Happy Halloween!

It is hard to believe that I have been doing this for two years now. The original posts came a couple days before the end of October. I will be the first to admit that I have been a bit off topic for the last year or so...especially in 2009. My focuses have shifted and time was running short. BUT...no sense in getting down on myself...I did that a couple months ago. Instead I would like everyone to jump over to the right hand side of their screen...scroll down a bit and look through the two years. Look for your favorite story or post. I did have a number of fairly good stories last year from camping with a couple friends. I tried to throw as much negative humor into them as I could...but I did really have a good time each time we went out. You can post a comment on any of them...or shoot me an email at outdoorsmi@gmail.com to leave a note. I would enjoy some feedback! :)

So anyway, Happy Halloween! It sure does look like Halloween today...the leaves are completely stripped off the trees (in just a couple days) and it is WINDY! We were under wind advisories last night...and AccuWeather warned of wind gusts up to 40 mph. All night long it sounded like a large machine was running outside the bedroom window...but it was just the wind blowing past the house. I imagine the kids will have a quick trick or treating experience this evening. Sadly, in Petoskey we do not have any malls or indoors arenas for them to go...in Traverse City they have the mall. Honestly though, how much fun would it be to trick or treat inside? Those will be the parents that get their kids immunized and use timeout for discipline. I am not against immunization...but take it easy! Getting sick once in a while is not the end of the world! Remember? What does not kill us makes us stronger? Yeah. That is why we all die from the flu...we cannot fight a simple virus. As far as timeout goes...forget that. Nothing better than "red dot" to make them behave. I am not saying beat your kids....but I know I learned not to do things by getting a spanking once in a while. So...take your kids into the wind and cold! Teach them to be real people and not the babied mush puppies that you have been teaching them to be.

Wow...a rant! :P My last post was about an ORV ride. It turned out that I should NOT have been out that day! I hope I did not cause anyone to get into trouble. The Emmet County ORV Ordinance was scheduled to be enacted 60 days after it passed. Well, it turned out to be 65 days. The ordinance took effect on 10/18/09. I have been out a couple times since then...just taking two tracks and roads through the area to make sure the Suzuki is going to live. :P All seems to indicate that it will be around for years to come. The two tracks around here are perfect for riding...most are fairly straight and easy to ride on. If you happen to meet another ORV or a car it is easy to take action and get out of the way. There should be a few good days of riding left...one goal I have is to go ride the Tomahawk Trails over in Cheboygan county. Roads are nice...but trails are even better. :P Once Emmet county defines a trails system with the DNR (hopefully that connects to Cheboygan county) we should be in a bit better shape to take on the ORV tourism industry.

Knowing that outdoorsmi.com has been possibly hijacked until March...I have started the design again. If I cannot get the domain back I have been considering other possibilities. I have a new logo created...possibly with a few adjustments I will make the change on the blog first. I would like to re-brand a little bit and start doing a but more 'production' of material instead of just rambling on and on about things I do. I will certainly still have that on a blog section...but the rest will probably consist of different features...possibly on a weekly basis.

So with that...I will get moving for the day. Pumpkin carving awaits! :D

Good morning from Northern Michigan!