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If it wasn’t enough to live in the snow desert of Jacobsville where around 1/4 of the snow falls compared to areas just 15 miles away, this winter so far has been an extra special challenge. I realize that I may seem ungrateful to be living in the Keweenaw and complaining about lack of snow, but the truth is, we are quite a bit behind for this time of the year and it can be just as frustrating for a snow lover here as it is for a snow lover in the less snowy parts of the Midwest. The only difference being that we will get slammed sooner or later!

So in my little snow funk I decided to head up to the high country while the girls were doing some shopping on Saturday. When we lived in the high country, a spot I would often go to when I was in a snow funk was Cliff Drive. For some reason it has a way of lifting my spirits more than other locations up here. I’m not sure why, it is a beautiful spot, but there are dozens of beautiful spots up here. In the past I always had the dogs with me, but the two we have now cannot be trusted to be off a leash and my poor old heart does not really like to do a lot of exercising these days, even a walk down the road. I am good for about a 1/2 mile and then I can keep going, but it is just not that enjoyable. 

So off I went, solo into the great outdoors of the Keweenaw. I did not get out of my truck to walk Cliff Drive, rather I just drove a bit faster than walking speed. The western 1/2 of the drive is closed and not plowed in the winter and even though the snow was not yet deep enough to keep a truck or SUV with 4 wheel drive from going down that end, no one seems to be using the drive anymore and the plowed section was nice and quiet. So I was able to creep along in the truck and pay more attention to the world around me than the road.

I have been down that stretch of road dozens of times since moving here, but yet am still amazed by the magnitude of the Cliff Range. Most locals use it as a by-pass of 41 through Mohawk and I think the majority of visitors take 41 rather than Cliff Drive, so I feel that their true majesty is missed by many, especially in the time that the leaves are down and you can see the details of the Cliff Range better. There is a spot where a frozen waterfall develops every winter and the freeze/thaw cycles we have had already has it looking pretty good. 

Further east, the drive separates itself from the range a bit and in between is a lake, swampy area and also left over tailings from the mining era. There was some remediation work done to the area several years ago and when they were finished they put up a post and rail fence. At first I did not care for the fence, but it has grown on me and even helped to add to the atmosphere in this picture.

After rejoining with the main highway, I took it to where hwy 26 branches off and heads to Eagle River. My intent was not to drive down to Eagle River or to see the big lake. I can see it here in Jake anytime I would like to. The reason for the turn was to go and check out the Eagle River at a spot called “10 foot”. It gets that name because of a little waterfall there. I have never measured the size of the falls, but it must be 10 feet, otherwise the spot would be called something different, right?! Anyway, it is a very scenic spot just about anytime of the year and another spot that souths my soul, especially when I have the place to myself. The view downstream is quite beautiful, as is the view looking upstream and in between you have the drop. The formations that mother nature can create with water and cold air can be quite beautiful and amazing. Such was the case with this terraced ice formation over a rock.

After 10 foot, I turned around and headed back up to 41 and took a Louie to continue up the highway towards Copper Harbor, although the harbor was not on my list of places to visit. It was probably pretty quiet, which is just the way I like it, but too far of a drive, especially with snow starting to fall. My last goal for the afternoon was to take a jaunt up to Gratiot Lake. The Gratiot Lake road is another beautiful and therapeutic drive for me and I love the incline up to where the old radar base used to be and then the decline down to the lake. The snowmobile trail crosses the road right next to the hwy, so I did stop and take a pic of the trail. The snow is not as deep as those in charge of the trails would like right now, but they did open up the gates over the weekend and some lucky snowmobilers were able to take advantage of the snow we have and some very quiet trails. They are not grooming yet, but with the snow so thin the trails don’t really have a chance to get moguls. I’m sure there may be some wet spots and even a few of the bigger rocks to have to keep an eye out, but as I was take the picture, I really wished that I was on my sled and being able to leisurely cruise down them without worry of someone outriding their skills. 

I did make the drive to the lake and took a turn onto the road that runs along the lake, feeding the camps on it. My plan was to stop at the boat launch to take a picture of the lake, but when I got there, it was snowing heavy enough that the view of the lake was just a wall of white. 

With my planned destinations for the afternoon all met, I headed back down to Jake. I did take a little detour through the old neighborhood and even cracked a little tear as I drove down “Old Joe’s” road. That was one of the roads that the dogs and I (also Nora and Grace when they were home) walked every day. It also reminded me of when I could walk that 2 mile walk at a brisk pace. Some great memories for sure!

As I drove down to Jake, I thought about how I really miss the high country in Keweenaw County in the winter. There is no better place than Jake in the warm months. It is truly paradise, but when the snows start to fly, I love them bumps in Keweenaw County! When I got down to Jake, I turned right instead of left and drove to White City Beach. Soon the snow will be too deep on that stretch of unplowed road to drive there and I was in need of seeing the beach, pier and light one last time before spring. I guess Jake can be quite beautiful in the winter too!

This past Thursday, Grace had her winter skating show at MI Tech. She is getting quite good and actually took a first place in a competition in Escanaba a little over a week ago. She is also fun to watch as she really loves to perform. I think one of the reasons why she does so good in the competitions is that you can tell she is out there having fun and also is not afraid to add flair to her routine. Some skaters she goes against have better skills, but are just mechanical and like robots. Grace looks the opposite of a robot, all full of smiles the whole time. Yes, I’m bragging about my daughter, but what proud dad doesn’t every now and then?

So that covers it for this one. Hopefully the storm for Thursday-Saturday gives us a nice dumping and sets us on the road for more before the holidays. I also hope the rest of the northern Midwest gets a good dumping too. It’s been a while since the entire northern Midwest had a deep snowpack during the holidays.

Good Night from the Keweenaw..
–JD

Typically when we get a meaningful amount of snow before Thanksgiving, I don’t really count on it all sticking around. That’s not to be taken to mean it all melts either, it’s just that there usually is some kind of a warm up that occurs and the ground also usually contains enough heat in it to melt from below, that there will be come kind of a loss before it really starts to accumulate for good. Well, this was one of those years where we had a loss. Not only did we lose some, but we lost all of our snow. Some of the areas hit hardest managed to hang onto a bit here and there, but nothing that could be considered useable. A big reason why it all went so quickly is that nearly all of it was the lake effect fluff. Had the double digit snows on the ground been from a system and been more dense, then much of it would have survived.

I can’t remember when we lost all of our snow, but I know that by the day before Thanksgiving, the ground was bare. There was a tiny bit of ice on the waterway down by the White City boat launch, but our snow was cooked like a turkey.

It is snowing in the high country as I type, but here in Jacobsville by the sea, it is just plain old rain. A cold rain. It will be changing to snow here as well and we look to get at least enough to cover the ground by around midday tomorrow. The western UP could end up with some double digit accumulations and this time around all the snow that falls in the western 1/2 to 2/3rds of the UP will be the wet and heavy type. There is also some more snow seen for this Saturday and again by the middle of next week. Obviously things can change in the forecast, especially the further out you go in time, but I do like what I am seeing in the models.

Despite the fact that we lost all of our snow, I did take advantage of the near 60 degree temps on Saturday to get the very last of my outdoor chores done. Most of them could have gone the winter without being done, but the one that was fairly important to do was to take the loader off of Big Red and put the snowblower on. Honestly, living down here, I could probably get by with just the loader and bucket, but it takes much less time with the blower. Next year I will have even more driveway to clear, so the blower will be even more of a necessity. Next year I will not have to be too concerned about the weather for the switch over either. This year, Big Red got the boot out of her stall and into the cold to make room for storing things from the house. Next year not only will she be getting her stall back, but I will have a nice big garage to make the switch!

Our Thanksgiving was good. My brother as well as Nora’s brother and his wife joined us and filled the apartment to the max! It actually worked out pretty well, with the island playing the role of a buffet table. It is somewhat of a tradition to put our Christmas tree up in the day or two following Christmas. Back when we lived in Mohawk, we actually put it up a few days before Thanksgiving and I hope we can return to that tradition next year in the new home. The girls did manage to get the tree up and decorated on Sunday, although it was getting a little shaky for time as Grace was doing the lights and doing a great job, but also still doing it at 6:30 in the evening! She got them finished up by around a quarter to 7 and then mostly Nora got busy putting up all the ornaments.

I nearly forgot to mention that on Saturday, we were invited to our new neighbors down the street for dinner. They bought the Lighthouse in Jacobsville this past spring and spent a ton of the summer cleaning things up and making it suitable for living in. They plan to do quite a bit of remodeling in the years to come and it will be exciting to see the transformation take place. We were invited to go to the top of the lighthouse, something I have wanted to do for quite some time. Nora opted out due to her dislike of heights and I must say that once we made it to the top and stepped out onto the platform, I had to take a couple of deep breaths. It is 50 feet from the platform to the ground and the tower sits right on the cliffs of the big lake. So you can add another 30 feet or so to the distance on the lake side and it’s quite the look down! The better view is to look out over the lake though! 

I guess that about covers it for this one. I will be starting up the forecasts on Thursday. I hope to get a Snow Church video done too, but there is the possibility I could run into some technical difficulties which would delay it a bit. So hang in there, it will all be good eventually! Oh, and if you are wondering where would be your best bet to ride this weekend? I would have to say the western UP from Gogebic to Ironwood/Hurley. I will obviously be talking about this in the forecasts and Snow Church, but thought I would give you an early heads up!

Good Night from the Keweenaw..
–JD

Lots to talk about this week. I hope I can remember it all! I really wanted to write last week, but lately, Sunday’s seem to go one way or the other. They are either super busy and I just run out of time, or are much less busy and then I just have to pick the right time to write. It takes me a solid 2-3 hours to write an entry. About half is the physical writing and the other half is the downloading and editing of pictures and making sure all the coding is correct so that the links in the journal match the right pictures!

There have been many a Sunday where I knew I could not write that day, but really figured on writing the next day. Last Sunday was one of those, but poor Grace cam down with a bad cold and needed extra attending to by Nora and I. I had hoped to still write on Tuesday, but Grace was still sick and then Nora and I got sick Wednesday and have been down with the bug ever since. My worst day was Wednesday, when I was just zapped for energy and could barely get out of bed. Every day since, I have been feeling a bit better and am no too far from full strength.

Before I forget, while I was writing the last entry, I was waiting for a picture of the apartment’s kitchen to come through and it never, so I gave up after waiting 30 minutes. By the next morning, the image had finally come through, but too late to make that entry. I did keep it so that when the last time I write I could share with you. So here it is. The kitchen inside the barndeemininum.

When I go two weeks without writing this time of the year, it can be hard to keep the days and events straight. This go around the weather helps a lot to keep things in their place. The weather two weeks ago was about as beautiful as it can be this time of the year. Temps in the upper 60’s to low 70’s and loads of sunshine. Every local I knew was taking advantage of that weather to get outdoor work done, Including the crew working on our new home and me. The crew working on our new house did a lot on the foundation that week, digging out the area for the home and foundation, as well as forming up and pouring the  footings.

For over two years, there was a pile of rough cut pine that was sitting all stacked and stickered on the side of the driveway for the shop. It came from a large windfall at a neighbors place. Another neighbor was kind enough to cut it into 1/2″ slabs for me with his portable bandsaw mill. My plan all along was to use it to side the interior walls of the shop. The look I am wanting for the inside of the shop is that of the inside of an old barn. 

So on November 2nd, my brother came over and helped me pull the slabs off the pile one by one, square up the sides using a track saw with an extra long track and then restack. In two days time, we were able to square up half of the pile and get restack them inside the shop. The other half of the pile we ended up bringing inside the shop because the weather had closed in and the days to be able to square them up outside would be very limited. So all of that wood now sits inside the shop, either ready to be put on the walls or to have their sides squared up. Plus, for the first time in over 2 years, that pile is not sitting there looking ugly!

Last week provided less favorable weather for working outside, however, there were a few days that were good enough to get things done. I did not have too much left to do, so spent much of my time working indoor, or in bed! The crew spent the good days setting up and then filling the insulated concrete forms, then backfilling the field with sand, so that they could do the under-slab plumbing. They then finished the work for the week off by putting the rigid foam insulation down, then the wire mesh and lastly the pex tubing for the in-floor heat. Doing all that just in time for a ton of rain to hit Thursday and then some rain and snow Friday, with snow falling Saturday and flurries today. All told we picked up around 1-2″ of snow, with the higher terrain picking up double to triple that. There is still around 1-2″ of snow where the slab will be poured and on the grass. I have a feeling that it will be the snow that sticks around until the final melt in spring.

The plan is for them to pour the slab on Monday, tidy up things and then disappear for deer season and most of the month of December, taking time off to be with their families for the holidays. There is a small chance that a few of them may be here in December to do a bit of the preliminary framing work, but I am not going to expect much and just be thankful that they will be returning in force in January to get the place framed and the work will then continue pretty much non-stop until the place is finished in late spring.  

This afternoon, I took my truck over to a friends place to put it’s winter boots on. He has a lift which made the job easier, but man-oh-man those tires and tims weighed a ton! and were not the easiest things to lift into place. Got the job done and now all that is left to do before the snow gets serious is to swap the loader for the snowthrower on Big Red!

Good Night from the Keweenaw..
–JD