Sunday Reflections

All is well in the Keweenaw.

Sunday Reflections

All is well in the Keweenaw.

Sunday Reflections

All is well in the Keweenaw.

Ice Storm Images 3

This is the last of 3 posts featuring ice storm images from last week's storm. I've already shared images from last Wednesday, Thursday & Friday. Today's photos were all taken on Saturday morning as the brilliant sunshine and warmer temperature caused the major melting to occur. Ice was literally falling out of the trees! It was gorgeous! 

These shots were all taken from inside the house. Remember to click on any photo to see larger versions.

Some of the smaller branches were already bare.

Icy trees against a blue sky! Love it!

Icy trees over the garage roof.

More icy beauty.

Having my morning coffee in the great room.

Aside from the beauty of that morning, I also wanted to share the sounds we were experiencing. I opened a window in the dining area and shot some video. It was so much louder in person, but you'll get the idea. Watch and listen for the ice falling. Click on the following link:

Ice Storm Melting

Pretty cool, huh?

All is well in the Keweenaw.

Ice Storm Images 2

As I was editing photos today, I realized that I really had too many to fit into one post, so this will be the 2nd of 3 posts featuring ice storm images from last week. The first post, Ice Storm Images 1, had photos from Wednesday and Thursday. Today's photos were all taken through the windows of our house on Friday.

It was snowing so hard about 4:00 on Friday afternoon, and I was very concerned that all the new snow on top of the ice was going to cause us to lose power again. The forecast was also calling for increased winds overnight.

Thankfully, it didn't continue to snow for very long. By 6:00 p.m., the sun was peeking in and out and the temp had climbed up to 40°.

The icy trees looked gorgeous against the backdrop of the blue sky!

The sun and 40° temp caused some of the ice to melt which took a bit of weight off the trees before the winds increased that night. 

Can you believe that ice? Remember, click on any of these photos to see them larger.

It was difficult to pull ourselves away from the windows!

The real melting began the next morning. I have those photos and a cool video to share with you in the next post.

All is well in the Keweenaw.

Another Beautiful Day

We've been having one beautiful day after another this week. Here's the view this morning.

The sky has already changed since I snapped that photo. All the clouds are gone - nothing but blue! And. . . yes, that white stuff on the ground is snow. Here's the current shot of the snow marker on a low spot on the lawn.

It's a lot deeper in other spots, and can we talk about the piles? Look at this shot taken through the window in the dining area yesterday.

You would be more impressed with that shot if you knew how far off the ground that window sits! Even though we're all in the mood for spring and the forecast is looking very promising, we're all very aware that April can produce some fantastic blizzards up here. No matter, in just 3 months we'll be getting ready to be in the July 4th parade in Copper Harbor again!

All is well in the Keweenaw.

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.

Slushbound

When we moved to the Keweenaw, we fully anticipated being snowbound now and again. After all, we do get about 260" of snow each winter. What we didn't anticipate was being "slushbound." Slushbound? Yes, slushbound - as in unable to leave our home due to slush. To be fair, we can leave our home. Our legs are still working. We just can't navigate our driveway, and nothing is within walking distance. Since our driveway is very long (emphasis on the "very") and we live in the middle of nowhere, we are effectively slushbound. Don't worry about us, though. We have plenty of provisions - always do. Plus, a snow machine (aka snowmobile) is always an option if Mr. Cut Off runs out of milk! 

OK, now you're having trouble understanding WHY we can't navigate our driveway just because of a little slush. Let me try to explain. If you remember, I've told you before how it's necessary to build a thick mat/layer of snow on the stone driveway in order to plow it effectively. The mat enables the plow to skim easily across the surface. Mr. Cut Off works diligently on grooming that mat when the snow first begins to fall each season. He's truly a perfectionist about it. 

Now, let's cut to the weird weather we've been having since January 13th. No snow and temps above freezing. That's what I said. . . no snow and temps above freezing. Weird? Uh, yeah. Like. . . this doesn't happen up here in January. What has happened to that nice mat of snow on the driveway? Has it disappeared? Are you back down to stone? No such luck. It's just a deep, deep slushy mess! How deep? Like deep enough for your vehicles to sink into and get really, really stuck kind of mess. That's what happened this week. We barely made it out of the driveway on Sunday morning on the way to church and had to park in our turn-around area near the road when we returned. That's right; we trekked it on foot all the way back to the house. Mr. Cut Off had to go to town on Monday morning, and he was determined to get the vehicle back up the driveway and into the garage when he came back. Well, determination isn't always enough. Right again - stuck - good and stuck - down by our barn. Thankfully, Mr. Cut Off already has a good relationship with our shovels, so he was eventually able to get the Traverse out and parked nearby on the side of the barn. And, no, we can't use our 4WD plow truck. That's even heavier than the Traverse. That would get super duper stuck. The driveway has deteriorated even more since Monday, so we're definitely slushbound!

The snowmobile trails have taken a big hit, too, and that's never good news for our local businesses. Thus, we're all doing the "snow dance" up here - hoping for more snow and colder temps. It seems to be working, as there's good news in the forecast - hopefully starting tonight. Still, it will take a while for the driveway to be in decent shape again. We're hoping to be able to leave for church on Sunday. 

So, are we miserable? Hating every moment of every day? Feeling totally trapped? Nah, we're homebodies anyway. There's nothing we need. We have nowhere to go and plenty to do to keep us occupied. We both admitted that it's actually kind of fun! Yeah, we're weird like that. 

How much snow are we losing? Here's an illustration. We put a snowstick in our yard this winter - hoping to measure how much snow we would get. After the snow began to fall, we realized that it was probably in the worst possible place for an accurate measurement, as the wind blows the snow right past it during many storms. That means (1) we can't use it to accurately measure how much snow has fallen on any given day, and (2) the snow depth it shows in that area is much less than in most other areas of our property. (We'll move it next year for a more accurate measurement.) It does, however, show us the snow depth at that particular spot and how fast it's condensing/compacting/melting, etc. Note the depths and dates on the following 4 photos - beginning with January 12th - the day before our last snowfall. 

1-12-17

1-17-17

1-24-17

1-25-17

There you have it - a measly 21" today - and that 21" isn't looking quite as pristine and clean as it normally should. We'll look forward to more of this slushy mess in April when it actually means the end of winter. For now, though, we're happy that colder temps (to firm up the slush mat) and more beautiful white powder are supposed to be on the way!

All is well in the Keweenaw.

Sneak Peek Friday - Christmas in April

So, I was lollygagging around here this morning and on my second cup of coffee when I suddenly remembered it was Friday! You tend to forget that sort of thing when you no longer have a job M-F. Anyway, Steve went poking around in the barn for me last week and came across this box.

It felt like Christmas in April as I opened the box - except that I knew exactly what was in it.

I ordered those specifically for this house when we were still living in Saginaw - probably around 2006 or 2007. I peeked at them when they arrived, but I wouldn't use them until we made it here. Steve also found the box containing the copper and stainless breadbox that I got around the same time.

We're still finding (and looking for) lots of other goodies that have been packed away for this house, so you'll probably be getting peeks at those items, too.

On a side note, the sun was actually very effective yesterday and gave us quite a bit of melting - despite the temperature. Looks like another gorgeous day today, and the extended forecast is predicting highs in the 40's and 50's for the next 10 days!

All is well in the Keweenaw.

Having A Meltdown

We've had some bee-you-ti-full weather in the Keweenaw for the last 2 weeks. Yes, we've also had about 6-1/2" of new snow and a 1/2" of rain, but we've enjoyed our Keweenaw Blue skies on most days. 

The locals tell us this slow and steady Spring meltdown we're experiencing is actually pretty typical (unlike the rapid meltdowns we've had the last 3 years since moving here). Our sump pumps in the new house and in Calumet haven't even kicked on. That sounds impossible when you know we had 260.5" of snow, but it's true. The snow got very deep very quickly and unexpectedly back in November, so Steve hadn't had the opportunity to clean things up around the exterior of the house. Now that the snow is melting, we're seeing all kinds of things that were covered so nicely all winter. For example, he had staked out the septic field last year to prevent anyone from driving over it. We began to see some of the stakes appearing in late March, and I began to photograph one of them on a daily basis since April 3rd. That gave me the following documentation of our meltdown.

April 3

April 9

April 12

April 13

April 15

April 16

April 17

April 18

Temperatures are taking a nosedive this week, but Summer IS coming!

All is well in the Keweenaw.