Winter-like precipitation?

Uh-oh!  For all of you summer lovers...say your prayers.  There is no hope.  I was looking at the weeks forecast just as the weather came on TV.  I heard Greg say "wintry mix".  You have no idea how excited I am to hear that!  He also said that the 'shear winds' , from the North and West, could cause some funnel clouds.  Water spouts anyone?  It is October tomorrow...and we have yet to see a frost.  This fall is reminding me almost EXACTLY of falls that we had when I was little.  The typical cool/warm trends...the constant on/off rain...and running into October before we see the leaves fall down.

So I have been looking for some gear to do a bit of fall camping.  It is always wet up here this time of year...so the best idea in my opinion is a hammock type shelter.  This spawned from the idea of camping this weekend with a couple friends who use hammocks and tarps.  This got me thinking...maybe there is a market for such a shelter.  BUT, it turns out that it is an old idea.  I googled it and found Eagle's Nest Outfitters (http://www.eaglesnestoutfittersinc.com).  They have a line of hammocks and hammock shelters.  I have been trying to order the 'OneLink ProNest' for the past few days now.  It is a hammock shelter with a bug net, rain fly, and 'slap straps' which makes your setup a breeze.  I contacted the company to see if they were expected in stock soon but I have not heard anything back.  I have also looked at all of their resellers that have web pages to see if they offer the OneLink ProNest...but nothing so far.  I would be very interested to make a deal with ENO to test and use their product and write a review on it since it seems like it is not an extremely well known piece of gear.  

Now to winter camping...I am still trying to finish up my shelter in the woods.  Having to cut wood has drastically dug into my time spent in the woods having fun.  Maybe tomorrow I will work on that since it might rain.  If I could get the plastic walls put up inside it would be dry to finish up! ;)  The only reason I am using plastic inside is so that it might last a bit longer.  I would like to get a few trips out of it instead of it filling with snow and getting shut in.  I do have some video of the process I have gone through to put it together...but I need to create a YouTube account first.

Anyway, time to get dinner.  

Goodnight from Northern Michigan!

-Derek