Category: Uncategorized

One week. Two seasons.

Boy, we sure had a crummy week of weather this past Wednesday and Thursday! Although not 7 days, those 2 sure felt like it! I guess we can be thankful that we did not have the excessive rain that some of you reading this in SE WI and NE IL had. No flooding for us, not even close, but we did have light rain and/or drizzle fall for the entirety of both days. We also had fog, wind and temps never rose above 55 degrees. It was October in July, that is for sure. The good news is that we had some beautiful weather in the days leading up to…and following those two days. So nice that we all were in the pool on Tuesday and again on Saturday and could have been on Friday had we wanted to.

I just feel sorry anyone that came to visit the area and arrived late on Tuesday and had to leave early on Friday. They most likely would like to have their money back. Perhaps might even consider not coming back ever again. If you happened to be one of those unfortunate soles, please come back again sometime. That is most certainly NOT the type of weather we have up here in the summer. One day in every summer or two is possible, but to have two in a row in pretty miraculous. For the locals, it was an unusually hard pill to swallow, as this summer has not had the multitude of beautiful days that we are accustomed to.

There were stories of furnaces kicking on. Ours did not, because we shut it off and it would not be very practical to heat up the slabs for just a day or so of heat. However, we did turn on the fireplace both Wednesday and Thursday to take the chill out of the house and I actually used the heat in my truck one of those days to do the same. I don’t see any more of those days in the offing. In fact, this week, we might have to fire up the air conditioners for the first time all season.

While we were forced to stay inside during the foul weather, it did not erase all of our smiles. I was able to introduce Gracie to some of the greatest works of literature in history. Truth is, she saw a couple of those books in the bookcase in my office and inquired about them. She is a very good reader, so I knew she would not have any problem reading them and I figured she might even get the humor in those comics, so I said she should try reading them. It did not take too long and she was hooked. So when the weather was poor, we got together in the favored reading chair and had some laughs.

On Friday, Hancock had a little fest they put on called Key Ingredients. I guess it could be best described as a hugely downsized Taste of Chicago. They had local musicians spread out around town and the local eateries were offering up free samples of food. It is a relatively new festival up here and none of us had ever been to it, so with the beautiful weather, we headed down to see what it was all about.

We arrived just as things were starting, so there was not a lot of people walking around just yet, but things filled in very nicely as the evening progressed. That first shot of the piano player was taken early on and this shot of a trio of musicians was taken a bit later on. It was a very well laid out affair, as the sounds of each musician did not compete with another, but just as you were no longer able to hear the sounds from the one, you would pick up the sounds of the next. The food samples were a nice additional touch. We all had eaten already, so did not sample much, but the big hit seemed to be the near full-meal that the La Cantina was serving up. Judging by the portions they were giving out and the fact that I can personally vouch for how good their food is, its no surprise they had a line most of the night. The Studio Pizza also had them lined up pretty good.

Saturday was another beautiful day and the first half was spent lounging around in the pool. Then Nora got the idea to head up to Copper Harbor and take in the classic car show that was going on, as well as do some other things, so we got dried off, changed into street clothes and headed up the highway. I think that anyone who has only been to Copper Harbor in the winter (probably many of you reading this qualify) would be amazed at how busy that little town is for most of the summer. The residents and businesses have done an awesome job of hosting many events on the weekends all summer. The 4th of July is the big celebration at the harbor and as mentioned, this weekend was the classic car show, but they also have a huge mountain bike race weekend, art fair and triathlon…just to name a few.

Our first order of business was to have a competitive round of mini-golf. Its been a while since I played, but was able to hold my own and ended up beating Nora by 2 strokes and Gracie by just a bit more than that! Playing mini-golf with Nora and Gracie brought back memories of how my younger brother and I would play with my parents a couple of times a summer. There was a place nearby that served great pizza, so that was the tradition. Go have a dinner of pizza and then play a round of miniature golf. Its funny how one can forget memories like that and then suddenly have them brought into full light. Good times for sure and I hope that Gracie looks back on these days and feels the same.

After the golf match, we had a bite to eat and then while I walked up and down the line, looking at all the beautiful cars and trucks on display, Nora and Gracie did some shopping. It worked out very well, as none of felt rushed to finish up and not keep the others waiting. I was bumped into quite a few friends while up there and had some good laughs with them as I walked. The small community is something I really cherish about this place.

On the way home, we stopped by the Copper Harbor Cemetery and saw the resting place for some of Nora’s relatives. A few were ones that came directly over from Norway and were the first to settle on Rabbit Island. Another was the first female sheriff of either Keweenaw County or perhaps MI. I believe it is MI, but Nora is not around to verify. After that visit, we headed home and just as we were passing by the Keweenaw Mountain Lodge, Nora spotted three baby fox on the opposite side of the road from the lodge. One was brave and inquisitive enough to actually hang out long enough for me to take a picture of. Not my first fox sighting since living up here, but they do tend to be fairly elusive- especially as adults, so I have not seen many. Still waiting for my first moose spotting. Nora has a couple of times, but I am usually too busy driving and alone when I am passing through moose country to see one. I haven’t seen a bear in some time as well, but the summer is season is still fairly young!

Good night from the Keweenaw.

–JD

 

On a Dime

My apologies for not writing last week, but we had family in town and then the Independence Day holiday hit and before I knew it, the week was almost over, so I figured I would just hold off.

It’s been a wonder week of weather. The days leading up to last weekend were pretty much the same as we have seen a lot this summer. Cool and wet. In fact, I think if memory serves me correctly, I turned on our fireplace one day, just to take the chill out of the house! Then, as if following some kind of command, the first of July hit and the weather changed dramatically and has been beautiful much of the time since. It still has not gotten hot enough to where we needed to use air conditioning, but one day this past week, it was close! I believe that on Wednesday, we had temps in the low to mid 80’s and the dewpoint was in the low 70’s. That is just about my threshold for having to cool things down artificially. Not so much the temp, but the humidity. Most of the rest of the days, the humidity has been a lot more tolerable and the temps have been in the 70’s. We have also seen quite a bit more sunshine. Still not quite what we typically see this time of the year, but probably more sun than clouds most of the time.

It just amazes me how the weather can make such dramatic changes with almost the flick of a switch. I can remember waiting and waiting for winter weather to arrive last autumn and then BOOM! it was lights out! Non stop snow for around 40 days! In any case, it is nice to finally have our beautiful summer weather here and it looks to stay. The pool has been getting a nice workout, especially from Gracie, who has probably used it every day in the past week or so.

As mentioned, we had family (my side) up here for the weekend before the 4th. My mom and two aunts came up to visit. My mom was the one on the left in that picture, with one aunt on the right and the other standing in the background. Neither of the aunts had been to the property since we built on it, so it was nice to be able to show them all the hard work that has been put in over the past decade or so. It is always a treat to have my mom come to visit, especially the way that she and Gracie pal around. They are nearly inseparable when ever the to of them are in each other company. My mom must go home and sleep for days after each visit, the way Gracie keeps her going!

We all kept pretty busy while they were here, making visits to Eagle River, Eagle Harbor, Copper Harbor and Calumet. It’s pretty hard not to take a new visitor to the area to the Brockway Mountain Drive. To be honest, it had been a few years since I had been up on the road when there was no snow on the ground! So I really enjoyed the trip and the view myself.

With the weather being so nice, we spent quite a bit of time outdoors, even when home. One of the activities was a game similar to corn bag toss, only you toss plastic coated washers into boxes with a small piece of 4″ PVC pipe in the center. Here is a shot of Gracie and her grandmother during an introductory/practice round. Once the real matches started, the boxes are around 3-4 time further apart. I’m not going to get into who won the whole tournament, but this is a picture of the two teammates celebrating their victory.

The three ladies left on Monday morning and we all relaxed a bit, but not for too long, as the 4th is a big holiday up here and there is lots to do! Starting on the 3rd, there are fireworks at a couple of places and we took in the ones put on by the village of Lake Linden. For the third year in a row, we went to friends house that live across the lake from Lake Linden, but are close enough to still be able to see the fireworks very well. It’s nice, because we can just sit and relax and watch the sun set before the fireworks start. Gracie even did some wading in the water. Once the sun sets, the mosquitoes come out in full force down by the lake, so this year we came prepared.

With the sun setting so late up here in the summer, the fireworks do not even start until after 11. This years show was one of the best that I can remember for Lake Linden and went on for at least 20 minutes. We then usually pack it up pretty quickly and head home, but are around 20-25 minutes from home, so we typically are laying our heads down on our pillows after midnight. For most of you that probably is not that big of a deal, but I typically have to work on the 3rd, so that means I have been up since a little after 4 that morning.

Its a pretty quick sleep, as we need to get up, have breakfast and get ready for the kids bike parade in Mohawk the next morning. Thankfully the do not do it too early, but to get everything done in time for the 10 am parade does cause us to wake up pretty early after not going to bed until after midnight! We made it just fine and it is so neat to see all the kids excited to be in the parade. Here is a shot of Grace and her friend Jakob waiting for things to start. Nora and Gracie were solely responsible for the bike decorating this year and they did an awesome job!

They start the parade up by the township hall at the north end of town and then head west a block or two to highway 41, which is blocked off for the 5 minutes or so that they kids go down it, following the police car and fire trucks. Its funny, all summer, I have been waiting for the weather to cooperate with some free time for me to be able to fly the drone and get some interesting footage and has I watched the parade roll down the highway, it hit me that it would have been a great opportunity to fly the drone and get some neat overhead footage of the parade! Next year I guess! And I do still have plans to get some good drone footage this summer and autumn and maybe even some shots in the winter, when the weather is suitable.

After the parade, everyone congregates at the park for food and the kids games. Gracie has hit that magical age where she is old enough to partake in all of the activities, but not too old to be “too old”. She took part in the water balloon toss and even the pie eating contest. Here she is putting her game face on for the pie eating contest and here she is in the heat of battle. She did not win the contest, but placed in the top 5 or so and also probably had one of the cleanest faces when she was done.

After the festivities in the park we headed across the street to friend’s house (Jakob’s parents) for a cook out and relaxing afternoon. There are lots of other things to do, like the big get together in Gay for the parade there, as well as music and food at the park in Ahmeek, but it is nice to just relax with friends in a laid back setting. After that, we have the choice of going to see the fireworks in Copper Harbor, or the newly minted (2nd year) fireworks in Eagle River put on by Fitzgearld’s. By the time we finished at our friends place, we all were ready to just chill and hang out at home.

With the weather finally coming around, the screened in porch has been seeing a LOT of action, as has the swing I built a few weeks ago. It has sort of become a thing to be the first one to claim a spot on it. There is plenty of room for more than one and there is usually at least two humans and a dog or two on it at any given time. I forget when this was taken, but some how, Huck managed to score the swing all to himself and was plenty content. Two nights ago, the girls decided to spend the night out there on the swing. It was a kind of chilly night, with temps dropping into the low 50’s, but they were plenty warm, with about 5 blankets on them. By the time I awoke, Nora had already gotten up, but Gracie was still sleeping somewhere in there. Here is a shot from a different angle proving she was really in there!

Sometimes I still think I need to pinch myself for living in such a wonderful place with such a beautiful family. They are doing road construction in Hancock and thus the driving pattern is limited to just one lane in either direction from the bridge to the first turn you make to head into town. The other day I had to cross the bridge and the traffic was lined up to the west all the way through town. The awesome thing about the back up was that everyone knew which lane was closed ahead and had gotten into it, even before the signs that said which lane to be in could be seen! The only ones that were driving in the left lane where those that were making left hand turns before the road went down to just one lane. Not one single vehicle took the left lane down as far as they could, only to merge at the last minute. I was so impressed with the politeness of the drivers up here, that I just had to snap a picture. I’m sure we are not the only the only place on the planet where such things happen, but it is so wonderful to live in a place that is one.

Another right of passage through the summer is the arrival of berry season. It is traditionally kicked off with the strawberry and then progresses through raspberry, thimbleberry onto blueberry and finishing off with blackberry. Strawberry season roared into full force in the past week and we got the call from our “suppliers” that they would have some for us on Friday if we wanted. So Nora and Gracie shot down to the farm outside of Hancock and picked up 3 flats worth of berries. For those that do not know, each flat has 8 quarts in them. So that was 24 quarts! Speaking with the folks that we get them from on Thursday, Nora was told that they were “especially good” this season. They are incredible in an average year, so we were all excited to experience an especially good crop. We certainly were not disappointed when we picked up 24 quarts of these! Believe it or not, all 24 quarts have been put to use already. One disappeared on the way home from the farm and Grace and Nora are keeping mum about that. Another is sitting in the fridge, waiting to be finished off. The others were either turned into jam, incorporated in our crepes for breakfast this morning, frozen for later use and the rest ended up in the two pies that Nora made today!

Yesterday afternoon I decided to take a quick nap before dinner, when all of the sudden, I could hear Grace bound through the front door and anxiously as Nora where I was. Nora sensed something was up and told her I was resting and asked what was up. Gracie then blurted out the words that any dog owner does not want to hear…”Huck found a porcupine!”. As I whipped out of bed and headed to the front porch to check out the damage, my mind was filled with visions of poor Huck with a face, neck or more filled with quills. The good news was that he only had about a dozen and a half, the bad news is where most of them were. Fortunately, none of them actually went into his eye. Two were in the lower membrane, as close as you can get, but still not in.

I have had dogs for over 20 years of my life and this was my first, and hopefully only, experience with porcupine a encounter. I honestly did not know if they could just be pulled out or if it needed to be done by a vet, so Nora called the vet. I like to brag about all the upside things to living where we do, but there can be down sides too. One is that none of the animal hospitals are regularly open on Saturday afternoons. They do have emergency numbers to call, but because the communities are so small, they actually rotate which clinic will be open for emergency calls on off hours/days. Unfortunately, none of the local hospitals were the emergency ones yesterday and so we had to travel the 80-90 minutes to Bruce Crossing to have them removed. The good news is that after being in the car for around 15 minutes, Huck settled in and did not seem to be too bothered by the quills. The other good news was that the vet there was awesome! For anyone reading this with pets and living in the vicinity of Bruce Crossing, I HIGHLY recommend Deepwoods Vet Service just west of Bruce Crossing. She took Huck in the back and said she would let us know if she needed help and all Nora and I heard was her sweet talking Huck, laughing with him, telling him he only had 5 more to go and in about 5-7 minutes they were back in the front room and Huck had all of them removed. She finished her work by flushing his eye, putting some antibiotic ointment in it and checking every square inch of his body for more quills. As it turns out, they can just be pulled out, but the main concern for them is to get them out as quick as possible, as they will continue to go deeper and deeper into the skin and can eventually migrate to the critical organs of the animal and end up becoming fatal. So she gave him a very thorough check and then send us on our way home. I am happy to report that he is doing just fine and hopefully never has to go through anything like that again!

So I guess that gets you caught up on things up here. This weekend, the activities were strawberry fest in Chassell and the guts Frisbee tournament in Calumet. Next week is the Bootjack Volunteer Fire Department chicken barbecue. Beyond that, I do not know the exact dates, but there is the Eagle Harbor art fair, the air fair in Copper Harbor, a couple more barbecues, Farmers Block music/art fair and more I am sure I am missing. Lots to do up here every weekend in the summer!

Good night from the Keweenaw..

–JD

And then there were three

Whew….Mom and Dad survived! It sure was a long week, but we managed to make it! It’s funny how not having Grace around this past week changed things around here. It really was very quiet and a bit lonely. I will have to admit that for me, there was a tiny bit of gratefulness to have a bit more free time, but of course I would never choose to make the trade full time. I think Nora probably enjoyed a bit of down time too. Not that Nora and I will be dwelling on it for the next 10 years, but we both wondered how parents survive sending their kids off to college, or watching them get married and move on! I guess we will just jump off those bridges when we get to them!

Friday morning was the pickup time for the campers and the atmosphere around our house Friday morning had a bit of a Christmas Morning feel to it!  Both Nora and I were excited and anxious to be able to see Grace and her about her week. Soon after breakfast, Nora and I drove the SxS down to the camp to pic her up. I’m not sure if we were the first there, but were certainly among the first! It was a beautiful morning, with sunshine and typical crisp temps in the 50’s. All the campers were finishing up with breakfast when we arrived and then following breakfast, they all went to watch a little video put together of the weeks activities. It was fun to watch the video and see all the smiling faces. They sure kept the kids busy all week and despite weather that would probably get a “C”, Gracie said she and all of her camp-mates had fun.

It was also funny to see Grace still in her PJ’s. She does tend to wear them as long as she can at home on days she does not have to go to school. Anyway, we gathered her stuff and she said her good byes to the girls in her cabin and her counselor. We then headed to the SxS for the ride home, but first stopped to take a picture of Gracie in front of the dinner bell.

One of the things that got accomplished while Grace was at camp was the pool got put up. I got things started and then Nora and my brother Jim joined in and we were able to get things all set up in about an hour. We started filling it right away, but then had some interruptions while we were away or using the water to take a shower or something. For some reason the pressure really drops when the hose is running. I cannot fully figure things out, as the line from the road is 2″ and then feeds the outside spigot and splits and feeds the house. What ever the case may be, I hope we can fix it when we do the remodel of the utility room later this summer.

Anyway, it did not take Gracie too long upon getting home to get into the pool to try out the little wind up boat she bought at the camp store.  Both Nora and I cringed as we watched her get into the pool and play a bit. She was actually having a lot of fun, but at one point, Nora called her over and felt her legs and they were quite cold, so we decided she had been in the cold water of the pool long enough. However, the creativity runs deep in the Dee family and Nora got the idea to pull out Gracie’s kayak and put it in the pool so that she could tool around in the pool with it. It was a great idea, as Grace had never paddled on her own and it gave her some practice in a safe setting. She did really well and I suspect that the next step will be to put it in a shallow bay area of the big lake or perhaps one of the shallow spots of the inland lakes we have.

As mentioned, the weather this past week was probably a “C”. Not as bad as it could have been, but certainly not as nice as we are accustomed to this time of the year. It’s really been a different summer. Pretty cool and quite a bit more cloudy than we are used to. I believe that I have mentioned it in previous entries, but will repeat it for those of you that have not heard. The same type of magical influence from the big lake that makes our winters a bit warmer and a lot more snowier than other locales at our latitude has a very beneficial effect in the summer. That is to help keep us a bit cooler and a whole lot more sunny that other areas at our same latitude in the summer. The pattern that has been the dominating one so far this summer has been one that has been able to overcome the stabilizing effect of the big lake in summer and thus we have seen quite a few clouds. Not cloudy every day, as can be seen in the pics of Gracie playing in the pool Friday, but normally about 95% of our summer days are filled with sun and so far this summer it seems to be around half. Some of the cloudy days have also been accompanied by cool temps. On Tuesday of this week, it was so chilly out that I actually had soup for lunch! I think our high was only around 50 and the absence of any pure sunshine also made for a good soup day! It does look like there could be a change coming in the overall pattern as we head into the first week of July, so perhaps that pool will be seeing some action from the old farts in our family and not just Gracie!

Yesterday, I traveled south of the bridge to go side by siding with friends. When I left our house, it was just cloudy, so all I brought with me was my mud boots and a sweatshirt. By the time I got to my destination around 30 miles south of Houghton, it was raining pretty steadily. Unfortunately, it kept raining steadily the entire day, which made for a wet ride. The SxS I was in had a roof, but only a narrow strip of a windshield at the bottom, so we got the full brunt of the rain as we drove along. I was loaned a waterproof jacket, which saved me big time, so all that got wet was my pants. The other machine had a full windshield, so the guys in that one stayed a lot drier.

Had I known that the weather was going to be so wet, I probably would have not gone down there. That way it would not have put pressure on the guys I rode with to get out in the nasty weather. In any case, we all still had fun. And while the woods were wet, at least we did not have to eat dust all day, or swat insects and were treated to some very pretty scenery, such as Penn Falls on the east branch of the Firesteel River. It sure never gets old happening along sights like that, no matter the weather!

It’s hard to believe that this is already the final weekend of June! The summer sure is flying by. It seems like just a week ago the trees were filling out and here in about 2 months, the trees that change colors early will already be showing some signs of change!

With that, I guess I will sign off for this one.

Good Night from the Keweenaw..
-JD

It’s quiet…too quiet.

About 90 minutes ago, Nora and I returned from dropping our little girl off at her first summer camp. There has been a lot of nervous energy flowing through this house the past few days and now suddenly, all is quiet. This is not the first time that she has spent the night away from home. She has had a couple of “sleep overs” at uncles houses, but this will be the first time she will be gone for more than one night. It helps mom and dad to know that she is only around 15 minutes away, but it is going to be an interesting week for us all. I can’t wait to hear about all the fun she has and the the milestone that she crossed by being away from home for so long.

It was a nice week up here. A very typical summer weather pattern, with mild and mostly sunny days and cool, but not cold nights. We have picked up some rain from time to time as well. In fact, today was an all day soaker. We awoke to rains falling and they kept falling steadily until around 4:30. It has been chilly too, with temps hovering in the low 50’s. The kind of “summer” day that reminds us that we live in the Northwoods, on a peninsula, surrounded on three sides by water that is still in the 30’s. The rest of this week was spent in the upper 70’s to low 80’s and it was just beautiful.

As far as the bugs go, I am happy to report that the black flies have not been too bad. I would be lying if I said they were not a problem at all, but I was even in the deep woods on Friday afternoon and again yesterday morning and was not bothered by them much at all. I have a feeling that the mosquitoes might be an issue this week, with all the rain we got today, but it is also suppose to be cooler this week, so perhaps they will not be too bad. Plus, they are never a problem in the full sun. Only heavily shaded areas, or when the sun is just coming up or going down. I also heard from someone that the biting flies, also known to some as beach flies or fish flies, hatched this week. In fact, it was that report that kept us from going to the beach Friday evening, but Nora got more than a few reports from her friends that went to the beach Friday evening and were not bothered by them, so we braved the beach yesterday afternoon and were rewarded by a biting fly free experience. So while they have been an issue in some spots, it is not a widespread issue. That is all good news, as quite frankly, in about 2 weeks, we will be done with June and the “bug month”. That is not to say we will be bug free, but will be mostly left with mosquitoes in the favorable spots and then some deer and horse flies at the beaches, but nothing that would keep you from going or doing something.

It’s hard to believe that in two weeks, the month will already be over and we will be into the July 4th holiday weekend. The schedule of happenings was kicked off this weekend with Bridgefest in Houghton/Hancock. We did not partake in any of the activities, but they had some wonderful weather for things. Next week is Pasty Fest in Calumet. Hopefully the weather will be much better for that than the category 5 hurricane they had blow through as things were getting ramped up last year! I will never forget that one… Seeing the skies turn darker and darker in the west, then being pulled aside by the head organizer of the event to check things out on a laptop they had at the event and seeing a bow echo screaming across the big lake, heading straight for Calumet! All I could do was to tell her to get the word out that the weather was going to get really nasty and folks should seek shelter. Then Grace, Nora and I made a b-line to our vehicle and just barely made it before the torrential rains and 60 mph+ winds hit.

So I did finish the project I had been working on for the office and as promised, have some pictures to share. But first, I want to share how things looked before I even did any kind of remodeling late last summer. That shot was taken as I was getting ready to do the demo, so all the walls had been cleared of things, but the rest was pretty much as it was. Then the remodel took place and changed things very nicely. However, if you look closely enough at that last picture, you will see a rather crude desk made of a sheet of plywood. This is the new look. A nice, well organized desktop, even a bit professional looking. I run 5 computers for my work duties, 4 of them are laptops and one is a desktop. All are now housed in drawers that sit underneath their respective monitors. I am a big fan of the Greene/Greene style of architecture, so did a little bit of playing around with some of their ideas in my work. One of the features in their style was called the “cloud lift” and can be seen in my drawer fronts. I decided to take things a bit further and actually put profiles into the drawer fronts, to give the 3D effect of billowing clouds, rather than just give the effect of clouds by scalloping the edges of the piece. I’m sure someone else has already done this, but I have never seen it and plan to incorporate it into more of my works down the road.

I still have some free standing pieces I want to make for my office, but for now, I have things to the point where I can move onto other projects. I actually did just that this week and have gotten the next one about 95% constructed. I did have some help with it. In fact, yesterday around midday, I was working on it and Gracie was sharing her time between me in the woodshop and Nora in the garden. One one of her trips into the shop, Gracie asked if we could go to the beach so she and the pups could go for a swim. I mentioned to her about the biting fly report, but said if her mom said it was OK to go, then we would go when I finished up some more work on the project I was working on. She had already cleared the idea by upper management, so I said that we would go pretty soon. With that, she was off and running for the door, to tell Nora I thought. She might have, but there was something else she did. When she came back into the shop, she was wearing her swimsuit! So she grabbed some tools and got busy helping me get to my quitting spot. For those of you worried, that swim suit was OSHA approved!

So we headed to the beach and it took a matter of seconds for the doors of the truck to open before all three of the kids were in the big lake swimming. I was a little surprised that Gracie went in as far as she did, as the water temps are still only in the upper 30’s! The pups are pretty well insulated from the cold water by their fur and only requirement for swimming is that the water is not frozen solid! As mentioned, the bugs were not an issue at all and it was nice to be at the beach again. The pups and Gracie had a blast playing with each other and it is even more fun now that she is old enough to actually interact with them by tossing the fetch into the water, or the ball down the beach.

After the fun at the beach, we came back home and I went back into the shop to do some more work. By dinner time, I had reached a good stopping point and it was staring to really take form. If you are wondering what the heck it is, it is a nice big swing for the screened in porch. It will actually hold a twin mattress, along with a couple of humans or perhaps a human and a couple of big old Labradors! Gracie and I did a bit more work on it today and it is now around 95% towards being fully constructed. All I need to do is add a couple of cross supports and the plywood to support the mattress and attach the hardware to hang it. We are going to paint it, so that will need to be done before hanging it, but the mattress has already been ordered and I am sure we will be picking up some nice pillows for it and hopefully I will be able to give you a full report on how it works in next week’s entry. The only down side I see to making it is the fact that it might discourage me from wanting to work on the rest of my projects the rest of this summer!

So I guess that gets you caught up on everything going on up here. Even though today was more like a day in October, summer is here for sure and things are just beautiful. Tons of wildflowers are popping up and the berry bushes in the woods are also full of flowers, which means a good berry season is on its way.

Even though my dad is no longer in this world, I know he can read these words… and does. I would like to wish him a happy Fathers Day and let him know a single day does not pass without me thinking of him and the everlasting love he shared with me. He is truly my hero. I would also like to wish all the other hero’s out there a happy Fathers Day. I hope your lives are as blessed as mine has been!

Good night from the Keweenaw..

-JD

Summer Vacation!

Well, at least that is the excuse I am giving for not writing tonight or most likely until next Sunday. Fell ill on Thursday and am just starting to get back into the swing of things, so I do not have a lot of energy or material at the moment. Stay tuned for more next week!
Good Night from the Keweenaw..

–JD