Category: Uncategorized

A bit over a month ago, we still had several feet of snow on the ground and given the fact that it was the third week of April, it was pretty much a given that much of it would melt in a matter of a week or two. So the threat of flooding was very real. Not so much for our house, but for others. The threat was not a guarantee, but the deck was certainly loaded in favor of it. Through the destiny that only nature can provide, we were able to aggressively, but also in a controlled manner, do a way with most of that snow without any serious consequences.

There were some swollen rivers to be sure, but as each approached the tops of their banks and prepared to flood the surrounding areas, a 1-2 day cold snap would set in and halt the melting and allow the river levels to lower to where they were no longer a threat. That scenario played itself out on more than one occasion and before long…all the snow was gone and the treat for flooding with it.

Since the last of the snows melted off, we have continued to be blessed with plenty of sunshine. Some days cold, some warm and a few almost hot, but the reoccurring feature has been the lack of clouds. All know that clouds are needed to produce rain and thus we have also not had much rain at all. Typically a good thing, but at this time of the year, all of the dead vegetation from the previous growing season is still lying on the forest floor. That dead vegetation is also just as dry as it was before being buried under the 300 plus inches of snow we had fall this winter. The woods are trying to green up, but with it still being the third week of May and also very dry, many of the plants in the woods are still in a state of brown.

So all of this leads to threat #2. Wildfire. I almost hate to type that word, or think about it, but the fact remains that we are currently in a high fire risk state right now. Unlike flooding, our house sits in the middle of the woods, so in the middle of what could be a raging inferno. Knock on wood that we have not had any wild fires near our house and we also have some very talented and dedicated folks at the DNR and local fire departments that are able to put down the few fires we get a season up here in the Keweenaw. However, as anyone with knowledge or experience in wildfires can tell you, there are never guarantees.

The forecast going forward does not hold too much rain for us either. We could see some rains at the onset of the Memorial Day Holiday weekend and quite honestly, as unfavorable as rain would be for having fun outdoors, I think I would still welcome it. All we really need for our risk to drop significantly would be for a good soaking and around 7-10 days to pass. The trees are opening their buds, as are the bushes in the woods and even some ground vegetation is beginning to sprout, but still need some time and water to fully fill out. So I will not dwell on the threat, but will be grateful if or when the risk drops.

A few paragraphs back, I mentioned how all of our snow had left a week or more ago. That is not quite 100 percent true. The very last of it melted Friday. The snow that slides off the north side of the shop roof typically piles up to a depth of at least 8 feet. The pups, Grace and I have all used it to get ourselves up onto the shop roof in the winter. It also does not get full sun for a good portion of the day, so tends to stick around longer than most of the rest of the snow in our yard. By Friday afternoon, this was all that was left of the 8-10 foot deep pile. It ended up melting before the sun set that evening. So we are now officially snow free. I do not have any fresh pictures, but the Laurium Glacier is still hanging around and I suspect it has at least a week left.

The warmer weather has brought back the avian creatures. The woods are alive with the sounds of all sorts of songs. Some spotting of the robins happened a few weeks ago. Since then, there have been goldfinches, warblers and even our favorite…the hummingbird. Just the other day, I had to hit the brakes on the truck hard, as there were two having a mid-air dogfight right over the driveway. From the reports I have heard, the predator migration up at the tip is going very strong, with plenty to see on top of Brockway Mountain. Even some of the local schools are having field trips to check it out.

This past Friday was bike-to-work day, but since Nora would not allow me to ride my bike in the house, I got to ride to school with Gracie. I do have to say that we did not ride the entire 7 miles to Calumet. It is not so much the distance as it is the two long uphill portions that we would have had to walk our bikes up! Plus, Gracie is not quite ready to be riding the shoulder of Hwy 41.

Not much else has been going on. I keep waiting for the weather and my time schedule to come together in a way that will allow me to fly the drone. I do have some places I want to go and get video of, so be sure to keep checking back.

I also have been doing a bit of woodworking the past few weeks. Last autumn, the journal was filled with stories and pics of the utility room addition I was doing. It was able get it all weather tight before the weather got too nasty. I then was able to get most of the inside done so I could move on to other projects, but there were a few small things that needed to be completed before I gave it my stamp of approval. I was able to get those things done a week or so ago and now I can finally show a picture of the finished product. The work table has a flip down front that can be put up to make it larger when needed. I believe a few shelves might also be put up some day, but for now we really do not need them!

I also finished the bookcase for Gracie, but will save showing it to you until next week, just to be sure I have at least one thing to share!

Good night from the Keweenaw..
–JD

As I start this entry, it is around 2 hours and a few minutes shy of my 19th anniversary of arriving here to live. There are moments in my life and I am sure in everyone’s life that we will just never forget. Some good, some not so good, but they were dramatic and important enough to be permanently embedded in our memory bank. I cannot remember every second of that day, but I remember loading the final pieces of my belongings after finishing my morning work. I remember driving a 26 foot U-haul truck full of my belongings, with Baileys riding shotgun and following us in the chase car my Dad and Burt.

The main things I remember about the drive up was the feeling of exaltation and a bit of fear. The fear was not that I was leaving all of my family and friends behind and heading off to a land where I barely knew a soul. It was that something would happen to cause me to have to pack my belongings and head back south some day. So far so good!

I also remember pulling off to the side of the exit ramp for Hwy 8 just outside of Tomahawk and stopping to make sure all was well with my Dad and Burt. There are a number of other details that remain from the trip up, but for some reason, that stop on the side of the ramp sticks out extra far and I still cannot go past it without thinking of that moment.

We arrived in Houghton, pulled up to the title company right on time, closed on the Lake Linden house purchase, took possession of the keys and headed up HWY 26 to my new home. I hardly remember emptying the truck. If my Dad were here, I am sure he could fill me in on all the details! Poor guy, I really put him to work that evening. That 26 footer was packed from floor to ceiling from front to back. Even the space above the cab was packed tight! We got the last of my items into the house or garage and then collapsed while waiting for a pizza to be delivered from the Loading Zone II.

The other thing about my first 24 hours of living up here that sticks out like it just happened yesterday was when I went to let Burt and Baileys out to go potty in the morning. It was still pretty early, around 7 or so. Things were very quiet inside the house and out. It was a chilly morning, but nothing too unusual for the Keweenaw in mid-May. I opened the door that led from the garage to the backyard, let the pups out and followed them. The first breath of air I took once outside was filled with the smell of pines. Not a slight or muted scent, but an all enveloping smell, as if I was in the middle of the woods camping. It put a huge smile on my face and the only thought that entered into my mind was that I was going to be able to smell that same smell EVERY DAY! Not just when I got away from the big city and took a walk with the pups in the woods. Or when we made trips up here… Every blessed day.

The following days, weeks, months and years all have their moments that still remain in my mind and I hope they always will. I am not going to worry about what I remember and what I don’t, because the future holds lots more memories to be made. 19 years! Sheesh, it does not seem like that long at all. I have lived in this area longer than anywhere else I have lived in my entire life and that includes the house I grew up in!

Not this day, but in two days, it will be the 7th anniversary of my second open heart surgery. Many of the memories from this period of my life are not the most joyous, but I do remember getting very stir crazy, waiting for the surgery to happen and for Nora and Gracie to arrive. I spent 3 1/2 days in the hospital all by myself. I was not sick or bed ridden, that is what caused me to get so stir crazy. I remember looking out the window in my room, watching folks come and go from the building, or just walk down the sidewalk in front of the hospital. I wondered how many of them were appreciative of their good health. To be able to come and go and lead a typical day. I doubt any. I am not picking on them at all. We are all guilty of that, some less than others, but it is human nature to take things for granted. I did not do anything dramatic like make a promise to the maker that if I made it through the surgery I would never take my good health for granted. That kind of stuff I will leave to the movies. However, since that surgery, I have remembered that moment 100’s, if not 1000’s of times and I do my best to remember that I am now part of the lucky ones going about their daily duties in good health. I do take a moment to appreciate it. It really helps me to be at peace with what ever situation I am currently in. I am not sure if that is the only “gift” I was given for having to go through the second surgery, but it was a wonderful gift and I sure have made good use of it!

So fast forward 19 years, or 7 years, or however long it takes for you to arrive in present day. It’s a beautiful day in the Keweenaw. 71 degrees, perhaps headed for 74. We hit 71 yesterday and look to hit it a couple more times in the next 5-7 days. The playground has been freed from its snowy entrapment, but the ground is not totally free from snow just yet, as you could see in that last shot. I really thought I was going to have to wait until June for the snow to leave the spot that the pool goes on. However, it has been freed from its snow and is ready to go. It is still a few weeks early to be putting the pool up, but I think it will go up earlier this season, as we will be heating it with a heater that is actually purposely built to heat pools! This will allow me to set the temperature I want and not have to fiddle with turning it on or off. It will also be placed right next to the pool, so I will not have to worry about heat loss as the water travels from the pool to the heater and back. Speaking of which, I have not decided upon a heater yet and would love to hear from anyone that can recommend a make and model. It needs to be able to run on propane. Feel free to let me know (jd@johndee.com).

Nora, Gracie and I got more yard work done since I last wrote. The front of the house is moving closer and closer to full summer mode. All the raised beds for the garden are ready for their plants. The seeds the girls started a week or so ago have sprouted and look like they will be ready to go into the ground in a week or two. Nora has purchased some of the flowers she plants around the house and they will likely be going into their planters in another week or so. We still have the risk of a freeze at this time of the year, but by the 19th or 20th, if it looks like the next 7-10 days have no chance at a freeze/frost, then they will get planted.

There is still snow hanging on in other areas as well, although it is getting very hard to find snow remaining that was put there by natural forces. One such pile of snow is the infamous Laurium Glacier. It is still hanging on and I have a picture of it to prove it. In fact, I have what I believe is the first panoramic view of the Laurium Glacier. It is actually around 150 feet long, until the last vestiges of it melt, then it shrinks down to a dozen feet or so. Based on the amount of snow there, I would say that it has around 2 weeks left before its waters travel to the Torch Lake and then off into Lake Superior, only to have some of those water molecules return to the very same spot next winter.

Parts of the Rockies have had a dandy of a winter, so much so, that it still looks like winter in some spots. That was Brooks Lake Lodge, out near Togwotee in WY. The picture is from this past Saturday morning. Most of those areas saw 3-6″ of fresh snow fall over the weekend, with some 1-3 foot totals in the Wind River Range just to the south. As much as I love snow, I will give a “No Thank You” to that type of situation. I will be ready for it come October!

That just about gets you caught up on things this way. Gracie is busy finishing up the last few weeks of school. They get out the first week of June. It is amazing to watch her grow and mature. It seems like the past 6 months or so have seen her grow both physically and emotionally more than any other 6 months of her life so far. Adolescence is still a few years off, but sure seems to be approaching quicker than at any other time. She is now cooking and baking all on her own and is still trying to out maneuver Nora and I in the ways of life, but so far we have been able to maintain the upper hand. No promises on how much longer that will last. Thankfully she has a beautiful and smart Mom and has been very well guided in her life so far.

Today was the end of the year music program for her classroom. This is the 4th such program of hers we have been to since she started kindergarten. It is always fun and entertaining to go to these programs and is also fun to watch them perform more complex songs with each passing year. She has her end of season piano recital this Saturday and is planning on singing while she plays “Oh Danny Boy”. I am planning to shed a tear or two.

Good night from the Keweenaw..
–JD

 

No question about it, spring is well under way and we have left winter behind us. Not really that unusual of an achievement for this time of the year, but seeing how just a little over 2 weeks ago it looked and felt like the dead of winter, a welcomed feeling for sure. We have been regularly getting into the 60’s and even some 70’s for highs and with night time temps remaining largely above freezing, I have taken the step of shutting down the heat in the shops. It only takes the flick of a lever to turn it back on, should we somehow have a cold snap, but for now…no more propane is being sucked out of the one tank.

The woods are coming alive as well. Yesterday I saw my first deer in our neighborhood. It has been around 5 1/2 months since we have seen them. Robins have arrived and while I have not seen any bear, I am sure they are lumbering around as well. The other morning, I let the dogs out to go potty. It was just after 4 am and I was getting started for work. The air was somewhat mild for that time of the day, so I stood out on the front porch while they did their thing. As soon as I opened the door, one of the surest signs of spring hit me. It was not a smell or a sight, but a sound. The peepers were out!

For those of you that have spent a spring living here, or visited during the spring, you know exactly what I am talking about. For those that have yet to experience the peepers, I have a treat for you. Nora, Grace and I were down by one of our beaches on Friday afternoon and there is a wetland area not far away and the sound the peepers were making was almost deafening. So I walked up to the edge of the woods/wetlands and shot this video so you could hear what a peeper sounds like. It was shot with my phone, so the recording volume is a bit low, but I may see if I can just grab the sound from that video, copy and past it end to end and create a nice long recording to fall to sleep to.

I know many of you that live in the country are thinking…that’s no big deal, we hear sounds like that all the time in summer. Perhaps even in more urban settings, the insects will make a somewhat similar sound, but these are unique. They do not hang around all season long. I believe the noise is the male frog calling out for a mate. Once I learned that, it was a bit of a head scratch to me, as there sounds to be literally 1000’s of them all doing it at the same time and they all sound the same. So what is going to make the female choose one male over the other? I am not going to question the effectiveness of it, as they seem to have no problems reproducing and greeting us with their songs every spring. Plus its a whole lot cheaper (and easier) that having a big house, fancy car and attractive physique! Its a whole lot easier to hear them than see them. I have tried numerous times to find one, but they can sense when something is coming and go into hiding. Plus, I believe they are not much bigger than the tip of a thumb. For those wanting to do a bit more reading up on the spring peeper, here is a link to the Wikipedia page.

It’s been a busy, but productive week up here. The warm temps has allowed just about all of the snow to melt and the lack of rain has allowed almost uninterrupted opportunity to be outdoors. So Nora, Grace and I have been both playing and working a lot outdoors this week. On Friday, we took a trip south to Jackobsville to do some fishing. The ice finally came out of the water way down there and Nora has been chomping at the bit to try out her new rod and reel she got for her birthday a few months ago, so we made a stop to a party store, got our licences and then head down to wet our lines.

It was not too windy at our house, but when we arrived at the intended fishing spot, the wind was blowing so hard that it was difficult to cast and the water was really churned up. It probably would have been a good evening for walleye with the murky water, but we did not cast too long before moving to a different spot. That also proved to not be too appealing to us, so we just decided to keep the gear in the vehicle the rest of the evening and take a walk.

The beach was calling, so we headed over there for our evening stroll. The beach area was nice and protected from the stronger winds and there was still enough warmth being provided by the late day sun to make conditions about perfect for a spring walk on the beach. In addition to the enjoyment of being on the beach, the other main objective was to hunt for beach glass. Nora and Grace love to do that and have quite a collection going. I will help out from time to time as well, but am not a dedicated a hunter as they were. We all were feeling a little guilty that we did not bring the pups, but we thought we would be spending the evening fishing and it is a challenge to keep track of them and fish at the same time.

We made it down to the far side of the beach, found some driftwood to rest on and just took it all in. What a beautiful evening and spot. Not a soul in sight. Even though we are fairly active in the winter time too, it is such a treat to be able to be in the great outdoors and not be all bundled up and also be able to spend as much time as we want, without worrying about getting cold. Grace was even brave enough to dip her toes into the water on the way back. She actually went in further than that, but we stopped her short of getting her clothes wet. Once the camera was out and pictures were taken, her theatrical side came out and she struck a few poses, such as her explored pose and surfer dude pose.

As mentioned, we did do some work as well. Saturday lots of yard work got done. I did some touch up painting and did my best Tom Sawyer to get Gracie to join in and it worked! Truth is, I don’t mind painting too much and Grace did have fun doing her part as well. Nora got her raised garden beds all cleaned up and ready for planting. They started seeds inside earlier this week and will likely get them in the ground in around 2-3 weeks. She also did some yard work and her and I put up fencing to keep the deer out and pups in. We’ll see how all of that goes!

Today, my first project was to take the blower off of Big Red and mount the loader arms. Things went relatively smoothly and with a bit of help from Nora all was done and Big Red is now ready to perform all of its summer chores. Some more yard work was done and Nora and I also cleaned up all of the construction mess left over from building the utility room. I had finished that project just as the snows hit last autumn and then it got too deep right away to do any cleaning up. So now that all of the snow is gone, we cleaned up that mess. I still have the siding to put up, but it goes up pretty quickly and will get done before summer arrives.

I have to say that it is nice to have so many of the spring chores done already. Things are looking good and to not have to worry about doing them as the days get even nicer is a pleasant thought.

We did get out for a stroll in our woods this afternoon. There are still some pockets of snow left in the woods. Not enough to play in, but enough to cause us to take some re-routes on our walk through the woods today. It also provided the pups with a place to roll and cool off, as well as get some free snow cones. Looking at the satellite imagery from this afternoon, there is still enough to play in if one headed to the higher terrain of Keweenaw County.

We made it out to visit Old Granddad. I believe you all have seen Old Granddad enough that I did not need to take a picture of him. We have also named some of the other trees in our woods. I have introduced you to Big Piney and the Maple Twins. On the way back, we took a different route and passed by Old Grandma. I do not think I have introduced you all to her, so here you go. She stands around 100 feet from Old Granddad, is a bit smaller in stature and also has a nasty battle scar on her north side. Hard to tell what caused the scar, but she seems to be able to cope with it pretty well.

When we got back, I snapped a shot of the playground so you all could see how the snow melt around it was progressing. Still about 18″ on the ground around it, but here is the shot of it I put in the journal just two weeks ago.

The Laurium Glacier has also been melting, but still has a way to go. I would say probably another 3 to 3 1/2 weeks before it finally disappears for the season.

Looks like that about does it for this one, have a great week and…

Good night from the Keweenaw..
–JD

 

 

That is my excuse for not writing Sunday and yesterday. I got ready to write on Sunday, but with temps in the low 60’s and loads of sunshine, I just could not find the ambition to be inside and write an entry. I actually got as far as sitting down to write yesterday, but the same thing happened, along with a bit of writers block, so I decided to put it off another day. Today is a pretty nice day in its own right, but I should not keep putting this off, so here I am.

After all the beautiful spring weather we have had the past 4-5 days, it seems strange to think back to the last time I wrote and how we were just getting into the big storm that hit the northern Midwest from the 13th to the 16th. Our snow actually persisted through Tuesday and by the time all was said and done, totals from it were 22″ at our place and similar amounts in much of the rest of the region. The snows from that storm did two things: First, it put me over the 300″ mark for the season. Something that back in mid-February I thought was pretty out of reach. Secondly, it put my depth at 45″ on the ground Tuesday, which was the deepest depth of the season as well. All pretty amazing feats given the fact that it happened the middle of April. Even in this land known for very snowy winters, it is unusual to have that kind of a storm in April come and even more unusual for it to come with us still having 3 feet on the ground.

Another interesting thing was how long it took for us to get into the main snow with the storm. Areas to our south had been getting pounded for 2-3 days before we started to see any real accumulations. Some areas a little to the west-northwest of Green Bay picked up 36″ of snow before we had even seen 3″. It did intensify over us as we went through the evening and overnight hours Sunday and by daybreak Monday morning, we had picked up around a foot of new snow, enough to have to fire up Big Red and give the driveway and parking area a clearing.

Schools had been canceled for Monday back on Sunday afternoon- in anticipation of the snow and the winds. We had winds of 20-30 mph with higher gusts and some of my friends that live in the more open areas up here had 3-5 foot drifts to contend with Monday. So the early cancellation of school was a great idea. It snowed pretty steadily up this way Monday and into Monday night and we picked up another 11″ of snow or so and the look of things on Tuesday gave the appearance that I had not touched the snow the day before, but I swear that I did clear the driveway and brushed the snow off the truck on Monday.

These big late season storms sure can mess with ones mind. Even though we had been exceptionally cool for March and April prior to the storm, which had keep a lot of snow lingering until the storm hit. There had been some melting and it was at least trying to look a bit like spring around here. However, the look of things on Tuesday looked very much like the middle to end of January.

No matter the time of the year, the driveway and parking area needed another clearing, so I got going on that and had ours as well as the neighbors driveway done by mid-morning and then let the pups out to inspect things. One of the more amazing things about that last photograph is actually what you cannot see. That would be Grace’s swing set, which was under the snow in the background of that last shot. Between all of the snow that had fallen for the season, plus the snow that was put there by Big Red’s blower, it was around 8 feet deep and completely buried the swing set.

Another thing that disappeared due to all the snow this winter was my view out the shop windows. Much of the reason for that was due to the fact that when the shop roof clears, it piles up just outside of the windows, but none the less, the snow was level with the roof eave, which is about 9-10 feet there. Since those pics were taken, both the top of the swing set and the view out the window have re-appeared.

Another crazy photo op presented itself on Thursday, as Grace and I were coming home from the hardware store in Calumet. As we passed the football stadium, I noticed that they had cleared the track that goes around the field. However, the true depth of the snow there had not been made clear until we reached the east end of the track, where a vehicle was sitting. My jaw dropped at how deep the snow was there! There were some shots put out on social media of the track, but they did not go as viral as I thought they might. At any rate, here is the view of the track and vehicle parked on it and here is what the start of track season in the Keweenaw looks like. That last one is courtesy of the Calumet High School Facebook page.

As wintry as the weather was early in the week, it was equally as spring-like by the end of the week. We hit the 50’s and had loads of sunshine and even warmed to 63 at our place Sunday and 64 yesterday. There has been a dramatic snow loss in the past 4-5 days, but with most of the night time temps dropping into the 20’s, the region has been able to avoid any serious flooding so far. When I took my snow core sample last Tuesday, it had 6.6″ of moisture in it, meaning that if you melted all the snow on the ground, it would yield 6.6″ of water. My core sample taken this morning is still melting, but it will be interesting to see how much moisture has already left the snow pack.

Gracie enjoyed the snow-day and the snow itself, but was also busy working on a project for school. Its her first really big project and she has been working very hard. They each have to do a biography of someone and create a poster board, as well as give a speech. She is doing her report on Thomas Edison and it has been fun to watch her work on it. With her poster board done and it being the warmest day of the season so far, yesterday afternoon was spent in the great outdoors, which included Gracie riding her zip line. Kind of hard to see her in that shot, as her feet were barely above the snowcover, but she is in there!

With the snow depth still at a solid 2 feet in our woods, none of the larger woodland creatures have returned. The deer are still held up in their winter yarding areas. The bear are probably still sleeping, or are just now waking up with the warmer temps we have had. I did see a coyote run through the neighborhood the other day and just yesterday, Nora snapped this shot of this bugger heading across the street. My apologies, but Nora did not stop to ask it why it was crossing the road. So that will have to remain a mystery!

So I guess that about gets you caught up with the events of the past 9 days. I will be sure to keep my eyes out for the emergence of the waterfalls up here. Many of them are not even reachable right now, but the few that can be driven to are still largely frozen over. With the forecast looking like more 60’s by the weekend, maybe even a 70 by early next week, that should get them flowing pretty good.

Goodnight from the Keweenaw..
–JD