Category: Uncategorized

My apologies for not writing last week and for not even saying all was OK. I had a friend up with his two boys last Sunday, so we were busy having fun most of the day and even into the evening hours Sunday. Monday and Tuesday got away from me and by the time Wednesday came, I figured I would just wait. I had been updating the forecasts, so I just figured everyone would know I was still alive and kicking, but that was just too much figuring on my part!

So all is well with me and the rest of the Dee’s. We have all been busy with a variety of things. Some of them outdoors and some of them indoors, as Mother Nature has been up to her old tricks in the past 2 weeks, with some days very nice and others very poor. It will be interesting to see if this one will be one that is remembered by most locals up here. I know the frequent cloudy, cold and rainy days have certainly been the subject of conversation for most of the summer, although there have not been any records or “extreme” weather events up this way this summer, so the lack of drama may just allow it to fade away into the dark spots of our memory banks. We’ll have to let time make that decision.

The friend that was up visiting last week also brought up his dog. It is a golden lab and although it is around 3 years old, it had not been exposed to the water enough to know it could swim. I think that anyone that has owned a water dog like a lab knows that they do not need to be taught how to swim, they just need the proper opportunity to make the discovery that they can swim all on their own. So one of the objectives was to get this dog, Bauer, together with Huck and Millie and take them all to the beach with the hopes that Bauer would start swimming.

It did not take too long at all. Bauer was tentative of the water at first, not wanting to go in past the bottom of his belly. While Huck and Millie did not know that they were a form of instructor, I could see that Bauer was seeing them swim and starting to think that it might be possible for him. We tossed some sticks into the water and the dogs were getting kind of competitive about retrieving them. That helped Bauer at least go in to where the water was deeper than he could stand in, but Huck and Millie were still able to get to the stick before him, so we separated Bauer from my two and Bauer got the stick tossed in just far enough where he could not stand, but only had to grab the stick and turn around and then he could stand again. Once that process started, it probably only too a few more tosses and Bauer was swimming like a pro. So mission accomplished, there is now another lab in the world that will be very difficult to keep out of any water that he sees! Gotta love a lab.

While the swimming lessons were going on, Gracie and the two boys found their mark playing on the beach, building forts and such. It was nice to see Gracie be able to hang with some boys that were 4 years older than her and not annoy them. Not that she as any kind of tendency to annoy others, but and 8 year old girl is not the type of kid that most 12 year old boys want to hang out with. A ton of credit also goes out to the boys for being so nice and open to playing with her.

After the beach, we headed home and Gracie got ready to go to a friends birthday party with Nora. Us boys got ready for a SxS ride. The plan was to head up the spine of the peninsula and take the new ORV trail that was put in from the main trail down to Eagle Harbor. The only problem was, I was in snowmobile mode and ended up turning on the snowmobile trail that goes down to Eagle River. So we kept on it and headed over to Eagle Harbor, had a nice meal and then headed back. I was hoping to take the new trail on the way home, but must have missed the turn, or been given some wrong info on where it came into Eagle Harbor, because we did not find it and just ended up taking an alternative way back to the main trail and then back home.

In addition to his two boys, his dog and other various sundries, my buddy also brought with him his drone. He picked his up after mine and picked up a higher end unit. It is from the same company as mine, but is probably around half the size and also fold up so that is is not much bigger that a thick book. It’s called the Mavic and would be the next model that I go to if the need arises. So far, my time at the controls of the drone I have has been rather meager, so no need to upgrade just yet. However, I still have TONS of places up here that I want to take it to fly and share the sites with you all, so the interest has not dropped, just the time involved to make myself confident enough in my abilities to fly it in the spots I want to go.

With that in mind, I did charge up the batteries in mine late this week and took it out for a flight at our house yesterday. No footage, as it would have been rather boring and repetitive, as I was mostly just doing some drills to help me get better at flying it. In just the 20 minutes I flew it, I could feel my abilities improve and I just need to keep up with flying it so that my abilities do not go backwards. Nora and Grace were watching me fly and Nora wanted to give it a try, so I handed her the controller. Nora is a very cautious person by nature, so I had little worry that she would crash it badly on her first flight. What did surprise me was how well she flew it on her first try. A couple of close calls, but not a single crash. Perhaps she will get the bug and want to fly and that will be the reason to pick up a Mavic!

As mentioned, the weather the past 2 weeks has stuck to the same playbook it has been in all summer. That is nice most of the time, but then toss in 2 to 3 days of not nice weather. Interestingly enough, most of the foul weather days have been centered on Thursday. I have found that the weather can have a tendency to repeat itself in 7 day intervals. This week was no different, with some showers moving in late in the day on Wednesday and then Thursday being filled with rain, which finally dissipated as we went through Friday morning.

We did not use the pool all this week, so we did not have the heater going and by Friday morning, the temp of the water stood at a “balmy” 69 degrees. Balmy compared to Lake Superior, but way too cold for this guy to spend any time in, unless he has to! With the forecast calling for upper 70’s and low 80’s and sunshine for the weekend, I fired up the heater and filled the boiler with wood. As I looked over and saw the smoke billowing from the chimney of the boiler I also noticed a splash of autumn color in one of the trees behind the boiler and could not help but think that autumn is on its way. The forecast for the weekend did pan out and we hit the mid 70’s yesterday and the low 80’s today. The pool had warmed to a true balmy temp of 86 by noon today, so the girls and I took advantage of the warm air and water and had a good time in the pool. The days are certainly numbered for the pool now, but it will for sure stay up through next weekend, as some of Nora’s family is headed up and bringing one of Gracie’s cousins that is a year or two younger than her, so the two of them will for sure want to swim.

In my last entry I talked about the final summer work project I was going to get going on. I also commented on how I was not going to push myself to get it done in a hurry and I sure have lived up to that promise so far! I did get all my drawings done and this past week was able to take off the siding on where the little addition will go. Since that picture was taken, I have moved and stacked all the siding to use again. Grace and I have also set up string lines to represent the walls. The next step is to dig some holes for the footings, pour the footings and then get going on the hammer swiping and saw swinging…or something to that nature. The weather looks to be quite good for that type of fun this week, so perhaps some decent progress will be made.

Not much else going on up here. Just a couple more weeks and autumn will be here. The typical early, pre-season activity has already started behind the scenes at JohnDee.com. I am planning to roll out a few new things before the snow flies, so exciting times!

Good night from the Keweenaw..
–JD

According to the official definition of the term, we are pretty much smack dab in the middle of the Dog Days of Summer. The funny thing is, growing up, I always thought it referred to the hottest days of the summer. Then somewhere along the lines, it was brought to my attention that is has to do with the star Sirius, which is also referred to as the “Dog Star”. Now it turns out both are right. The ancient Greeks did name the period from the star, but also connected it with the hottest time of the year for them. So there. There is your astronomy lesson for the day!

The weather up here has not been much like the dog days at all. We did have a very nice week going and even got warm enough that I had to use the AC to cool things down Tuesday night to make it comfortable for sleeping. We could have gotten by without too much issue, but I weighed the importance of a good night sleep vs. being able to brag about the fact that we did not have to use the AC all summer and it was a quick no-brain’er! Especially since the summer is not over yet and we could have an day or night or both where there is an even more dire need for AC. Although I can say that not having to use the AC until August 1st is certainly a record for me and it might be the only time it runs this summer, as we have really been blessed with nice cool nights. Even when the temps have risen above 80 for a daytime high, they are dropping into the upper 50’s to low 60’s at least. Sometimes even the low 50’s and an occasional upper 40.

So the main event this week was the 8th birthday for Gracie on the 4th. It wasn’t a week long celebration, but from the daddy-daughter date that happened on Thursday to her actual birthday and then the party for her friends today, it almost seems like it! All in a good way, but it really does seem like we have been celebrating it for almost a week!

 

The daddy- daughter date sort of just happened at almost the last minute. It started out as a way to make good on a promise to Gracie from Nora and I to take her to the arcade at the bowling ally in Houghton as a reward for a good job on something. Earlier in the week, the weather looked like it was going to be cold and rainy all day on Thursday. So I told Gracie that maybe we would take her to the arcade Thursday afternoon and make good a nasty day. Then the forecast changed to looking like the rains would hold off until around sunset, so we started to back off of the idea. Then by Thursday morning, it was looking like the rains would arrive by noon and keep up the rest of the day, so the plans were back on. Only Gracie had commented on how long it had been since we had one of our D/D dates and I thought it would make for the perfect opportunity to have both a D/D date and take her to the arcade. So that is what we did. Only our bellies were plenty empty when we arrived, so we had a nice dinner first and then onto the arcade! We had an awesome time and promised to each other to do it again. Mom did not mind too much as it gave her a little alone time and also some time to prep for G’s birthday the next day.

Going back to Wednesday, we put up Gracie’s zip line. It got accidentally taken down last autumn when the logging truck that delivered our firewood back into it and snapped it. It’s amazing how what seems to be an incredibly strong 3/8″ stainless steel cable can be snapped like it’s nothing when a logging truck backs into it! Anyway, we decided to go big this year. The cable that came in the zip line kit was 30 feet long and gave her a pretty good ride, but we upped the ante and made it 100 feet long. Even the pups got into the action when some limbs needed to be cleared to make a path through the woods. It’s pretty cool. She does have to start around 11-12 feet off the ground, but I set up some construction scaffolding that we were not using and she can actually sit on the edge of the scaffolding, then slide the seat underneath her and then ease off the scaffolding and zip through the woods!

Mom was a little bit nervous about how high Gracie was having to start out, but when she saw how things were done and the fact that Gracie was also wearing her bike helmet, she did not feel so worried. It would be neat to make it even larger, but I think we are about at our realistic limit for now. Perhaps when I have the time and gumption to make a platform that is as safe as we have now and can handle the larger height, we will THINK about it!

Friday was the big day and started out as they always do in the Dee house, with a serenade of “Happy Birthday” to the birthday girl. The plan was to let her sleep in as long as possible and then go and wake her up to the song, but she ended up dropping down the stairs all by herself at around 7:30 am. So we sang to her then. She then went off to a summer program they have for kids up here and was home by around 2. We then wasted no time getting to opening her presents. Several pictures were taken to record that moment, but rather than show you the “perfect” one, I just had to show you this one, as it more reflects the silliness that was going on to get a perfectly posed and composed picture! We then had the chicken BBQ that I came up with a few years back and out came the cake. I kinda ran short on the frosting, so not the prettiest job, but Gracie wanted a chocolate, cherry-chip, cake and they do not have that type in the boxes, ready to go, so I had to do everything from scratch, including the frosting. It tasted way better than it looked!!! and I think we might have found the cake that gets the call for many birthday’s to come.

Friday was also the first Friday of the month and that meant that “First Friday” was going on in Calumet. It is an evening when most of the businesses stay open later and have music and/or food, along with displays of art. So it is a neat experience to go from business to business and see everything. It is also nice because it is almost impossible to not run into someone you know and have a chat. One of my brother’s pieces of art is hanging in the Yoga studio on loan. It is an enormous piece, but is really cool, as he did it to represent a lake with lots of waves interacting on each other, which is typically known to be sort of violent or even dangerous, but becomes pretty peaceful when you look at it for a while.

Saturday came and it was a beautiful day, so we all piled into Nora’s vehicle and headed to the beach. It’s been a while since we were all at the beach as one family. I know that Nora and Gracie have been a few times without me and we have been a time or two without the pups, but we finally all coordinated our schedules and were able to go as one group! The beach was wonderful. The spot we were in only really had enough room for just us, so needless to say we had the place to ourselves. Or so we thought…until we looked over on the rocks and there was a mermaid sunning herself!

We were careful not to startle or scare her and kept our distance. We thought that we would let her be and enjoy her day as we enjoyed ours and then the pups got the idea to nab her and take her home with us. So that is what we did and she now resides in our swimming pool. It’s pretty cool to see her swim around in that tail in the pool. She really gets around very good and has an absolute blast.

So today was the kids party. For as long as we have been having kids parties for her, we have always had them at our house and always lucked out with the weather. As the list of invitees grew, Nora and I decided not to tempt fate and end up having a dozen or so kids at our house, stuck inside, if the weather was crummy, so we opted to rent the pool of a local hotel. It turns out that the weather would have been suitable for the party to be held at our house and in our pool, but it would have been a crowded pool, that’s for sure!

There is a type of meeting room adjacent to the pool that you also get use of when you rent the pool and that worked out great for food, presents and cake. So it worked out very well and we are not disappointed in our decision at all. It was nice to not have to worry a bit about the weather and to have a facility where a dozen or so kid and some of their parents could hang out and celebrate and we also did not have to clean up the house afterward!

Not much else going on up here this past week. This coming week I plan to start the small bump-out that will become our utility room. It is small at around 7 feet by 12 feet, but will be plenty big enough to serve as the utility room and we will also gain a pantry, once everything is moved out of what is now the utility room. I really do not know how long it will take me. I know how short a time I could get it done if I had to, but I am operating as many construction projects in a different manner these days. It’s not like it will just sit in limbo for weeks on end, but I also am not going to let it stress me out at all. So a rough guesstimate of around 2 weeks to have most of the work done and maybe another weeks worth of work (over time) to get the pantry all set up.

Hard to believe that is is August already and in a month, it will be back to school for just about all the kids and many reading this will be having their thoughts be punctuated more and more by the thought of play in the snow! I know I am not there yet, but will be fine when the warm days of summer give way to the crisp ones of autumn.

Good night from the Keweenaw..
–JD

In the annuals that would be a weeks worth of summer weather, this past week can best be described as: “About as Good as it Gets”. I guess we are being rewarded for the June we had, because things have been as close to perfect as it can get and look to continue to be that way. The week did start rather crisp, with temps in the upper 40’s Monday morning. However, the skies were cobalt blue and there was no wind. I would have to say that is about perfect weather for a morning walk with a light jacket on. I can say that with confidence because that is exactly what the pups and I did. They did not have light jacket on, but were very comfortable just the same!

With the temps so cool, the insects that can sometime harass you this time of the year were all still hiding somewhere, trying to keep warm. We are well past the main bug season that is otherwise known as June, but July and even the first week or two of August can sport some bothersome critters from time to time. This time of the year, the main bug issues are mosquitoes, deer flies and horse flies. The mosquitoes are an issue in the deeper woods at just about any time of the day or night, but if you are in the full sun are not an issue at all. The deer flies and horse flies are not very numerous at all, but do prefer the sunshine, so can be an issue on our morning walks sometime, especially for the pups, who seem to attract them better than I do.

Walking in that weather Monday morning reminded me of the mornings to come in September and early October, with similar conditions happening then. I am not ready for summer to go away just yet, but in about another month, when it is singing its swan song, I think I will be. I was thumbing through a catalog the other evening and it was the autumn edition, so of course it is filled with autumn clothing, shoes and other things that cater to that season and I have to admit, I did get a little twinge of excitement, thinking about autumn and then winter. But like I say, I am still enjoying the summer weather fully.

So I guess the main excitement in my life this past week was the completion of the master bathroom remodel. There was not much left to do, so I did not have to work too hard, but still put in about 2-3 hours of total time, much of it burning wood…more on that in a bit. I had to do a little digging, but I was able to find a “before” picture of the bath area. That was taken back in November of 2013, as we were completing the main work on the addition. I can also say that is about as good as it ever looked! The first time we filled the tub up full, it caused it to settle a bit and opened up the caulking in spots. Rather than fix that right away, I let it slide and the wall material was not tile, but rather faux tile on 1/4″ masonite. So that got wet where it meets the tub and the ugly started soon after. So for nearly 4 years we dealt with “tile” that looked like it has been stained.

So it was long overdue to remodel and get done right, and both Nora and I are happy with the results. Take a look for yourself. Oops.  Maybe this will help. That is real tile on top of real mortar, which is on to of real Schluter Kerdi membrane. Finally done right! I was not sure how to go about the trim job. I really like wood, but it does not typically do so well in a shower area. While working on the tile, my mind would wander through the different options. Our vanity and hanging wall cupboard are a pre-finished wood with a very dark stain or perhaps paint. I then remembered a technique in which you char wood to help make it rot-resistant. So I did some experimentation and developed a nice Shou Sugi Ban technique. The Japanese invented the process centuries ago to help make the siding on their structures rot-resistant and it has slowly been working its way into western building culture. The term literally translates to Burnt Cedar Board. Since I did not use cedar, but pine, I looked up the translation for Pine in Japanese and it is Pain. So I did Shou Pain Ban.

No matter what you call it, the technique was pretty fun to do and both Nora and I really love how it turned out. It matches the color of the vanity and cupboard nearly perfectly, yet will be rot-resistant and you can still see the grain. I actually ended up doing all 6 sides of each board, to make sure that all sides were chard and thus protected. Once burnt, the boards are left to cool, wiped down to remove any carbon build up and then a top coat can be put on or it can be left as is. I chose to leave it as is because as I was burning the wood, I noticed that the sap still in the cells of the wood would heat up and liquefy and then harden once the heat was removed. This left a thin, clear layer of what would be best described as varnish. Sap was a key ingredient in the early varnishes used in woodworking, so I just left things as nature had made them (with my help) and I guess we will see how things hold up over time. None of the trim pieces will ever be sitting in water and most probably won’t get more than an occasional drop or two on them, so most of the moisture exposure will come from the moisture in the air.

It is just a one step process, but I really wanted to get an even look, so I was pretty meticulous in my technique to make sure the charring process was uniform. So it probably took me as much time to do just that one step as it would have to use a paint or stain/topcoat. But more fun! So that project is all done and now I have a week off before moving on to the next and final project of the summer, adding a small addition to become our utility room and house our new gas fired boiler, clothes washer/drier and hot water heater. We will then gain a nice space directly off the kitchen that is currently the utility room and will become a pantry. All I am going to do is build the structure and let the pro’s handle all the new plumbing that will be needed, so it should not be too major of a project. At least that is what I hope for!

With the weather so nice this week, the Dee’s finally took to their bikes! Well, Gracie has been riding her’s a lot for the past 2-3 summers, but Nora and I got brand new bikes in spring of last year and hardly used them since. Unfortunately, Nora’s chain kept de-railing, so she turned around and headed back home shortly after we left, but Gracie and I kept going and put on a few miles. Even though I have been walking almost every day, it was amazing to see the different muscle groups used to ride a bike. We did not go too fast and there were only small stretches of roadway that were mildly uphill, but I was still feeling the burn! At the halfway point, we stopped and I took the best selfie of her and I that I could to remember the historic event by. I can also admit that I did feel pretty good when we got back and even was feeling a bit of an exercise buzz, so perhaps there will be more biking in my future. We sure have the places for it up here!

The pool and screened in porch have been seeing lots of action this past week. It seems that the girls can typically be found in one or the other at any given moment. I too have been partaking, but not as much as I wished and I hope to change that this week so Gracie does not feel she is playing second fiddle to all of my “chores”. Yesterday evening I found myself in the porch on the swing and was quickly joined by my body-man Huck. He pretty much goes where ever I do and can usually be found right at my side if there is room, or at my feet. In this case, the swing was made plenty big to allow for multiple bodies to be on it, so he wasted no time jumping up and hanging out with me the rest of the evening. Another so-so selfie to capture the moment.

This weekend was the weekend for the annual Central Reunion. Central is an old mining town northeast of Phoenix, just off the highway that- like many old towns up here- was once a booming community. Currently there are probably around 2 dozen buildings in various states. Many are still in very good shape and even used as summer get-a-ways and year round dwellings. Some are in the process of being re-claimed by mother nature and a lot of them are long, long gone. The town of central in its hayday had 1200 folks living in it. These days, probably less than a 10th of that will be there at any given time.

However, once a year, decedents of the original settlers, folks that have a tie to the site and even just some history buffs will gather to bring the town alive for a weekend. I do not know how long the reunion has been going on, but I do know at least 100 years, as this was the 100th year for the church service portion of the reunion. Still held in the original church in Central.

This year, Grace took part in the children’s choir that sang at one of the two church services that happened today. They had practice earlier this week and then the first service was at 9 am, the second at 11. As I drove up the gravel road into central, I could not believe how much activity there was. When it was built, I am sure that the church was fairly close to the center of town, as that is where many were put back in those days. Now days, the church is tucked away down one of the less descriptive roads in town. None the less, there were vehicles lined up down that road for quite a way.

In the busy days of Central’s life, it is said that over 200 people would gather to worship inside, with more outside listening it. The crowd today was not quite that large, but there was not much in the way of empty seating and still a handful of folks staying cooler by being outside and listening in. The service was well done and it was neat to see Gracie up with all the other singers, singing away. That was her face directly below the leaders left elbow.

The rest of the day has been spent in the pool and porch. It was too windy for me to fly the drone, otherwise I had hoped to get that thing airborne again. I do have some very neat shots from a drone for you though. They were sent to me by a visitor to the site that has become a friend and lives up here in the summer, Mark Upton. He is known for taking some striking photos and even has a calendar he puts together each year with a dozen or so of his favorites from the previous year.

Anyway, he found himself way up near the tip of the peninsula recently and got some great shots. Here is a shot of Keystone Bay and Point, with Manitou Island off in the distance. The inland lake off to the left is Schlatter Lake and the area of land without any trees to the right Mark said is an area that burned several years ago and has not fully re-generated yet. The other shot I have for you is of Manitou Island itself, along with the light by the same name at the far end. Somewhere near-by sits the wreck of the Mesquite, a modern-day coast guard bouy tender that hit a reef and was a loss. The next season, it was towed off the reef an into deeper water to become a fish habitat and dive spot.

So I guess that about covers it for this one. See you all next week!

Good Night from the Keweenaw..
–JD

So mother nature is up to her old tricks again. It’s been in the 50’s for much of the day and we had light rain and drizzle fall through mid-afternoon and now it is just cloudy and temps have bumped up to around 64 at our house. The good news is that yesterday was a beautiful day and tomorrow is suppose to be beautiful as well. So one day of not so great weather is much easier to take than several in a row. Plus, given all the places that are having real weather problems, a cloudy, cool and rainy day is hardly something to complain about. My heart goes out to those that have had to deal with flooding, or heat or fire.

We did have a pretty good week of weather up this way. I was busy with a bathroom remodel, so I did not get to partake in it as much as I might otherwise have, but I am almost done with the work and I did get to spend some nice quality time with the girls and pups outside. Plus, this remodel is something that has been in the hopper to do for quite some time. It is the master bath, which when we built the addition, was kind of just put together to get us through until we had time and money to make it right. The addition was done just 4 summers ago, so I guess it has not been a real long time coming, but long enough. It will be nice to take a shower and not look at the faux tile and half baked job of trim. I have just the new trim work to do, so pictures will likely appear next week.

I’m trying to think of anything exciting that happened up this way this week and am currently drawing a blank. That does not mean that nothing happened, just that my memory is going! I do have 10 pictures to share, but they are all from the same event. So I was trying to think of some other material and got nothing, so I guess I will talk about that event.

On Saturday, different branches of the Keweenaw public servants all gathered at the park in Mohawk and brought along some of the equipment that they use. There were the usual fire trucks and an ambulance, but also a county snowplow and grader that is used to clear snow in the winter. Our first stop was to check out the Sheriff’s nice fishing boat. It’s a really nice boat and all decked out with the latest. The only thing I wondered is why when he is out relaxing on his day off would he want to be in a boat that told everyone who he was? Maybe so he won’t be bothered.

But seriously, living were we live, the police, fire and rescue all need some pretty specialized equipment to perform their duties. Another specialized piece of equipment was an ATV equipped with a rescue sled. In the winter, the sled is pulled by snowmobile and there seems to be a handful of folks each season that unfortunately have to take a ride on that sled. Something I did not even know we had, but is really cool, is a side by side equipped as a fire fighting vehicle. Nora was asking me if we could set our’s up like that so she could water her garden.

OK, I promise, enough of the corny jokes. I must be getting slap happy or something. The event was set up more for the kids, so that they could get to see all the equipment up close and become more familiar with it and the folks that operate them, so that they are not as afraid if they need rescue or help from our Police, Fire and Rescue. I thought it was a great idea, as there were tons of families that showed up and the kids all loved to check the equipment out. Of course, if you are going to have kids at an event, you need more than just fire trucks and other fancy vehicles to keep them interested, so they also had a bouncy house. That was a big hit and so was the face painting. After the face painting, you could put on the fire fighting gear of the volunteer fire fighter that was doing the face painting! Looks like Grace needs to get a bit taller before she can sign up. Oops, I did it again. Sorry!

Everyone, including the kids, were allowed to climb up into the vehicles and check them out, so Gracie and her buddy hopped up into the cab of one of the fire trucks and were even allowed to put on the head gear. As I watched the kids climbing up into the truck, I though to myself…”how cool!” Here I am over 50 years old and I have never been in a fire truck. I have spent more than my fair share in the business end of an ambulance, but that just not the same. We did not even get to use the lights and sirens!

Along with the fire trucks, Gracie also hopped up into the cab of one of the county snow plows. It is amazing how huge those trucks are. By the time you are sitting in the drivers seat, your head is about 10 feet off the ground. I must admit, I could not resist and also hopped up into the cab of that one. Hey, a guy can dream right? Actually, I really wanted to see the perspective that the drivers had. Amazingly, although they are so high up, their view is not too great. So keep that in mind next time you are driving in the vicinity of one of them. You may or may not be seen and in the case of an accident, you lose!

This spring, the Keweenaw County Sheriff’s department added a K-9 to their staff. As luck would have it, he was put to use only a few weeks after joining the department. Some hikers lost their way in the woods up here and the dog found them very quickly, sparing them a cold night in the woods or worse. Search and rescue is not the only thing that this dog is trained to do. He also has some rather aggressive ways to get you to obey what his human partner is asking you to do. That is the first time I have ever seen that done live and trust me, you do not want to be on the receiving end of that dogs mouth! A very powerful animal for sure.

As a way to kind of poke fun at themselves, the Sheriff’s department also invited visitors to join them in a doughnut eating contest. There were not a ton of participants, but the contest was not won by a police officer, it was won by a fire fighter! So there you go. My favorite fire fighter has a history of blessing me with a kringle from a place that is know for them in the Racine/Kenosha area on some of his visits, so perhaps it was more than coincidence that the fire fighter won the doughnut eating contest!

I guess that about covers it for this one. Thanks for putting up with my awful jokes, but something just would not let me keep them in. Looks to be another bell-ringer of a week of weather up here. We still have not had to use the AC and it looks like this week might pass by without having to use it. It does get nice and warm during the day, but then cools down into the 50’s beautifully at night. So if you are longing to sleep with the window open, come on up!

Good Night from the Keweenaw..
–JD