Category: Uncategorized

With as much below average temps we had this summer, I figured it was an almost certainty that we were going to get into a run of above average temps to “even things out”. In my years of forecasting and following the weather, it has become clear that there is a swing back and forth for just about every weather variable. It is not a perfect sine wave, but plot any weather variable over time and you will see a fluctuation from one end of the extreme to the other. The main variable is time.

My fear was that the flip to warmer than average would wait until late autumn or worse yet, winter. That fear went by the wayside about 2 weeks ago when it became pretty clear that the pattern would be changing to one which provides above average temps for not just the Keweenaw, but all of the Midwest. The forecast panned out and we spent the entire last week in above average temps. Even flirting with some record highs. At first the warmth was nice, but then by the second half of the week, I realized what I had NOT been missing for pretty much all of this summer. Humidity. The dewpoints went from the comfortable 50’s to the low 70’s and that made me an unhappy camper.

It got so bad that I started staying inside to avoid the humidity and that only made my mood worse! The light at the end of the tunnel was set for Saturday night when a cold front would blast through our neck of the woods and shove the humidity south and allow the nice, less humid, Canadian air to overtake the region. That has occurred and I am once again a happy camper. The humidity levels look to remain nice for most of this week and creep up into the low 60’s by the end of the week. I’m good with that, as most of my outdoor work should be over by then.

A big part of what made the humidity so un-welcomed was the fact that I was busy outside working on the addition. It is in the shade for most of the day, but by the late afternoon and early evening it is in the full sun. So the hottest time of the day would coincide with the most direct sunlight in my work area and make for some hot conditions. So hot that yesterday, I did not even work in the afternoon and evening.

The progress went a bit slower than I had hoped, but not way slower. I really had hoped to have it fully shelled in by this time, but still have a roof to do and a door. Considering the fact that I am still working full time during the day and also had a pretty busy week with other things, like a 2 hour conference call on Tuesday and a 2 hour meeting Thursday, I am happy with where I stand.

The week started with beautiful working weather and I was excited as I drove Big Red over to the build site with its loader full of materials and tools. It was really nice to just slide the materials from the bed of the truck onto the forks of Big Red and then put the tools on top of that and drive them all over to the build site. Saved some time and even more energy. By the end of the day on Tuesday, I had the floor completely done and then got going on the walls. By Friday afternoon, Millie and I were ready to lift the back wall into place. Truth be told, Nora helped me lift it into place when she got home from work Friday, but the pups did hang out with me for most of the week. They were able to find a nice shady spot to lay and occasionally go snack on some apples that were falling from a near-by tree.

Rains then kept me from doing much until this afternoon, at which point I got busy finishing the walls. So as things stand now, I have three walls (the fourth is the existing wall of the house) and am ready for a roof. The weather looks to be good for work most of this week, so the roof should be done by around Tuesday and then it will be on to getting the door put in and then opening up a section of the wall between the existing house and the addition. Then it will be time to call in the pros to do some plumbing work, finish off the interior walls, ceiling and floor and then smile, as I will be done with projects for the season! Actually, I am going to build some cabinets for the addition and some storage shelves for the pantry, but those will all be done in the comfort of the shop.

It sure is nice to not have to worry about getting 16 cord of firewood, cutting it all up and then stacking it! I guess you could say that, technically, once the roof of the addition is done, I would be ready for the snow to fly, although nothing like that is seen anytime soon and it would be preferable to get the addition completely done and be relaxing by the fire as the first flakes of snow fly. Time will tell I guess!

The first flakes of the season arrived late Thursday into Friday in the higher elevations of the northern Rockies. The good folks in Montana had to just be beside themselves with 2-3 days of soaking rains that fell, as well as the higher elevation snows. It has been an unusually active wildfire season out there and while the rains may not have put them all out, it sure helped a lot. I had fun taking some time late Thursday into Friday, be-bopping around the webcams out west, looking at the snow fly. That was a picture of Togwotee Pass in northwest Wyoming Friday morning.

The warm temps we had this week seemed to put the halt to most of the changing of the colors of the trees. We did have one of our traditional “early changers” reach peak this week and then the rains and winds last night stripped the tree bare and dropped them all into the addition! The rest of the trees just seemed to either stop or significantly slow their changing. I would say that we are probably still going to hit our peak a bit earlier than average this season, but while at one point it looked like the peak might be the end of this week, it still looks like the end of Sept and/or early Oct will be the peak for most areas from Houghton to Copper Harbor. I will be sure to monitor things and keep you all updated on the progress and quality of the color change up this way and do have hopes that the weather will cooperate enough to allow me to get the drone up and get some color video.

So I guess that about does it for this one. Just an early heads up that I will be at the Milwaukee Snowmobile Show again this October. I will be manning the booth for the Keweenaw Snowmobile Club and also plan to have some ThinkSnow stuff with me. I sure do love meeting all the good folks who visit the site at the show and am looking forward to it again this year. Until next week..

Good night from the Keweenaw..
–JD

Sorry for not writing yesterday, but a whirlwind trip down to MN to attend Haydays and back ended up providing me with only around 12 hours of sleep in a 72 hour period. It was all worth it, as the event was another fun one and the weather great. However, as always, it was great to get back onto the island and be with the family.

So the first big snowmobile event of the 2017-18 season has come and gone. I have to say that for some reason, I am probably more excited about the snow season after attending this event as I have after any of them I have attended. I’m not quite sure why that is, but on the ride home after the event, I was really looking forward to: first, getting home to be with the girls and pups; second, really getting going on the little addition project I am doing and third, snow to fall! I know we are still a ways off before the snow really starts to fall and stick around, but I am getting pretty excited for the snow to fall and to get busy playing in it!

The past week was a not so good one for weather up here. Monday, Labor Day was not so great with clouds and some rain, then Tue, Wed and Thur all had rain in them. That kept me from doing any work on the addition, but I did manage to keep myself busy with other projects. One of them was to send the girls off to the first day of school for the 17-18 season. Gracie was as cute as a button and she and Nora have fun getting ready for school together. It is really something to watch each year pass and watch her become more and more grown up. Hard to believe that in 3 years she will be going to the school that Nora works in and just a few years later…high school. Time sure has been flying by, but in some ways it seems to be moving along at a pretty regular pace. I guess you could say I am comfortable at the pace the years are passing by.

So back to the first and biggest snowmobile show of the season. I forget how many years I have attended the event, but it has been 6 or 7. I have only missed one since the year after they moved to the new location. I am grateful to have missed that first year that they had it at the current location, as things were a real mess to get in and out, but not really their fault. Each year since has seen improvements made to the event and I would say that there is probably not much else they need to do to make it better. I am sure that they will figure out some ways to improve it, but getting in and out is a breeze, considering the size of the event and the amount of persons that attend. Many of the walkways between the spaces for vendors have either been paved, or have gravel, so the dust storms of the old days are not a problem. A few walkways are still dirt, but they manage them well with water tankers. The food vending has really improved as well and while we did not spend a ton of time in the swap area, it looked like there was less non-snowmobile related stuff than in years past. Still the occasional oddity, but for the most part, the swap was full of stuff a snowmobiler would be looking for.

One of the more unique and snow-related items there were some custom ice fishing trailers. I specifically refrained from using the word “shanty” as these are not shanties at all. They are different sized enclosed trailers that have been decked out with about all a person would need to comfortably ice fish and not have to leave all weekend! They come with a kitchenette and bathroom, as well as an eating/sleeping area. The suspension of the trailer is adjustable and can be set so that the bottom of the trailer is sitting directly on the ice, so all you need to do is pull the tops off the holes in the floor, drill a hole and get busy fishing. I have never been any kind of an ice fisherman, but I could be talked into a day or two trip with one of those…especially if it was stocked with the proper food and beverages!

I did spy a few things that I am interested in adding to my sled for this season, so the trip was worth it from that aspect. About 70% of the reason I go is to be with the same group of friends that usually attend every year, although a few of them were missing this year.

Getting back to things going on at home, I talked about how poor the weather was last week and that has been the trend for more than it should have been this summer. As a result…I think!…the trees up this way are changing sooner. We are still a long way away from the full show, but I would not be surprised to have our peak happen a week to maybe 10 days earlier than it typically does. That would put it in the final week of September. Last week, the trees really seemed to be changing faster than they should have, but the past few days they seem to have slowed down some. Some trees are further along, while others are still mainly green.

The pool got drained of most of its water back on the Sunday of Labor Day weekend, but it always takes a bit of extra work to get the last bit out and just as I was about to do that, the weather turned for the worse and we had the rains for much of last week. So it sat. The weekend was sunny, but I was not here to do any thing. Yesterday, I did work on getting some of the left-over water and rain water from last week out and also got some help from Gracie. I guess you could call that her last swim of the season in a way. All of this week is suppose to be precipitation free and mostly sunny, so perhaps I will just let mother nature evaporate the remaining water out and then take it down, fold it up and put it away. We’ll see.

So as many of you have noticed, the warm season text forecasts have ended and the graphics will continue for a bit longer, basically through the color show season in the Northwoods. There will be improvement made to one of the existing features on the site and one totally new item. Both will likely make you all happy and the site more fun to be at. I am going to keep them under wraps until they get rolled out in a month or so. I will also be putting together my annual “Seasonal Outlook” and plan to have that out by early October.

Another bit of news is that the Keweenaw Snowmobile Club will be having their annual trail work session on October 20 and 21. Free lodging for workers will be available at the Trailside Lodge and I am hoping to get the AmericInn in Calumet on board, I just need to talk to the manager there.

I guess that about covers it for this one. With a little luck, hopefully I can show you some pictures of a shelled-in addition by next week’s entry!

Good night from the Keweenaw..
–JD

My apologies for again missing a week, but one of Nora’s brothers and his wife and grandson came up to stay with us last weekend and things were just too busy for me to sit down and write. Then, like the time before, Monday and Tuesday got away from me and I just figured I would hold off again.

So here we are…Summer is over (except for the calendar makers that call the autumnal equinox the “First Day of Autumn”). For some, things are going to start slowing down around here. For others, things will just be getting busy again. I can remember having a job that involved the summer tourist season and the big sigh of relief that we all were able to give when we went home for the day on Labor Day. A quick check with friends that own places to say or eat up here has revealed that it was a busy summer and that while they were all happy to be so busy, they were also looking forward to the slow down that happens after this weekend. Things certainly do not go dead up here. There a quiet a few folks that have either heard or discovered for themselves that much of September can be as wonderful weather wise as we have in June, July and August. Perhaps not as warm, but still not cold. Then we have the color season that will be starting up in about a month, which will keep things going for a few weeks and then things will go dead until the snow starts piling up.

Selfishly, I have to say that I too am looking forward to the slow down in things. While my life is not too impacted by the influx of summer visitors, there are more vehicles on the road and the favored restaurants can have a wait if we do not go early enough. With that said, I do not mind sharing this beautiful place with the visitors.

For those in the education business, tomorrow is the big day up here. First day of school for K-12. Nora works all summer, so her life/routine will not change much, but for the teachers and students, it will be back to waking up early and spending most of the day away from home. Gracie is very excited and a little nervous to be heading into 3rd grade. I would have to say that of all the summers she has had since starting school, this has probably been the most fun for here. Between some sports activities, hanging out with friends, having family visit, doing stuff with Nora and I and just hanging around the house, she has not complained more than once or twice about being bored.

It has probably been the easiest summer to have her home with me since she started school. She is old enough to be able to do things without 100% supervision and also has been able to occupy herself with things to do when she has to. I think this is going to be the hardest start to the school year to not have her around the house. However, I am thrilled for her to be going back and being able to hang out with all of her friends for most of the day. Living in the woods does not lend very well to hanging out with friends at the drop of a hat.

So as mentioned, Nora’s brother came up with part of his family to visit us and the Keweenaw last weekend. He is a huge lover of fishing, so much so, he owns a bait store in Port Huron MI. Nora also loves to fish (something about Norwegian blood), so it is pretty much a given that there will be a fishing excursion or two made while he is up and this visit was not exception. They all arrived Friday around noon and after relaxing and having dinner, we were all headed down to Jacobsville to do some fishing. I am not a big fan of fishing and as a result, do not even have a licence. I do not mind hanging out with them all and watching them fish, so I brought a chair, my phone and headphones and just chillaxed, listening to tunes, while I watched them fish.

Since moving up here over 18 years ago, I have had many moments where life just does not get any better. Hopefully you all have had these moments too. For me, it is a state of total bliss. I feel like I am exactly where I am suppose to be, doing exactly what I am suppose to be doing, with who I am suppose to be doing it with. That Friday evening, as I sat in my chair, with the sun slowly setting in the west, I watched my love teach Gracie and her cousin how to cast brought about one of those exact moments. I can’t remember what song was playing, but it was also perfect for the moment. Strange how we cannot live our lives like that all the time. After all… we do have that choice, but for what ever reason, we find ourselves trying to make things they way we think they are suppose to be rather than enjoying the way they are. I guess that is something for me to keep working on and I will. I will also never take those moments for granted.

One of the things that has been keeping me from doing some writing has been Grace’s soccer schedule. In previous leagues, they only played on Saturday, but now that they are older, they play on Saturday and also one day during the week. At times, those games have fallen on dates when I could have sat down and wrote. In any case, the games are getting more and more fun to watch as they kids get older. There is no longer the swarm of little ones around the ball and many of the kids are developing some very good skills. The weather has provided some challenges though, such as this past Saturday when it was 51 degrees and pouring rain at game time. The regular schedule goes through the rest of this month and then playoffs start. The playoff schedule went pretty deep into October, so it will be interesting to see what kind of weather they play in then!

We continue to have our topsy-turvy weather. The rain and 50’s on Saturday gave way to 70’s and sunshine the next day. We have had quite a few chilly mornings too. About 4 early mornings with temps in the upper 30’s and one of them provided the seasons first frost for some areas. We did not have frost, but there were a few reports of frost in the area. Typically we shut down the pool by the third week of August, but with family visiting last weekend and the weather looking to provide at least one day that would be good for swimming, we kept it up. Thankfully we had the heater, as the water temp was around 71 degrees a few days before the visitors arrived, but was near 90 when the kids went swimming in it that weekend. The forecast called for one, maybe two good swimming days this weekend, so we really pushed the limits and did not drain it this past week. Nora, Grace and I were able to enjoy some time in it yesterday afternoon, but right after getting out, we started to drain it. All but the final bit of water is out of it now and so the rest of it will be coming down in the next day or two. For as many rotten days as we had this summer, I think we used the pool more this summer than any other.

We have also had some very nice days to be hanging out on the screened in porch. They too are numbered, but we seem to take advantage of each day that we can. It is still a noise-free zone and only silent activities are allowed. Reading is the main activity that gets done, at least by the humans. Millie loves to look out the windows and look for wildlife to chase, while Huck typically takes a nap.

Gracie is an incredible reader. She can read faster than me and is reading books that are meant for persons 3-6 years older than her. She loves it and tells Nora and I that she loves it so much because she is able to pretend she is a part of what she is reading. It sure is fun watching her grow up. Another thing she has gotten more involved with is cooking and baking. Nora loves to bake and is a very good baker and cook. The other day, Gracie asked if she could make some zucchini bread all on her own and so Nora let her. Nora does supervise some and is the one putting the pans into and taking out of the oven, but for the most part, it is Gracie doing the work. Today, as I was writing this, Nora and Grace were busy in the kitchen preparing dinner. Tomorrow is only a half day for Grace, but full day for Nora, so maybe Grace and I will team up to make tomorrow dinner.

By the way, did I mention that Gracie loves to read and Huck loves to nap?

I gotta say that I am pretty excited that autumn is here. Perhaps not as nuts-o as I was my first season living up here, but I am fully ready to put the shorts away and have to put on a jacket for the morning walk with the pups. It looks like for most of this week, we will have some autumn weather to deal with, but then by later in the weekend and early next week, it looks like things will be more like summer around here than autumn. I have only had to use the AC once this summer and it was to cool down the bedroom for sleep. Today I took the vent out of the window and shut it. I am not going to put the AC in storage until we get past next weeks potential warm up. Just to be safe.

As mentioned, the mornings have been getting chillier and chillier up here. The other morning we had temps in the low 40’s. I had to run to Calumet to get some stuff for breakfast and on my way back, there was a bank of fog hanging in one of the low spots between Calumet and our house, so I pulled over and stopped to take a picture of it. Not as dramatic as it was in real life, but still something cool I thought I would share.

So with the pool being shut down yesterday and no need to heat it, I tossed my final load of logs into the boiler yesterday. The timing worked out very well, as I ran out of wood with that load. It has gotten us through the past 24 hours providing our domestic hot water and will probably last until the morning, then I will shut all the valves, let the last of the coals burn down and turn on the hot water heater inside the house to heat our water until the new boiler is in place. I have not done much work on the utility room addition at all. I am actually on hold, waiting for the propane tank that is in the spot where the addition will be going to be moved, so I can continue on with things. the footings have all been poured and I figure it will probably take me around 10 days of working on it when I have time to get it all shelled in. So then the HVAC guys can come and install the new boiler and get things hooked up in time for us to have heat when needed.

I am not going to miss having to cut and stack the firewood, nor am I going to miss having to load it into the boiler every day or stress out about having enough wood to get us through the heating season. It has been a wonderful thing to have and has done its job very well. I am sure it will go on to a new home and continue to perform its duties for many years to come. It has not quite settled in, but the end of an era started 12 years ago has come to an end.

Good night from the Keweenaw..

–JD