Copper Harbor Lighthouse

Copper Harbor Lighthouse

Tuesday, February 28, 2017

Vase Makeover

Let's give a dollar store vase a makeover.

The color of this yarn I purchased at Walmart is Key Largo Tweed. I used it for several Easter projects.

Starting at the top, I wrapped the yarn in a single, tight layer around the vase.

As I neared the wider bottom of the vase, the yarn wanted to move up and overlap a bit, so I secured the bottom 2 inches with a bead of hot glue here and there.

This yarn does give the vase a tweed effect.

It will coordinate with a few of my other Easter projects that I'll reveal in upcoming posts.

Simple and colorful.

All is well in the Keweenaw.

Monday, February 27, 2017

20 in 4

I updated the Snowfall Chart this morning. We've added 20" in the last 4 days - bringing our February total up to 71" - and our seasonal total up to 242". 

All is well in the Keweenaw.

Friday, February 24, 2017

More to Come!

We awoke to fresh powder yesterday morning.

It looked like we added about 1-1/2" compared to when I had last looked at the snowstick on Wednesday afternoon.
2-23-2017
 Even the covered front porch had some snow.

White everywhere!

Flocked trees again!

We enjoyed taking in the scenery with our morning coffee. A female Pileated Woodpecker even paid us a visit. We saw a Hairy Woodpecker, too, but I didn't get a shot of that one.

As the day progressed, the clouds began to break up. . .

and our beloved blue sky and sunshine returned to melt all the snow out of the trees.

No problem. There's more to come. We're under a winter weather advisory from 7:00 a.m. today until 7:00 a.m. Saturday, and they're still predicting probable double digits. Now, that's much more like February in the Keweenaw!

All is well in the Keweenaw.

Thursday, February 23, 2017

Sneak Peek Friday - on Thursday

It's been a while since we had a Sneak Peek Friday, so I'm throwin' one at ya on a Thursday - only because I haven't posted since Sunday - and I didn't want to wait until Friday! 

In my defense, I've been busy (and *head-achy*). We've had another CRAZY WEIRD meltdown, and we've lost about 11" of snow depth in the last 6 days.
2-16-2017
2-22-2017
Yes, the meltdown has us slushbound again and we haven't left the driveway for a week, so it's nutty that I've been too busy to write. OK, we did leave the driveway on Tuesday to help our buddies, Marty & Donna, celebrate Marty's birthday. We waded through the slush on our driveway, and Marty & Donna picked us up at the road! Since Marty was the last one of the four of us to have a birthday since they moved to the Keweenaw last April - and since it's now become our tradition to celebrate our birthdays at The Hut (restaurant) together - we couldn't miss that special meal! The best news is that we're in for probable double digits of snow accumulation in the next couple of days, so we should be able to get out and about with no problem on Sunday.

I've been working on some Easter projects. . .

and some other unnamed projects. . .

and we had a cool critter sighting in the backyard on Sunday!

Can you name the critter? 

Remember, these were just sneak peeks. You'll see details of these projects and a much better photo of that critter in upcoming posts!

All is well in the Keweenaw.

Thursday, February 16, 2017

Up to 222

We had another 2" of fresh powder overnight. 

That brings us up to 222" - matching last year's season total. We still have a long way to go to beat the 340.5" we had in 2013-14 or the 390.4" recorded back in 1978-79. We won't come anywhere close to those totals this season. March and April can bring us a lot of snow, so we may still reach our seasonal average of 260" or so.

Our snowstick is measuring the depth in our yard at almost 36" again this morning.

The bad news is that we're in for some more crazy winter weather with an extended warm spell beginning tomorrow. Will we be slushbound again? Time will tell, but we're prepared with plenty of provisions.

Unfortunately, our gorgeous snow-flocked trees will be bare again.

The local snowmobile trails will surely be taking a hit for the next week, but there is the possibility of a substantial storm in the forecast for next weekend. We all have our hopes up for that since the 8th annual CopperDog 150/80 sled dog races will be held here on March 3-5, and we would like our trails to be in great shape for that. It's a lot of fun to watch and a great boost for local businesses.

All is well in the Keweenaw.

Monday, February 13, 2017

Love Week - Links to the Past

It's Love Week! What's wrong with acknowledging your Sweetie in an extra special way every February? Nothing, right?!

We keep Valentine's Day simple around here. I exchange cards with Mr. Cut Off and we always go out to dinner. I actually have a standing request that he NOT get me flowers. I would much rather have him get me a tiny grocery store bouquet or a special treat on some other random day for no reason at all than have him buy an overly expensive bouquet on Valentine's Day. Maybe I'm way too practical, but he's so great at making me feel loved and appreciated every single day that I don't need him to make a grand gesture on Valentine's Day. We always joke that we're with each other 24/7/365 and haven't gotten sick of each other yet. Actually, it's no secret that I adore him. We're in sync, best buds, partners for life. He's the sweet to my dreams. When the Lord put us together, He sure knew what he was doing.

I do have some Valentine's decor scattered throughout the house, but I don't go all out like I do for Christmas. I posted some past projects on several link parties recently. If you didn't happen to see them, here are the links to 2 past Valentine's projects.

First, my Heart Wreath: 
  Click here for the Heart Wreath.

Secondly, my Signs of Love (one is a free printable):
  Click here for the Signs of Love.

All is well in the Keweenaw.

Saturday, February 11, 2017

Why I Don't Use Social Media

Yes, I'm a blogger, but I've recently had several inquiries as to why I'm not using social media (Facebook - Instagram - Pinterest - Twitter, etc.) to grow my blog or interact with people. I've had conversations with people about social media ever since Facebook first became popular (before I ever had a blog). Some of my reasons for continuing to stay off social media remain the same, but I now have an additional point to consider.

Let me begin by saying that I've never been a big fan of Facebook. I saw some problems with it when people first began using it way back when. Problems? Yes, problems created by the use of Facebook. Let me explain. Do you know anyone who has been involved in a Facebook feud? I sure do. Someone posts something to Facebook and someone else gets upset. They may be upset about the original post or about a comment made by someone else. Feelings get hurt - people feel insulted - folks are "unfriended" - relationships are tested, taxed or even destroyed. Words can sometimes be misunderstood - no matter how many smiley faces or winks you put after a comment. Well, I decided I didn't need any more drama in my life and made the decision to stay off Facebook early on.

With that being said, it seems like the majority of businesses, websites, bloggers, stores, etc. now have their own pages on the various social media sites. I look at many of them, and I'm continually amazed/shocked when I read some of the comments people write. Do we really have to post a negative comment every time we don't like something? And do we have to emphasize our criticism by posting a little "thumbs down" symbol after our words? Really? What's the purpose? When other people try to make that point to the people making negative comments, they often get this reply:  "Well, if they don't want my opinion, they shouldn't put this on Facebook." C'mon! If you're walking through the grocery store, does that give everyone else in the store the justification to voice their opinions to you about the outfit you're wearing or the groceries you're purchasing? Should I go up to the woman wearing pajama pants in Walmart and tell her that she should consider a different fashion choice the next time she leaves her house? Should I tell the person in the vehicle next to me in the parking lot that they really should have chosen the gray interior instead of the tan interior to better coordinate with their exterior paint color choice? How about if I add this comment after my negative remark:  "To each their own, I guess."  Yeah, that cancels the negativity, right? Wrong!

Of course, this is the same chance I take by enabling comments on my blog. So far, I haven't been offended by any of the comments I've received here. It probably helps that I'm thick-skinned! Does that mean everybody likes everything I've posted? Of course not! My readers have been respectful, and I appreciate that. The comments on this blog are moderated, as I want to maintain a family-friendly site. That means your comments are sent to me via email before they show up on the blog. When I read your comment in my email, I can choose to publish it or delete it. True confession:  I've only ever deleted one comment in 5 years and it wasn't due to content. The comment was actually nice, but when I clicked on the link to that person's Google profile, I saw several extremely anti-Christian sites that he/she was following. In fact, I wouldn't just call them anti-Christian - more like pro-Satanic. My relationship with Christ is of utmost importance, and I didn't want anyone else visiting my site to check out that person's profile and follow it through to any of those ungodly sites. This is my blog, and that was my decision. I must add here that I don't check the Google profile of every person who leaves a comment, but I happened to check that one.

Next confession:  I would be on Instagram today - IF I had unlimited Internet. I've decided that Instagram could be especially useful as a blogger, and I even set up my own account, but it uses up way too many of my gigabytes - at least more than I'm willing to sacrifice for that purpose. As I've said before, we live in the middle of nowhere. We can't get cable TV, cable Internet or cable telephone here. When we moved into our new house, it was "Goodbye to the Bundle!" We can't get Internet through our landline telephone company either. After extensive research, the most cost effective of our limited choices was home Internet broadband through a cell provider. It requires a little gray canister mounted on the exterior of our home. When the power goes out, the Internet is down. And, it's still not cheap. I now get 20 GB/month, but you would be surprised how quickly I can burn through those on my laptop or Android tablet. That's been the problem this week. My gigabytes had me up against the ropes. . . again! Unlimited isn't a possibility. Netflix, podcasts, live streaming, YouTube, Skype, Facetime? Nope, not options for us. I would be out of GB's in a matter of days. I do compress the photos I upload to my blog, but they can still eat up a lot of data. Since we don't have TV, we rely on the Internet for most of our news, and I'm kind of a news junkie. I rarely click on a news video anymore, but even the news articles will often lead to pages loaded with video advertisements. That's frustrating; I can see my gigabytes flying right out the window! We use the Internet to check the weather forecast and weekly fliers for our local stores, and I do like to visit other blogs and link parties. The blogs with lots and lots of large, ever so gorgeous photos? Yeah, huge data hogs.

I know what some of you are thinking? Why don't you just drop the canister and use the Internet on your smart phone? Can you imagine how long it would have taken me to write this post with 2 fingers instead of 10? Yikes! We have one cell phone in this house - have no need for more than one. Mr. Cut Off normally has it with him or near him, and here's a third confession:  It's a flip phone, not a smart phone! Don't judge us; it's very cheap. Here's a fourth confession:  We've disabled the texting feature! OK, OK, stop screaming in horror! Now we've gone too far! How can we live without texting? That texting feature drove Mr. Cut Off nuts. He didn't want it and had no desire to learn how to use it. He figures that if you want to talk to him. . . talk to him. . . or leave a voice message. None of this, "How R U?" stuff for him. No way. And, when I say "we" use the Internet, I really mean "I" use the Internet. Mr. Cut Off has no desire to learn how to use that either. He has more than enough other things to do with his time, but he does like me to read things off the Internet to him. A typical morning conversation usually includes, "What's in the news today?" or "How much snow are we supposed to get?"

Thankfully, we do have friends who have unlimited cable Internet available at their house. When we were visiting them on Sunday, we took advantage of their unlimited Internet and Skyped with family in lower Michigan. Gotta say, we sure enjoyed that. After all, Max is the cutest and smartest little almost-3-year-old grandson on the planet!

So, if you've been wondering why I'm not on Instagram, etc., there you have it. I'm not saying this will be how it is forever. I suppose things could change if unlimited Internet becomes available to me in the future or I find some way to use fewer gigabytes every month. Until then, this is the way it goes in our quiet and peaceful neck of the woods.

All is well in the Keweenaw.

Wednesday, February 8, 2017

It Just Kept Coming!

If you haven't checked my *Snowfall Chart* page in the left column, you may do so now. I'll wait.

Tap, Tap, Tap.

Yes, I'm still waiting. Take your time.

Twiddlin' my thumbs.

OK, you're back!

Yes, you got that right. 15" of new snow in the last 24 hours. That brings the official total for Keweenaw County up to 204" for the season. I'll do the math for you. That's exactly 17 feet! (February = 33")

Again, that's the total recorded by the Keweenaw County Road Commission. If you've ever been to the Keweenaw and driven up Hwy 41 between Mohawk and Phoenix, you noticed the huge snow gauge at a roadside park on your right. It looks like a gigantic thermometer - impossible to miss. No, you're not the only one who has struck a pose in front of it. It's probably one of the most photographed things in the Keweenaw. Anyway, the Road Commission totals are the ones posted on that sign. If they're on their toes this morning, they should have moved the marker up to 204".

In some parts of the world, one would wait until a snow event is over before they go outside to start moving it around. Keweenaw folks cannot do that. After all, it may continue to snow for days/weeks/months on end. So, my wise Mr. Cut Off spent much of his day outside yesterday doing just that - moving it around. Moving it may include any &/or all of the following: (1) Pushing it with a plow truck. (2) Blowing it with a snowblower. (3) Picking it up and tossing it onto a pile with a shovel. (4) Pushing it aside with a Silver Bear Snow Scoop - a truly genius invention - and I haven't been compensated to say that. (5) Raking it with a roof rake. (6) Digging down into it to expose something such as a dryer vent!

At one point in the late afternoon when Mr. Cut Off was still outside and cleaning off the front steps for the third time yesterday, our eyes met through the window on the door. We both smiled and he looked up to the sky and said, "It just keeps coming!" That's the Keweenaw! 

As Mr. Cut Off always says, "We earn our summers!" Can't imagine ever living anywhere else again.

Oh, can you see the squirrel in that last photo? He's under the tree on the left - below the bird feeder and just above the "na" in Keweenaw. I've got to give him some props for being out there so early this morning - digging birdseed out of the snow - definitely a Yooper squirrel!

All is well in the Keweenaw.

Tuesday, February 7, 2017

Oh, Just Hangin' Out

This Chickadee cracked me up the other day.

He was just nonchalantly hanging out on that branch. He then hopped to the ground and hoped to get a turn at eating some of the tasty seed that had fallen out of the bird feeder.

He just had to figure out how to get that squirrel to move aside. Never was successful, as the squirrel just refused to move. Not sure why the Chickadee thought the seed would taste better off the ground anyway!

All is well in the Keweenaw.

Thursday, February 2, 2017

Still Here

Yes, I'm still here. Haven't posted much lately, but I was out and about today. Here's the proof:

I snapped that shot as we were crossing the bridge from Houghton into Hancock this blustery February afternoon.

A bad bout of migraines (off and on) has prevented me from posting much recently.

That happens sometimes. Where are those Carter's Little Liver Pills when I need them? Couldn't find them at Walmart!

The thing I find most amusing about that old advertisement is the reality of what those little liver pills really were - a laxative! Seriously! A laxative! Ha! Nope, not gonna help my migraines!

Anyway, I think I'm on the mend again. I'll try to do better on the blog next week! 

All is well in the Keweenaw.