Country Drivers

 
I did reasonably well at the vendor event today. It was mostly a flea market. I didn't realize that, or I might have looked for somewhere else. But, I came out in the black, so I can't complain.

And you know what I did on the way home- back roads!

But this picture is too cute to leave out. Big brother is getting a head start on helping his sister out of vehicular crises. She really was too young for that toy- she would hold the steering wheel, and the battery would move the jeep forward, but she was looking all over the place and not having a clue about steering. Fortunately, it didn't move very fast.



I headed out to do some country driving myself. Found a good road.



Came across a sign about restoring Oak Savannas. What? Out in the middle of nowhere?



Backed up, and here's why the Forest Service put a sign there. Can you see it? This is a crossing of the North Country Trail! Blue blaze, nice treadway.



That was good for a big smile.

In other news, I fooled around in the trailer a little bit when I got home.

	See I Can Make Any Two Hour Trip Take Four
if you like this blog, click

Not As Planned

 
Let's just say that today did not go as planned. I'm still working on seeing this as a blessing. Nevertheless, I will be bringing this baby home on Monday. 2013 Subaru Forester.







We did have a nice drive, partly through Amish country where we saw real hay stacks, and men threshing with teams of horses.



We had a nice dinner before driving home. It was very helpful to me that Loretta is here and was willing to drive me all over to look at cars.

My previous car (2007 Subaru Forester) will be put back together and will be for sale at a low price. It would make a good first car for a young person, or to drive to work locally, but won't be recommended for long trips. Contact me if interested.

	See Acadia to Argent
if you like this blog, click

Friday Night Live

 
I did something tonight that I would never do of my own free will (because it's all about crowds and noise), except that I had a purpose. Needed to scope out the Friday Night Live event in Ludington as a possible future venue of the book event that we had last weekend.

The entire downtown of Ludington is closed to traffic and there is family-friendly stuff all over. Here's some of what I captured. The Flipstar Gymnastics Club was doing a demonstration. I caught one girl in mid-flip.



I'm adding one more picture because I want to show you that all the girls, big to small, lined up and each did what they could in a run whether it was the standard two flip-flops and a roundoff or back flip, or just a roundoff or maybe one flop-flop. Most of the girls who ended with the roundoff were then spotted by the coach to add on a back flip.



The West Michigan Old Engine Club had a whole line up of antique tractors.



And an antique fire engine which kids could climb on.



I got there just after 6 pm, when it had barely opened, and it runs till dark. There was already a sign that said all the pony ride tickets for the entire evening were already sold out!



There are portable stages with live music at the deadends of each closed off street. This band was at the end of the main drag. They were playing zydeco. Of course, when I heard the accordion I was just pulled down to see the player. His keyboarding was very good, but that's what he is, a keyboarder, not an accordionist. He never played any of the left hand buttons, and that thumb on the frame of the keyboard is a no-no. Nevertheless, very enjoyable because he was good and also a good singer.



In other news: I worked half the day out at Shagway. Made a little progress on my computer restoration. Realized another batch of files I've lost. Found out some more things to try to get my phone reading its card again. Sometimes technology is the pits.

	See Lakeshore Arts Festival
if you like this blog, click the +1   or

One Fine Day

 
Today was mighty fine on so many levels! The sore throat is (almost) gone. The car is fixed, and for only $46! It doesn't get much better than that, and my insurance covers the tow.

I got three pieces of paperwork in the mail that had to go out by the end of February- a day early! I rode my bicycle to the post office to mail them. That may be the earliest for the first bike ride of the year since we moved to Michigan (a year short of half a century ago)

I wrote two chapters in The ABZ Affair, which leaves only two or three to go.

I did laundry and dried the clothes outside- in February! The temperature rose to over 50 degrees, and the sun shone.

The car was fixed just in time to get to handbell practice (the director is back from vacation), and then tonight was writers' group.

There was time between the two meetings to scoot down to the beach. I thought I was going to miss the sunset, but the timing was just perfect, so I get to bring you a treat. Sunsets over Lake Michigan are pretty special. In fact, west Michigan is called "the sunset side."

This is perhaps my favorite. I took several with benches in them, but in this one the light is reflecting from the seat.



Then, I backed off to give the wider view. The lighthouse is just a tiny speck about a quarter of the way in from the left. What ended up being striking about this shot is the curl of the sand fencing, and then the bars of sand, fencing, shore, water, clouds.



I tried to catch a picture with the waves coming in, but they weren't very high tonight. This was the best.



The color grew in intensity until the last little molten spot of sun extinguished in the water.



Wish all days could be so productive! I know life doesn't work like that, but I can always dream, right?

	See It Has to Be the Sunset
if you like this blog, click the +1   or

Taking it Easy

 
The car and I are both a bit under the weather. Car has a broken shift linkage. I have a sore throat. Car gone to car hospital. Me to early bed. See you tomorrow.



I did get a couple extra hours of work today, then dealt with the car and walked home. Did a little paperwork. That is all.

if you like this blog, click the +1   or

Mesabi Hike - Chisholm to Parkside

 
This day on the trail, August 9, 2009, was all about mining history.

For example, at the town of Mountain Iron, this restored Oliver Iron Mining engine was on display.



Take a look at the wheels. Or the lack of wheels. It's an 0-8-0 arrangement, which seemed pretty odd to me. That means the 4 sets in the middle that you can see are all you get. Most engines have smaller leading or following wheels to provide better tracking (less likely for the engine to derail). With all of the weight on the eight driving wheels these engines had great traction. I learned that they were typically used for hauling really heavy loads slowly or for switching. Perfect for iron mining areas. Ore is heavy. This particular one was built by Baldwin Locomotive works in 1910 and used as a switcher until 1955.



On this day the trail followed a portion of the former Great Northern Railway (now BNSF), and was crossed by the route of the Mesabe Southern, a long defunct logging line.

Every town seemed to have some sort of transportation or industry display. How about a steam shovel?



The buckets are pretty big.



How big?



Then we were introduced to the tire.



The most memorable natural feature of the day was Amur Maple (Acer ginnala) growing wild. I knew it already, having seen it as an ornamental hedge at the botanical garden in Ann Arbor. It's a really pretty small tree/shrub. What I didn't know, however, is that it can be invasive. It's native to China and Japan. It particularly likes coarse soil. "Perfect" for old mining lands. In Ann Arbor, the fine clay soil keeps it in check. In Minnesota (where it was brought in the early 1900's) it's running rampant.



We moved to a new campsite, spent time playing around all these displays and hiked 14.0 miles from Chisholm to Parkside. Total to date for this trip 97.1 miles.

I mentioned earlier that a problem was developing. I'll get to that.

	See Day Off
if you like this blog, click the +1   or

Mesabi Hike - Grand Rapids to Marble

 
Since I managed yesterday to stumble into pictures of a hike I never blogged about, I've decided to take us all back to this trip in 2009 for the next few days. I even accidentally hit the first day of that hike. There could be interruptions if something exciting happens. Or not.

Anyway, this was the longest continuous time that Marie and I ever were out. I had an obsession with completing the Minnesota miles of the North Country Trail that summer. We began by connecting the Chippewa National Forest with the Kekakabic Trail, a distance of 180 miles. Yesterday, I showed you the road miles that took us from the Chippewa into Grand Rapids (two days). There we picked up the paved Mesabi Trail.



The trail is not a true rail-trail, as many portions are not old rail bed. However, a lot of it follows the former Duluth, Missabe and Northern rail grade. This line opened northern Minnesota for iron mining. A lot of the landscape we saw was great hills of red ore tailings surrounded by lakes formed in the open pits. It had a certain beauty of its own.

Very little active mining remains. the companies are working very hard to reclaim the land, undo the ecological damage, and make the area attractive for recreation. Aspen trees are covering the tailing hills. Nature does heal itself, although sometimes it needs some help.



Along the way, we saw continuous reminders of the former industry, such as this nifty Diamond Reo truck.



The primary waterway we now followed was the Prairie River, which flows into the Mississippi in Grand Rapids.



Since that time, we have encountered a much longer floating bridge in Ohio, but in 2009, this was the first one we had ever crossed.



You know me... I was greatly interested in the wildflowers. Prairie clover, Petalostemum villosum, was one we had learned in North Dakota, but it always brings oohs and aahs when in bloom.



Culver's Root, Veronicastrum virginicum, can be seen throughout the northeast. It's not just a prairie plant.


This one had me stumped for a while. Sadly, that's because it's native to the western US, but is considered invasive in Minnesota. It's bigleaf lupine, Lupinus polyphyllus. Yup, pretty much like the common one, only much bigger and much easier to grow. "So who cares which one grows?" you ask. The endangered Karner Blue Butterfly needs the common one for its life cycle. Here, it's gone to seed, busy pushing the native one out of it's natural range.



This was August 5, 2009. Day three of the hike, 16 miles, total 47.8.

	See Chippewa to Grand Rapids
if you like this blog, click the +1   or

Making Friends with the Orange Beast

 
This actually happened yesterday, but I didn't get the picture till today.

If you've been around a while, you'll remember that I was pretty happy when I was trained to operate the forklift at work.

As it has turned out, I don't get many opportunities to drive it because my role as "lead bundler" means that I'm almost always busy at a job that can't be left too easily when we get calls to go unload a truck. As a result, I'm ok, but not expert at using it. I just don't get enough practice.

You may or may not remember that the forklift pictured that day was yellow. A few months ago, the paper got another forklift. This one is orange. The yellow one now stays in our room and the orange one stays in the warehouse to unload trucks. Everyone hates it. I've heard a lot about it, but had never driven it.



But yesterday, I was the very last one there, and the office called for someone to unload a truck. So, I had to face the orange beast and make it work.

Much to my surprise, I didn't hate it at all. Maybe I just got lucky, but it worked fine for me, and I had to unload four pallets. A nice confidence booster for a skill I don't use too much.

	See Finally!
if you like this blog, click the +1   or