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May 11-
    Happy Mothers Day Moms! Seems hard to believe that another week has come and gone. I guess when you are busy that happens. It has been a different week for me. A bit of an emotional roller coaster. I am not sure what triggered it, but last Sunday I started to really miss Burt, things only got worse on Monday and Tuesday and then started to get a little better on Wednesday into Thursday and by Friday I seemed to be back to normal. That lasted for most of Saturday, but by late Saturday and all of today I have been feeling a little glum again. Like I say there does not seem to be a triggering mechanism, or at least not one that I can identify. I also do not remember having these types of relapses with Baileys. I know I missed he dearly for weeks and still miss her a lot, but I do not remember having it impact my feelings the way I have been feeling this past week or so. As much as I do not like to feel this way, I am not going to bury those feelings either. I have always been one to face my feelings head on and just endure the downs and make the most of the ups. I know the way I am feeling will pass and that helps.
    I suppose part of the reason why I seem to be missing him more than ever is that the weather is starting to change a bit. Not dramatically, but the woods are drying up and we have had some days that conditions at the beach might not have been too bad. So perhaps knowing that we might be taking our afternoon walks in the woods or heading to the beach for a swim has me missing him. I have been in the woods a few times and have found the experience to be a mix of sadness for missing Burt, but also joy of being able to be in the woods. Yesterday Nora and I went to the beach for our daily walk. It was not the nicest of conditions, with temps in the low 40's and a stiff breeze off the 34 degree lake water, but we walked up the beach for a little more than 2 miles and then back and for much of the time I could not help imagine all the walks that the hounds and I took on the beaches up here. They sure were special friends and that is why I miss them so.
    As mentioned, it has been a busy week. I finished the deck and celebrated with a "hockey pop". Nora and I got a pair of old geezer rocking chairs and have spent some nice time sitting in them and enjoying the view off the deck. As the weather warms it will become even more enjoyable to sit out there. I just wish we could skip the blackfly season! It is nice to be done with the deck and it really has added a nice element to the cabin. We used to sit out in front in some beach chairs, but is it really nice to be on the wooden deck and up off the ground. One thing is for sure, Burt sure would have loved that deck! I am sure that we would have spent hours every day out there and might be out there right now if he was around.
    I also got the shop straightened up and ready for action. On Saturday I even picked up some rough cut 2 x 4's for the addition to the shop. Rumor has it that the road restrictions will be coming down this week and that means the boys can come up, drop some sand and level out a pad for the slab. That would be great because I really want to get that shop addition done before the heart of the summer comes. I also was hoping to have the foundation work done before the blackfly season kicks in. Just something about digging in the dirt with those nasty little buggers flying into your ears and your eyes that I want to avoid as much as possible. So I hope that the rumors of the restrictions coming off this week are true. I am glad that I did get the deck done first. That went pretty smoothly and is one of three major projects that is out of the way.
    It still does not seem like it is almost mid May at all up here. Perhaps not November like it did a week ago, maybe more like mid April, but certainly not mid May. All of the natural snow piles around the house melted off in the last week. I did see one spot of snow in the woods on Thursday, but went to go and look for it yesterday and all I found was a puddle. Most of the snow piled up from moving it has melted too. There is just one tiny patch along side the driveway that should melt in the next day or so. The "Allouez Township Glacier" is also shrinking fast. Just 4 weeks ago that pile of snow was up to the edge of the roof. Looking at our temperature forecast it looks like a bit of snow in that pile may just be left at the end of this week too. As you could see in that last shot though, the grass is turning green. In fact I gave it a shot of fertilizer this afternoon. That is something that I stopped doing with our lawns when the dogs started having all their problems with allergies as well as cancers. Not sure if there was a connection, but a green and weed free lawn was certainly not worth the health of the hounds. Now with Burt gone I can go back to dropping chemicals all over it!
    Not much else to say really. I found some fluid leaking from the ATV's front differential or transfer case, which ever it is, so Nora and I did not take a ride on it this week. I plan to get it down to Al's shop as soon as he has time for it so that he can take a look at it. I did take off the skid plate and did not see a hole or crack in the case, but it is leaking fluid for sure. I cringe when I think how much that repair bill might be. I'll prepare for the worst, but hope for the best. Today would be too cold to enjoy a ride on the bike, but yesterday evening would have been nice. I know Nora is excited to go for a ride and I did put the rear seat back on, so it is all ready as soon as we figure out what is causing the leak and get that fixed.
    I guess this one is short, but sweet. Hopefully we will be doing things that will give me more material to write about soon!
Good night from the Keweenaw..
-JD-

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May 4-
    Well, it was a pretty busy week, but more work than play. As mentioned, I was planning to get going on the deck for the front of the cabin this week and that is what I did. Monday I was able to dig the footings and get the concrete poured into them. I suppose that I really did not need to dig footing for it as it will not be attached to the cabin, but I figured I may as well build it over what is needed. On Tuesday morning the lumber arrived and then on Tuesday afternoon and evening I was able to get the framing done. On Wednesday I got the posts for the railing and all the decking done and then on Thursday I build the stairs and got the railings up. It was at that point that the weather went down hill. It rained just about all day on Friday and then Saturday we had some sprinkles in the morning that changed to snow and then it snowed from around noon to 6 pm. We ended up with around an inch of snow Saturday afternoon, so things have actually been stalled with the deck building since Thursday. All I have left to do is to put the top cap on the railing and put the spindles up. That will be a few hours work. I could have done some work on it this afternoon, but decided to clean up the ATV instead. It was still a mess from last weekend's ride and I hated to see it that way, so I broke out the hose and bucket of suds and cleaned it all up. It was even dirtier than I had remembered and took me almost 2 hours to clean, but it is all nice and clean now- all ready for it's next mud bath!
    This has to have been the coldest spring since I move up here 9 years ago. We have had a few days were we were in the low 60's and a handful of days in the 50's, but most days have been in the 40's and even a few in the 30's. I actually did not mind working on the deck with temps in the 30's and 40's. I was in the sun (if it was shining) and also wearing a coat, so I stayed plenty warm. I would rather be able to take my coat off or put on a lighter one than be hot and have no way of cooling off. However, I would also like to be able to do some yard work, but we still have a few piles of snow laying around and the grass is not even greened up in all areas, so that will have to wait for a few more days at least.
    Nora and I took a road trip up to Copper Harbor today. It was a while since we have been up there and it seemed like a good day to head up there. I also figured that we could do a mini waterfall tour. Most of the main snow melt is over, but we did pick up over 1 1/2" of rain on Friday and about another 1/4" of precip with the wet snow on Saturday, so there is still plenty of water flowing through the creeks and rivers up here. Our first stop of the tour today was at the Eagle River. There is a set of falls about halfway between Eagle River and Phoenix and we stopped there to take the first pic of the day. The falls are not particularly large, but that is sort of a special place for us as we stopped there many times with the hounds in all the seasons to take pics or explore. It did feel kind of weird to be walking around down there and not have a labrador exploring with me.
    We continued on down Hwy 26 to the hamlet of Eagle River to view the Eagle River Falls. They were going pretty good. Not the most water that I have ever seen go over them, but still enough to make for a dramatic sight. A bit up the road is the Jacobs Creek Falls. They are a smaller falls, with a smaller river and are actually a bit difficult to get a good shot of, so Nora and I slowed down to look at them, but did not take any pictures.
    Staying on 26 we arrived in Eagle Harbor and then continued up the coast towards Copper Harbor. It has actually been several years since I took the highway from Eagle Harbor to Copper Harbor. I do not know how many years, but I think it has been at least 3, maybe 4. There is a beautiful B&B just west of Copper Harbor in a massive log home right on the big lake. It is called the Dapple-Gray. Since I had not been down that stretch of Hwy 26 in years, I had not seen it yet. Nora has actually been in it, but today was my first view of it. Pretty impressive. If you are interested in knowing more about it, they advertise in the Northwoods Directory. I have met the owners Ruth and Ollie and they are very nice folks.
    The day was still nice out and so Nora and I decided to take a side track up Brockway Mountain Drive before heading into the harbor. The sign at the bottom of the hill said the road was closed, but I know that there was a bird migration watching event up there this weekend, so Nora and I drove past the sign and headed up onto the mountain. I hope we do not get ourselves into trouble by me writing about it, but we did encounter lots of other up there, so perhaps the county just has not gotten around to removing that sign yet. I guess one other reason it may still be closed is that there were still a few patches of snow on the road. The road is closed in the winter and actually doubles as a snowmobile trail during the season.
    Anyway, as mentioned it was a nice day out, with a few high clouds, but good visibility. There is still quite a bit of snow in the high country up there. The ground is covered in most cases. Not sure if there would have been enough to ride in that spot, but we did come across an area where some sledding could still be done, more on that in a bit. We stopped at the top of Brockway and looked for some migrating birds. We did see a few, golden eagles I think, but there were more bird watchers than birds. Perhaps things are a week or so behind schedule this year because it has been so cold. From the top of Brockway we could see over towards Lake Medora and it is still sporting it's ice from this past winter.
    We doubled back towards the harbor and as we reached the overlook there was a freighter coming around the tip, so I took a shot of it with the lighthouse in the foreground. After that, we drove down the hill and into town and had a nice lunch at Zik's, chatted with Ken a bit and then headed back south and west. One of the things I talked to Ken about is a work session they plan to have on the trails this next autumn. I guess the person that used to do all the signing will not be doing it this year and so they plan to have a work session and do it all using volunteers. It is still many months off, but I will be sure to let you all know when that work session will be taking place. I know that the Superior Snowmobile Club south of the bridge has some work sessions and gets some good help from volunteers and persons coming to this site, so hopefully we can get some folks to come across the bridge and help this end out.
    On the way home, Nora and I took one more side track to head to the high ground of Keweenaw County. Last weekend when we were on ATV's we had to turn around before we even got to the highest ground up there because the snow got to deep. It did not get that warm this week and so I figured that there was probably not that much snow loss and wanted to see what things were like. I even had some aspirations of possibly sneaking in one last, last last ride this week. Basically just to brag about the ability to ride in May. Friends that I ride with now were able to ride well into May in 1996. Brian and others actually took their last ride on Mothers Day that year. I do not know the exact date, but it think it was something like the 13th or 16th and he as a picture of them out there riding. That was a very big snow year (360") and also a very cold spring. Anyway, we did find some areas that one could ride a sled, but I am not sure how far I would be able to ride and I have things going on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of this week, so it looks like that last, last, last MAY RIDE will not take place. But it could have if I wanted to force it to happen.
    I have just two final items to cover. The first is that I have the date for next seasons SnowFest Ride-In for the Make A Wish Foundation. It will be Friday and Saturday, January 30 and 31. Like this last event that is Super Bowl Weekend. So you can all mark your calendars for that weekend to attend next years event if you want. I am going to try and get a lot more planned earlier this time around so that you all know what is going on months ahead of the event. The final item is a picture of the Laurium Glacier. It was taken yesterday at around noon.
Good night from the Keweenaw..
-JD-