My candidate endorsement...

Bob Barr of the Libertarian Party.

http://www.lp.org/

http://www.bobbarr2008.com/

I have had it up to here with the commercials, the lies, the constant bickering, whining, and everything else that has to go along with a presidential election.

I was a supporter of McCain.  I like John McCain.  I do not like Barack Obama...for many reasons.  (I toy with his name and Biden's and make him Obama joe Biden...hopefully that atleast LOOKS familiar. :P)  McCain has blown it.  I am just sick and tired of both of them...so it is time for a REAL change.  For the last six months...all we have heard about is CHANGE.  Where is the real change?  The rich are continually going to be richer...and the poor are continually going to get treated like babies.  Meanwhile people like myself, who work hard and have trouble making ends meet, get the shaft again.  Now, it is not difficult to figure out that even with a Libertarian president things will not change all that much.  We certainly will not have a Libertarian House and Senate.  So most of what a Libertarian president stands for would just be covered up by the evil of the Democratic and Republican parties.  BUT, if we voted in a Libertarian president, think of the message it would send.  People are tired of the main stream and are finally doing something about it.  Would that not be impressive?!  Finally, the foundation on which this country was built, would again be strong and REAL CHANGE could be on the horizon.

I urge everyone to vote...and I urge everyone to vote Libertarian.  Vote Bob Barr on November 4th.  

Derek

John Dee's sleds...

I have been a follower of John Dee and his adventures for nearly two years now.  I rarely get to his site in the summer...but as fall approaches I know I can turn to his site to be as equally excited about snow as mine.  He has been torturing his readers for some time about the new sleds he is going to be riding this winter.  It turns out one of my predictions was correct...a Yamaha Nytro.  He rode one last winter as a demo.  The other...an Arctic Cat M8.  I am not familiar with too much of that "Cat" lifestyle.  I rode a cat a few years ago...it was a nice sled.  However, the suspension on it murdered my back side.  So finally I know what he is going to be riding this winter...and I can sit here and be jealous for the next 6 months until the snow melts. :P

I will still be riding the ol' Yamaha VMAX.  I was hoping to possibly look for something new this year...but I am trying to save us some cash until I know what I really want.  Even a newer used sled would be fine by me...but the VMAX will do fine this year.  I may need a new track...the old one has a small tear in it.  As long as I ride slow and local...should not be an issue.  The maintenance I had done on it last winter seemed to help a bit on my last rides of the season.  I look forward to verifying that it actually did the trick.  I still have to do some of my own little maintenance to it...greasing up the suspension and such.  A new set of plugs will be in order too.  I found that after I fog my sled...the plugs are toast.  I hope that is how it is supposed to be.

Anyway...it looks like the temperatures are going to warm up just a little bit through our Friday and into the weekend.  Sunday and Sunday night might see a bit of rain...but overall a nice looking weekend is in store for us.  That is good because I have a bunch of leaves to pick up still. ;)  The wind that is blowing right now should knock the rest of them down!  

Tomorrow is the end of October...and Halloween.  I should go out...but will probably be sitting here drinking  a beer or something. 

Goodnight from Northern Michigan...

-Derek

A busy day...

7:00 AM - Wake up and take wife to docs for some imaging.

10:15 AM - Breakfast

11:00 AM - Home Depot to pick up wood furnace repair materials.

11:30 AM - Lowe's to find items not available at Home Depot.

12:00 PM - Emmet Brick and Block to pick up fire bricks.

12:15 PM - Home, fixing wood furnace.

1:00 PM - Outside splitting wood.

2:00 PM - Tired of it all...sat on my butt for the rest of the afternoon.

So it was a busy start to the day. ;)  The stuff I did took much less time than anticipated.  The wood furnace was a very quick fix.  I used the Shop Vac to suck out all the old ash and inserted the new fire bricks.  Upon further inspection the chimney at the edge of the furnace was almost plugged with old ash.  I scraped as much out as I could and got the Shop Vac to suck the rest out.  It was a dirty and dusty experience.  Luckily I figured in advance that I would be breathing in horrible air so I had a mask on.  (One of the smarter moves I have made in the last few weeks.)  After the inside was all cleaned out I pulled the cap at another junction off and cleaned that out.  Not much buildup right there.  Last night I noticed that there was an uncovered pipe coming out of the air box on the furnace that was pouring all sorts of hot air into the basement.  How lame!  I just wonder how long it has been like that.  So the furnace is done now and I will probably run the CSL through it tonight.

The wood splitting did not last long...but I have row four completed.  There is still LOTS of splitting to do...most will have to be split with the hydraulic log splitter.  It is impossible to split it with the maul. :P

The weather today turned out to be very nice!  The clouds have gone away and the winds have calmed.  It is still VERY cold outside.  We are not even pushing into the high 30s.  

Anyway...the wife has class again in a little bit...so I am going to take off.

Have a good remainder of the afternoon!

-Derek

White on the ground...

It snowed overnight!  I woke up to about an inch of snow on the truck.  It continued to rain and snow throughout the day...higher elevations saw more snow.  At work we saw a few flakes falling.  At home we saw more snow.  Unfortunately it warmed up a bit later in the afternoon and some of the white disappeared.  That is okay for now.  I still have a bunch of work to do outside.

We maintained temperatures through the day though.  I never saw it get colder than 34 and no higher than 40.  It looks like the warmest we had at the house was around 37 degrees.  It makes me want to get the sleds ready!  I took tomorrow off work so I can finish splitting wood and get the garage cleaned up.  I also have to do some maintenance on the wood furnace.  The box needs to be sealed again, a brick in the bottom needs to be replaced, and a couple of the duct covers blew off over the last few years and I need to crawl around and replace them.  We are pumping more heat into the basement than we are into the house...two of the covers right off the furnace have blown off.  I will probably run the creosote sweeping log through it too.  Over the next few weekends we will get the chimney cleaned out...but the CSL is a good start I imagine.

Well, I am losing focus very quickly...time to go. :P

Goodnight from Northern Michigan!

-Derek

First snow of the year...

This will be very quick. We had our first snow today! Most of the day it rained...but later in the afternoon, around 4PM, it started snowing! Big flakes! They only fell for a few minutes. Hopefully we will see a little bit more overnight...but no promises. By the time I came home it was raining again.

Goodnight from Northern Michigan!

-Derek

A rainy day in the neighborhood...

It is not much of a suprise this time of year, but the weather is fairly crappy.  It rained for a good portion of the day yesterday and has continued today.  There has not been a constant rain, but on and off.  The "fall" type rain. :P  I was just outside filling our bird feeders and I heard some thunder off in the distance.  Weird for this time of year!  I wonder if there is any correlation to how late in the year thunderstorms come and how bad the winter is?  Now I have some research to do.  ;)

It looks like the bulk of our chances for snow have dwindled away.  We were supposed to get a bit tonight and tomorrow.  Now we MIGHT get some through the first couple days of the week but it will all be entwined with rain.  Doh!

The thunder is getting closer and closer so I think I will keep this short so I can keep an eye on it.  46 degree thunderstorms are pretty cool.  I am hoping that we do not see any hail...the cars are out of the garage. :P

Enough for now.  I might continue the camping story tonight. :)

Goodmorning from Northern Michigan!

-Derek

Camping Trip Part 2

So we found a place to camp for the night.  We got the tarp put up to keep a residual rain from falling on us and got the fire started.  Collecting the fire wood was difficult in such a wet area...especially after it rained so hard earlier in the afternoon.  On top of that all the wood was old dead cedar.  Not the kind that burns well...but the spongy kind of almost rotten kind. :P  We gathered some brush and branches to put on the ground to keep our gear dry while we slept.  I threw my mat down and got all my gear ready for the night.  Now, as I mentioned in my last post, it was supposed to be a "light" trip so I did not bring much to sleep with other than my mat and the fleece sleeping bag I bought the night before.  So my initial setup of my space was fairly quick and easy.  We stood by the fire for a bit longer and I decided it was time for me to hit the sack.  I got all settled in and was out like a light.

I woke up in what seemed to be just a few minutes after I had fallen asleep.  The other guys were sleeping and the fire was about out.  I was a bit startled because I was not entirely sure what was happening...but I could not control my shaking.  After a moment I realized I was shivering...and that I was EXTREMELY cold.  It was only 12:15 AM.  I quickly got up and started moving around.  I stoked up the fire...but with all the wet wood it was tough to get it going again.  I successfully got the fire to smolder and decided that if I was going to get warm I needed to walk.  So I started walking into the woods.  I looked back and could still see the fire so I called (yes I had my phone) my wife to tell her what was going on.  1:00 AM.  I kept walking around and decided since I was already headed through the woods I would find the trail and head out of the woods.  About 30 seconds later I was on the trail...and one minute later I was in someone back yard.  We were camping three minutes away from someones house.  *laugh*  I could not believe that.  We looked EVERYWHERE for lights before we made the camp...and we were that close to town. 

I got onto the road and walked around trying to find my way out of the area.  I had never been there before, that I can recall, so I really had no idea.  I listened for the highway and kept walking in that direction.  There must have been some echoing because I got lost.  I walked and walked while talking to my wife trying to figure out where I was.  I had her get onto Google Maps to find a map of the area.  Unfortunately the roads are not listed on Google Maps and before I knew it...I had walked the same block THREE TIMES!  I took a new turn and finally made it onto the highway.  Camo pants, camo hat, black boots, and a black jacket.  I prayed that the cops would not stop and take me to jail. :P  After about a 15-20 minute walk along the road I finally made it to my truck and headed home.  As I rolled out of town, around 1:45 AM, I sent my buddies a text message to let them know I was out for the night.  I noticed shortly after I sent the message that the temperature outside was around 38 degrees and the sky was completely clear and full of stars.  It was cold.  I got home, curled up in a nice warm bed, and was out until 7:00 AM when the alarm went off.  I had to go back and get all my gear.

As I got ready to go it was still completely clear out and the temperature was down to 34 degrees.  Would I have made it a complete night in a fleece sleeping bag?  I doubt it.  I could have if we had taken turns keeping the fire going...but I did not want to wake anyone up.  So much for a light gear camping trip.  I will not be that stupid this time of year ever again. ;)  

The next day and night went much better...but I will save that for Part 3.

Good morning from Northern Michigan!

-Derek

Camping Trip Part 1

I am finally going to write about our camping trip!  This will serve as an introduction into the weekend.  Hopefully you will get some laughs and possibly some ideas from the trip.  The laughs will primarily be provided at my expense.  Anyway...

I knew for two weeks that this camping trip was coming up.  The whole point of the trip was to pack light and go unseen.  Yet I did nothing to prepare for it.  The night before the trip I made my way into Walmart and picked up some of the essentials.  By essentials I simply mean freeze dried food and a light fleece sleeping bag.  Camo was also purchased...but not that important.  It was more for entertainment. :P  

The next day I left work an hour early and headed home to grab my gear.  After saying my goodbyes to the wife and kitty I headed into town to meet my friends.  As soon as I hit the city limits the rain started pouring.  I met up with my two buddies that were going with me...and decided we would wait a bit before heading out.  Around 15 minutes passed and we threw on our gear.  From my experience with the last trip...I took VERY little this time.  Food, some extra clothes, and some gear to sleep on/in.  It was an easy walk to the edge of the woods where we headed down a small trail.  Shortly after entering the woods we took a rest and I got dressed from head to toe in my camo.  Honestly, I blended in VERY well...especially as we got deeper and the woods got darker.  We followed a few of the trails and ended up in a few back yards.  It was mildly frightening...wearing all camo with a big red pack on my back. ;)  We quickly made our way back into the woods after that.  

By that time it was starting to get dark out.  We wound through a few more trails and got to where we figured was fairly remote.  We stumbled our way into a swamp and finally found a place to make camp.  

I will end with that for tonight.  I will try to get Part 2 posted tomorrow or Thursday.  

Tonight is supposed to be COLD!  NWS says we are heading down toward 16 degrees.  It is too bad there is not any precipitation heading our way...we would be seeing snow for sure.  The days are supposed to keep reaching up into the high 40s to mid 50s.  No snow in the near term forecast though.  Most of our leaves have fall now.  There are a few trees still clinging onto the end of summer as they are still green.  I believe they are only the black cherry trees though.  There should be some pictures to upload fairly soon.  I really missed out on the best picture taking this year.  Two weekends ago the wind came through and knocked most of the color out.  

I think that is about it for now...as I mentioned I will try to post tomorrow.

Goodnight from Northern Michigan!

-Derek

My absence...

I have been missing for the past few days. Not from my normal responsibilities, but from anything fun and entertaining, including writing. I have been absolutely worn out since last week. I think a few good nights sleep will help. The temperatures have been quite warm and it has made for miserable sleeping conditions.

The warm weather has come and gone. The 'Indian Summer' that we have all been relatively enjoying is looking like it has finally given up. We will struggle to get out of the low 50s this week. The typical "chance of rain" phrase is getting more popular as we start to see the occasional rain showers pass though. I would guess that before long we will have a snow shower or two. (Or so I hope!)

Yesterday was an absolutely beautiful day. The colors in the trees were amazing and the weather was incredible. We made it into the 70s with the occasional peak of sun through mostly broken clouds. Then last night it all came to an end. As a cold front moved in, the rain started to fall, and the wind picked up something fierce. Unfortunately I do not have any info on the wind speeds last night, but the leaves came down. LOTS of leaves. Every last inch of green grass in the lawn is covered in leaves. There are still many to fall, but the color is almost gone. The bulk of the remaining leaves are turning a yellow-ish brown color. Not very pleasing asthetically. Today was much the same with some gusty wind and lots of clouds. It cleared up a bit in the afternoon and stayed cool. Perfect!

I promise I will write about our camping trip...possibly tomorrow. I have to have a decent amount of time to make sure I get it all written. I said before that I was going to try to do it in a few short posts. I believe I will just turn it into one gigantic post so that there are no interruptions. :)

Time to get ready for bed...I am beat.

Goodnight from Northern Michigan!

-Derek

Camping story...

I am going to skip writing tonight because I am absolutely beat...but in the next few days I will be writing a conglomoration of posts that will tell you about my entire weekend camping.  It had it's ups and downs...but overall it went well.  

So stay tuned over the next week for the entire story.  It should be formatted much like the last trip that I posted about...hopefully you will find it entertaining.

The weather over the next few days looks to warm up a bit.  Some clouds and some sun...temps dipping into the 40s at night and up into the 60s during the day.  Perfect for cutting the rest of the wood!

Anyway...Tommy Boy is on Comedy Central and I am getting ready to take a nap. ;)

Goodnight from Northern Michigan!

-Derek