Well, another week is under the belt with the new site and I think I am finally getting used to how to update it. I still have a few things to add, but overall, I think things are running pretty well. Items to come are the links page and updates to the snow shot of the day. Which brings me to my first order of business. Please start sending in photos for the snow shot of the day. I realize that for most, the snow has yet to fall this season, but I am sure that there are some good ones from last season or even seasons past. I have 3 lined up and ready to go, but if I do not get more, I will have to resort to posting pictures from my elementary school days and none of us want that! Just send them to me via e mail and include the date and location taken if you can.
So as the title says, we still have not seen our first accumulating snow. I did see some flakes fly Friday morning before the sun came up. They were very small and did not accumulate, but at least I can say I have seen my first snowflakes for the season. Not only has the snow been absent, but we have been very mild, along with the rest of the Midwest. Our temps have actually been just about as warm as places like Chicago and Detroit all week. Lots of sunshine too. Quite honestly, as long as it is not going to snow, I would prefer weather like this. I do not like when we get snow and then it melts, nor do I care much for the typical autumn day we have up here, which is usually temps in the 40’s and a battleship gray sky.
I can report that there is snow on the horizon. Not this work week, but a good sized autumnal storm will work from the Plains into the northern Midwest. Most of the Midwest will actually see the precip fall as light rain, but for the far NW Midwest it looks like snow and potentially heavy. For us, it will be a case where the light rain changes to snow Friday night and intensifies some with the help of the lake into the weekend. A clipper type low then looks to scoot across the region northern Plains and northern Midwest early next week and bring a few inches of snow to much of the Northwoods. So with a little luck, next week’s entry will include some shots of fresh snow from the Keweenaw!
With the majority of the website remodel done and the mild and dry weather this past week, I have been busy outside cutting firewood. When the week started, I had quite the pile still left from the first delivery. I cut just about every day for around 30-60 minutes. Getting some help from Gracie one day, from the pups another. Actually, I question how much help they are, as they generally find the smaller pieces and then rather than haul them over to the wood shed, they take them over to where the pool sits in the summer and have a wrestling match to see who will end up with the stick still in their mouth. I have to laugh at Huck’s look on his face in that last shot. Like he is saying: “Are you getting this Dad?”. Despite the questionable level of help the pups give me, it is a joy to have them outside with me as I cut. They spend most of the time just laying there, looking into the woods for something to chase down. Just having them in my presence is a magical gift.
Yesterday I got some good help from my brother. We only cut for around 30 minutes, but I was able to have a bunch of the logs laid out on the rails, all ready to cut, so that helped to speed things up and we got quite a bit done. Now all that is left is enough to fill the rails and a bit more. Probably a good 30-35 minutes of cutting and then an extra 10 minutes of hauling/stacking and that pile will be all done. It will be good timing, as the next delivery is scheduled for this week sometime and it will be double what the last load was.
This past Thursday was the 41st anniversary of the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald. While we did not have a major autumnal storm going on like that fateful day, we did have some healthy winds. They were sustained at 25-30 mph, with gusts into the 40’s. I figured that kicked up the lake pretty good, so after picking Grace up from school, she, the pups and I headed down to “Buckys” to see the wave action. Pictures, and many times video, do not do justice to the size of the waves. I did not want Grace or the pups getting to close to the water, but I can say that the breakers rolling in were around 6 feet tall, which means that before they hit the shallows about 1/2 mile off the shore, they were probably about double that size. So not the 25 footers reported 41 years ago, but still a rough day on the big lake. Yesterday was also a breezy day. Again, nothing like the storm that sunk the Fitz, but enough of a blow to remind us where we live and what season it is, even if it was mostly sunny and in the upper 50’s!
Other than making wood and working on the site remodel, I was not up to much this past week. I am wanting to build us a new dinner table and have hoped to have it done for Thanksgiving this year. We are going to have around 12 friends/family over and it would be neat to be able to sit them all at the same table. So earlier in the week, Grace, the pups and I went and picked out the wood for it and I did a bit of work yesterday and more today and am probably 1/3rd of the way done with the construction. About another 8 hours and the construction should be done. It will then likely take another 5-8 hours to put the finish on it, but I am not too worried about hitting my deadline. It will be in the form of a farmhouse trestle table and will sit 8 normally and will also have leaves that can be added to each end to up the seating to 12. I have to say that it feel REALLY good to be back out in the shop working on a project. No flakes of snow to watch fall as I take a peak out the windows of the shop, but in due time.
Today Gracie had a piano recital. There were 11 other students that played either the piano, flute or violin. The talent that some of the young kids have is just incredible. If you were listening with your eyes closed, you would never guess that it was a person of elementary school age that was playing. As we were waiting for the program to start, Gracie did a little pre-game exercises with her uncle Jim by hanging out on his lap and reviewing the program. She did not appear to be nervous at all, not just before, but during her performance. She sure is something else!
So I guess that once again brings me to the end of another entry. Big things happen this week. The start of firearm deer season on Tuesday probably has many of the hunters already at deer camp. If you need the services of an independent contractor this week, you may be out of luck up this way! All the major stores are open, but I know of a lot of small, independently owned business that take at least the 15th off, if not a couple of days either side of it. Snows are seen for next weekend and then Thanksgiving will be upon us. I know I for one am very excited for the holidays!
Good night from the Keweenaw..
–JD
Where’s The Snow!!!
