Sunday Reflections

Lake Superior Shore, Copper Harbor, Michigan

All is well in the Keweenaw.

Sneak Peek Friday - Guest Bath Floor

We hope you enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving. We thanked the Lord for His unconditional love and gift of salvation through Jesus Christ. We also thanked Him for our family and good friends and for all He has done for us again this year - including giving us the stamina we needed during these last few weeks. 

The furniture store delivered Mom's new bed and small chest freezer on Wednesday, and Steve moved the last few things out of Mom's townhouse yesterday - mostly pantry food and a few small fragile items the movers didn't want to move for her. Mom has just a little more cleaning she wants to do at her townhouse today before giving the keys back to the landlord. She doesn't want me to help. Just like a mother to be more worried about her daughter's back than she is her own.

We enjoyed a simple Thanksgiving dinner of turkey breast, corn bread stuffing, sweet potatoes, sweet corn, cole slaw, rolls, cranberry sauce and apple pie (with ice cream and/or Cool Whip) for dessert. Yes, it was the "store bought" pie, but it was really very good! We had a tasty meal, a table to eat at, comfortable furniture to sit on, and beds to sleep in. Oh, Steve and I also made a quick trip to Houghton to pick up a few screamin' deals at Walmart. No shopping today, though.

Now, onto business. Your sneak peek today is from the guest bathroom again. The floor has been installed!

Keep in mind: There's a piece of cardboard protecting the floor of the shower stall and most of the brown protective tape strips are still adhered to the shower stall walls.

The next photo shows the colors a bit more true-to-life.

The guest bath vanity that Steve made should work very well with the floor. I'm pleased.

All is well in the Keweenaw.

Be Ye Thankful

All is well in the Keweenaw.

We Survived!

We did survive another big day of moving. I'll try to blog about it within the next few days. Still busy.

All is well in the Keweenaw.

Hard Work

Moving is such hard work. We're all exhausted. The movers will be here in about 8 hours. We still have a few things to do before they get here, but a little sleep comes first! We had pretty good melting of some of our deep snow over the weekend, but it has been snowing all day today. Of course, let's make the move a little more difficult. Poor Steve will have to do some snow removal in Calumet before the movers get here. Then, he'll have to head to the new house to plow that driveway before they get there, too! We should be feeling some significant relief 24 hours from now.

Thanksgiving will be a turkey breast in the crock pot, and I confess - I actually bought a pie. (Let's just keep that between us. OK?)

All is well in the Keweenaw anyway.

Sunday Reflections

All is well in the Keweenaw.

What an Ordeal!

I don't hear that phrase very often anymore, but I think it applies - if ordeal is defined as "an experience that is very unpleasant or difficult." (Merriam-Webster) 

What was the ordeal? Packing and moving most of our possessions - and many of my mom's possessions - with a U-Haul - in November - in the snow!

Does that mean we're not excited about our new house?
Of course not. 
Does that mean we're not looking forward to unpacking our possessions at the new house?
Absolutely not.
Does that mean we wish we would have stayed in Saginaw?
No way! 
No pain, no gain. Right?

OK, back to the ordeal. Let me set this up. The new house isn't done enough for me to move into yet. Steve is working on the house and staying there during the week. He comes home on Saturday nights and leaves again on Monday mornings. Call me crazy, but I want a functioning bathroom and a functioning kitchen; and I prefer to live without saws, scaffolding and piles of sawdust in my living spaces. I know. I'm really spoiled that way. Mom is moving into our Calumet house. When we told her to give notice to her landlord, we had no idea that winter was going to arrive so heavy - so early. The snow has slowed some of the progress on the new house the last 2 weeks, but we decided to move many of our things anyway. The longer we wait, the deeper the snow will get for the next 4 or 5 months. We rented a U-Haul and enlisted some help. Our original intention was to move items in several trips in several days. As last weekend drew near and we watched the forecast, we knew we had to move as much as possible in one day and that day had to be Sunday - not what we would prefer, as we don't like to miss church. But, Sunday it was. It was a good decision, as the forecast proved to be true.

We picked up the U-Haul truck at 9:00 a.m. and the first piece of furniture left the Calumet house at 10:18 a.m.

It was the coffee table.

Yes, it was cold. Yes, that's a Yooper teen wearing shorts in November.

The crew worked really hard for 9 hours. They got things moved from the Calumet house to the basement of the new house. Then, they moved things (mostly boxes) from Mom's townhouse to our Calumet house. We ordered pizzas and ate during the final 20 laps of the Nascar race before they unloaded the last load from the truck. 

The professional movers are coming on Tuesday to move our big items out of Calumet (bed, triple dresser, 2 armoires, washer, dryer and upright freezer). Then, they'll move everything remaining in Mom's townhouse into this house. 

I did snap some photos on Sunday. Here's the kitchen BEFORE:

DURING:

AFTER:

That brown rug caught a lot of snow tracked across the living room, so I spread it out on the kitchen floor to dry. 

Here's some of what's left in the office. I have to leave my desk, computer and printer set up in there to work on the church books until I make the permanent move to the new house. Mom will use this room as a guest room.

The front door area BEFORE:

AFTER:

Next, the living room the way it usually looked for the last 3 years:

 

Remember how our friends recently purchased a home up here in Mohawk? They aren't ready to make their permanent move yet (probably in 2016). When they were here 7 weeks ago, we gave them our plaid sofa to use in their Mohawk house until they move, and we moved our recliner from the office into the living room. So, here's the most recent BEFORE view of the living room.

DURING:

AFTER - with 2 of Mom's end tables and her lawn chairs.

Moving during the winter is extremely messy and hard on your carpeting. I was doing my best to keep the traffic patterns covered at the beginning of the day on Sunday, but it was impossible with 5 men making hundreds of trips back and forth. I had a lot to do and couldn't stay in the living room all day rearranging rugs, so I gave up and decided not to obsess about it. Since the professional movers are coming on Tuesday, it made no sense to have the carpet cleaned this week. Mom is thinking about replacing the carpeting in January anyway.

Moving is also extremely hard on your back. The men held up better than I did. By the time I finished cleaning up the floors on Sunday night, mine was in pretty bad shape. This was my view all day on Monday.

Yep, the bedroom ceiling. Those blue lawn chairs were the only things I left myself to sit on. Not too smart for someone with a bad back. Steve brought me one of our collapsible chairs on Tuesday that was large enough to "pad" with some firm pillows. That enabled me to sit with ice on my lower back - very, very helpful - and my back had improved significantly by Tuesday night.

Mom needed some smaller furniture for this living room, and the furniture store was able to deliver her new sofa, chair and ottoman yesterday - a little too floral for my taste, but she loves it. The pieces are very comfortable, so that's helpful for my back, too.

What's next? Again, the movers are coming on Tuesday, and Mom is moving into our Calumet house. On Wednesday, the store will deliver her new bed and small chest freezer. 

Since I can't move into the new house yet, we're leaving our queen guest bed in the Calumet basement. The basement has a small bathroom with a shower. We'll give Mom the full use of the bedroom and bath on the main floor, and I'll crash downstairs until the new house is done enough to move into (by Jan. 1st?). Steve will stick to his current schedule of returning to Calumet on Saturday nights and leaving on Monday mornings. 

Most of our pictures are still on the Calumet walls, and our things are still in the kitchen cupboards and pantry. I'll do the cooking and we'll use my pots and pans and dinnerware. As our permanent move-out date draws near, I'll pack my kitchen items and unpack Mom's things. The wall decor will probably morph into her wall decor throughout the month of December.

Wow, this post has taken me way too long to prepare. I cut my finger on a dog food can the other day, and I'm a 10-finger typist, not a 2-thumb texter. I was able to downsize to this smaller bandage yesterday afternoon,

but it's still too bulky to allow me to type properly. Very annoying.

All is well in the Keweenaw. 

P.S. We have been experiencing some cold weather, but I haven't turned blue. That was just some photo editing fun.

Sneak Peek Friday. . . on Thursday!

I'm working on a blog about the events of the last week, but it's not yet finished. Hence, we're having Sneak Peek Friday a day early.

Steve snapped some more photos for us last week. The first one shows the progress on the staircase.

Next is a photo taken in the loft. The guest bathroom door is on the left, and the door to one of the guest bedrooms is straight ahead.

Here's a peek into the guest bathroom.

Lastly, this is a shot of the angled ceiling in the loft. You can also see the trapezoid windows in the great room and the ceiling fans (without the blades).

That does it for this sneak peek. Keep checking the Snowfall Chart page. It's starting to feel like January up here. Even the Yoopers say that winter arrived way too early!

All is well in the Keweenaw.

Fun with the Relatives

My mom has a sister named Edith, and Edith has a husband named Randy. They live in Bessemer, Michigan (south of us near the Wisconsin border). Aunt Edie called up last month and said they were going to come up to the Keweenaw for a weekend visit. We haven't seen them since my Grandma died 2 years ago, and the only time they had ever been in the Keweenaw was when Steve and I got married 9 years ago. So, we were happy they were coming up.

They arrived on Friday, October 24. My sweet husband took some time off the property and came into town, and we all had a nice dinner with them and my mom at the Michigan House that evening. Steve couldn't really afford to take Saturday off from working on the new house, so we decided I would play tour guide around the Keweenaw on Saturday without him. Then, we would stop by the property to show them what Steve has been doing there for the last 9 years, and we would all go to dinner at The Hut that evening.

Unfortunately, I awoke with a headache on Saturday that increased in intensity as the day progressed. I drove them to many of our scenic spots, but it was clearly turning into a bad migraine by the time we stopped by the new house late that afternoon. I was able to drive back to our Calumet house, but there was no way I could do dinner with them that evening; so Aunt Edie, Randy and my mom went to dinner without us, and I went to bed for 2 days. I heard good reports about their meals at The Hut, however!

Anyway, that Saturday was a very pretty day, but really, really windy. We didn't spend much time outside the vehicle, so I didn't take a lot of photos, but I did get some. We started out on the east side of the Keweenaw. We ventured outside along an especially nice spot along the shore, but the wind was so strong that it made our eyes water. We stopped at Haven Falls next. It was more sheltered from the wind, so I did get some shots of the falls.

We made our way to Copper Harbor next - where I gave them a tour of the town - took them out to the Fort - showed them the beginning of Hwy. 41 (which ends in Miami, FL) - and stopped at the Copper Harbor Lighthouse Overlook. Here's the beach area at the lighthouse overlook.

Aunt Edie picked up some rocks on that beach to take home for her landscaping. I zoomed in on the lighthouse across the harbor and snapped some more photos.

I love how the sky looks in the next one.

Brockway Mountain was next. The top of Brockway Mountain is usually windy, so I wasn't surprised that the wind was really whipping across the parking area that day. More watery eyes! We stopped at the Copper Harbor Overlook on the way back down the mountain, and I zoomed in on the lighthouse from that area. Notice the whitecaps on Lake Superior.

I zoomed back out again for some wider views.

You can see that we had lost most of our fall color by the time these pictures were taken on October 25.

Aunt Edie and Randy were happy to see a freighter out on the big lake.

Here it is again.

After that, we followed Hwy. 26 down along the west side of the peninsula to Eagle Harbor. Instead of continuing on to Eagle River, we turned down the road to our new house and gave them the grand tour of our barn and the house.

Even though the day ended with my migraine, it was still a fun day with family. They tell us they're already looking forward to their next visit. 

All is well in the Keweenaw.

Sunday Reflections

Eagle Harbor Road property

All is well in the Keweenaw.

Sneak Peek Friday - Great Room

I got too busy with other things yesterday, so I didn't have a chance to write more. Oh well!

It's Sneak Peek Friday, and you get some shots of the Great Room today. We've been working on the tongue and groove in that area. It's a complicated installation, as there's a lot of square footage and angles on that ceiling. Unfortunately, the scaffolding is in the way for some of these photos, but this is a sneak peek anyway. You'll get a better look later!

 

There's a wood platform running between the top levels of the two sets of scaffolding in the next photo. It partially blocks your view of the angled ceiling.

Steve took these photos last Saturday.

All is well in the Keweenaw.

11-13-42

Happy Birthday to my wonderful Mom today! She's always had those great - big - blue - eyes.

All is well in the Keweenaw.

26 and a half!

26.5 inches! That was the Calumet storm total announced on the 6:00 news tonight. No matter where you live, that's a lot of snow in 2 days. Add in blowing and drifting, and the snow got pretty deep around here. Yet, the Calumet schools were only closed one day and had a 2-hour delay today. The Yoopers are amazing at snow removal. I guess it's a case of practice makes perfect.

We are having lake effect snow off and on today, but the sun actually came out for a while this afternoon.

Can you believe we had green grass and dry roads last Friday morning when Steve moved the Corvette? I have some photos to illustrate the depth in the backyard in a spot that's not drifted. This was October 30.

This was yesterday.

This was today.

The next photo was taken yesterday morning. Notice our neighbor's car.

The car was almost completely buried by the time I took the next photo this morning. Can you see it?

I cropped the next photo and included an arrow to help you find it!

Our neighbor got to work digging it out later in the afternoon. Here's how it looked tonight. Our neighbor's car is in the foreground. 

I don't know who owns the dark car in the background - must have been a visitor - as it's gone now. We can't park on the streets in Calumet after November 1st. Our neighbor's car is actually parked on our sidewalk.

Today was our garbage day. The weather doesn't usually prevent them from picking it up, so I bundled up and opened the front door. The snow was packed up against the front door about a foot high. I grabbed the shovel (which I had asked Steve to leave inside the front porch) and knocked the snow away from the door. I then dug down to find the first step and shoveled it off. I dug down again to find the second step and shoveled it off. Hmmm. I looked up and studied the path I would need to shovel to the road in order to put the garbage out. I estimated that the snow had drifted up to my waist. That's when I cried, "Uncle!" Even if I had managed to shovel that much snow with my bad back, that was only going to take care of the one bag of garbage I had in the house. There were 4 other bags of garbage in the garage that Steve had brought home from the property. I knew there was no way I could shovel all the way to the garage door, too. So, I gave up. Thankfully, Steve showed up to rescue me later in the morning - after doing the clean-up at the new house. By the way, he said the snow out front was up to his waist! Oh, and wouldn't you know it? The garbage men never showed up, so we have 5 bags of garbage still sitting outside. I don't want to bring it back inside - in case it's too deep for me to get it out again tomorrow morning. Hope all the local cats and skunks are in hiding tonight!

The fluffy lake effect snow we're getting this evening seems to be blowing off the Traverse pretty well so far. Here's how it looked outside the front door 4 hours ago.

I'll try to write more tomorrow.

All is well in the Keweenaw.