Copper Harbor Lighthouse

Copper Harbor Lighthouse

Tuesday, April 30, 2013

The Big Meltdown

I had really intended to write a lengthy post several times in the last week, and it was definitely on my schedule for this evening. Unexpected events prevented that from happening tonight, so you'll have to wait a bit longer to hear about my birthday and Steve's birthday.

I just want to tell you before April is history that the big meltdown is happening. To illustrate my point, I'm including 2 photos. The first photo is from Sunday, April 21.

The next photo is from Sunday, April 28 - one week later.

What's even more amazing is that we had about 10 inches of new snow between those 2 photos! We just experienced the snowiest April on record. It was warm again today, but we're looking at a chance for 2-4 inches of snow on Thursday. Stay tuned!

All is well in the Keweenaw.

Friday, April 19, 2013

Blizzard!

The Winter Storm Warning has been canceled. We're now under a Blizzard Warning until 1:00 a.m. Saturday. Uh, ya think?!



All is well in the Keweenaw.

P.S.
Gotta love this photo of a U.P. Garden Gnome:

Thursday, April 18, 2013

Here Comes Another One!

The local weather dudes are telling us we're in for another big one. This storm has the possibility of 8-18 inches of snow. That wasn't a typo. I meant 8-18 inches! It has been snowing lightly tonight, and it's supposed to continue for most of the day tomorrow. Winds are to be in the 40-50 mph range beginning late tonight. Maybe we'll end up with another drift like this one that almost completely swallowed our Traverse back in February.

All is well in the Keweenaw. Really!

Monday, April 15, 2013

Can You Believe It?

We enjoyed lovely sunshine and a Keweenaw Blue sky yesterday.  

The snow was sparkling.

I took this shot of Cocoa to give you some idea of the size of that snow bank in the backyard.

It was a lovely day. Then. . . it started snowing late in the evening. . . and it continued to snow and blow all night - bringing us another 6.5 inches! Can you believe it?

The snowplow left Steve some nice chunks of crispy snow at the end of our driveway.

The weather warmed up nicely this afternoon, so we did get a lot of melting during the day. You can see that in the photo above. We had bare pavement on the street!

We have met our average snowfall for the winter, but the amazing thing is the snow depth. According to our local meteorologist, it's definitely deeper than usual for this time of year. In fact, it looks like snowmobiling will be possible in May!

All is well in the Keweenaw.

Saturday, April 13, 2013

Snowshoeing In

The snowblower got another workout this afternoon. Steve estimates the total from this last storm was approximately 10 inches. It started later than was forecasted, and the flakes weren't very large, or it would have been much worse. The forecast for next week calls for warmer temperatures, so this could be the last large accumulation we'll have for the season. It sounds crazy, but we were both a bit disappointed that we didn't have a bigger storm.

Since we're not living on our property yet, it wasn't necessary to plow our long driveway there all winter. Steve said he wanted to drive up to get something out of our barn last week, but I highly suspect he just wanted another winter adventure. The snow bank where our driveway meets the road was way over Steve's head, so he had to leave our vehicle on the road and snowshoe down the driveway.

It was a beautiful day with a Keweenaw Blue sky - perfect for snowshoeing in to take some photos. Steve stopped to take a quick shot of his "shack."

This was the first building on our property. Steve assembled it in Saginaw, took it apart, and reassembled it up here back in 2004. He has spent many a night in the shack when working on our property since then. It has a electricity, a small wood stove, 2 cots, a coffee maker, a microwave and a small TV/VCR for entertainment - all the comforts of home - except plumbing!

The snowshoes were making for an easy walk, so Steve continued past our barn and onto the site of our basement.

The snow looks pretty impressive on top of our basement walls, doesn't it? Steve decided to keep going, so he made his way down the trail to his deer blind.

Of course, he had to go in for a closer look.

The roof seems to be holding up well under that snow load. After walking around in the woods a bit longer, Steve made his way back to our barn to retrieve whatever it was he wanted. He said he had to reach down to unlock the door and climb down into the barn. He took the next photo as he was heading back down our driveway toward the road.

Isn't that peaceful looking? He took the next shot as he continued toward the road.

If you look closely, you can see the gate across our driveway. The trees at the end are on the other side of the road. As he made his way to the other side of the gate, he paused to take a shot down the path cut into the woods for the power lines.

That's the area where Steve was snowmobiling last year when he got stuck, stuck, stuck. He claims he'll never do that again. He turned and took this last shot when he was almost to the road - before he climbed that huge bank at the end of the driveway.

Snowshoes come in real handy up here.

All is well in the Keweenaw.

Thursday, April 11, 2013

More Like A Quilt

The calendar may say spring, but winter isn't finished with us yet! The fresh blanket of snow we received over the weekend turned out to be more like a quilt - about 8 inches, and we're under a Winter Storm Warning from 7:00 tonight until 7:00 tomorrow night for another 8-12 inches. I guess that would be a down comforter? Steve is getting plenty of cardiovascular exercise, since these late season storms tend to involve the wet, heavy stuff.

I'm working on a blog about Steve's recent snowshoe excursion into our property near Eagle Harbor. In the meantime, enjoy this web cam photo of one of our local snowmobile trails just outside of Calumet.

All is well in the Keweenaw.

Saturday, April 6, 2013

A Fresh Blanket

We're under a Winter Weather Advisory until 2:00 a.m., and we may have a fresh blanket of 5 or 6 inches (or more) on the ground by then. The sun has been shining all week, and we've lost quite a bit of snow. I needed to print some things for Steve on Tuesday, so I was sitting at the desktop computer in our home office when I felt like I was being watched.

I looked up and the peeping pup was at it again! She looked so cute that I had to open the window and talk to her - hoping I could get her to stay long enough to snap her picture. I succeeded in getting just one shot before she was off exploring again. 

She looked like she was contemplating another excursion onto the roof, but she decided not to attempt such a thing without Steve. Whew!

When I heard we were in for more snow, I thought I should snap a few photos yesterday to document the snow loss. Here's a  backyard shot. You can see Cocoa's tracks everywhere on the crusty snow.

We could even see a bit of grass near the back door yesterday.

I took 2 shots this afternoon to show you what we've received so far - just enough to cover all the Cocoa tracks.


All is well in the Keweenaw.