Pine River

 
I've never showed you the Pine River from this bridge before. It's a major crossing, on MI 37, at the Peterson Bridge. But there aren't any good places to stop to take pictures. However, today, there wasn't much traffic, so I did stop. This is downstream. It's the best picture because I wasn't shooting into the sun.



This is upstream, which is a beautiful view with a broad curve, but I couldn't get it with the light. Maybe another time.



In other news: I broke even at the event today. That's all. A lot of work for little reward. At some point one has to move beyond making contacts and getting exposure and actually make money. Not today, I guess.

See Cinq Rivieres

Four and Twenty (and a Hundred) Black Birds

 
You will notice I said "black birds," and not blackbirds. These are starlings. And like starlings always do, they swoop in by the hoard. I tried to count and there are something over 130 birds on these trees.



And soon after they swoop in, they swoop out!



In other news: I was at a local store all day with my books. I didn't have great sales expectations, but I sold one book and visited with several people. I took my computer and got quite a bit of editing done. I'm surprisingly tired. Tough crunchies! Tomorrow I go to Traverse City for the Women's Expo. At least my back has stopped hurting from the shoveling day.

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When Ben Fisher Reappeared

 
I had to scan some pictures today, so I thought I'd add one more little piece to some family history. You might recall that a year ago I ran across a picture of Benjamin Smith Fisher when he was young. I believe him to be 13 or 14 in this picture, taken about 1897, just before he ran away. He was my grandmother's brother. She was oldest, Ben was next, then Lew and Charley.

So from 1897 on, no one knew what had happened to Ben. His parents died, and both of his brothers died. Only Emily, my grandmother, was left.

In 1955, out of the blue, we received three photographs and some gifts from Ben. He had settled in Montana, working at the Anaconda Copper Company mines. I have no idea what his actual job was.

His wife, Clara, wrote this on the back of the picture of Ben on Snowball. You can see the Anaconda smokestacks behind them.

Dear Emily,
Here is a picture of Ben on the Snowball. She is pure white. But was a little dirty when the picture was taken making her look gray. Hope you have a good time on your vacation. We are very busy now but won't be when we get back in the valley.
Ben & Clara

He sent one more picture of himself with three children identified only as Clara's nieces. The front one looks like a boy to me. I don't think Ben had any children, but I'm not positive.



Oddly enough, yesterday was his birthday. He would have turned 136. I did not know that until just now. He died the year before Granny, so she, the oldest of the siblings, lived the longest. Ben is buried in Idaho. All the rest of the family is in Spencer, New York. I believe he wrote to Granny a few more times. We knew he retired to Idaho. I know I wrote a couple of childish letters, but never got any back.

Here's the gift he sent me. He also sent salt and pepper shakers, and earrings for Mom and Granny, all made from copper. We never had any idea how he found out where Emily was, or how he know she had a living daughter and granddaughter.



In other news: It was a wacky day. I couldn't sleep last night. Finally thought it must be close to when I needed to get up and clear the driveway. Nope, it was 2 am. Lay down again, and at 3:30 gave up and went out to run the snowblower. When I came in at 4:30 I still was wide awake, so I watched a Perry Mason episode, and finally fell asleep. Naturally, then I slept the morning away. I did manage to do a little editing and formatting and housecleaning this afternoon.

See Startling Family Resemblance

Not a Moment Too Soon

 
The tarp I had previously used to cover the trailer was disintegrating beyond use, and so I bought a cover designed for these trailers this year. It's a little too big, but I tied it up like a sausage again (the gray rope doesn't show much against the tarp color), and there are attached straps that buckle underneath so those will help to hold it tight.

There are also zippers on each side of the door, so you can get into it if you really need to.

The roof is white-- don't be fooled into thinking there was snow yet. I got it covered on Monday.



This was today. Yeah, the roof is still white, but now there's extra white stuff on top!



In other news: My arms aren't sore from all that shoveling at all, but my back has one sore spot. Could be lots worse. I wrote in the morning, and did several odd jobs in the afternoon. Then I edited and formatted one more chapter. I'm up to 52 pages of what will be approximately 400. I think I have the glitches worked out so that I'm not generating errors as I add pages, but it's still a huge job, what with pictures and footnotes. Then I have to do the intro pieces and appendices and index. But I'm getting there.

And I have to get up really early to clear the driveway so Om can get out tomorrow. But that might be the last time associated with this early storm.

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Still Tough Enough

 
Yes, I'm still tough enough to shovel this entire driveway by hand. I won't tell you it was exactly how I wanted to spend my day.



However, if I weren't so lazy, I wouldn't have had to do that. We went to bed with a dusting of snow, and woke up to 14-16 inches. Omer was supposed to go out for breakfast. I had no clue we had gotten all this snow, and leaped out of bed to do the driveway, but the snowblower wouldn't start. His friend came and picked him up. I kept shoveling.

It took me 4 hours, but that was enough to make it so we could get out.

Of course, if I'd checked the snowblower before the very day I needed it there wouldn't have been this problem, right? Getting it running involved a trip to the dealer because I broke one shear pin because the auger was frozen into the dirt. Very bad not smiling face mea culpa.

Anyway, I got it going around 4 pm, and cleared the rest of the top and widened the bottom a little bit. I'm pretty sure I'll feel this tomorrow- already taking ibuprofen, but I got 'er done. 3 more inches of snow on the way.

There is no other news. I've spent all day on this. Bell choir practice was cancelled, but I'm headed to writer's group in a few minutes.

See First and Second Snow