Sunday Reflections

All is well in the Keweenaw.

Sneak Peek Friday

We're moving outside for today's sneak peek. You may remember that I showed you the exterior lights for the new house several months ago. Here's a shot to refresh your memory.

We bought them at Menards in Marquette on the way home from Saginaw in May, but these weren't the first lights we purchased for the exterior of the house. The following photo shows the 4 exterior lights we got back in 2006.

They were on sale, so I settled for them at the time, but it was a purchase I almost instantly regretted. So. . . when we realized we would need 5 exterior lights (not 4) and those lights were now discontinued, it was a great excuse to purchase replacements. The good thing is that we're still going to use the "bear lights" somewhere else. We never installed any exterior lights on the barn, so we'll use 3 of them for that. That still leaves us with 1 extra, so we're going to use it in the garage. We have a set of stairs going from the garage down into the basement, and we need a light on the wall above the stairs. No new purchase necessary.

One more peek today:  Another thing we purchased shortly before moving here from Saginaw was this set of outdoor furniture.

Never been out of the box! Yes, we got the rug, too. We won't get our deck finished this year, but we're really looking forward to putting this set on the new deck next summer.

All is well in the Keweenaw.

Sunday Reflections

All is well in the Keweenaw.

Age 9

Cocoa has really enjoyed her last few weeks. She has been spending many days and nights on the property with Steve.

Happy birthday, Girl! You're 9 today!

Rawhide in her mouth - dirt on her nose. Life is good.

All is well in the Keweenaw.

Sneak Peek Friday

I'm going to give you a peek at some of the recent electrical work today. Until last week, we were using extension cords to "power" the house. The extension cords ran all the way down to the barn where a power box and meter are mounted.

We were informed that we could continue to use that meter instead of mounting one on the house, but we still needed to dig a trench to bring wire from that location up to the house. Josh started digging that trench for us last fall, but Steve and Josh finally made time to finish it up last week.

I'm told that it was dark when the trench was finished. (Steve was holding a flashlight and Josh was digging!) The wire was run through a conduit in the trench all the way up to the house.

That little gray box on the exterior of the house sure looks better than a meter, and the utility company will just continue to read the meter down by the barn. No need for the meter reader to lurk around the outside of our house! Another electrical box was installed in our basement last week, too.

So, we now have power up to the house without the use of extension cords. Steve said it seemed like a big milestone.

All is well in the Keweenaw.

Six Calls

That's the number. 

That's the number of telephone calls I received today. 

That may not sound like a bad thing - especially considering that I used to answer the phone a zillion times a day when I was working - but all six calls I received today were. . .

political calls.

 

C'mon, the primary is over and it's only the middle of August. Is this going to continue every day for the next 11 weeks? Please. . . no!

Now, I'm a Midwestern American girl with roots back to Plymouth Colony. I'm all gung-ho for our Fifty Nifty United States. 

OK, maybe not New Jersey. 

I wholeheartedly agree that we should all exercise our freedom and put our 2¢ in at the ballot box.

But, these political calls are insanely annoying. Yes, I agree Washington is a big mess. Yes, I agree that many of the current crop of politicians should be kicked to the curb. No, I'm not interested in listening to your pre-recorded robo-call pushing your candidate. Who on earth would ever make a voting decision based upon these calls? 

Do you really think I want to talk politics before I've finished my first cup of coffee? Do you really think I want to talk politics while I'm eating my dinner? Do you really think I want to talk politics at 8:58 in the evening? No, no and no!

So, if you try to call me at this time of year, and the answering machine picks up, leave a message. If I'm home, and you're not a politician, I'll pick up.

Yes, I feel the exact same way about telemarketers.

End of rant.

On a happier note, Steve got all the proper vents installed, so things are ready for the spray foam insulation guys to start tomorrow morning! Praise the Lord! 

All is well in the Keweenaw.

To Our Friends

Marty & Donna:

Congratulations on a marriage that has stood the test of time. It won't be long before you'll be empty nesters, and we know you have lots of exciting changes ahead of you in the next few years. Have a wonderful anniversary!

In good friendship,
Steve & Julie

Sunday Reflections

All is well in the Keweenaw.

Sneak Peek Friday

I've been thinking about my grandmother this week. It was 2 years ago this month that we found out she had lung cancer and her days on earth were almost over. She passed away at the age of 95 on September 18, 2012. She told me years ago that I could have her 2 old iron beds, so they are now in my possession - packed away into a nearby storage unit. The following photo shows a little peek at one of them.

It's a full size Cane Panel Bed - circa 1910-1920. Here's a similar bed I found on the Internet listed at $445 unrestored.

Grandma's bed is in better condition. It has some small chips in the paint here and there, but that's part of the charm, so I doubt I'll ever repaint it.

My Aunt Edie gave me another piece that Grandma had in her utility room. It looked pretty rough and the drawer pull was broken. I applied some wood cleaner/conditioner and put an old knob on it. It's far from perfect with a few paint spatters it acquired at some point in time, but it looks much better now.

There's something I love about that little table - maybe because it's another piece with a history. I'll use it for a bedside table in one of the guest bedrooms - probably next to the cane panel bed.

All is well in the Keweenaw.

Time Lapse

The painter completed the job on the exterior trim of the Calumet house yesterday. The rain gutters are still on order, so I think I'll wait to show you some better photos until after those are installed.

In the meantime, I heard that some of you enjoy the Keweenaw videos, so I'm posting another one today. This one is only 6 minutes long, but it shows you some of the beauty of the Keweenaw - done in time-lapse photography. You may recognize some of the places from photos in my previous posts. If you would like to watch the video, click on the following link:

Keweenaw Peninsula Time-Lapse

All is well in the Keweenaw.

Got a Dollar!

Life is great here in the Keweenaw, and we LOVE living here. I think you all know that by now. However, we do miss a few of the stores we had in Saginaw. That's why we fill up the vehicle with purchases each time we go back to Saginaw, but we aren't going to be making that trip as often now that we have a local doctor and dentist. Thankfully, we have our Menards in Marquette - just over 2 hours away. That store has saved us thousands of dollars on the new house. We really miss Jack's Market - where we would buy most of our meat and vegetables. Our local Pat's IGA has a pretty good meat and vegetable selection, but it can't compare to Jack's. Aldi's was always a great store to get good buys on canned goods, salad dressings and pantry staples. The nearest Aldi's is in Rhinelander, Wisconsin, and we do plan to make one or two trips down there each year to stock up. We're good for this winter, though. The one other store we've missed is:

If you've never been to a Dollar General, it's not a dollar store where everything sells for $1. It's a discount store with good prices on name brand products and generic products with the DG logo. It's the store where I would most often purchase paper products, cards, laundry and cleaning products, and Steve loves their microwave popcorn (light butter - 3 bags in a box for $1). 

I wrote to Dollar General (and Aldi's) about 1-1/2 years ago suggesting that they expand into this area. I got a nice note back from them (and Aldi's) at that time - thanking me for my letter and telling me that they're always looking for new markets and would pass my suggestion on to the appropriate department. I was so excited to find out that the new building going up on 6th Street here in Calumet this summer was going to be a Dollar General. Now, I highly doubt that I'm the reason they chose to expand into Calumet, but I was happy about it anyway.

More back story:  Steve enjoys Nascar, so we follow it. I have a special interest in Matt Kenseth (even though he drives a Toyota). Why? Well, I grew up between Stoughton & Cambridge, Wisconsin. Matt's from Cambridge, and his father went to school with my mother. Steve says Matt Kenseth reminds him of my older brother, Dale. He thinks Matt looks like Dale and talks like him - must be the south-central Wisconsin connection. So, when it comes to Nascar, Matt's my "homie," and he drives the #20 Dollar General car.

Cut to last week:  I received a flyer in the mail telling me that the new Calumet Dollar General store was going to have their grand opening on Saturday, August 9, beginning at 8:00 a.m. The first 50 customers would receive a $10 gift card, and the first 200 customers would receive a goodie bag. So, guess where I was at 7:45 a.m. on Saturday? Yep, standing in line outside of Dollar General. Yep, on a Saturday. Yep, I did say 7:45 a.m. The doors opened right on time at 8:00 a.m. Guess who was customer #50? Yep, it was me! I got the last $10 gift card and a goodie bag! If that's not enough, the flyer also had a $5 off coupon if you spent $25. I did, so I got some good prices on my purchases, and I used the $10 gift card and the $5 coupon. Yep, I know - you're impressed!

The store manager was handing out the gift cards at the door. I made sure I told him about my letter to corporate 1-1/2 years ago. I also told him that my mother went to school with Matt Kenseth's father. Yep, I'm sure he was appropriately impressed. The lady in front of me turned around and said, "You deserve to be the 50th customer." I know! I know! I even impress strangers! (wink, wink, chuckle, chuckle)

Now, if I can just convince Aldi's and Menards to build in Calumet or Houghton, we'll never have to leave the peninsula!

All is well in the Keweenaw.

Sunday Reflections

All is well in the Keweenaw.

Sneak Peek Friday

Like I said, we've been busy, busy, busy in the Keweenaw! Steve is still working on the proper vents and the electrical on the new house, but here's a sneak peek at what's been happening in Calumet this week. I'll give you all the details when it's finished.

New trim color:

Trees were trimmed.

Deck was cleaned.

Deck was stained.

Staining on fence was finished.

All is well in the Keweenaw.

Post-4th: The Day After

We're busy, busy, busy in the Keweenaw, but I need to finish the last blog post about our 4th of July activities. Although the weather on the 4th was perfect, it was raining when we awoke on the morning of July 5th. 

No matter, as it wasn't really going to impact our plans for the day. I took my final shots of the view from our motel room.

We packed up the car and said "Goodbye" to room 25 for another year.

We drove through the intersection and headed up Hwy. 41.

 

It was Saturday morning and we were on a mission. Steve is a breakfast man, and we all really needed to try out the breakfast buffet at the Keweenaw Mountain Lodge.

I remembered to bring my camera this time, but I neglected to change the setting for interior shots until I had snapped a few. Oops.

Here's the exterior of the lodge.

I turned around and took some scenic photos of the golf course from the Lodge parking lot. You can see Brockway Mountain in the background.

Check out these unusual flowers.

No, not the purple ones - these!

OK, time to go. We followed the winding driveway past the Lodge's rental cabins and turned back onto Hwy. 41.

We headed back toward Copper Harbor. . .

turned left in town. . .

and followed the coastline back toward Eagle Harbor.

I wanted to try the zoom on my new camera, so we drove down the Eagle Harbor Marina Road.

 

At the end of the Marina Road, you can see the Eagle Harbor Lighthouse across the harbor. I knew how small/blurry this shot was with my old camera, so I was happy to see that my new camera did a much better job!

Another quick photo of the restored Life-Saving Station. . .

and we made our way down the Eagle Harbor Road to our property. After all, Marty & Donna had not yet seen our gorgeous septic tank cover. . .

or our lovely septic field! 

We went inside the house and showed off our proper vents.

Do you see those cardboard pieces in the rafters? Those are the proper vents.

They're used to create an air channel between the spray foam insulation and the roof sheeting. The installation of these proper vents is very important, but very time consuming - especially when you have a lot of roof like we do.

Here's a couple more shots of the front porch/door area. We'll use cedar for the railings and to fatten up the support posts on the front porch - not sure when that will happen. The posts are definitely sturdy enough; they just look too skinny right now.

The underside of the porch roof will be paneled with wood, and I wrote about the light fixtures in a previous post (May 24). Feel free to suggest a front door color. I haven't settled on one yet. 

The last photos on the 5th were taken on the Calumet Waterworks Road. The horizon line in the background is Lake Superior.

Wait a minute. What's sticking out of the trunk of that car?

Yep, a lawnmower! Glad it stayed in the trunk while we were following him!

All is well in the Keweenaw.