What a week/end!

I will start a bit backwards tonight...describing this week and then last weekend. Just to change things up a bit. :P

Overall, things have been fairly quiet around here. People are starting to leave the area for the summer...though I suspect we will see an influx within the next few weeks for the leaf color tours. It is nice being able to drive through town without having to make my steering wheel blush! We have been on a bit of a stay at home kick...it has been very nice to just lay back and enjoy some of the remaining beautiful weather that we have been having. The temperatures have been in the mid 70s every day for over a week. The better part? We have had 0" of rain for two weeks to match the warm temperatures! The last two weeks have been better weather-wise than the entire summer.

We have had the auditors at work for our annual exam...good times. They have been busy in back and really have not asked me for much this year. I believe they are more concerned about financial information than they are the rest of the exam...but I feel my time will probably be coming. I have most everything I need for my part...and have been working to get everything that I do not have in order. I have been extremely busy getting reports and other items ready for everyone else...it has not been bad. It sure makes the days go by faster.

As for last weekend...I cut wood! I hoped I was not going to have to...but when we had our DirecTV gear upgraded we had to cut down a bunch of trees around the house. They have been sitting around for a couple weeks and I figured I had better get them picked up. So I hacked them up with the trusty ol' chainsaw. They are ready to be split and stacked now. More good times! I am thinking that over the next two weekends I will get it all finished up. I also discovered that bees have it in for me this year. Not only did I get stung nine times a month or so ago...I flipped over a piece of lawn furniture over the weekend...what do you suppose I found? A stupid bees nest. They swarmed up a bit...but I ran (like a little girl) to the other side of the house to get inside. A disaster avoided. These bees were bigger than the last. ;)

I think that pretty much updates everything for the last few days...I will start posting some information on the ORV ordinance as it draws closer to the live date...and of course snowmobiling as we come up on winter. There is a lot of fall left...so plenty of good pictures should be on their way! I did find a number of my pictures that I had lost with a software program called Flobo Photo Digital Photo Recovery. It works EXTREMELY well to get corrupt files off of removable media. I restored over 300 pictures in just 15 minutes or so. Very useful tool if you can still buy it.

That is it for now.

Goodnight from Northern Michigan!

-Derek

Urban Living...In The Woods?

During my travels over the weekend I discovered an apartment that was made to bring your mind out of the boring and monotonous lifestyle that apartment living can cause. I was very impressed with the decor and the attempts to make it more "up north". The apartment indoors is just an apartment...though there are a number of things that make it livable. Some creative lighting, pictures and other wall hangings make the inside feel very homey and comfortable. The deck outside is what I was impressed with. An area of roughly sixty four square feet became an apartment dwellers outdoor escape.

First, the plants cover three of the four walls on the deck. They range from vegetables, grasses, ivies and flowers. All of which were brought in

for a particular reason. The ivies climb the walls against the apartment to get rid of the vinyl look. The vegetables provide wall covering, color and food. The grasses are placed along the exterior railing so there is a camouflaged feel. It really makes a guy feel like you are sitting in a desert oasis! (minus the sand of course!) Second, there is plenty of space for people. The middle of the deck is completely open with a small grill off to the side. You can BBQ and sit back and enjoy the evening in

peace...without bumping elbows. Finally, the attention to the "up north" details is incredible. By "up north" I do not necessarily mean

decorations...but more or less the "feel" that you get when you are sitting next to the camp fire with good people enjoying the food,

company and beverages. So to make

this "feel" come to life, the

apartment dwellers purchased a small citronella burning fireplace.

The thing is probably no more than a six by six by six cube...with a small bowl in the center for burning the fuel. You can burn a non-citronella fuel in it for odor free flame. I did not think to ask what type or brand of fuel they used...so be careful if you find one! As the sun sets and dinner comes to and

end...is there anything better

than a camp fire? I think not. Pour the fuel into the bowl, light it up and there you have it. A camp fire that will burn 2-3 hours when full. You are probably thinking to yourself..."What is a campfire without the smell?" Well, there is an answer for all things...and they have found it. In many rustic style

stores you can find incense that often smells like cedar, pine or another wood. In this case they use the pine incense. They bought a miniaturized version of a pot belly deck stove to burn the incense in. Light that sucker up with the small fuel oil camp fire...along with some "mood lighting" provided by some dim hanging lights...and you have

yourself an "up north" camp fire experience

right outside your deck door! The also have

a small fountain sitting hidden in the plants to provide a trickling stream noise...and down off the deck in the pond there is a large fountain that sounds like a nearby rapids or falls.

I apologize for pushing so many pictures into such a little amount of text. I just wanted to show you what kind of setup they have. It was a lot of fun hanging out on the deck while we were there! I did not have a chance to take evening pictures to show the flame from the "camp fire" or the lights that are hanging behind leaves to provide some evening light. I really try to keep images of people off the site...since I do not want to make anyone mad. The deck was full the night we were there. :)

This is proof that there is hope for those living in apartments. You do not have to feel so urbanized. You can just make a few changes to your environment...as long as your complex allows...and you can really give your place the "feel".

Goodnight from Northern Michigan! (I also apologize for the horrible formatting that Blogger gives this post...I swear it looks good in my posting window!)

-Derek

Happy Day After Labor Day!

Sorry I did not get to post yesterday...we were traveling and I did not have much, if any, access to the internet. We visited Farmington Hills for a day and evening...and then drove to Holland to enjoy some of the Labor Day festivities. Unfortunately, there was not much going on! We did visit the Holland State Park and boy was it busy! There was barely a spot to walk down to the water!

Enough about that...another post will follow with some information regarding some people who have taken true advantage of all resources to make apartment living more tolerable.

Stay tuned!

-Derek