Phew.. that was a long break!
Sorry about that.
I just have not been feeling particularly inspired to write lately. I would get an idea for a post... and then get busy doing something else and decide that nah... I don't wanna write about that. anymore. Then I would do it all over again... until finally here we are.
The ice is breaking on our lake and on Lake Superior. For the last few weeks if you are outside especially at night you can hear the ice shifting and moaning. Every once in awhile Delta runs down to attack the lake beast but she just returns all confused and understandably concerned.
The other day David and I were driving past Superior on our way to Houghton and we stopped at the beach because I wanted to take pictures of the frozen waves I had been trying to describe to people back home. I was too late. What you see out there now are not the I was talking about... but close. Take a look, those are not waves. That water is still. You can kind of get an idea of what I was talking about from these pictures.
The waves are mostly gone because the big lake has been melting and splitting. With the splits the pressure has been relieved a bit and the frozen waves slid back into the lake.
These pictures are pretty crazy. These breaks are about the size of a twin /full size bed. I personally missed the segment on the news but I guess a bunch of folks... thinking they were pretty clever I am sure after rigging up makeshift bridges etc from the melted shore to the thicker ice... made their way out onto the ice in Lake Erie to do some last minute ice fishing.
Note I said folks... however I put money there was more testosterone than estrogen out there. Anyway... the ice... well... duh... broke and separated them from the land and began to float off into the lake. When it broke away I guess a bunch of folks took off one way... and then another. I picture an icy teeter totter... of course the more seasoned folks just sat there and continued to fish while they dialed their cell phones for help. However, it turned from humorous and stupid to a tragic event because apparently one man died of a heart attack when he was riding his snowmobile to find a path off the ice and went into the water. It took hours to rescue them all. It took that long because there were (get ready for this ) approximately 134 people that needed to be rescued! Helicopters, boats etc. Jerry said it happens almost every year. The state is thinking about sending bills to people who do stuff like that for the cost of their rescues as this operation probably cost more than a few thousand dollars.
The story of floating off on the ice kind of reminds me of those old black and white Nanook of the North movies we had to watch in school on rainy days during P.E. class. Whenever it rained the PE teacher would send an Audio Video kid to get the projector, and the movie cans. The rest of us kids would wait in the gym holding our collective breath hoping there would be something new to watch. However, it seemed to always be one of two movies. I think the school must have only owned two.
Also, it never seem to fail... when you wanted to see one, the AV guy always brought the other. So instead of seeing some justice seeking Billy Jack dude who kinda looked like Burt Reynolds, and apparently now that I look at the pictures had some Native American thing going on... there was old Nanook standing in full regalia leaning over the seal hole waiting to stab a poor seal in the nose.
Just standing there.
Standing there for hours.
And then there was a disjointed part where I think it talked about how the elderly Inuit decide to float away on the ice when it is time to die because they did not want to burden the tribe... and of course scenes of the women chewing leather to make mukluks. As if that was not enough, all of this cinematic magic was interrupted periodically by the film sticking and melting and the AV kid having to get it all back together and running again... which is probably why the movie was disjointed in the first place.
I have to tell you though Billy Jack really was not much better. I am not sure now which one I would rather see if forced to see either. Hey... ya know what? It might have been real interesting if the AV kid got it into his head to splice these two movies together. Now THAT would have been interesting! Oh wait.. maybe not.. that really happened apparently. There was that whole On Deadly Ground "movie" by Steven Seagal. Maybe it would not be so entertaining after all. I never saw it... but apparently I did not miss anything.
Yikes.
Anyway, we also have had a passel full of visitors this past week. David's sisters and their families came for a visit. One traveled from Texas:
the other from California:
Quite a trek for both of them and their families. It was not only an Easter visit to their Dad's house but it also is Jerry's 75th birthday, and Jerry and Karen's anniversary! So we did it in style. Lots of traveling about seeing local sites and Jerry drug out the 4 wheelers since no more snow for snowmobiles (yayyy). The boys absolutely LOVED the ATVs.
Easter was spent at the local church... yes I went... and then the church held a ham and potluck dish dinner to follow for all the attendees. Jerry supplied the hams for the church meal and all the rest of us brought a dish or two. I brought my Mom's apple cake recipe. Then after that party, we went home for a couple hours. Watched the Master's Golf tournament, and then went back to Jerry's for more MORE cake and ice cream.
I have to tell you though, I think that all potlucks should beware if the Hershey family is in town... good food WILL be enjoyed and sampled freely! Those folks, in particular the men, can do some damage to a potluck table.
Random photos:
Here is David, Delta, and Jerry on one of their last snowmobile ride of the season. They had just come up from the lake.
and then this one.... this is what Cosmo does when Delta is out on the snowmobile:
The ice is breaking on our lake and on Lake Superior. For the last few weeks if you are outside especially at night you can hear the ice shifting and moaning. Every once in awhile Delta runs down to attack the lake beast but she just returns all confused and understandably concerned.
The other day David and I were driving past Superior on our way to Houghton and we stopped at the beach because I wanted to take pictures of the frozen waves I had been trying to describe to people back home. I was too late. What you see out there now are not the I was talking about... but close. Take a look, those are not waves. That water is still. You can kind of get an idea of what I was talking about from these pictures.
The waves are mostly gone because the big lake has been melting and splitting. With the splits the pressure has been relieved a bit and the frozen waves slid back into the lake.
These pictures are pretty crazy. These breaks are about the size of a twin /full size bed. I personally missed the segment on the news but I guess a bunch of folks... thinking they were pretty clever I am sure after rigging up makeshift bridges etc from the melted shore to the thicker ice... made their way out onto the ice in Lake Erie to do some last minute ice fishing.
Note I said folks... however I put money there was more testosterone than estrogen out there. Anyway... the ice... well... duh... broke and separated them from the land and began to float off into the lake. When it broke away I guess a bunch of folks took off one way... and then another. I picture an icy teeter totter... of course the more seasoned folks just sat there and continued to fish while they dialed their cell phones for help. However, it turned from humorous and stupid to a tragic event because apparently one man died of a heart attack when he was riding his snowmobile to find a path off the ice and went into the water. It took hours to rescue them all. It took that long because there were (get ready for this ) approximately 134 people that needed to be rescued! Helicopters, boats etc. Jerry said it happens almost every year. The state is thinking about sending bills to people who do stuff like that for the cost of their rescues as this operation probably cost more than a few thousand dollars.
The story of floating off on the ice kind of reminds me of those old black and white Nanook of the North movies we had to watch in school on rainy days during P.E. class. Whenever it rained the PE teacher would send an Audio Video kid to get the projector, and the movie cans. The rest of us kids would wait in the gym holding our collective breath hoping there would be something new to watch. However, it seemed to always be one of two movies. I think the school must have only owned two.
Nanook of the North
and/or
Billy Jack.
Billy Jack.
Also, it never seem to fail... when you wanted to see one, the AV guy always brought the other. So instead of seeing some justice seeking Billy Jack dude who kinda looked like Burt Reynolds, and apparently now that I look at the pictures had some Native American thing going on... there was old Nanook standing in full regalia leaning over the seal hole waiting to stab a poor seal in the nose.
Just standing there.
Standing there for hours.
And then there was a disjointed part where I think it talked about how the elderly Inuit decide to float away on the ice when it is time to die because they did not want to burden the tribe... and of course scenes of the women chewing leather to make mukluks. As if that was not enough, all of this cinematic magic was interrupted periodically by the film sticking and melting and the AV kid having to get it all back together and running again... which is probably why the movie was disjointed in the first place.
I have to tell you though Billy Jack really was not much better. I am not sure now which one I would rather see if forced to see either. Hey... ya know what? It might have been real interesting if the AV kid got it into his head to splice these two movies together. Now THAT would have been interesting! Oh wait.. maybe not.. that really happened apparently. There was that whole On Deadly Ground "movie" by Steven Seagal. Maybe it would not be so entertaining after all. I never saw it... but apparently I did not miss anything.
Yikes.Anyway, we also have had a passel full of visitors this past week. David's sisters and their families came for a visit. One traveled from Texas:
the other from California:
Quite a trek for both of them and their families. It was not only an Easter visit to their Dad's house but it also is Jerry's 75th birthday, and Jerry and Karen's anniversary! So we did it in style. Lots of traveling about seeing local sites and Jerry drug out the 4 wheelers since no more snow for snowmobiles (yayyy). The boys absolutely LOVED the ATVs.
Easter was spent at the local church... yes I went... and then the church held a ham and potluck dish dinner to follow for all the attendees. Jerry supplied the hams for the church meal and all the rest of us brought a dish or two. I brought my Mom's apple cake recipe. Then after that party, we went home for a couple hours. Watched the Master's Golf tournament, and then went back to Jerry's for more MORE cake and ice cream.
I have to tell you though, I think that all potlucks should beware if the Hershey family is in town... good food WILL be enjoyed and sampled freely! Those folks, in particular the men, can do some damage to a potluck table.
Random photos:
Here is David, Delta, and Jerry on one of their last snowmobile ride of the season. They had just come up from the lake.
and then this one.... this is what Cosmo does when Delta is out on the snowmobile:
