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I don’t think that many reading this have the same problem as me, but right now, I am having a very hard time getting my head around the idea that tomorrow is May first. After a week that will filled with cold, snow and ice and is finishing off with a bit of snow still left on the ground in spots, it just does not seem like tomorrow we will awake to the month of May. Quite honestly, it is not even this past week, the past two weeks have seen more wintry weather occur than spring and the entire month of April did not provide too much in the way of pleasant spring weather.

I have always said that if I had to choose a time period to leave the Keweenaw for a few weeks and be almost anywhere else, it would be April, but I guess old Mother Nature just wanted to show me how un-useful for outdoor activity it could really get around here. At least 4 years ago when we had all the snows and finished off the month with 2 feet of snow still on the ground, we could still play in it!

A cold rains is on its way as I type and should be here in not too long. Those rains will fall steadily through tomorrow and then mix with or even change fully to snow late tomorrow night into Tuesday with some minor accumulations possible. Then it looks like a day or two of cool, but dry weather and perhaps a nice warming trend into the weekend.

The change over from April to May is a pretty significant one weather wise. I guess it could be compared to the change over from October to November, only the opposite. Meaning in April we see snows fall in just about every year- especially at the beginning of the month. There is still the chance for a big snow event. Then as we work into May, we may still see some snows, but almost never a big storm and there are years where no snow falls in the month of May. October can see some snows, but almost never a big storm and there are many years where no snow flies…at least until the very end of the month. Then as we work into November, snows are an almost guarantee and by the end of the month, snow is more common than rain.

We did get enough snow, and ice, to shut down schools this week. Wednesday was a nasty, all day rain, with temps in the mid 30’s. Then Wednesday night, the precip changed over to snow and by Thursday morning, we had picked up an inch or so of snow and some ice. The forecast called for a considerable amount of snow and ice Thursday, so schools were called off. It was a wise call, as we got about a half inch or so of freezing rain, then another inch or so of sleet and then a couple of inches of snow. That made roads quite nasty and a good reason to keep kids off of buses and the roads.

The precip mostly ended by Thursday night, but we did still have a few snow showers into Friday. In addition to the snow in the air Friday, there was a pretty solid pack on the ground and it really felt and looked a whole more like mid November than late April around here. The wood pile is still shrinking, but not gone just yet and with a little luck will hang on long enough for me to go find some dead falls that have fallen since this past autumn. I’ll then get enough piled up to heat the pool and our domestic water through the summer and then will say bye to the wood boiler for good. Yep, I cannot remember if I have already mentioned it, but we will be installing a gas fired boiler for the house and another for the shop and no more dealing with all that firewood. I am thinking about putting a wood stove with sealed combustion chamber in the wood shop, so I can use it to bump the temp in there up to a comfortable working temp, rather than burning propane, but that will not take too much and I will probably be able to get by with stuff I find fallen in our woods.

Saturday broke out with clear skies, calm winds and the snow still on the ground, so I thought I would take advantage of the nice weather to fly the drone. So with Nora meeting up with a friend for the morning, Gracie, the pups and I piled into the truck and headed up the highway to a spot I thought would be pretty good to fly and shoot some footage. On our way there, we encountered a section where a lot of ice had accumulated with the storm at the end of the week. The spot was right near the snowgauge that Keweenaw County has just SW of Phoenix.

With the clear skies and sunshine, the ice on the trees really sparkled brilliantly and both Gracie and I remarked on how beautiful the landscape was. This spot was only around 5-7 miles from our house, so it was amazing to see how much more ice had accumulated there than at our place. I was a bit pushed for time, as I wanted to get Eagle 1 airborne before any winds kicked up and made flying not possible. So I did take some more pics, but did not spend the time I would have normally spent with such beautiful scenery to capture. This is one of my favorites with the sun at my back and the silver of the ice contrasted against the deep blue sky. The view across the highway was equally impressive with the sun lighting up the tops and edges of the trees. So with the ice melting and falling off the limbs of the trees in chunks and as water, I snapped this last shot and then headed to the intended flight area.

Once at the spot I wanted to fly the drone, we all piled out of the truck, I got the bird all set for flight and lifted off. I went to start to record some video and realized I could not because I had forgotten to put the memory card back into the drone! So we all piled into the truck, zipped home and then back and tried again. The second attempt was successful and I have uploaded the video here. As mentioned, I was a little pressed for time and so I did not put too much attention into making sure that all of the camera settings were set just right, so the video is a little washed out with the bright sunshine and snow on the ground, but I also spent some time editing 3 separate videos into one and cropping out some of the less interesting footage, so I hope you all enjoy. Keep faith the quality of the videos from Eagle 1 will improve!

At first, when Gracie heard that she was going to have to come with me to fly the drone, she was not too excited. She seemed to be content to stay in her pajamas and play in her room, but once we hit the magic forest her spirits soared and she had a great time on the trip. Not surprising to me, as she really is able to make the most out of any situation. She even spent some of the time climbing trees. What a Keweenaw Girl!

Good night from the Keweenaw..
–JD

Seems like I should have titled this one: Same stuff…different day. Perhaps I will just save that one for another entry in which little has changed since I last wrote. Unfortunately my fun little surgical sites gave me more problems this week.  I won’t get into the gory details, just suffice to say I made 2 more trips to the hospital and had to wake poor Nora up in the middle of the night to help me a few times. It does seem like things are finally getting better in the past 24-36 hours, but I was put under some pretty strong physical restrictions this week, so I did not do a lot of exciting things and thus do not have a lot of exciting things to share.

Except for the past 24-36 hours, the weather was rather unremarkable. I will get to the past 24-36 hours in a bit, but most of the week was spent in pretty typical April weather. Some sun, some clouds, some rain and even a bit of snow. Basically, the weather did not exactly support much outdoor activity this week, which is pretty typical for April. Had my health allowed, I would have spent a lot of time in the shop this past week. Perhaps this coming week.

As mentioned, we did have a mix of weather, including rain that changed to snow on Thursday. It never really accumulated much at our place, but just down the road a few miles, a few inches fell. Here is a shot of things on Thursday afternoon. I was unable to do any of the loading of the wood into the wood boiler for the second half of this week. So on Thursday, I asked my brother if he could come over and help, which he was happy to do. We somewhat rewarded him with a meal of leftovers from the night before.

Gracie then asked him if he wanted to play a game. I can’t remember if Jim asked Gracie what the game was or not, but in either case, it involved Gracie going upstairs with her Nerf bow and arrow and uncle Jim being the target. A great sport he was, as he walked back and forth, holding the cover to a plastic storage bin and allowed Gracie to shoot Nerf arrows at him. She is actually a pretty good shot and was able to hit the plastic cover several times.

The snow kept up for a bit during the night on Thursday and with the sun setting, it did accumulate a bit more. By Friday morning, most of the ground was covered. It did not stay covered for too long, as the sun came out around mid-morning and we even hit 50 degrees for a daytime high. Saturday was even nicer, with sunshine all day and a high temp just shy of 65. That did not last too long, as just as the sun was setting, a cold front came through and dropped the temps around 20 degrees. Then some rains hit and the temps continued to drop, with the rain changing to snow early this morning. By daybreak, a solid 3″ had accumulated on everything and put us right back into looking like a winter wonderland. It has been slowly melting, but much of the woods are still coated in white.

The snows will fully melt, as temps are suppose to rise into the low 50’s. However, it looks like more is on its way for later this week. As things stand right now, it looks to be enough to make everything white again. If the low tracks just a bit more to the east, it could be more than just enough to whiten things up, but probably not enough to consider playing in. Might even be some more snow up this way early next week. Old Mother Nature sure does like to try the patience of all the poor folks that live up here. A 10-14 day thaw at the end of Jan and again Feb and now snows in late April and early May. No wonder there are so many bars and churches up here!

Yesterday evening the family was sitting in the living room watching some TV. A dog show came on, so we decided to watch it. Does anyone else have a dog that will watch TV? Our sweet Millie will show some interest in most programming, but when a show about dogs comes on, she is WAY into it! Her tail wags and her head will even move to follow the action. It just cracks me up. I have never had, or known, a dog that got into watching TV. Huck will casually watch such dog shows, but is much more content to just lay on the couch and be the pillow for his sister.

So that just about does it for this one. The weather kept Eagle 1 grounded for most of the week. Even yesterday when we had the sunshine and temps in the 60’s, the winds were blowing 20-30 mph. I do have a few ideas I want to do with the drone, so keep checking back!

Good night from the Keweenaw..

–JD

Its been an interesting week. Not so much in the weather…at least not for us. Just a bit to our east and south the weather did provide its fair share of excitement. On Monday, a line of strong thunderstorms rolled through the west Ishpeming area, producing a micro burst that produced winds estimated at 100 mph. The area of damage was not large, but it was important. It happened right where one of the main transmission lines for electricity passes through. So the winds snapped off and/or knocked down many of the poles, which took out power to a very large area of Ishpeming, Negaunee and Marquette. Then, if that were not enough, just over 24 hours later, a snow storm hit and blanketed the region with up to 10″ of snow, further complicating the issues those poor folks without power had as well as the efforts by the crews to restore power to them.

We did not have even a rumble of thunder occur and just a few flurries. Nora and I had to travel to Marquette on Wednesday so that I could have some minor surgery to remove a couple of skin cancers. So we were able to see where the snows fell and how much fell the day before. Interestingly enough, the first signs of some snow in the trees and on the ground appeared in the banana belt between Chassell and Baraga. As we climbed into the higher terrain south of L’Anse, the snows got deeper and by the time we got to places like Michigamme, Champion and Humbolt Township just west of Ishpeming, there was a solid 7-9″ still on the ground. I had to grin when I saw some folks unloading snowmobiles from their trailers to get what might be the final ride of the season in. Much of that snow was gone by our return trip home, as temps were rising into the 50’s and the sun was out.

Both of my surgical sites were on my neck and both required stitches. I am not sure of the exact count, but both were somewhere a bit north of a dozen, but less than 20. All was going well until we got to Hancock and after sitting for two hours, I got out of the vehicle. That must have raised my blood pressure just enough so that the one in the vicinity of my jugular sprung a leak. The reason why I got out of the Nora’s vehicle was so that I could pick up and drive my truck home from having some work done. Anyway, at first the leak was not too bad, but by the time I got home, I needed to cover myself up and calmly break the news to Nora that I had sprung a leak. Upon opening up my jacket, the entire right hand side of my shirt was soaked in the red stuff. So Nora helped me get my coat and shirt off and then cleaned things up a bit. It was still coming out pretty good, so we headed to the emergency department. There they were able to address the issue by applying pressure for around 30 minutes and then properly wrapping it up, but at one point were worried that I was going to need emergency surgery to get things squared away.

I’ve been through a lot in my life and consider myself to be able to handle pain pretty good, but for some reason I could barely get any sleep Wednesday night and Thursday was pretty rough as well. On Thursday late morning, I was scheduled for a follow up with the surgeon that fixed me up Wednesday. He pulled the bandages off and replaced them. Plus he gave me some stuff to help manage the pain. It came to me that the reason why I was in so much discomfort was because of the way they had to bandage things up. They used gauze over the wound and then some kind of clear, sticky plastic stuff to hold the gauze on. They had pulled the plastic sticky material very tight to keep pressure on the wound, but it also was the source of all of the discomfort. To make matters worse, the two bandages worked against each other, so there was no way to relieve the pressure from both at the same time.

The only reason why I even go into all of this is to explain why I do not have a lot of material for this entry. As much as I was hoping for some more saddle time “in” the drone and some footage to share, I had Monday and Tuesday, then Wednesday was spent traveling and dealing with the leak. Thursday, Friday and Saturday were spent just trying to keep sane. I was able to take the bandages off this morning and things have improved a ton.

I was able to take a little walk in the woods with the pups on Tuesday. We still had a fair share of dirty snow in our woods to start the week. The daytime highs were getting above freezing and melting it off, but night time temps were dropping below freezing, so it was firm enough to walk across until the temps softened it up by mid-morning. To the pups and I took advantage of the firm snow and headed out into the woods to pay a visit to Old Granddad. The last time we had been out that way was back in December and on snow shoes, so it was good to see it had survived the winter and the bouts of strong winds we had this winter and spring so far. Big Piney and the Maple Twins were also in fine shape and looking ready to green up for the summer. There were a handful of trees that had come down since last autumn and some of them will make for some good firewood to help keep the pool warm this summer.

It was very nice to get back into the woods. The pups sure had a blast running around and playing chase. It is so great to see them still so healthy and getting around so good. When I think back to Burt and Baileys and what rough shape they were both in by this time in their lives, it makes me sad. Although they did have great lives and never complained, so I guess I should not be too sad!

We had some beautiful weather Thursday and Friday. Highs topped out in the 60’s and we had loads of sunshine. Nora and Grace took advantage of the beautiful weather to head to the beach Thursday evening. I wished I had gone, but felt it would be more enjoyable to just stay home and lay low than to try and keep my head/neck in a comfortable position while making the drive to the beach and then walking around. Anyway, they found another mother-lode of beach glass and Gracie even found this little critter. It had died and Gracie was initially thinking how she would like to bring it home with her, but thankfully Nora was able to convince her that it would be best if it remained on the beach, near the lake where it came from. So Gracie dug a little grave for it and even capped the site with a rock and the initials she gave it “The Crab”. I think Nora is thinking about using those very initials on my headstone! 🙂

Yesterday evening Nora boiled up some eggs and then we all commenced on decorating them. Not long after that, we all hit the hay and awoke to the bounty that the Easter Bunny had left overnight.

So that almost covers it for this one, but this past week, I did stumble upon a post-it that had some thing I wanted to share in the journal with you all, but somehow got buried under some other paperwork. It goes back a few weeks, when Gracie and I were looking at cars and trucks on the internet. We gravitated to the point where I googled the make and model of my first car to show her it. To which her response was: “But Dad…I didn’t they had cars when you were a kid”.

Good night from the Keweenaw..

–JD

 

One down, three to go… I really should not look at it in that way. April is not my favorite month up here to be sure, but there can always be good found in everything. The past week was about as typical early April weather as we could have. Temps topping out in the low 40’s and then dropping off into the upper 20’s and lower 30’s overnight. While not exceptionally warm, it was enough to chip away at the snowpack. The ground in our woods is still completely covered, but just down the highway a bit, at my brothers, his yard is mostly clear. Not because he got less snow, but because the sun has been able to hit that snow more directly and not have to work its way through the still barren trees. There are spots up here that did not get as much snow as us and they are now snow-free, even in the woods. All that remains is the piles made by the snow-movers. I suspect that by the end of the week, our woods will also be free of snow and all that will remain will be the piles made from clearing the driveway or snow sliding off the roofs.

I did see a few sleds out last weekend, but this week they have been replaced by wheeled vehicles. I have not gotten ours out yet, but will likely pull it out of its winter hibernation spot and at least have it ready for a ride, perhaps even take it for a ride if the weather permits this week.

We did actually have a beautiful day to take the SxS out yesterday, but it was agreed that it was actually too beautiful to be outside in that manner. Instead, we took to the beach and enjoyed the sunshine and temps in the 60’s in that manner. In this neck of the woods, it cannot be understated how nice the first day with sunshine and 60 degree temps is. Just about anyone with a pulse can be seen outside. Some are doing yard work, some are gathered around a pickup have a hockey-pop or two, others are more ambitious and hit the pavement on foot or pedal power, some just find a nice chair on the front porch and watch the world go by. No matter how the day is spent, it is well deserved and well appreciated. All know that it is not here to say, not in early April, but it is a sign… a little taste of what lies just down the road of time a bit.

Enjoy it while you can is the motto this time of the year as well, as today we are in the low 50’s and when I took that picture of our woods, it was raining lightly. Tomorrow, we have a chance for some snow, ice and a bit of cold rain.

But back to the beach. The whole family was excited to go, even the pups know what the word “beach” means. I don’t really know why we do it to them and ourselves, mentioning to them where we are going before we even get into the vehicle. The entire trip is spent with two flying bundles of hyperactivity wrapped in fur. Each turn onto a new road gets them that much more wound up and then by the time we are getting really close to our destination (trust me, they know what to look for as a sign that we are approaching one of the beaches up here), you can feel the vehicle rock as they jump from one side of the vehicle to another in excitement. Perhaps secretly, we all enjoy that excitement, no matter how annoying it can get at times!

Once there, the doors are opened and they both bound out like a couple of wild cheetah’s on the hunt for their prey. Occasionally they will catch wind of something that smells too good to pass up, so they hit the brakes, stop on a dime and put nose to ground, or tree, or shrub or what ever it is that they need to investigate before they hit the water. The rest of the Dee clan follow up, although in a much more casual pace.

The beach that got the call yesterday was White City down in Jacobsville. The Jacobsville area is deep in Nora’s family history and is thus a very special place for her. There are many times that I go down there with her and feel a bit like a tourist. She knows all the old guard that still lives down that way and is full of stories from “back in the day”. White City Beach is a beautiful beach at just about any time of the year. Standing on the beach, you look nearly due south, with the waters of Keweenaw Bay right in front of you, the south entry and shoreline down to Baraga/L’Anse to your right and off in the distance to your left a bit, the Huron Mountains. Most of the beach is beautiful, soft sand, with the far northern end composed of rocks of Jacobsville Sandstone worn perfectly smooth by their time being tossed around in the waters of the big lake.

While most visitors gravitate to the soft sand to relax and/or play, there are a few that will venture down to the rocky shoreline to look for hidden treasures. Yesterday we did both as is evidenced by the pictures. The main goal was to look for beach glass. Nora and Gracie have quite the collection going, a tradition that Nora and he grandmother from Jacobsville had that she is now handing down to the generation. It was a good day for pickin’, the girls picked pockets full, even finding a few of the elusive red and blue colored pieces. They found enough to fill a smaller mason jar once we got home.

We probably spent the better part of the afternoon in Jacobsville, visiting some new friends, going to the beach and visiting the grave sites of Nora’s grandparents and aunt. After that we were going to stop at “Dreamland”, but as we drove up, the parking lot was absolutely full of vehicles, mostly pick up trucks. So we decided to skip the crowd and headed closer to home to grab a bite to eat.

After dinner, Gracie and I headed out on a brief waterfall tour. Nora was tired and decided to stay home with the pups (who were out for the count from all of their play at the beach), so G and I headed down to Eagle River to see the falls there. The warmer temps and snow melt had been able to swell the river pretty good. Not to excessive levels, but these falls are actually ones that can have too much water going over them. I remember going to see them during a time of rapid snow melt and some heavy rains and most of the actual features of the falls were no longer discernible, it was just basically a wall of water tumbling over the old dam structure. Yesterday’s flow was about perfect. Lots of water going over from bank to bank, but you could still make out the rock features that make up the falls.

This presents the perfect moment to introduce to the latest gadget I have to help share the Keweenaw with you. Back in September of last year, I was fortunate enough to get a drone. One of the companies that make these new gizmos had just released their latest and greatest and that spurred them on to cut the price in half of the model before that. So I was able to convince Nora that it would be a good thing for everyone (ya right!) and flew it about a half dozen times or so before the weather started to turn and I got busy with things like the office remodel and making wood. So this past week, I re-acquainted myself with the thing and got ready to start shooting some footage. I figured a flyover of the falls would be a great opportunity to get the ball rolling, so here is the first shared flight of “Eagle One”.

As you can see, I still need to polish up on both my flight abilities and my gimble (the thing that controls the camera) work, but to tell you the honest truth, I am just glad I did not crash! It was kind of a sketchy route to fly for the first real flight of the season and to the website. I am looking forward to lots more time in the “left seat” and improving my skills in both flying and video/picture taking. I have set up a youtube channel that they will all be going into, but also plan to add a section of the site where links to the videos will be. I sure hope you all are as excited as me about this and if anyone has anything they would like to see, let me know!

Good night from the Keweenaw..

–JD

The title probably fits better with the situation around 8-9 days ago, but since I did not write last week, I will go ahead and use it this week! I am just about fully over my bout with the flu. It was not too bad. The main issues were sinus headaches, a cough and very low energy. The low energy was probably the worst of the three and also the fact that the illness lasted about 2 weeks. I don’t know if it was a blessing or a curse to not get any snow while I was sick, as it kept me from having to do any extra work, but also gave me one less reason to have to get my rear out bed and into the great outdoors! It does feel real good to be on the mend though.

Nora and I had planned a quick family trip to Duluth for a couple of days during spring break and for a moment, it was looking like that trip might have to be put on hold, but the time we were set to go, I was feeling good enough to go. I actually felt like just getting out of the house for a few days would make me feel better, as I was struggling through some pretty serious cabin fever, along with the flu. I am not sure if getting out of the house did in fact help me to get better, but I did.

We actually did not stay in Duluth. On Monday around midday, we left and drove to Ashland, WI. There is a hotel with a small water-park in their pool area. Gracie is still at that age where she does not HAVE to have the biggest and bestest amusement or water park to have fun and both Nora and I liked the thought of being able to be more relaxed while Grace played than have to keep up with her in a bigger facility. It worked out great. Gracie had fun going down the water slides as well as making some new friends and playing in the pools. Nora and I were more than content to sit in the lounge chairs and relax.

Ashland is only about an hours drive from Duluth, so on Tuesday we slept in a bit, had a great breakfast at a local dinner and then headed to the big city. Our first stop was at the aquarium. It’s a nice aquarium for a city the size of Duluth. We had been there around 5 years ago, but Gracie was too little to remember that trip. I think one of the things I enjoy the most about going to places like that in cities like that is you are not fighting hoards of crowds like you would in a major metro area. Sorry Duluthans, you are still a small city in my eyes. 🙂

Anyway, Gracie had a blast viewing all of the exhibits. One of them allowed visitors to interact and touch the fish. It was an aquarium filled with sturgeon. Not just Great Lakes Sturgeon, but sturgeon from other areas of the world like Russia. Nora got to “kiss” an electric eel and I got to live out my lifelong dream of being a weatherman! There were also some otters on display. It’s fun to watch them play, its like they are little kids! These two were probably the most crazy, you should have seen the big one snap up all the raw smelt tossed to it! The final thing we did was got to see two employees don dry suits and scuba gear and go into the two story tank they have there to feed the locals. By the look on my face, it was probably a good thing that was the last activity before heading off to lunch!

We shot over to Grandma’s in Canal Park. From the outside and ads for it, it looks like a total tourist trap, but I had read some very good reviews from both visitors and locals to Duluth and I am glad we went! Very good food and service. After lunch, we headed to the Duluth Trading Co. store. Strangely enough, the Duluth Trading Co. did not start in Duluth, nor was it’s first retail store. I had gone there about a year ago when Huck had his knee surgery and to tell you the honest truth, it was probably the most anticipated part of the trip for Nora and I. Not that it is something crazy great, but is a neat store and right up our ally as far as clothing is concerned. We probably spent the better part of an hour in the store and then headed to the mall to get a few things and then up the highway a bit to Northern Tool. I can’t believe that I did not need to go to Acme Tool this go around, but for the moment, I think I have all I need to have from them. For the moment…

I think we hit the road and were headed back to Ashland by around 4:30 or 5. Gracie had also been battling a bug and ear infection in the week leading up to our trip, so by the end of the day, she crashed out and snuck in a little cat nap on the way back. Once back, we grabbed a bite to eat and then headed to the water-park to let Gracie get her fill. Once that was accomplished, we all hit the hay and got a long nights sleep!

Wednesday was a return trip day. Even though we had only been gone for a little over 48 hours, we all were excited to get back home and see the pups. My brother was kind enough to house/dog sit for us, so we knew they were having a good time, but it is still nice to get back and give them a good belly rub.

Nora and Gracie had the rest of the week off and just sort of relaxed. The weather was not bad, but not real good either. Temps mostly in the 40’s for highs and teens/20’s for lows. By Friday, we warmed into the upper 40’s. I had gotten a call from Rt 12 and they asked if I would be able to part with the demo sled over the weekend, as they had someone coming up to get in one last ride. It is always a little sad to say good-bye to the seasons ride. Even though I struggled to put even 300 miles on it, they were pretty much all high-quality miles full of smiles and I can easily say that sled is probably the best dialed in model since Cat switched to the new chassis. So on Friday, I pulled the ride out of the shop and parked it on the snow for the boys to come and retrieve.

The weekend promised some better weather and mother nature delivered what the weather guy predicted. Quite a bit of sunshine and temps in the 50’s, almost reaching 60. The warm weather has made the woods a lot more active. The big critters like the deer have not shown up, but we still have quite a bit of snow on the ground here at the north end. However, the birds, squirrels and chippers have all been out and the other morning, Nora saw a big old tom turkey run through the front yard. It’s nice to have the woods coming alive again, especially on the sunny days. Really helps to make it feel like spring. The only problem is, the squirrels and chippers are looking for a nice place to bed up and have babies and the number one attraction seems to be our house. This is not the first go around with them that we have had and probably not the last. Last year I learned how intelligent squirrels are. You will be very lucky to get one in a live trap and will have better luck getting one with a snap trap, but they seem to learn very well from others misfortunes, as once one had been caught in a snap trap, they stayed clear. So I had to resort to a pellet gun and the dogs last spring. That worked pretty good. We were able to get four of them that way. The dogs would chase them up a tree and then I would bring them down with a pellet. I did not take any enjoyment out of having to shoot them, but new that I had tried all the non-lethal ways and failed and that them getting into the house presented a hazard to all of us. So I did what had to be done.

So this year, I did not break out the live or snap traps and went straight for the pellet gun. Saturday afternoon was beautiful to be outside and do some squirrel management. I dropped the tailgate of the truck and the pups and I went on watch. Now I might sound a little cooky here, but I had been letting the dogs out to chase them for about a week or so and as much as they tried, they just could not get one. Nor did it seem to deter them from coming out of the woods and heading for the house. But I swear that as soon as the three of us sat on that tailgate, me with the gun and them with a bit of drool coming from their mouths, I have yet to see one make a run for the house. So maybe, just maybe, those that escaped the pellet last year remembered what happened and are staying around. Perhaps not. Either way, the pups and I are ready!

Yesterday was probably the nicest day we have had since last autumn. We flirted with 60 degrees and had wonderful sunshine all day. A lot of time was spent outdoors. Not really doing anything super important, but Nora did a little pre-season work on her gardens. I put a few winter type things away and cleaned up the truck a bit. A yard game was even broken out and we took turns trying to toss the giant plastic coated washer into the boxes.

The sun set, we all went to bed and awoke this morning to a regular day of school and work…and a more typical day for early April. Temps in the 40’s, a heavy overcast and it looks like it is going to get busy raining soon. This is the weather that I dislike the most, but is all part of the program up here. Thankfully it is also probably the type of weather that lasts the shortest. In a few weeks, we will be having more days like yesterday than today and in a little over a month, sights will be set on the woods, beaches and pool. In the mean time, I plan to get busy in the shop making some projects.

Good night from the Keweenaw..

–JD