Category: Uncategorized

Perhaps you have sensed it, perhaps not, but my early season excitement for snow or, probably better put, lack of disappointment for lack of snow has been growing through the years. I was becoming a bit worried that maybe my addiction for snow was waning a bit. However, the past 6 -7 days has confirmed my love and addiction to snow has not gone away. We had 7 days straight of snow since I last wrote and have picked up 42 1/2 inches of snow! The only time I felt a little down was when the snows intensity lightened up a bit! So, as the tile says… I still got it…my snow addiction that is.

The cold is a different story. I have 21 pictures to share with you. Most of them are of the snow up here the past week, but there could have been a ton more, if it were not so darned cold this past week as well! I don’t know if I am getting any softer in dealing with the cold than I was previously, as I have never enjoyed having to tolerate the bitter cold. Keep it above 15 degrees F and I am just fine. Put temps in the low 20’s and I am even finer! So I do have pics of the snow, but most of them are not from some adventurous expedition into the snow. For that I apologize.

The first snow pic I have for you is the front of house shot from Monday, the 12th. I think it could more properly be titled the calm before the storm. We did pick up a few inches of snow on Monday, with some areas like Houghton and Hancock picking up even more, as a heavier band sat over them during the morning hours and brought a quick 5-7″ in a few hours. The real deal kicked in Tuesday morning, after sunrise. School was called off on Tuesday, but not because of what was happening that morning, but because what was to come as the day progressed. We are fortunate where our house is located, because all of the woods surrounding it really help to cut down the wind significantly. Here is a shot of the house Tuesday as I was getting ready to head out to get some fuel for Big Red. It was snowing pretty good and we had some wind, but nothing like when I got out onto the highway. Visibility was down to less than 1/4 mile and it was just plain nasty. By the time I to got to the “windiest gas station in the Keweenaw”, the snow and blowing snow had visibility down to a few hundred yards.

It also came down hard enough at times during the snow event that we did not even need strong winds to reduce visibility to yards. Here is a shot from the front of our house to our woods. At that point, it was snowing at the rate of 2-3″ per hour. When that is happening, I have a certain bounce in my step and smile on my face. I still got it! The view out the back of our house is a bit less dramatic when it is snowing heavily, but still no less beautiful. I am so thankful for the breathtaking view I have out my office window. It really is a pinch-me type of thing. I still have a hard time comprehending I am lucky enough to live where I live, have the life I have…including the view I have from my office window!

By late in the day on Tuesday, the snow had piled up to the tune of around 8″ new at our place. The winds were still howling, temps were in the single digits and the forecast called for nothing to change for the next 24-36 hours at leas. Thus school was called for Wednesday, much to the delight of Nora and Gracie. Wednesday weather did not disappoint from a forecast and snow lovers standpoint. Moderate to heavy snows all day and the winds were even worse. Here is a shot of the Honda as we were heading to pick up the mail Wednesday afternoon. That is a pretty good example of zero visibility! Back at home, things were a bit quieter and Gracie did a little playing in the snow to wear off some of the cabin fever.

By Thursday, things had quieted down enough that I figured I would go and clear the snow off the skating rink. It has been so snowy, that they have not even been able to put the first flood on it, but I do not want the snow to get too deep on it. Plus, the slab still was not froze in all areas because of the way the snow insulated it. So Thursday afternoon I headed over and cleared the snow that had fallen since Monday afternoon. I have not been there since, so I am going to try and get over there tomorrow to clear it off again and hopefully allow them to start flooding it.

I really have to say that having Big Red is probably a HUGE reason why I can say I still got it. Moving snow has really become more of an afterthought than something that I need to set aside an hour or two every day to do. Plus, I get to do it in the heated comfort of the cab. So while it was in the single digits, with windchills of -20, I was all nice and comfy. We did pick up 7 inches of new snow from 7 am Thursday to 7 am Friday, but most of that came in the overnight period and things again quieted down a bit soon after sunrise on Friday. School was back on after 3 days off in a row and all that was left to do at that moment was clear the new snow to get ready for the next dumping!

With all the snow and wind, there had been a lot of drifting all week. No so much off the house, but the shop was a different story. I still have not knocked that curl-over off yet and the last time I took Big Red out of the lean-to, the roof took off the bottom foot of the drift. I do plan to knock it off tomorrow, as well as the monster that is hanging off the downwind side of the woodshed! The drifting in other areas was equally, if not more, impressive. Friday had me running into the grocery store to pick up a few things and the Christmas trees that had been on display for sale out in front of the store had been nearly buried.

Friday night, the troops arrive from down south to ride. Friends Keith and Randy came up from far northern IL. They got in pretty late Friday and the weather had already turned snowy up here. The main system snows were falling to our south, but the lake was enhancing the system snow that was falling on us and we picked up around 6″ of fresh powder Friday night. Saturday morning arrived and temps were in the single digits, so there was not a huge sense of urgency to head out and ride. A bit of wrenching was done in addition to the annual putting on of the trail stickers and looking for all the stuff that goes out with on a ride up here. By later in the morning, the sleds were fired up and ready to ride. It is always so cool to be able to look down on the gauge display and see less than a mile on the odometer. Its even more cool to have to keep wiping the snow off the gauge so that what it displayes can be seen when I take a picture! Hopefully when the season is over, there will be considerably more miles on it!

So the four kitties were let out of their stalls and hit the snowy woods. Conditions were truly mid-January like. 2-3 feet of snow on the ground, a solid foot of packed/groomed snow on the trails and lots of cold! I did not take any pictures while riding Saturday. I am not sure if I just completely forgot, or if the bitter cold sort of helped me to forget to take my camera out and then have to take my glove off to get a shot. Either way, what happened in the woods of Keweenaw County Saturday will just have to stay there! We rode for about 4 hours, which was pretty good for as cold as it was and it being the first ride of the season. All went well and we returned cold, hungry, but wearing smiles!

Saturday evening was the date when the local volunteer fire department picks up Santa and brings him around to the children’s houses in our township. I have been told that they have been doing this for a very long time and that they typically start around noon and finish up at 9 or 10 in the evening! Truly a very special thing they do! Santa is not the only one though, he has some helpers in the form of one of his elf’s and Rudolph. They all took the time to allow us to snap a picture of them. Santa is a true dog lover, as he noticed the pups wanted to be in the picture too, so he took the time to pose with Huck and Millie. What cracks me up about that picture is the look on Huck’s face. When he went over to be with Santa, it was like he knew about all the times he had been naughty and nice the past year and was really tying to be on his best behavior. I have never seen him so well behaved and actually timid with a visitor to the house as he was with Santa this year. I also love the look on Gracie’s face in that last shot. The true excitement of the season. After their photo op with Santa, Huck and Millie headed over to check our Rudolph. Perhaps looking for a handout of some sort! Santa also wanted to prove to Grace that he was the real deal, so he invited her over to tug on his beard. Oh, these days…I am so glad that I get to partake in them and have loads of pictures and video to remind me of them!

So I guess that about covers it for this one. A few inches of snow look to fly Wednesday and then there are ideas of a biggie for us and others in the Northwoods for Christmas Day. It is still too far out in the forecast to have faith in the exact details, but it would be cool to get slammed on Christmas Day. I know I am more than ready for it to happen! With Christmas coming next Sunday, I am not sure when I will write, perhaps a short one on Monday or Tuesday. So with that said…

Have a very Merry Christmas everyone and Good Night from the Keweenaw..

-JD

Between the moving snow and playing in it, I am too wiped out to write tonight, but will take care of business tomorrow!

Well, I through out a challenge in last week’s entry and the powers that be sure stepped up and answered it! Since I last wrote, we have picked up 36″ of snow and it is currently snowing as I type. Talk about making up for lost time! If that were not enough, there is the realistic possibility that similar totals could fall in the next 7 days. The pattern is locked and loaded and does not look to let up for more than a day or so. What makes things even better is that we are not the only ones getting the snow. By the time I finish typing this entry, just about everyone north of I-80 will have white on the ground. Plus, many of the areas north of I-80 will get more snow this coming week, perhaps a lot more in some spots. My only concern is for areas like eastern IA, northern IL, southern WI and sections of lower MI which could be on the warm side of the storm at the end of the week and thus see rains fall first, with things finishing up as snow. I guess the trade off to that is the fact that much of the areas of northern MN, northern WI and even northern lower MI that need lakes and swamps to freeze up have been seeing that occur since late last week and will see more of it this week before potentially getting a lot of snow.

I have so many friends/customers that rely on the snow being down to allow snow play to happen, it really makes me feel good that we had such a nice change in the weather pattern to one that wil make so many happy. I most certainly cannot forget about all the good folks that will be able to take part in the snow play. It’s been a while since so much of the upper Midwest had good conditions for snow play between the Christmas and New Years holidays and barring a major change in the going forecast, it looks like all areas north of a line from the Twin Cities to Wausau WI to Bay City will be in good shape.

So that was the forecast, now to recap the week in the Keweenaw. We picked up some snow late Sunday into Sunday night, which left us with a pretty solid snow pack to start the week, although it was a very wet and heavy snow. By Tuesday, confidence was growing that the seasons first significant round of lake effect snow would set up for the second half of the week and things at Snow Central really started to buzz. Well, had they known what was to come, they would have been excited, but that is one of the beauties of a dog, they live in the moment… Not the past, not the future. So they were chilling, but things were getting busy in the office. Typically the duties associated with the site ramp up once the first meaningful snows fly, which is usually in November. So this season it did not happen until this week, but just like the snow, it came.

Wednesday night the lake snows started in earnest and we awoke to around 10-11″ new by Thursday morning. As is almost always the with lake effect snow, the totals were not uniform with the activity late Wednesday into Thursday morning. We actually had some of the heaviest totals, with some areas seeing less than half of our 10-11″. With a bit of a lull in the action, I headed over to clear the snow off the outdoor ice skating rink in Ahmeek Location. It was quite the chore, as there was about an inch or so of very slushy snow underneath the 10″ of fresh that we had picked up Wednesday night and early Thursday morning. So Big Red really had to work hard to move the slushy stuff, but was able to manage it and by the late afternoon, the rink was cleared of most of its snow. It was already pretty cold out, but the new snow was doing an excellent job of insulating the slab and the wet snow from earlier in the week. By the time I finished up, some of the areas first cleared had already frozen up. They have not flooded it yet, but the slab really needed to be exposed to the elements and left to freeze up.

It did continue to snow the rest of the day on Thursday and into Thursday night. Not too heavily in most cases, but as much as 5-6″ fell in areas to the south of Houghton. We picked up around 4″ new snow Thursday and Thursday night and it was almost looking like the main snows might be winding down. But the winds, the cold air and the big lake had different plans. Soon after the girls headed to school Friday morning, the intensity of the snow picked up and it kept up at a very healthy clip most of the morning. Here is a shot soon after sunrise when it had just started to snow more heavily.

With the snow dumping and not a lot of wind, plus temps in the upper teens to low 20’s, Jim and I decided it would be a great morning to head out in to the woods with the pups and go for a snowshoe. The pups and I had been out earlier in the week a few times and the woods were very beautiful with the wet and sticky snow, but did not need snowshoes. By Friday morning, there was about 14″ of snow on the ground, which was plenty enough to warrant the need for snowshoes. The fresh snow and heavy falling snow really made the woods a winter wonderland. My brother Jim even commented on how when he was a kid, he always dreamed of a scenario like that and had only been able to experience it a few times in his entire life and here he was, experiencing just the start of his first Keweenaw winter and was already living out the dream. It helped to remind me of how lucky I am to live here and be able to live out my snow-dreams so many times each season.

Of course the pups where in their element. I do not know if they dream, or if they do, what they dream about, but it did not matter. They were like two kids playing in the snow. Running around and chasing each other through the woods. Dodging and darting around trees and occasionally picking up a stick and chilling out so they could chew on it for a while. Millie even decided to make a snow angel. By the time we finished up with the snowshoe, a couple of fresh inches of snow had fallen and it was still falling at the rate of 2-3″ per hour. We ended up getting around 7″ of fresh snow from 8 until 11 am Friday and then went back to a more garden variety of snowfall.

Nora’s nephew was graduating from Northern MI University this weekend, so once the girls got back from school, we packed up and headed to Marquette for the weekend. It appeared as though the heavier snows were over and the NW winds would be shifting more to the west, which would cause the snows to concentrate across the Keweenaw, but leave the rest of our drive from around Chassell or Baraga to Marquette pretty snow free. Once again, the powers that be had a different idea. We did have fairly light snow down to Houghton/Hancock and then to Chassell, but soon after Chassell, we hit a white out. Luckily, the snows did let up by the time we go to Baraga and we even saw a few stars out.

Little did we know that the band of heavy snow we drove through would move north with the change in wind direction and the proceed to park itself across the Calumet area for most of the night. I did check the AL Cam and Woods Cam from time to time Friday evening and then Saturday morning and had seen that considerable snow had fallen at our house, so I called Jim (who was house/dog sitting) to see what the result was. He told me that they had picked up around 8-10″ of fresh overnight. Then the reports of what had happened in Calumet overnight started to hit the wires of social media. Nora started showing me pictures of the snow from Calumet and the stories that some of her friends had to tell and it was pretty incredible.

Depending where you were in Calumet, you picked up 2 to 3 feet of snow overnight Friday night! It takes a lot to cancel things in the Keweenaw due to winter weather, but many of the activities planned for Saturday in Calumet had to be postponed or canceled so that they could dig out. We were not in town to be able to capture things, but I did get a few pictures sent to me of the snows. Here is one of them digging out from the heavy snows. No that was not a child, it was an adult. Jim sent me this one of a vehicle traveling down the road with a thick cap of snow on the roof. Probably not the best clearing job, but still made for an interesting photo!

So I guess that covers it for this one, but it promises to be another snowy week, perhaps even more snowy than we just went through. Only time will tell, but I am going to go out on a limb and predict a White Christmas for the Keweenaw in 2016!

Good night from the Keweenaw..
-JD

I’m sure 99% of you have noticed with the new format that the Journal is defined more by a title than the date. I really liked this idea, but also was afraid of the times where I would struggle to come up with a title. I suppose some days it will be the big story up here in the Keweenaw and at others, smaller stories about our lives, or even how I am feeling. Obviously, this issues title was based on how I am feeling. I suppose everyone feels this way most of their lives, only with different levels of both. I have SO MUCH to be thankful for, not just today, or this past week, but in the past 50 years and 167 days. Sure there have been days that were a much larger challenge to find something to be thankful for, but as I age, it seems to be able to come to me more easily. For some reason, in the past few weeks, it seems like it is almost automatic. I just take a look around and see how wonderful my life is. I have a beautiful wife that loves me unconditionally, a beautiful daughter that also loves me unconditionally, two dogs that do as well and my love for them is also unconditional. I live in the place that sits at the top of my list of places to want to live, have a job that I love to do- even after 25+ years of doing it. I am not financially wealthy, but I also do not have financial woes. There are hiccups in my health on a daily, weekly, monthly, even yearly basis, but I’m still here to claim victory over all of them. I guess I can say with all honesty that Life is Good.
Sometimes I am a little worried to say such things, as it seems like not long after, the powers that be take me down a path that presents challenges I did not ask or wish for… but that is life. We were never promised that it would be easy, or if we were, it was a lie. However, I have found that through the years, the less I fight to try and get off that path of challenge and the more I just go along for the ride, the easier it becomes to go down it and the more I am able to recognize the moments of enjoyment that have been given to me. We humans can be control freaks and I used to take it to a professional level, but have learned to just let it be. What I thought was best for me was not the case and I was no where close to being as smart as I thought. My comfort used to come from thinking I was in control, now, there is nothing more liberating than recognizing and admitting that I am wrong. Although I am still having to work on that!!!
Where am I going with this? Well, it is the second part of the title that I have left off. It is that I am not anxious. Anxious for what? SNOW! Now don’t get me wrong, I have not lost my love of snow. Probably not even by a bit. I would be lying if I said that I did not wish that we were starring down the barrel of a major winter storm this week that would set us up in great shape for the start of the snow-play season. However, I am fine with the current forecast that calls for rain on Monday and the first half of Tuesday that will melt the last of our existing snow off and make everything muddy before the cooler temps arrive midweek and change the precip over to some snow and start freezing things back up. It is highly doubtful that there will be enough snow for the opener on Thursday, but that’s OK. I suppose it helps knowing that I live in an area where snow…and a lot of it…are a certainty. It is just how much the “a lot” becomes. Will it be 12 feet (a record low), 20 feet (our average) or 30 feet+ (record territory). In either case, we will not be hurting for it sooner or later.
So enough of the philosophy! It was a pretty busy first half of the week. While the dining room table was nearly done at the start of the week, it was not completely done and the deadline was Thursday morning. I am usually OK with deadlines, but when it comes to wood working, I would prefer not to have a strict deadline. It adds an element of pressure and thus worry/concern and that takes some of the fun out of it. I did have a blast in the woodshop building the table, but when combined with still trying to finish crossing the T’s and dotting the I’s on the website remodel, plus all of the other things that are on my plate on a daily basis, there were times when I felt more forced to go and do the work, than go into the shop for the pure pleasure of it.
I did meet my deadline and by around 10 am Thanksgiving morning, my brother and I were hauling it in from the shop and getting it set up in the dining room. I am pleased with how it turned out and more importantly, so was Nora. Here is a shot of the table with both leaf extensions in it. It was a joy to have our entire cast of guests sitting at the table and not have some have to sit elsewhere. Its fun to think of all the future get-together’s will be had at that table in the years to come. It is a welcome addition to our home and family!
Thanksgiving itself was wonderful. We had a mix of friends and family over and there were 12 of us around the table for supper. The feast was pretty traditional, with turkey and all the fixings, but that is probably where the traditions stopped. We did not have any football games on, most of us sat around and visited, either in one big group, or as was the case later in the evening, in smaller groups. Gracie and her buddy Jacob played a game of chess, while Jacobs little brother made sure no cheating went on.
Backing up a bit, the day before Thanksgiving, we picked up a couple of inches of snow. It was wet and sticky and also enough for Gracie to build a snowman. I helped a bit by rolling the base until it got big enough and was in a good spot to finish him off. Then Gracie did the rest, including all the finishing touches and it turned out great. Wednesday night into Thursday morning we had a mix of rain and snow fall. The higher terrain of Keweenaw County saw mostly snow and had as much as 6″ on the ground Thanksgiving morning. We sort of held steady and then have lost most of our snow with temps in the mid 30’s the past 3 days. Gracie’s snowman has lost some weight and a few other things, but has not given up the fight.
Friday, Gracie was invited to a skating session at the Coliseum in Calumet. One of her friends takes lessons there and that session was an “invite a friend” one. So Gracie laced up the skates and got ready to hit the ice. Both Nora and I were wondering how it would go. Gracie has been getting a little “soft” in the past few weeks/month. Meaning she seems to break into tears at times that she did not previously and probably could get by without. We have been working on trying to get her to not cry, while still respecting her feelings. Anyway, the last time she skated was at the outdoor rink in Ahmeek and she took a spill that did warrant some tears, falling and hitting her face on the ice. We were fortunate enough to receive a bunch of hockey equipment from a visitor to the site and so we made sure she had the helmet on when she went out onto the ice this latest time. At first, she was pretty timid. I think she was a bit worried about taking a spill and hitting her face/head again. After a few tumbles, it became clear to her that her helmet and face shield would protect her in those areas very well and she started getting more adventurous. I really thought she would not last much longer than 30-45 minutes before the toll of falls and being skates for the first time all season would kick in and have her toss in the towel. I was wrong. She ended up staying on the ice for around an hour and 20 minutes and would have gone longer, but her friend took a quick break and we decided to call it and have some dinner.
So here we are…three days from the opener. Its been a slow start to the winter season up here so far. Someone asked me the other day what I thought the winter would bring and I said I was a little worried that it may end up being a fairly mild one, as winters that follow a mild November up here tend to be mild. I also said that it may just kick in shortly and have everyone on their knees begging for mercy by the middle of March. Only time will tell and I am ready for the ride!
Good night from the Keweenaw..
-JD