The first REAL hail of the season...

Another DST has gone and past. I love standard time. The nights get dark sooner...I have a chance to make it to work in the daylight...it is great. There is just something about it that means winter is on the way.

The forecasts have been fairly rocky since my last post. They outlook for this week has been changing dramatically. Now, rather than snow, we are supposed to get snow and rain mixed. Instead of highs in the low 30s we are supposed to see highs in the upper 40s. Unfortunately we will probably find that NONE of them are correct. Especially this time of year. It is so easy for the weather to go one way or the other...meteorologists in Northern Michigan may as well just take November thru mid-January off.

I got some work done around the house today...building an open closet for the upstairs of the house, picking up the computer room, and getting the outside ready for snow. With the exception of a few miscellaneous flower pots hanging around...we are pretty well set. While I was typing that and trying to get the picture to upload we actually saw some hail! It melted very quickly due to the somewhat warm temperatures...but I would say it was our first TRUE frozen precipitation that stayed more than five minutes. So I went out and got a few pictures of it...and of course got a bit wet. All in the name of photography and showing the world what I feel is important. :P It was not much but it brought on a winter-ish feeling watching it come down. Hopefully next time it will be in the form of flakes!

I would say 99% of our leaves have fallen. The only leaves left are on those pesky popple trees and bass wood trees. Hideous trees that A. Make you look at them. and B. Keep their leaves until snow starts falling. You can plan on having your yard clean...but wait until the first good snow with wind. Those leaves will be falling down into your yard for your raking enjoyment next spring! The woods is fairly barren this time of year. We have not seen many squirrels or chipmunks since we have been back up at the house. The deer that we saw the other day have not returned while we have been available to watch for them.

My wood pile took a fall the other day...it could have been MUCH worse than what it ended up being. I still need to work on picking that up before it snows this week. (I am saying that as if it truly will snow!)

Keep your fingers crossed for some signs of winter over the next few weeks, for a great opening weekend of snowmobile season! (December 1st) I heard from the Harbor Springs Snowmobile Club (http://www.harborspringssnowmobileclub.com/) that we are not getting any trail grooming done by the DNR this year. What a disappointment that our state, in the miserable shape it is in due to the auto industry, takes away some of the only good left. From this point forward tourism is our only hope. Hopefully the snowmobile clubs get some decent funding or we may be left riding on the tracks of the people before us. I would absolutely LOVE to know where the funds for DNR grooming are going. If you have an answer to that I am all ears.

Sorry there are not more pictures...I am having some issues with the uploading of them. I promise there will be more to come...as there are still some pictures of the potassium permangante process that I owe to you. Stayed tuned over the next few days for those.

With that I will say goodnight from Northern Michigan!

Derek