Preparing for Michigan Winter

This morning I was finally ready to admit that I would do no more kayaking before I leave on Wednesday, so the first chore of the day was cleaning the kayak and dragging it back into its winter home in the basement. Since winter is apparently due to start here later this week, my dad assigned me a few more chores:

1. Run the weed-whacker until it's out of gas, and put it in the barn.
2. Trade the roto-tiller for the snow-blower, moving the first to the barn and the second from the barn to the garage.
3. Gas up the snow-blower, check the oil , and make sure it still works.
4. Drag the canoe up into the barn loft.
5. And while you're at it, add some air to the tires on the car.

However the ancient air compressor has sprung another leak (The first was patched a few years ago with a screw and some sort of goop resembling bubblegum) and has to be re-charged every couple of minutes. I convinced dad that we needed a new one, so off I went to Home Depot to view a confusing array of choices. I'm pretty sure we need something better than the $9.95 12V that plugs into the cigarette lighter, but probably not the $750 one that slices, dices, pounds nails, and weighs a half ton. Finally chose one for under $100 that i think will work fine for all of his various vehicles: Oldsmobile, 2 tractors, riding law mower, Big Red (3 wheeler), Jeep. There are probably more...

While in town I had a pleasant lunch with cousin Pat, and after visiting only four grocery stores, found one that carries chipotle en adobo. Most of the "Hispanic" sections in the stores here carry five different kinds of salsa, tortillas and taco shells, and that's about it. Gonna try a recipe for chiplote-spiced scalloped sweet potatoes (courtesy of the Hagley farm in Standish) tonight.

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Pere Marquette Rail Trail, Canoeing, and a Vist to Standish

It's been a busy week, and I've got just 3 days left here in Michigan.  But I'll be back in January, and again in June.

I got in a fabuous 40-mile bike ride on the Pere Marquette trail, on a section I hadn't yet ridden. (Farwell to Evart). I think this is my favorite stretch of this trail so far. Seemed to be a headwind both ways. How does that work???

Evart is about 60 miles from the start of the trail in Midland, all of which I've ridden in bits and pieces, and the trail continues on from Evart at least another 30 or so. There are so many miles of rail-trails in Michigan! And I want to ride them all!

Dad and I drove up to Standish to visit Uncle Louie, Aunt Gin, and family. We had lunch as usual at Wheeler's, which has been in business for over 75 years, then out to the farm for a visit. I got to see Aunt Gin's sisters, who I hadn't seen in many, many years. And to watch great-granchild Charlotte burn seemingly endless energy.

 Then back to Chippewa Pins for lots of minor chores, lots of cooking, and several walks in the woods.

Evart Station along the Pere Marquette trail

The Hagley family at Wheeler's restaurant, which has been in business since 1937.

Fall color along the Pere Marquette

More fall color along the trail. I love the sumac!

Just one of many astounding maples along the trail

More trail

Leaves, Walkers, and a Bad Movie

For the first time in a week or so, I went for a walk in the woods around Chippewa Pines. While I wasn't looking, everything has turned to gold. We're ankle-deep in maple leaves, and the oak leaves have finally started coming down. Still no frost though.

Earlier this week I went for a nice canoe ride with my cousin Deb. Looks like we did it just in time, because that's the last day of sun we're likely to have while I'm here. I am still hoping to squeeze in another bike ride on the one day this week the weatherman says it will only be partly cloudy with a 10% chance of rain. Stupidly, I did not bring any rain gear with me and I would really like to stay dry since temperatures now have become pretty fallish.

This morning I took my dad to buy a 2nd walker. He has one he keeps in the basement, where his little electric cart won't go, but it was suprisingly easy to convince him he needed to start taking one with him when he goes places in the car, and even just to get from the house to the garage. I did not realize walkers cost so much. They had some there that were approaching $500! (Not the one we bought...) How can a simple cart with 4 wheels be worth $500??? Anyway, thank goodness we had it with us when we went to the movies, as dad would've had a hard time making it in otherwise.

And the movie? Gravity. Really, don't bother. I watched a Star Trek episode after we got home that was much better.

This is the first time I've been to a theater since 2010, and the very first time I've seen a 3D movie. Still, just not worth it. I would like to see Captain Phillips but am content to wait until it shows up on Netflix.

Fall Color, Big Dogs, Running Out of Time...

Although it's another perfect fall day, I've spent this morning cooking and this afternoon shopping. Housework must be done, but tomorrow will find me canoeing with cousin Deb; and Tuesday, if the rain will only hold off, bicycling a part of the Pere Marquette trail I've not done before.  I've only got 9 days left here, and still have several people to visit and chores do to around my dad's house. I guess I should've planned to stay a full month instead of 3 weeks. The oak trees haven't even started to drop their leaves yet and I was really looking forward to seeing my favorite tree shed it's mountain of big leaves.

Yesterday I drove up to Cadillac to meet with my high-school friend Pat, and she and her family proceeded to take me on a wonderful drive through many back roads to see the fall color. Pat's oldest son, Heath, was a superb tour guide and knows all the great spots. I tried to convince him that he should be our SAG driver on a bike tour in the future, but sadly he just did not seem interested in driving a car while I'm out having fun!

Hope and Hero, big dogs! They are still just puppies, too.

Aren't they beautiful??

 All of the fall color pictures were taken at the "High Rollway" near Mesick, Michigan. This is one of the many places that the lumbermen rolled nearly all of Michigans white pines down to the river to float away to the mill downstream. Very nearly all of the white pines in the state were cut down in the 1800's and early 1900's. One of the few places where there is still an old-growth white pine forest is Hartwick Pines State Park.

Autumn color

That's the Manistee River as viewed from the High Rollway

Pat and Will

Pat and Will with their church in the background

 Pat and Will built this church, the Cadillac Revival Center, and Will is the pastor.

One of the many beautiful backroads that Heath took us on

 I am now convinced I need to get a mountain bike so that I can ride some of these beautiful dirt-and-sand back roads.

Beetles, Apples, and a Misty River

Yesterday the sun finally came out and I went for a 30 mile bike ride. For some reason, this nearly did me in. I can only attribute that to the flatness, so I never get a break from pedalling; and the fact that there was no one with me to make me take a break now and then.

There are swarms of these boxelder beetles around right now. I think these guys are pretty, and as far as I can determine they are totally harmless, don't eat anything we eat or use, don't bite, etc. But they are looking for a warm dry place to spend the winter and you may not want them to move into your house.

Boxelder beetles

At any rate, this morning I felt re-energized and recovered, so out I went to kayak my usual route down the river. It always amazes me that the 38-year-old Jeep still starts right up, ready to haul kayak and I five miles upriver. Although there’s not a lot of color yet, it was a stellar fall day, and I was comfortable in shirtsleeves as long as I stayed on the sunny side of the river.

A misty indian summer morning on the Chippewa

On the float back down (and I do mean float, as I barely paddled until the last mile), for the first time I did not stop at my dad’s place but continued another half mile downriver to take out at the Chippewa Nature Center. There is just no good place to take out at my dad’s place anymore. It’s a choice between getting out in knee-to-waist-deep water and then dragging self and boat up the rickety, muddy, uneven cement steps, or going to the old cow-watering place, where, unless it’s been unusually dry, you will sink in mud to your ankles and beyond, and then have to drag the boat over the remnants of an old footbridge to get it up to the yard. I am pretty tired of both of these options, and the Nature Center has this cool take-out that enables you to pull your boat (while you’re still in it) up a ramp to get it out of the water, and then provides handrails to help you disembark. I do have  a half mile hike through the woods back to the house, but it’s well worth it. Then it’s a nice bike ride back upriver to get the truck to haul the kayak back home.

The apples are ripe and we have lots of them this year. I picked about a half-bushel off of just two of our 50 trees. They are sometimes a bit ugly but so delicious. Sadly, I suppose the deer will get the rest of them.

Bonus pictures

I'm trying to catch up on blogging, so here are some bonus pictures from a bit earlier in the summer. I've just been too busy out enjoying summer!

Sculpture Park in Bremerton WA

And one of the sculptures doing what it does

The flower house, Alki, Seattle

The Inn we stayed at on Lopez Island

This photo just does not capture the size of this nasturtium!

Something you don't see every day around Seattle...

Back in Michigan

Here I am at my dad’s house, dragged up on top of Bullshit Mountain (aka Fox News), trying to ignore it but it’s difficult as it’s on nearly every waking hour. And worrying that the $(*%&)#@(&$ in congress are going to actually let us default on our debts and send us back into even a worse recession, and now that I am actually living off of my savings that would hurt. Should I sell off a  bunch of stocks and hide the cash under my mattress?

My trip here was long but everything was right on time, the usual car-boat-train-train-plane-plane-car. I had just a half hour layover between planes, and by the time I had walked to the other gate they were starting to board.

Instead of driving from Detroit directly to Midland, I made a detour over to Grand Rapids for a day. There’s a 3-week-long art festival called Art Prize, just coming to a close this weekend. More than 100 different venues, and 1500 different artists. Sculpture, painting, quilts, outdoor installations, at least one botanical installation, a marvelously decorated VW bug, a fire-breathing dragon, so many people that it’s hard to get pictures of anything, and every school child in the area on a field trip. It was all quite wonderful and I hope to make this an annual excursion. Check out http://www.artprize.org/ for more information.

Adding to the pleasure, I met up with one of my high school friends to enjoy it all. We finally limped back to our cars about 5pm and drove off to our separate destinations. I’m glad I made the drive before it was totally dark, as the fall colors are starting  to come out nicely.

Here are some pictures from Art Prize:

I want one of these!

"Tired Panda":made out of bike tires.

The Poacher

This quilt won first prize

Close-up of the first-prize quilt

Geo Space Firefly. Check out http://www.geospacestudio.com/firefly.html

Amazingly detailed cat painting

The Bootlegger

Look closely: This is made out of flatware.