, or will see their prints in the sand, mud when we take walks and not think much about it, but then when I see one skirt across the road, it is still so exciting! For the most part, I really think that they are cool animals. Pretty darned smart and also like to keep to themselves most of the time.

So not much else going on up here. Hard to believe in just over a week August will be here. I guess it will not be too long before I am starting to write about the colors changing!

Good night from the Keweenaw..
–JD

In last weeks entry I put the call out to folks that all was fine to come and visit and while I am not going to take credit for it, they came. Starting around Monday and Tuesday, there was a big change in the amount of traffic on the roads up here. The Independence Day holiday is probably the biggest weekend up here for visitors. That is because it is a big holiday for friends and family that don’t live in the area to come up and visit the friends and family that live up here. I refrain from using the word tourist because many of them have ties or even have lived here and have more reason to call themselves Yoopers than I do!

Anyway, despite having to actually stop and let traffic pass to pull out onto the highway, it was very good to see the region back to hopping with visitors. I hope that the regular flux of visitors keeps up for the rest of the warm season, because the local businesses need more than one 5-7 day holiday period to have a good season, but it was a great start.

We took part of the influx of visitors to the area. Nora had some family come up for the holiday. They arrived on Tuesday and left early this morning. It was Nora’s brother, wife, daughter, the daughters boyfriend and her two children. Both the children are boys and one is about 8 months younger than Grace, while the other is about 6-7 months old. Grace had a blast with her cousin every day. The activities ranged from fishing, to swimming, to firework watching, to zip lining, to parade attending/watching to kayaking and lots of other stuff. Gracie slept in until 10 am this morning and I think that was much needed sleep!

Huck enjoyed the company as well, especially the little one. Of course I am going to think that both Huck and Millie are really special dogs, but Huck is unique to most dogs I have ever met. His desire for companionship is greater than any other dog I have ever known. It does not matter who you are, how old you are, man, women, boy or girl. If you show an interest in giving him some attention, he is your best friend. It was so fun to watch he and the little gomper interact. The baby was just as fascinated by Huck as Huck was by him. Millie made sure to swing by and say high as well, but was not as interested in the baby as Huckie was.

With Independence Day falling on a Wednesday, it sure made the week seem weird. Tuesday felt like a Friday and Wednesday felt like a Saturday. Then Thursday did not feel like any day I can describe and by Friday I was just rolling with it. Because of the timing of the 4th, I missed out on some of the activities. I did not make the fireworks on the 3rd, as I was too tired from the work day. We all took part in the parade and gathering in the park in Mohawk on the 4th, but then I retired early on the 4th, while most of the others headed down to see the fireworks. I guess why I am saying all of this is because a lot happened this week, but I was not there to see much of it, so I do not have a lot to write about!

I did have a meeting on Friday with the head of the Portage Health Foundation (PHF). It has been one of the main organizations that stepped in and became a donation source for all the work that needs to be done to repair the damages from the Father’s Day flood. I was told that they consider the trails systems up here to be an integral part of the community and are going to be donating funds to help with the repairs needed. Unfortunately, the total amount of money they have collected so far (almost 4 million), would not cover all the damage done to the trail from Hancock to Lake Linden. Estimates to repair all the damage have come in at around 20 million. Just on that stretch alone, there are a total of 60 washouts, 45 of them being major ones. Even the DNR does not have that kind of spare change laying around to commit to the repairs, so all hopes of repairing the damage and opening up that trail hinge on help that would come from FEMA.

To that end, the head of the PHF has requested that we gather as many letters of support in favor of repairing that stretch of trail as possible. They will then compile all of those letters and present it to those that will be involved in making the decision if FEMA money will be going into those repairs. I do know that other damage estimates have been done to things like the roads and structures and that there is an excellent chance that FEMA money will come in to help with the costs incurred in repairing roads and other infrastructure, but there is much higher uncertainty about money being allocated for the trail repairs. The best chance we all have of that money coming in, is to let our voices be known. The more voices that speak out it is important, the better the chance we have of opening that trail back up.

So here is what you can do…You can write a short letter, stating your feelings that the trail repair is important to you. That you use the trail as part of the entire system we have up here and that your usage helps to support the local economy of the area. If you have other reasons why you feel the trail repairs would be important, feel free to state that as well. You can e mail those letters to: info@phfgive.org  The decision is going to be made soon, so we need to get these letters in as soon as possible! So please spread the word to all of your friends that can help out. This is one of those true opportunities for the users of our trails to use their voices to have a huge impact on the future of the trail.

As far as the rest of the trail system goes, the trail from Hancock to Calumet is open from Tomasi Dr to Calumet. Tomasi Dr is on the north end of town and I believe they have designated a route that ORV’s can use to get from downtown Hancock to Tomasi Dr. All trails from Calumet north are open and you can get to the far northern outskirts of Lake Linen from Calumet via trail 3. It is closed from Norman Rd south, but you can take Normand Rd down to Cemetery Rd and then into town. The trail from Houghton to South Range is still closed and no word on when it will open to ORV traffic, but it will be open for the snowmobile season for sure.

The only other item I have is that the annual Guts Frisbee tournament was held in Calumet this weekend. I have seen some of the local teams practicing, but have never seen a match in action. So yesterday, Nora’s brother and I went over and watched for a while. It is a simple, yet interesting game. Essentially, the way it works is a line of 5 or 6 players stand at arms length apart from each other. Around 15 yards away, an opponent from the other team hurls a Frisbee as fast as they can at the line of opposing players. Those players then need to catch the disk before it hits the ground. The players can only use one hand and cannot trap the disk between their hands and another part of their body, such as their chest. The disk may be kept from hitting the ground by players hitting it up into the air with their hands. If the disk hits the ground, then the throwing team gets a point. If it is caught. No points are scored and if the throw is outside of a pre-set area, then the receiving team gets a point. I can say that I have never seen a Frisbee thrown so fast in my entire life. The speeds can reach up to 80 mph and when we were watching it, some of the tosses were so fast that your eyes could not really pick up on the flight of the disk. You would watch the player toss it and then see the other team react, but did not actually see the disk traveling! The first team to 21 wins and you have to win by two points.

The game was thought up in Minnesota, but the first official match happened right here in the Keweenaw at Eagle Harbor. At one time, the sport was so popular that ABC’s Wide World of Sports covered some of the matches! I did not see any communications trucks or blimps flying over Calumet this weekend, so I guess ABC has moved on to other things, but it really was fun to watch! If you want to read more on it, there is a website (of course there is!) for you.

I guess that about covers it for this one. Have a great week and do not forget to write your short letter and rally the troops to do the same! The e mail address is: phfgive.org    I Have always dreamed of having a army of “Snow Warriors” at the ready to respond when our voices were needed and it looks like that dream has come true!

Good night from the Keweenaw..
–JD

Too quiet.

It’s always hard to tell what all the factors are, but one can tell that the amount of visitors to our area is down from what it should be for this time of the year. I have also heard it from some business owners that they are not as busy as they typically would be. It stands to reason that there are some folks that decided not to come up because of the Father’s Day Flood and that is understandable, but the truth is, there really is no reason not to come. I can say that with the exception of some of the beaches being closed for swimming, everything else is open and running as it should be. Any roads still closed are out in the sticks and would not be an issue for a visitor. The exception being M 203 from Hancock to McLain State Park. There is a washout at the Sweedtown creek bridge that still has both lanes closed, but you can still get to McLain’s from the other directions.

There is still some work being done, but most of it is being done at a small scale, cleaning out persons homes/yards that were flooded, etc. They have even consolidated the relief centers into one and about midweek, started getting the word out that they did not need some items, such as bottled water. What was in most need last week and probably still is in most need now are fans and dehumidifiers to help dry out living areas and basements of the effected homes.

It has been an amazing clean up effort. Different teams and groups that specialize in flood recovery/clean-up arrived in the days following the flooding and all of their comments were that they have never seen a community come together to take matters into their own hands. I believe it was a governmental organization that said only about a week after the flooding happened that our area was already two weeks ahead of what typically is done. As proud as I am of the community up here for banding together and getting so much work done, I also can say that it was very heart warming and inspiring to see support come from so many other areas. It really became a national effort, with clean-up crews and donations coming from many different areas of the country.

One of the relief funds created is at 8 million dollars and they are busy figuring out how to disperse the money. I have a meeting next week with them, because they want to know how they can help out with the snowmobile and ATV trails up here. I know many folks like to take pot shots at the DNR. Perhaps some of those shots are warranted, but I know that many are not. What I can say is that the DNR has been nothing short of spectacular in their handling of our situation. They had boots on the ground the day after the flood hit and last week, their ranks stood at 24 who were going around and making damage assessments, cordoning off areas that were closed and even making repairs in a few spots.

I believe there were over 100 wash-outs of the trails in Houghton County. Some were minor, while others were major (over 50 feet deep and over 150 feet wide). Please note that all of the damage was done in Houghton County and also from around South Range up to Lake Linden. ALL KEWEENAW ATV TRAILS ARE OPEN, as are all trails south of South Range. Here is a map of trails impacted. It is up to date as of two days ago and the situation is not likely to change too soon, although I know that they are working hard to get the trail opened back up from South Range to Houghton ASAP. So while someone coming up to ATV would be impacted, there are still tons of trails to ride and places to go. It is mostly getting in and out of the city of Houghton that is an issue. The issues with the trail from Dollar Bay to Lake Linden are so large in numbers and scale, that it is doubtful that trail will be open for the upcoming snowmobile season. Getting the work done is not the main issue, it is getting the funding. I forget the exact number quoted by the DNR to fix that section, but do know it is in the double digits of millions of dollars. So getting the funding is the major issue right now.

So the main help our region needs now is for folks to just come up. I would never say this if I thought that the flooding of two weeks ago would negatively impact your visit. Sad, but truthful to say, coming up to check out some of the damage still existing could be a reason to visit. I guess the bottom line is, tourism is a HUGE part of our economy up here and the businesses that depend on it are hurting. So please trust me when I say: Toss aside any worries you have. All is quite well up here now and we need those that were planning to visit to come up. If you did not have plans to come up, but are thinking about it. Do it. Especially if you have never been up here in the summer. It is just as wonderful a place in the summer as it is in the winter. We have not even hit 90 degrees yet this summer! OK, enough of the tourism chat, but I just really wanted to state that, as it would be a win-win for all involved. Someone coming up would have little to no issues and the businesses that are here and excited to serve you and become your friends will benefit from your visit.

Speaking of the weather, we went almost 12 days without rain since the flooding. That was a huge help in the recovery efforts. We also had pretty comfortable temps until this last Thursday, when we jumped into the 80’s, with higher humidity. All the other days were in the 60’s and 70’s with low humidity as well. Mother nature did decide our first rain event would not be a “baby step” back into things. It came around midday Friday and in the form of a severe thunderstorm. The storm raced in from the west and brought with it 50-60 mph winds, some hail and even a brief, but heavy downpour. I know it really had some folks on edge as it was approaching, but thankfully, it not only raced in, but through and out of our area. Lasting only around 20-30 minutes. It did put down a quick 1/2″ of rain, that swelled come drainage’s and had water running on the roadways. Here is a shot of the leading edge of the storm moving into the Houghton/Hancock area. The storm did hit the entire Keweenaw and I know at one point, it was as dark as night out, even though it was the middle of the day. I have never been in such darkness caused by a thunderstorm in my life and it was pretty eerie. No additional damage was caused by that storm.

We had more thunderstorms yesterday morning, that brought around 1-2″ of rain and some hail to the area. Between Houghton and Baraga, hail nearly 3/4’s of an inch in diameter fell. The storms yesterday also caused a seiche on Lake Superior. Reports of the water levels rising and dropping several feet came in.

As mentioned, we have not hit 90 degrees yet, but have found our way into the mid 80’s and some pretty high humidity. Our air conditioners have been running for the past 2-3 days, but looks like they will be able to be shut off early this week, with the lower humidity moving in tonight. The heater for our pool arrived on the 21st and I had to wait for a few other things to arrive, but hooked it up early last week, with the help of my Gracie. I had never done anything like that before, and it sort of combined the talents of three tradesmen. A plumber, an electrician and HVAC person. All went pretty good, except for one minor glitch. That last shot was taken just before we were going to test out the plumbing. That test started out by opening up the valves between the pool, pump and heater, looking for any leaks and then charging the system by turning on the pump. The initial leak test went well and all seemed good with the pump on, until Gracie noticed a small leak of water where the pipe for the water to exit the filter and head to the heater comes from. For whatever reason, I gave the pipe a little jiggle and the next thing I knew, there was water spraying everywhere! The connection of pipe to the filter was the last one I made and it turns out I forgot to cement that junction. So friction kept the leak from getting too big, but then when I jiggled things, the pipe came out and water squirted all over! It was an easy fix and we all got a good laugh from it. Once cemented in place, it worked just fine and we have been enjoying a nice warm pool all week!

The rains sure caused an issue two weeks ago, but as I keep harping, we have come a long way and a visitor to the area would have to go looking for problems. The woods are very happy with the amount of water we have gotten this June. The berry crops look like they are going to be a bumper one this year. We have already picked strawberries from our garden and Nora picked up 16 quarts from a local grower. Most of them were cleaned, frozen and then vacuum sealed. The thimbleberry bushes have more flowers on them than I have seen in a long time and the blueberries in our garden are also full of developing berries.

Meanwhile, this was the look from NW WY yesterday morning on Togwotee Pass. Yep, an inch or two of snow fell. The dates used for a “snow season” are July 1-June 30, so I guess mother nature wanted to sneak one last measurement in before the 2018-19 season started today!

Good night from the Keweenaw..
–JD

It’s has been 7 days and around 12 hours since the last of the raindrops that created the Fathers Day Flood stopped falling and amazing is the only word I can come up with to describe the events of the past 7 1/2 days. Starting with the rain amount that fell is amazing. The damage it did was amazing. The immediate response by locals to help those in need was amazing. The continued help from volunteers both local and from out of town has been amazing. The donations from local and out of town persons and businesses has been amazing. Last but not least, the amount of things that have already been repaired is amazing.

Here are a few stats. 103 roads were impacted by the flooding, 36 of them were made impassable, including major highways. All of the closures to the major highways were taken care of by Tuesday and many of the impacted/closed roadways are now open. Some roads will need to be completely rebuilt, but have become usable, thanks to the hard work of some very dedicated persons. This first picture is a before and after shot of Agate Street in Hancock. The after shot was taken Thursday, just 5 days after the shot of the damage was taken. There are still some roads that are not passable, but they are side roads only used by those living on them. So anyone afraid to come up because they will not be able to get around should put those concerns aside. There is still work being done, but quite honestly, it is easier to get around now than it was the previous few years when there was the construction going on in Houghton and then Hancock, as well as the bridge.

I can report that the DNR has closed all ATV trails in Houghton County, with the exception of trail 3 from Toivola south. All of the ATV trails in Keweenaw County are open. I do not know of any business that a visitor would use that are closed due to the flood. So as far as coming up here to visit or vacation, I don’t think anyone has any thing to really worry about. In fact, many of the businesses are hoping that the summer tourism will not be impacted by what has happened, as it is a major part of the economy up here. So if you are looking for a way to help, come on up and relax and take in the Keweenaw. It is certainly business as usual for any visitors. Keep in mind that I would NEVER say this if I thought the flooding would have a negative impact on a visitor coming up to the area.

With regards to the ATV/snowmobile trails, DNR members arrived on Monday to begin assessment on the damage and the tally is that there were 92 minor washouts, 28 medium, 15 large and 15 massive washouts of the trail from Lake Linden south to South Range. That is 150 in all. I can say with almost complete certainty that trail 3 from Hancock up through Dollar Bay, Hubbell and on to Lake Linden will be closed for some time, that includes the upcoming snowmobile season. The damage there was so catastrophic that major dollars and major work will be needed to open it back up. All other trails should be opened up and it looks like we will be able to have the trail from Calumet to Lake Linden open and also have the Lake Linden to Gay trail open for the snowmobile season.

I did not go around and take any personal pictures of the damage. In fact, I did not even go into the effected areas unless I had to. I figured there was enough going on in those areas and a sightseer would just be in the way. Plus, there is just so much to try and cover, I decided it would be best to just share some links to some other websites that cover the situation quite well. The first is a Facebook album page that covers some of the damage. The next is a Facebook album that covers some of the recovery. Here is a link to a Facebook page that covers the volunteer process. This is a website created for Copper Country Strong.

The National Guard arrived on Wednesday night and Thursday with heavy machinery and personnel to help with the clean up. Several semi-tractor trailer trucks have arrive this week, full of supplies and I have seen cars parked in the hardest areas with licence plates not only from MI, but WI, MN, IL. I have also talked to a few volunteers from out of the area that came up to help. A ton has been done in the past 7 days, but there is till lots more to do.

Nora volunteered at the recovery center on Friday and again today. She manned phones and helped to coordinate the volunteer efforts. I did some delivery work on Thursday, which included a stop at the Dee Stadium in Houghton, one of two staging areas for recovery and clean up supplies. took Big Red down to Hubbell yesterday and spent around 7 hours helping to move debris and fill around.

In the world outside of the flood related events, Gracie had a blast at summer camp. The weather was perfect this time, compared to the rain and cold that happened much of last year. Just like last year, it seemed like she grew an inch while at camp. She was glad to be home, but yesterday she was chillaxing on the porch when she exclaimed how nice it was to be back, but that she really “wished we had some good camp food around.” The food is exceptional at that camp and less than 24 hours after returning home, she was longing for it!

Not much else is going on, other than the clean up in areas impacted by the flood, the region is gearing up for the Independence Day holiday, as are we. Nora has family coming up, so we will be busy having fun with them over the holiday period.

I guess I will sign off for this one, but keep those impacted by the flood in our region in your thoughts and prayers!

Good night from the Keweenaw..
–JD