Sunday Already!?!?!?

I cannot believe that it is already Sunday! Tomorrow begins the work week and I have accomplished nothing all weekend. ;) There are times that is hard to swallow I suppose when there is so much fun stuff to do. Hiking, canoeing, camping, sight seeing, etc. Some of my favorite past times and I rarely do any of them! Summer is just beginning though...and there should be plenty of time to do all of them.

One new activity that we (my wife and I) have recently become more interested in is local history. Not so much when the white guys showed up...but before that. I was reading a couple pages of a book on Friday night...and there was activity in these areas specifically even back in the 1600s. I guess I knew that...but seeing it again really caught my interest. I have not talked about any local Native Americans since sometime in middle school! Even then...we were taught by a white guy that did not have a clue about the true history and the real facts. During high school I took two semesters of Native American History at the community college. Again, taught by a white guy that while he thought he was teaching us good info...really was not. We had to learn a decent amount from a book...and the rest was from all of his life experience as a local archaeologist. (I use that term extremely loosely...because he was just some guy that went to the local digs to see if he could get his greasy mits on anything...)

With our newly found interest we have been doing some research. We live in a really cool place now! We are living right along an old Native American highway! A trail that ran all the way from Grand Rapids to Mackinaw. Why did no one ever teach us that? We live a couple miles from a highly active trading route on the water...where annually tribes would meet to trade goods. How is it that no one ever taught us that?!?! It is really frustrating that we live in an area with so much incredible history...history that happened in our back door. So where does that history go when people pass on? It dies along with them...because no one has any interest in preserving it. As families become more separated and we all get busier trying to keep our heads above water...even more history will pass along with no record.

Anyway...I guess what I am saying is that will be yet another topic that I will cover on the blog. I am going to snap as many pictures...and find out as much as I can about the history (probably pre-1776) to help preserve it. Obviously there will be more recent history as well...since there is not much left from before 1776...but I will do my best to bring all of that history here.

-Derek

First REAL Storm Of What I Call Summer...

Wednesday was a wild one up here! It was a fairly calm morning and if I recall even a bit sunny. Toward afternoon the clouds starting moving in and a few sprinkles of rain fell. Around 3:40PM all of that changed! I was picking the wife up after work...the rain started coming down with a bit more intensity and quickly turned into buckets of rain coming down with thunder and lightning. The sky kept getting darker and the rain came down harder and harder. I heard a few clunks on the windshield and it all turned to 3/4 inch hail! The wind picked up even more so I decided to high tail it to some shelter. I made my way into the parking garage at the hospital...mainly to keep the hail from injuring the truck. Luckily, no dents. It all kept up for about five minutes and shortly after was turning mostly cloudy with a few peeks of sun. I actually got a bit nervous being in the middle of that one!

It looks like the weekend might have a few small storms in store for us...but should not be like that. Just some rain and possibility of a quick thunderstorm or two. Should make a good weekend to clean the garage!

-Derek

Welcome Back!

I have been absent for quite some time...for a few reasons...nothing terrible though. First, I have just had too much to do with work and the house. I have been so beat when I get home after a day at the office that I have no had an ounce of energy to put into the blog. Incorporate lawn mowing (multiple times through the week...thanks fertilizer!!!), pruning, learning the outside of the house...and I am ready for bed most of the time! Second, I went on vacation. I went nowhere....I just took a week off and laid back. I stayed away from technology (mostly...I was at work 2 days for a switch emergency...) and just relaxed. I am hoping that will give me a bit more vigor and bring back my enthusiasm for the blog. I purchased a domain name a month or two ago and would REALLY like to get this site moved over there. Finding the right software to write the page has been a bit discouraging...I want some free stuff so I do not have to put a lot more money into the page. Any recommendations there from anyone?

So...I mentioned in May that I bought a canoe. We have been out a number of times since my first post about it. All have been on the Bear River in Petoskey. Some long, some short. Some up river, some down. Each trip has been a blast though! I have posted some pictures on Facebook. You can follow OutdoorsMI to see them.

Facebook...I did choose to start a Facebook page for the blog because I can update it remotely on my phone. I can snap pictures on the fly and post them instantly. They are not very high quality from the cell phone...but if I am doing something sweet at the time I will post the picture...with higher quality pictures to come later here. (Hopefully soon on the web page!)

I have wasted enough of your time yammering on and on about stuff you do not care about. Look for some updates soon...possibly even a few pictures now that I have my desktop PC setup. (It has been in storage since the move...which is a good 'Third' in my list of reasons for not updating.) Another quick note...the OutdoorsMI cam should be back up and running soon. I have a perfect location for this PC with a window right next to me...so I don't have to do anything crazy to bring it back up. :)

Good night from Northern Michigan!

-Derek