Survival, Outdoors, and Other Essentials

Merry Christmas/Happy New Year/Finally some snow!

2012-01-02T11:07:00.003-05:00

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Well, it has been a long time since my last post...but we finally have something to talk about! Our first actual snow storm of the year. We have woken up to an inch here and there...then it melts. Up until yesterday evening we still had grass showing in our yard!

It started yesterday afternoon when a bit of rain/snow mix started falling...and gradually turned over to all snow. Sadly, that ended by early evening and we were getting nothing. It looks to have stayed that way until this morning...when shortly after 8AM the snow sporadically started coming down. Nothing of any significance in our neck of the woods....but it sounds like other places, like Gaylord who received around 8 inches of snow last night, got an earlier start and received quite a bit more snow. As of shortly after 11AM we have received roughly an inch of snow at our house.

I mentioned grass in the yard...that means I have not touched the snowmobile since sometime over the summer when it got cleaned and summerized. The four wheelers have remained garaged as they need to get over for some service...which hopefully will happen in the near future.

As sad as they may be that really honestly about wraps it up. I took classes all through the fall and start up again this month...so that will be eating up a bunch of my time. I do hope to make some more time for the blog, but the Facebook page is where some of the more frequent updates will occur. You can view that by clicking the 'Like' button over to the right. :)

Talk to you soon!

Derek

Happy Belated Independence Day!

2011-07-05T20:00:00.003-04:00

Not much in the way of content but I thought I should post something before all the readers end up disappearing. Honestly, that has probably happened at this point, but I would like to think I can make a come back. June was a fairly miserable, wet, and cold month...so we did not accomplish a ton.

The summer, so far, has been really busy with work and getting things around the house taken care of. I have also taken on a number of lifestyle changes to get myself healthier; that has taken up a significant amount of my time. The good news is I have been able to fit in a decent amount of ATV riding and a single canoe trip so far. There is still plenty of summer left so I do not feel too bad about the lack of activities so far. We already have some camping scheduled for August so I am getting pumped about that.

More good news is I purchased a new camera. The Kodak is still a nice camera, and will be used for specialized shots, but I found a Samsung that takes extremely good photos and is not nearly as bulky as the Kodak. Something I have been looking for in a camera for quite some time. I have a number of ATV and canoe pictures that I will upload to my Picasa page and link to here. Nothing extraordinary but it will be something for a few people to look at.

We recently attended a Gin Blossoms concert down in Mears at the Val Du Lakes resort. I was extremely impressed with the venue...and of course was very stoked to see Gin Blossoms. The opening band was a group called Push. Nice guys...we got to hang out with them for a portion of the evening on the VIP deck. (Which I would recommend if you go to Val Du Lakes...) Then Tonic was up...rocked as always...and then Gin Blossoms. A very cool night for us. I took a lot of pictures...though we did not get to meet on this trip. (If you recall we met them when they were at Boyne Mountain.)

That just about covers it for recent content...I will be sure to start adding a bit more here and there as we get into some of our summer activities. I promise!

Goodnight from Northern Michigan,

Derek

Still here...

2011-06-21T22:18:00.001-04:00

So it has been nearly three months since I last wrote...amazing!

I will have some content soon.

Derek

Spring Is Almost Here!

2011-03-30T15:00:00.007-04:00

I would say that I could feel it...but the only way it feels like spring is if you are sitting inside in front of a window absorbing sunlight. It does LOOK like spring...but with temps dropping into the low to mid teens and topping out in the 30s...it still feels like winter! This weekend into next week looks to bring some potential for rain and snow...either way we could really use the moisture. Considering it only has snowed a couple times since the big lake froze I assume we are going to be in for a pretty dry spring...unless of course we get a nice period of wet weather.

I really have not been up to much. I have been out on the four wheeler a couple times for decent rides...though it was very cold and the last time quite icy. I prefer riding on dirt myself. ;) If I do not have skis and a track I would rather avoid snow. The Outlander has performed beyond my expectations. I really have no had an opportunity to see what it can do yet...but this spring and summer should be a real workout for the beast. It is a 400 Max XT if I had not mentioned that in the past. That means it includes a second seat, aggressive mud tires, a winch, and a few other perks that most four wheelers do not just come with. I will start to get into the details of the four wheeler as we move forward into spring...I will certainly need something to talk about on the rainy days!

One other project that I have been putting off is a hoist for the canoe. I was really having a hard time deciding what to do with it. It was between mounting it onthe wall, hanging from the ceiling, keeping it outside, renting a storage unit, or putting it in a remote location that would have been inconvenient. I, with the help of my dad, decided that a pulley system to pull it to the top of the garage would suit me nicely. We started with a couple pulleys and eye-bolts, rope, and some J-hooks. All the hardware went up pretty quickly and we needed to test it out. Both of us pulled like crazy to get the entire 80 pound canoe to the ceiling. It was quite difficult and the ropes kept slipping off to the sides of the pulleys. New pulleys were in order! So I also decided to add two more pulleys to the mix; replacing the eye-bolts. I also needed to get something to tie the rope off to so I figured nylon boat cleats would work well. We went to West Marine in TC and Petoskey and found four pulleys that hold a ton of weight and have no space to the sides for the rope to slip into and my cleats. (The difference between the new and old pulleys was about $16 a piece...so the new pulleys better continue to work and work well!) I installed the new pulleys and cleats and the pictures you are seeing are of the final product. It works really well! So that is my big spring project out of the way. Next up is cleaning the rest of the garage and getting ready to enjoy some quality relaxation time! I did all my yard work last fall...so I just need to fertilize and start up the sprinkler system in a few weeks. It will be easy street from there!

I spoke of pictures...they still have not updated the picture upload utility to anything worthwhile. So please visit http://picasaweb.google.com/dallerding/CanoeHoist/ to view the pictures!

That about sums it up for now...check back a bit more frequently now that spring is coming around the corner. I should at least have a few more pictures to upload and hopefully a story or two to share.

Goodnight from Northern Michigan!

Derek

Big Changes In My World...

2011-02-09T19:44:00.002-05:00

I, for the time being, am giving up "adventure snowmobiling." No more long trips and no more going off on my own into the deep woods to try to come up with stories, pictures, and excitement. I will be falling back to the old standby...my Yamaha VMax XT 600. Sadly my Ski-Doo is no more and has been signed over to the insurance company.

There is some good news to this seemingly devastating moment. We are converting to ATV riding. The advantages are many...and it should provide a bit more content to the blog...as there are probably only about two months out of the year that an ATV is a bit difficult to get around on. This winter, aside from it being frigid cold right now, is a perfect example of this! Even at this point most areas in Northern Michigan can be safely traversed by an ATV. I just need the cold to go away!

So that is just a preview of some of the upcoming blog...I will let everyone know what I am riding and where the bulk of the riding will be done over the next month or so...as we round into March then into April it should provide a real big change in content. As I move forward with the blog I hope to hit on some of the cool things that I hinted at covering last year...I think the ATV will let me explore those pieces of history a bit more closely and with a bit more detail than I could get on a snowmobile.

Stay tuned for some near future updates!

-Derek

OutdoorsMI Cam

2011-01-15T16:55:00.002-05:00

It is back! Check it out in the 'Links' section on the right hand side of the page. It currently is a pretty old camera running it...so the res is pretty bad. However, now that I have it back up, I should get some motivation to upgrade. We will see based on the number of viewers I get. It does not show much...but should at least give an idea of whether it is snowing or not! ;)

Page Updates

2011-01-15T10:04:00.003-05:00

I just added a link to our Facebook page to the right side of the screen. Check it out! I also added the twitter feed which will have the short versions of the Facebook posts...so this has finally become the one stop shop for OutdoorsMI!

I am still trying to get motivated to move everything over to the domain...but I believe before I start I am going to change hosts. No sense in paying when I have people in the biz that have offered to help me out for free! :) Or maybe I will host it myself? Who knows...I hate the thought of paying for business internet to get static IPs...but I would get bandwidth priority and faster speeds than I do now. Interesting concept!

-Derek

"Here I am...

2011-01-14T16:26:00.003-05:00

and I don't have much to say." Without a winter ride...my excitement about what a good season to ride and blog it would be has dwindled greatly. I really do not have much exciting to talk about.

We did get a pretty good snow storm in our neck of the woods last week. On Friday we received 10-11 inches of new snow at our house. So much snow that the snowblower had a bit of a hard time keeping up! But the little guy pulled through for me...and with a few tweaks of the auger clutch cable I think it will be in good shape. Basically I have just sat here and watched the snow pack down though...I have not had much time to get out and about. Work has kept me fairly busy the last couple weeks.

We just installed a new phone system at work...a Cisco Unified Call Manager with contact center. Pretty fun stuff...a bit improvement over where we were a few days ago. No more calls dropping, no more barged calls, and no more small nuisances. That is over now so I took a few hours off today...just to hang out and do nothing. I was thinking we would go somewhere...maybe even get the four wheeler out...but that did not happen. It probably will not happen at this point. ;)

In other news...I did hear from the insurance company today that they are finalizing the details of my insurance claim. The first round of repairs is done...they replaced the ski, spring, A-arms, some other bars and things that matter I suppose, just to discover that the frame was in fact bent. The first repairs were fairly pricey...the second repair estimate just about made me vomit. I should know more in the next few days...but no Moosejaw for me. :(

That about sums up the last couple weeks...working and waiting for sled news. ;) So I will end it here. I hope anyone that goes out on the Moosejaw has a great time!

-Derek

Late Merry Christmas / Happy New Year

2010-12-30T21:24:00.002-05:00

It has been an extremely busy two weeks...so I have not had much time to post. Between work, having family around, and the holidays...this guys has been pretty darn busy. BUT I did want to wish everyone a belated Merry Christmas...and since tomorrow probably will find me quite occupied I will wish you all a pre Happy New Year. :)

In other news...I wrecked the rick front of my sled on Christmas day...(another reason I have not written much) Fortunately it was only at about 6 or 7 mph and right near the house...but it still threw me for quite a loop. It was one of those moments where I took my eyes off a corner for a couple seconds to see where the followers were and next thing I new I was flipped off to the side and landing on my noggin. :P Good thing for helmets and thick skulls! It is not anything to joke about I suppose...it could have been much worse. It just goes to show that you do not have to be speeding down the trail at 80 mph to ruin everything. We had just gone for an 1 1/2 hour ride...and were getting ready to pull back into the yard. I have insurance coverage that should get me back out on the trail soon...but I want to remind everyone that we really need to be careful on the trails. If I can ruin my sled at less than 10 mph...imagine what you could do at 20...30...40...or 90 mph. You would probably be dead under the right circumstances. Grim notes are now over. ;)

We had seen some fairly cold temps and the snow was sticking around nicely...until yesterday. We saw temps in the mid-40s...and today again the 40s with some rain...heavy at times. I would guess the trails that were wearing a bit thing will be just about down to dirt by the end of this warm evil that is coming through. It is supposed to hit the road by the end of the weekend and bring some snow back into the mix...but it does not right now look like anything of excitement. Too bad since we are already a month through snowmobile season...with 2 or 3 months at best to go...unless we get some big snows coming up here in January and February. It could happen...right?

That about covers it for now...I hope you all had a great Christmas...and I hope everyone has a safe, fun, and prosperous new year! :)

Goodnight from Northern Michigan,

Derek

Grooming has begun!!!

2010-12-13T18:37:00.002-05:00

I was just taking a look at the local club websites...it sounds like they are all grooming trails now! We have not had much snow over the last 24 hours...but it must have been enough to get them out and about grooming. That is good news! Sort anyway...chances are the drags are going to pull up a bunch of sticks and leaves...BUT I hope that I will be sadly mistaken come Wednesday when I am out riding! We have a phone conversion at work...I am hoping it will not interfere too much with some snowy fun!

It was 8 degrees this morning when I left for work...14 when I came home. So it has stayed incredibly chilly. The sun was out nearly all day though...with the fresh blanket of snow that fell Saturday night everything was very pretty. We might see a bit of snow tonight but it will not amount to much.

That about sums it up until I get out and do some riding of my own...I am really looking forward to getting out on the trails. :) I hope to see some of you out there!

-Derek

Go Ride!!!

2010-12-12T16:22:00.003-05:00

Just a quick note. I ran to Alanson to check on the snow levels. What a big difference my my place! There is easily 1+ feet of new snow on the ground in areas. The trails seem to be getting a bit of use...so get out and ride!!!

-Derek

We got it!

2010-12-12T12:07:00.002-05:00

We are not talking about the feet of snow that fell out in MN...but we got a little bit of what they were calling for! We received in my neck of the woods about 5 or 6 inches of snow. The wind decreased that amount a little bit...but in protected areas that seems to be the average.

I will probably try to make it out onto the trails a bit this morning...I am thinking they will still be a bit rough since we really have not had much snow at all. With the archery and muzzle loader season still plugging along...a lot of trucks are still traveling along the will be snowmobile trails. I am having my doubts about the rest of the storm we are supposed to see...TWC says 5-8 today and 4-6 tonight...and 4-6 tomorrow...but NWS says 2-4 today and 1-2 tonight...with a very small chance for snow tomorrow. Tough decision I suppose...two very different stories. I am opting to believe the NWS since it has already stopped snowing and it looks like the falling precipitation is not heading back our way. Maybe some LES could fall...but the flows are not favoring our area.

If I ride a bit I will certainly take some pictures and share them. I did take a few pictures this morning that I will post in my next post. :)

-Derek

Snow?

2010-12-11T20:11:00.002-05:00

Yes! It is on the way. We have a few inches on the ground from the last week or so...but the bigger stuff should fall tonight through tomorrow. Currently we are under a Blizzard Warning with 5-8 to fall tonight, 4-6 tomorrow, and 4-6 tomorrow night. The warning lasts until 7AM on Monday. Maybe some people will have a snow day??? (Maybe even me? *laugh*) That is good news!

In other good news...my four wheeler is now fixed. I took it to Highland Trails in Conway to get it worked on. I dropped it off Wednesday...it was fixed Friday. Very quick! Now to the story. I hooked the battery up backwards. I do not know if that is what caused the issue...but the voltage regulator shorted out and was causing the whole shebang to not work. With that replaced...it works like a champ! I drove it for about 30 minutes in the woods today...it even did okay in the snow. So I think we are in good shape for some more riding and certainly some riding in the spring! I believe I will be taking the ol' VMAX 600 in there for some service...something is not right with that thing. I believe there is some exhaust issues, clutch issues, and possibly a serious engine issue. If you remember right...the beast overheats very quickly and with the sounds it was making last spring when I put it away...I am not confident that it will be around much longer without some big help.

I tried to sell my Renegade last month...but never heard anything back from the person I was trying to sell it to...so I am hanging on to it for the season. Unless of course I get a good offer. ;) Sounds a lot like last year right? I just need something to ride...otherwise I would pursue selling it a bit more aggressively. I had not ridden a sled in many years before I bought the Yamaha...and since then I have been addicted. You all know my passion for riding...so I will not bore you with that.

I really do not have much else to write that pertains to the content of the blog...just sitting here watching radar and the numbers. I will keep my fingers crossed for the snow lovers out there and for the suggestion I made about Monday. ;)

If anyone wants to ride this winter...let me know!

Goodnight from Northern Michigan!

-Derek

The Ground Is White!

2010-12-04T16:07:00.002-05:00

The snow has fallen...and I believe it is here to stay...for now. Temps look to stay in below the freezing mark for the better part of the upcoming week. Good news for getting the ground frozen I suppose. At our place we have roughly three inches of snow...other places in the Northern Michigan area have received enough snow for the snowmobile trail groomers to be out panning and grooming! Crazy. In my neck of the woods though...I highly doubt much action has been seen on the trails. There are probably a few die hards that are out riding...but I imagine they are using the "beater sleds".

I do plan to get my sled out and cleaned up tonight. We have enough snow on the ground around the house that I should be able to play around a little bit...being careful not to dig down to grass I suppose. ;) I am amped for the upcoming season...from everything I have read and seen it should be a decent winter for some snow. I will keep my fingers crossed! I need to get a new pair of gloves for riding...but that should put me in pretty good shape for hitting the trails! I am trying to put a trip to the U.P. together for riding their trails...but it is pretty early to start putting details together. Hopefully as January rolls around we will have more information about where we want to ride and stay.

The homeowner in me has been keeping my blog writing to a minimum...I continue to get ready for winter...and of course the holidays. I cannot be the new kid on the block and have no Christmas decorations up! So I am working on a modest but pretty light display. Nothing hillbilly...just really nice. Now that we have snow I have been scavenging the country side for a concrete safe liquid ice melt. So far all I have found is available online...none of the major name stores around here sell anything like it. I am skeptical to order something like that online...fearing that it might be a "snake oil" purchase. We shall see what I can find locally...online will be my last resort!

Enough for now...I have some obligations that I must attend to this evening!

The snow is here though...so keep checking back as my updates should become much more frequent!

Goodnight from Northern Michigan,

Derek

Welcome To November!

2010-11-05T08:21:00.004-04:00

November is here...and today so is snow!!! November 5th marks the first accumulating snow of winter 2010-11 at our house. We obviously do not have much...but there is accumulated snow on the ground this morning. In fact, it is still snowing now that I can actually see outside. Pretty cool stuff. It looks like we are supposed to see in the range of half an inch today. Get our your sleds! ;) The sad part is I have ridden on more dirt than half an inch of snow before...on some of our late spring trips.

I had half a notion to sell my sled this year...I am having a really hard time getting rid of it though. First, it is the first new sled I have ever bought, and second, it does not have nearly enough miles on it for me to have gotten my enjoyment out of it yet. Possibly after this season I can start to consider it again...unless I get a slammin' deal. Who knows.

Anyway...that really about sums up this early morning post...I am still trying to wake up a bit. I will post a few pictures when the light changes outside...I cannot get a decent picture right now because it is just a little bit too dark...and I am NOT about to go stand outside in my comfy sleep clothes right now. ;)

One last quick note...this marks the first year in a LONG time that I will not have to get a fire going to keep warm! I walked downstairs and turned on the thermostat...how cool is that? *laugh* Anyone know of any good internet enabled thermostats that I could install here? Preferably one with iPhone/BB/Droid apps. :)

Good morning from SNOWY Northern Michigan!

-Derek

I have not forgotten...

2010-10-20T21:43:00.002-04:00

I just have had no time! This has been an extremely busy month...since I have last written. I have a lot of new pictures that I am working on putting online...I will post links to those soon.

I will try to write something of more significance this weekend...it should be a fairly calm weekend.

One thing I do want to point out though...is that we are nearing the end of October and heading toward November...which marks another month down as we enter winter! We did see some hail tonight when we were headed around town...right out in the Bay Harbor area. I have some decent pictures of a fairly quick moving weather event...I will be sure to post those very soon. Maybe even before the weekend.

I do apologize for my lack of ambition to write...lots of busy work this time of year...and unfortunately I have not had any time for outdoor fun!

Goodnight from Northern Michigan,

Derek

Linux...

2010-09-14T20:41:00.002-04:00

Well, obviously I have not written, but I have a decent excuse. My laptop crapped out on me. Vista black screen of death to be exact. I tried for days to get that beast working again...but made absolutely no headway. So I picked up an external drive...copied what I could to it...and installed Linux. Today is only my second day on it...but things are going well. I took a couple classes back in high school...when Linux was associated with uber-geeks...but now? Wow...things are MUCH different. I have not even seen a command line. I am impressed. Oh...and now that it is plug and play I am much happier. Device support was a tough game in the late 90s. As all things do...Linux has evolved...and fairly rapidly.

It appears that my battery is about to die though...I just wanted to make a quick note that I am still here...and that fall weather is quickly approaching! This place should pick up in activity pretty quick as the best time of year rolls around like...oh...lets say a Taco Bell grilled stuffed burrito after an evening of partaking in hops based beverages would. :P

Enough out of me for now...stay tuned for some recent pictures and some events! I look forward to finally sitting down and sharing some of my activities again.

Goodnight from Northern Michigan...

Derek

Back Home, Weather, and Snowmobiling...

2010-08-22T09:16:00.003-04:00

After a trip to Kentucky I am back home! It was a fun trip but I am fairly glad to be back in my own house with my own stuff. There is a certain level of comfort that cannot be achieved in someone else's home when you are a guest. Cooking, eating, bathroom stuff; it is all fairly hard to when you are in unfamiliar territory.

Anyway...back to the closest I will come to a subject today. While I was away I heard that we got lots or rain and had a couple pretty good storms. If you have not noticed I have no provided any rain totals this summer...my gauge is broken and I have not bothered to fix it yet. The garage is still in shambles so I do not have much of a place to work on stuff. Yesterday when we got home I was greeted with low 70s and a fairly thick humid air. The humidity fell off as night progressed and we dried out quite a bit. Yay! Today looks like clouds and mid 70s...but as the day progresses we should see some of the clouds disappear. I might try to get a canoe trip in today!

As temps settle down you should see the blog get a bit more active...I really wish I was posting on my new website but I just have not had the ambition to get it up and running. Maybe this fall during the first couple wet weeks I will at least put something together to use temporarily.

Anyway...as I hinted I did not have much of a subject or specific target in my writing today...other than to give an update on the weather and where I have been. :)

I have talked about it before...but if anyone is interested in getting a charity snowmobile ride together with me I would be more than happy to work on it sometime. I imagine a donation to the trail system we ride would be required...,but the rest could go toward a local charity that maybe has something to do with winter...like the coat/glove drive? Who knows. If you are interested send me a comment.

-Derek

Where did summer go?

2010-08-07T09:52:00.003-04:00

Wow...August 7th already. I cannot believe a month has gone by since I last posted. It seems like yesterday! We had finished painting the room and it it was only mid-July. Dang. So we are in fact in August now...and there really has not been much going on.

A couple weekends ago we decided to shoot out onto one of the sections of North Country Trail that I have never been on. Starting at Brutus Rd. we made a 4 mile trek North to the Stutsmanville Rd. intersection of the trail. It was a really pretty section of trail and I would imagine is really a nice attraction in the fall with all the colors. The trail starts with a slight incline as you get started...so I was thinking "Yay...hills." To my surprise it was not bad! Shortly after we started a fairly steep decline into the woods and down out of the hills. Half way down that hill there is a bog with lots of fresh looking greenery. As you continue down the hills it gets wetter and wetter...and eventually turns into a small stream. At the bottom of the hill it is a full out creek and is some of the coldest cleanest looking water I have ever seen. It was incredible. I almost took a drink straight from it...but decided that despite the source only being a quarter mile up the trail...it might not be the best idea. BUT that is how inviting it was! The remainder of the trail was fairly level with a few decent inclines and declines...but nothing like that first decline. Of course, on the way back, it was an incline. ;) It took about two hours for us to make our way from start to finish to start again...not too bad. I have some pictures that I will get uploaded to Picasa here in the next few days.

Since that day though...the humidity has been incredibly awful. I am not 100% sure what the highest was...but I would walk outside and it felt more like a hot rain than a sunny day. I do not do well with humidity...I hate it in fact. It is really disgusting...and this has been the hottest and wettest summer since I came back here in 2004. Not complaints I guess...it has kept the area busy and my wife is quite happy with it. That is always a plus!

We have had no canoe adventures recently...I have been waiting for the sun to get less intense and for the heat to go down. Plus it just seems like we have been very busy with getting stuff done around the house. You cannot really tell...but we have been busy with it. The bedroom is now fully furnished and we're making out way to the bathroom. After that I imagine we will start hacking away at upgrades to the kitchen. My one HUGE home improvement task is to put a pulley system on the ceiling of the garage so that I can keep the canoe up off the ground. I have some ideas...but I need my dad to help me actually do it. Two heads is better than one, right? ;)

We did visit the Antique Flywheeler's Show in Boyne Falls a couple weekends ago...that was fun. I have not been to one in a LONG time...and my wife has never been. It turned out to be a fairly rainy day but we saw the tractor parade and admired all of the work that people have put into their old tractors. They have patience and time far beyond what I have. We checked out some of the arts and crafts available and decided with more and more rain starting to fall that we should probably head home. It was a quick trip but it was nice to see that there are still so many people involved in the show.

That honestly sums up the last few weeks...sorry for not having much more...but I have been camping out in the house to keep cool. Average temps inside upstairs have been in the 80s...so my living space has been in the basement where it is cool and dry. ;) As things cool down expect to see a bit more out of me. Especially if I start taking the boat out! (and the canoe)

Enough for now. Good morning from Northern Michigan!

Derek

Perfect Night...

2010-07-12T21:31:00.003-04:00

Almost. It is nice and cool...beautiful sunset on Lake Michigan...humidity has take a break...and life is good! This is the kind of night that makes you want to quit work and experience the day over and over and over again. Unfortunately it does not necessarily work that way...but in my dreams it would. (With the option of flipping over to snow mode so I can get the snowmobile out of course!) The downfall for tonight would be that I went to take a swim in the lake but it was so windy I was nervous that I might have trouble keeping my balance in the deeper water. Maybe next time.

I do not really have much to share...other than we finalized the painting in the bedroom. We added a quick bit of accent decor and we are styling! Of course we still need a head board, night stands, media center and dressers...but overall we ARE in fact styling! *laugh* The color turned out to be a really good choice. The decor we chose was one of this stick twirly things that you see at Pier One. It is a dark color and stands probably close to 4 1/2 feet tall. It is kind of cool...and was MUCH cheaper than those that you find at Pier One. I think our next bet is furniture. We have decided to take one room at a time...instead of just buying random things for room after room. That does not make much sense. We have spent so much money...and you cannot even tell!

The forecast for the remainder of the week looks AWESOME. Wednesday night we might see some rain and thunderstorms...but nothing crazy. Low 80s down here by the lake...with a bit of humidity looking to move in from the storm but should not be terrible. I hope anyway. The weekend looks to stay fairly nice as of right now...with highs in the high 7os and low 80s. Might be a perfect weekend for a boat ride? :D

That about covers it for now...I will try to post more pictures now that we are approaching the half way point to fall. Everything has that summer look...and I can already tell the days are getting slightly shorter. Even if it is only by a couple minutes a day...the difference is quite noticeable when you do not pay attention to it every day. :P

Enough for now!

Goodnight from Northern Michigan!

-Derek

Holy Humidity...

2010-07-06T21:30:00.002-04:00

Good grief is all I can say. :P This is horrible! For days now it has been crazy humid...which makes life for Derek fairly miserable. (They are showing snow on TV right now...so I am really jealous...) Currently 78% humidity and 75+ degrees. I do not know where they are getting 75...but it is quite a bit warmer than that here...in the low 80s. Disgusting! To top it off the breeze is nearly gone. 7 MPH winds are not enough when it is this hot. ;) Enough complaining for now? Sure.

This whole weather event has got me thinking that central air is needed in the house. I am tired of sleeping in the basement...and tonight it is nearly as bad as the rest of the house! The furnace we have is an Amana so I believe I will try to find a local reseller of Amana products and have them come out to give me an estimate. We had a quote for an entire system with installation for somewhere around $5,000...so I am hoping that just the A/C will be less than that. I will cross my fingers! We did buy a dehumidifier for now...seems to be doing the trick in the basement. When I plugged it in we had 80% humidity in the bathroom down here. Not good. The tile had condensation on it...so I figured I had to quickly do something before we got some mold growing. It is down to 70% now after a few hours...so I think we'll be in pretty good shape by tomorrow afternoon. I need to get one more for the laundry room since that is where the Well Mate is. That poor guy is sweating like me jumping rope in the attic.

In other news I have started some home improvement! The bedroom is underway right now. I began painting the walls the other night. So far it looks really good! I think adding some duct work in the next couple months should finish up the bedroom. Then on to the bathroom! I believe I am going to have someone move the toilet and then I will put in a nice black marble tile shower. (Hopefully I suppose...depending on the price.) Then on to re-finishing the wood floors in the living/dining room...and putting a few coats of paint on the walls there. I think then I will be in pretty good shape! Hopefully I can do most of this myself...but I am sure I will need some help.

I went on a canoe trip in the Bear River again over the weekend...only a few hours but it was fun. I took my dad out for the first time! Good times. By the time we were done we both were as red as lobsters and I had taken quite a beating from trees, bushes, and various other scraping type things. I was near decapitated, stabbed, and nearly ripped some limbs off. ;) The weather could not have been better and the water was higher than the last time I was out...so we did not have an trouble with bottoming out.

I hope everyone had a very nice 4th of July...I apologize for not writing but the weekend was insanely busy with family and trying to get some home type work done. :P I will get better at this once some of my projects wrap up. I will be sure to keep everyone up to date on the progress I am making. :)

Goodnight from Northern Michigan,

Derek

Sunday Already!?!?!?

2010-06-13T09:44:00.002-04:00

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...

2010-06-11T19:47:00.004-04:00

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!

2010-06-09T14:38:00.003-04:00

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

Goodbye Spring...

2010-05-08T10:34:00.002-04:00

It has been a while...I have been working on gearing up for the summer. I have also been dabbling a bit more in Facebook. You can follow OutdoorsMI on Facebook now to get more frequent updates. I believe I will make the blog a weekly event...while updating the Facebook page possibly on a daily basis. I have started to upload some pictures there...and give some more current news. I suppose the blog could be used for the longer stories. I will figure it out!

I said goodbye spring...today is VERY cold....VERY windy....and in many areas of Northern Michigan we received snow. Lucky for me...no snow here. It is crazy how the weather can sway so much up here...because it was really nice out!

So a couple things have happened since I last wrote. Spring has really sprung! We have had a few thunderstorms and LOTS of rain over the past few weeks. The green stuff is really green...and the flowery stuff is very flowery. I am very happy with the choice we made getting this house...the landscaping is very nice and will not take much to keep up. All the plants are very hearty. I also bought a canoe! It is a 16' Adventure Series canoe from Mad River Canoes out of Vermont. I took it out last Wednesday with the wife and some friends tagged along in their boats. It was a good time! I am very impressed with the canoe so far. Very stable...fairly easy to maneuver...and the best part is the wife loved it! I am deathly afraid that we made a huge purchase and she was going to absolutely hate going out in it. I predict there will be lots of time spent on the ol' canoe. Other big news is I bought the lease out on my truck. Now I can use it for all the things I WANTED to use it for...but could not. :P

As we speak I am rebuilding my desktop PC...the primary hard drive crapped out last night and I could not get it back up and running. I have a few spare hard drives laying around so I am going to try to use a few tools I have for salvaging data on dead drives. It appears that it will not even power on...so it might not be that easy. Luckily I moved most of my pictures and music to another drive...but I am almost certain that I will lose SOME stuff.

Getting the desktop PC up and running was also very important in getting the website outdoorsmi.us up and running. So until I get everything loaded back on the PC...there will not be any work on that. Luckily the design concepts I have been working on are on the laptop...and that is why I need the desktop. I cannot build a website on a laptop...too constricting.

Anyway...that about sums up at least the last week or so...as I mentioned follow us on Facebook by searching for OutdoorsMI. You can upload your own pictures or share stories, links, etc.

-Derek

Rest In Peace Louie...

2010-04-17T09:01:00.002-04:00

Just a quick update...yesterday, April 16th, 2010 my wife lost a long time friend and member of her family. He was always around when she needed someone to talk to...or whistle with. He could not stand to be around anyone but her most of the time...including me. Louie has moved on to a better place...one where the chaos of daily life will no longer be a burden. He did live a long life and undoubtedly a happy one. While he may have only been a bird...he was something very special to her. I just wanted to write a quick something so that we will always have a place to come back to to remember Louie. Pictures are coming soon.

R.I.P. Louie Napier
April 16th, 2010.

Derek

New Website Underway!

2010-04-13T18:11:00.002-04:00

I am happy to announce that I have new domains ordered for OutdoorsMI. Unfortunately, outdoorsmi.com was hijacked in essence...so I cannot use that for now. Hopefully someday in the near future it will become available again and it will be returned to its rightful owner. :)

Stay tuned for more updates and information about the launch of the new site! :)

-Derek

Northern Michigan Rocks!

2010-04-11T09:17:00.002-04:00

This has been the best two weeks of the year in Northern Michigan...simply because we have had every single type of weather event possible. We had days in the high 70s...even some reports of low 80s...and days that did not even get out of the 30s. We had snow...we had rain. The sun shined brightly...or the clouds were so dense the sun was only a distant memory. The wind was strong enough to blow my wheel barrow over a couple days...and today not a branch is swaying. This is what Michigan is all about!

I mentioned snow...in April. :P We had a few days of snow earlier last week. It was mid last week that I woke up to a white ground again. Luckily, it looks like all of my outdoor growings-on did not sustain any damage. I have no idea what they are...but I want them to live long enough so I can see. ;) (Since we relocated spring has been extremely eventful and very new for me.) Everything has moderated over the last couple days...we did have a dusting of snow yesterday but overall the day turned out very nice. Low 60s for highs and the sun came out mid afternoon. Today so far? GET OUTSIDE! Low 40s right now...highs in the 50s down by the water.

I have been toying with getting a lighter version of my North Face APEX Bionic jacket. It is the much lighter wind resistant version...not waterproof from what I gathered. It would be perfect for this time of year. It is the APEX Elixir. Most of the time just cutting out the wind factor up here would make any day more pleasant! If anyone has any experience with this jacket throw a comment my way.

I really need to get the OutdoorsMI cam back up...we have wildlife that I did not expect to see here at the new place. Rabbits, squirrels, chipmunks, and plenty of birds! I mentioned the eagle that flew overhead a few posts ago...that was the bird highlight. A day does not go by that soms critter finds itself in the back yard. I cannot wait to get the camera up so I can replay some of those events.

That covers everything for now...we are still trying to get settled into the new place...so posts have been a bit infrequent. Now that spring is nearly in full tilt expect to see more out of me. I would also like to try working on a website again...my past endeavor is stuck in limbo due to the host...and it does not sound like I will be able to get my domain name back. That sucks...but I am not defeated!

Enough for now. Good morning from Northern Michigan!

-Derek

Lyrics Come To Mind...

2010-03-24T16:59:00.003-04:00

"I start to complain that there's no rain..." Not because a slightly overweight bee girl is tap dancing near me...or a colony of bee people dancing in a field was a vision that I beheld. It is simply because there is no rain! We really need it too. Everything is very dry around here. In fact, there are burning bans in place in all the counties in our area. No permits were being issued last I heard.

Aside from no rain...there really has not been much to complain about weather-wise. The sun has been shining...the temps (were) decent...and I had some time to start doing yard work. It should not take long to finish everything up and get this place ready for a spring gathering!

I am discovering that it is too early to start writing anything of importance or meaning...so I will end this for now. I will try to catch back up tonight or tomorrow though. :)

-Derek

Spring Aleady?

2010-03-14T17:09:00.002-04:00

The evilness that is daylight savings time fell upon us last night. As I have probably noted in the past...daylight savings time is my lease favorite event of the year. Not only because of the time change...but it really (especially this year) just means spring is coming. It is a bittersweet end to winter this year. Very little winter activities took place in my world...and I already have my sled garaged for the season. I would LOVE for a big snow to fall so I could get some more riding in...but with the weather we have been having...even with a huge snow it would only last a week or two and be gone again. We have no snow in the front yard...and just a little bit along the tree line in the back yard. I even went out to pick up sticks today!

Note that this is an unusually early start to spring. The last two years have been noted by having mid-April snowmobiling adventures. This year...I have not had mine on the trails since the beginning of March. It will surely be one of the earlier springs in recent history.

I am excited to get out and about at my new digs though. I look forward to working on the yard...cleaning up the driveway and garage...and working on my perfect hot tub location. Maybe a tax credit benefit? Who knows. Someday I will have one and it will be oh so sweet. We have not had anyone drop by unexpectedly lately...which is nice. The neighbors are starting to get a bit more inquisitive about what is happening here...I believe very few of them new the old people left and we moved in. Strange that no one would realize that...but everyone stares with strange looks on their faces when they drive by or see movement outside. We will all get used to each other though...hopefully. As long as everyone minds their own business and does not come around snooping...we will all co-exist in our little area without issue.

Whew...glad that little rant is over. The bay across the street is nearly thawed completely now...that can be seen here http://coastwatch.glerl.noaa.gov/modis/modis.cgi/modis?region=m&page=1 through a bit of cloud cover. I love that website...pretty cool imagery to look at. The forecast continues to keep us in the warmer weather. High 40s, mid 40s, and low 50s look to be our highs over the next few days. The lows will primarily be in the low 30s...maybe dropping into the 20s for a short period. Next weekend looks to bring some cooler weather...and even the chance of...yes...the "S" word...snow. Doh! Oh well. A little snow will give us the moisture needed to bring these supposed professionally landscaped flowers out around our house! :P I will be the judge of that!

Enough for now...

Goodnight from Northern Michigan!

-Derek

Met the neighbors today...

2010-03-07T20:07:00.003-05:00

Seem like nice people. They live across the street from us. They seem to know most everyone down here...and are "in the know" when it comes to who is doing what and when. They stopped by during a walk...so hopefully we can get to know them better. :)

As for everything else...the weather has been PHENOMENAL if you are ready for spring. Low to mid 40's during the day...10s at night. (at least last week...I think lows this weekend have been in the 20s.) Tons of snow has melted...enough that we were able to continue our annual ritual even at the new place. We got the axe and shovel out and started hacking away at the ice and snow on the driveway. I created a few little "rivers" to help runoff from the roof flow down the drive...and removed all ice from the end of the drive so everything can flow into the road. When the family that lived here moved out they used trucks and left quite a thick layer of snow for us to have to drive on. I salted it a few times to break everything up...and it paid off today. We got nearly the entire drive cleaned off. Temps look to pop up into the 50s by mid week this week...so we might see the yard clear off too! :D Toward the end of the week it looks like we might even see some rain to quicken the effects of the heat. I hope for a nice wet spring though...I need to see what all we have planted in the back yard! :P

The other sign of spring...people. There are SO many people out and about. It is almost like watching ants. (even when it comes to us.) Everyone is coming out of their holes and start to work on little chores that are required to ready themselves for spring. It is fun to watch!

Anyway...enough for now...I think it is time to go watch TV. :P

Goodnight from Northern Michigan!

-Derek

2/27/10 Ride...

2010-03-04T20:25:00.002-05:00

We actually made it out for a decent ride! We left the house and headed toward Harbor Springs. Knowing that there is some logging going on we chose to shoot up toward Pellston. I was thinking we would just head to Alanson from Pellston since the trails in Mackinaw were reportedly horrible. Well, they were. We rode North up the trail and ended up stopping because of the mud and dirt along the rail road grade. Nasty riding for anyone who chose to continue the ride...but there were certainly sleds driving South from Mackinaw. Overall the trails were not in horrible shape. It helped having the few inches of snow that we had received. All said and done we did get a three hour seventy mile ride in. Not bad for somewhat miserable trails! (inland Harbor/Alanson/Pellston were perfect!)

I drove up to Pellston today in a truck...along the way I noted the condition of the trails. HORRIBLE. The areas around the roads are nothing but ice. With temps approaching 40 the last couple days...they are going to be hurting really bad soon. I would suggest sticking with two tracks and low traffic areas. Areas not near roads would be alright as well.

As a side note...a previous co-worker and current friend had a major heart attack yesterday morning. He is still in pretty bad shape but appears to be recovering. My thoughts are going out to him and all of his family while he is in recovery. Get better Don!

-Derek

We actually got snow!!!

2010-02-27T08:08:00.003-05:00

It has only taken a month but we finally are the recipients of some snow! Not a heck of a lot...but enough to cover the bare spots. I would guess in the range of 2-3 inches here at my place. I do not have any gauges up here yet...probably will wait until fall for new snow gear. The rain gauge will be up soon I am sure! Snow/Wintry Mix is in the forecast for today turning warm and mostly clear over the next few days. We are going into March...so I would guess if you are going to get out and ride you had better do it fairly quickly. I doubt this snow is going to stick around long in most places. Hopefully I am wrong though.

I did go out riding by myself on the 17th. I tried to shoot over to Indian river from Alanson...bad idea. I got part of the way through the swamp along Banwell Rd. and turned around. It was horrible...mostly dirt. So I rode up to Pellston and took the trail toward Harbor Springs. I followed the trail until Tower Rd. and decided I was going to hit the power lines. Note to self: do not go power lining alone. I had never been back on this part of the power line before...it was rough. My sled handled it nicely...but lots of little rivers and small bogs/ponds to cross. Not to mention lots of fairly good drop offs. It was fairly slow going since I did not know the area...and I actually had to use my brain to solve the puzzle of how to get up/down the hills! :P Two hills nearly had me in...I started down and saw a river at the bottom. I did not know how deep it was...so I did not want to cross it. I stopped for a second to gather my bearings. I came up with a game plan to turn the sled and head to a ice covered portion to cross. (I toyed with just trying to turn around...but I could not get the sled to cooperate. :P) I hit the gas and my track sunk. I thought I was going to have to walk out...but with a little bit of playing around she popped back out and I got across the river. The next near disaster was going up a steep hill...there was no other way up that I could see...so I headed up. Well, it was not as steep as I thought, and I got some pretty good momentum about mid-way up the hill. As I approached the top I saw it had drifted out of a bit and the only thing to do was bust through the drift. I hit the gas, track sunk, skis hit the drift, front of sled popped up into the air and nearly came back over top of me. Luckily it dropped back down a bit before I got stuck and watched my sled tumble to a swamp water grave in the bog below. It was still a long way out of there...I would have been walking at least an hour before I found a way out. On the sled...15 minutes tops. So I have a bit of practice to get under my belt before I try that again alone...but it was fun!

I have not ridden since then...probably will go out today. Lots of good trail now that we had a few more inches of snow. Enough for now...I will be sure to take my camera today!

-Derek

Happy Valentine's Day

2010-02-14T15:05:00.002-05:00

It has been a pretty lazy day...not a heck of a lot going on. It is very different not having to throw wood on the fire every couple hours...it keeps me a little more relaxed. I have not had to worry about a single thing since we switched locations. I shoveled the driveway once...and if I get cold I just turn the heat up. I like it. There are still times where it is weird not having the responsibility of throwing wood on...and times where the heat would be nice...but I can live without it. ;)

To make the day better...we were just sitting on the couch and saw a bald eagle fly over the back yard...just over tree level. It is the second eagle I have ever seen. The first was at McDonald's if you remember correctly. :P

Enough for now...I do not want to bore anyone with idle chatter. Once I get the desk setup upstairs I will probably get the cam back up and running and start updating a bit more frequently. I have faster internet here too...so pictures will show up more often!

-Derek

So...

2010-02-06T09:08:00.003-05:00

You may have noticed that I have not written in quite some time. Everything is okay...we have just been EXTREMELY busy. There was a relocation involved and my days have been filled with work and bringing everything to my new place. I am still in Northern Michigan but on the opposite side of the bay. We found our "dream" house and could not pass it up. So now my updates will be coming from Charlevoix. :) Unfortunately, I have not yet found a way to get my sled onto the trail system here...(we have been here for a week now) so I have not been able to check out any of the new territory.

Things are a little bit different over here...but most of it is good. We have some neighbors...lake access...and no more wood furnace! :P As much as I enjoy cutting wood...I absolutely hate having to keep a fire going. So now I can reach up...flip the thermostat and I get instant heat. Weird! ;)

The other piece to my delay in writing was lack of internet. We did not have internet for the first week we were here. Mix that with having no television...I went a little bit crazy. Instead of sitting around and getting settled...we spent most of our time at the local furniture stores and Walmart trying to make sure we have everything we need. Luckily we did not need much since we had moved once before. We are settling in nicely now that we have everything we need.

I DO miss the wood furnace in one room of this house. The basement den. It is FREEZING down there...and will not warm up! ;) I think a chunk of electric baseboard will fix that...but I will probably have someone drop by to make a recommendation. I do not want to do anything that is going to jump my electric bill to $200 a month.

Anyway...I just wanted to throw and update on here and let everyone know that I am not in jail or stuck in a tree somewhere. :) It is sunny, nothing but blue sky, and 14 degrees out. Should be a nice Saturday for tinkering out the new place!

Good morning from Northern Michigan!

-Derek

1/13/09 Ride...

2010-01-13T17:22:00.002-05:00

First I will note that last Saturday the trails were in great shape! Not excellent...but good to very good in most spots.

I went out for a little bit today...but found that most trails in my neck of the woods are pretty dirty. I did not ride long because the snow was a little like dirty mashed potatoes. Lots of snirt and little rocks popping through. With the freezing drizzle or flat our rain we might see over the next couple days I really question whether or not they Moosejaw ride will be worthwhile this year. if I am riding through mud puddles...it certainly will not be. A decent amount of the ride goes along side of roads...so I would guess those areas will be in absolutely terrible shape on Saturday. I am not trying to discourage anyone...but I certainly do not want you to believe we will have feet of base to ride on.

I did find some two tracks that have not been ridden on all season (I have watched them...) and that left a bit of enjoyment tonight...but overall it was just a quick trip to see how trails were holding up so I could report. The further north you go they get a little better...but it is also pretty swampy north of here. Who knows...I guess I am just being negative. :P If you know of anywhere that is public land and has lots of snow to play in...let me know. I will gladly keep it a secret and only visit it with you. :P If you have private land and would like to ride with someone...let me know. I have a video camera for my sled now...and need to get some decent footage for a YouTube video. :) That is hard to get on nasty trails and narrow two tracks.

Enough negativity for now...as I mentioned freezing drizzle and possibly rain are being forecast...with highs in the mid to upper 30s all through the weekend. :( Cross your fingers for some snow!

-Derek

12/30/09 Snowmobile Ride...

2009-12-30T14:52:00.002-05:00

I went out for a few hours just now. Sled performed well...I am working on getting my suspension setup for my size. It might take a few tries...but I am confident that I will get it. The snow we received over the last few days has really helped the trails. I am still riding on two tracks instead...the trails still have quite a bit of dirt, sticks, rocks and other stuff that pop up from time to time. I imagine the groomers are doing the best they can at this point...but I still say they should have waited a bit initially. Oh well...at least we can get onto the trails now. :) I forgot my camera this trip otherwise I would have taken some pictures of the trip. The rail road grade in Alanson was probably the best. I drove up to Pellston before kicking off to some two tracks...it was in really nice shape.

I would rate the trails...oh I guess fair to good. I would not rate them very good or excellent by any means. Get out and enjoy the snow!

-Derek

12/26/09 Snowmobile Ride...

2009-12-26T20:28:00.002-05:00

We got a ride in! Not a very long ride...but we made the Harbor to Pellston to Alanson loop. The trails were bad to fair at best. There was a LOT of dirt mixed in with the snow...and LOTS of bumps toward Pellston. I will say that the railroad grade was the best riding all day. Very smooth, clean snow and overall very well maintained. The rest of the trails were in pretty tough shape though. (Note: If you go off the trail to ride you will find much better results! Just be sure you are not riding on private property!)

There is a note on a local snowmobile club page that there is a 6" base in most spots with some dirt on the corners. I would love to see where they are speaking of. Most areas I saw today (in over a 30 mile ride) were snow with a lot of dirt mixed in on the entire trail...not just the corners. We need a lot more snow to fix the conditions. If you are a die hard though...there is more snow than there was in April when you put your sled away. ;) Check out some of the state land logging trails...we hit some of those today and it resulted in some pretty decent riding...not a ton of snow though.

Anyway...I just wanted to throw my opinion on the trails out there...if you would like to update or differ with my opinion please feel free to post comments. :)

-Derek

No Riding...

2009-12-23T19:19:00.002-05:00

I mean the sled has not been started since my last time out bringing it back from Indian River. I am lying a bit...I started it today to get it out of the garage. The gas gauge continued to work...so something must have been loose or stuck in the tank. I am happy it works...and no issues that I had on my first ride exist.

Since our last big snow over a week ago we have received NOTHING. A few light flurries here and there to dust everything have passed through...but there has been no meaningful snowfall. To top that off...we are supposed to see rain Thursday and Friday. This will certainly not help the already weak trails. They were bad enough the other day...combine that will all the traffic and the grooming...not a good combination. From what I see there IS a decent base starting to build...not over 3-5" in most spots though. That should keep the rain from totally ruining the trails.

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve already. Hard to believe that another year is almost over. They keep going faster and faster. I really need to discover how to slow down and enjoy more life instead of just letting it pass me by. Maybe I will find some way to work that into a New Year resolution. ;)

Enough for now...I am sure I will be riding a bit over the next few days so I will update with trail conditions in our area. :)

Goodnight from Northern Michigan!

-Derek

12/16/09 Ride

2009-12-18T22:39:00.002-05:00

Wednesday was my day for busy work...I had to wake up early and ride my sled over to BLM to have it worked on. They took the gas tank off and tested everything...and found nothing wrong. I am guess that something just had to be jarred loose for the gas gauge to start working again. The check engine light I had was due to something in the R.A.V.E. system sticking...but they thought it was probably a early season hiccup. I rode it back that afternoon and all was good.

The trails were not terrible...but the trip between Harbor and Alanson is quite dirty. There is snow...but a lot of leaves and sticks poking through. Once you had beyond Banwell Rd. in Alanson going toward Indian River the trails get nice. Not sure about North of HS though...from what it looks like that is where the most snow is. Kind of up the east side of Emmet county.

That is my quick update...probably will give more reports tomorrow or Sunday. :)

-Derek

Any trail reports?

2009-12-15T21:33:00.003-05:00

I have no been out since Sunday so I do not know what things are like. (Darn work anyway!) I get to take the sled in for service again tomorrow...gas gauge continues to bother me and the check engine light came on a few times. I did not have problems with either Sunday...but I am not real trusting of the beast right now. From what I am reading online...people are liking the trails. Unless there was a big change from Sunday I am doubting some of the trail reports I have read...unless I am missing something or maybe missing the areas with the most snow. However, our area typically sees higher snowfall than the rest.

So, you tell me. Where are the good spots? Where is everyone riding? Is there anywhere that is particularly sweet right now? I do not want you to give away your secret spots...but some trail info would be cool.

Hopefully I will see some of you on the trails this weekend! I might have the break out the ol' Yamaha for a few days if my Renegade is not done.

-Derek

12/13/09 Trail Conditions

2009-12-13T12:22:00.003-05:00

I took a ride toward Harbor Springs this morning...(Alanson yesterday morning) and found fairly poor trail conditions. Where the groomers have gone through already the trail is covered in leaves and some dirt. There is a lot of nice snow in some spots...but overall I was very discouraged compared to where the trails were BEFORE grooming. I think the gun may have been jumped just a little bit on bringing the big equipment out. They probably should have waited until the snow had a chance to pack a bit. Do not get me wrong...the trails can be ridden...but I would not spend too much time in the area if you are looking for good riding. However, the further North I got the better the trails seemed to be...so maybe the Northern sections of the trail system are worthwhile?

Leave comments on trail conditions!

Thanks,

Derek

We Got Some Snow...

2009-12-06T15:13:00.002-05:00

That might even be an understatement. Since Friday evening we have picked up around 18 inches of new snow in our neck of the woods. Everything is white...the sleds are out...and I have even made it out for a short ride. Unfortunately, not many of the surrounding areas were as lucky as we were...and the snow levels are far less. Where we had 18 new inches...others only received in the range of 6-10. We rode into Alanson yesterday to hit the rail road bed...and I was tossing up a few rocks and some dirt. My skis did not appreciate the trip. Once we rode back up on the hill though...travel was much better.

I have another problem with my sled...the gas gauge is not working. Hopefully that is a quick fix and life will be back on track by next weekend. If that is the only problem then I will be extremely happy. I am still working on my 10 hours for the new piston...I do not think it will be an issue with all the new snow!

If anyone is up for a ride in the next week or so let me know. outdoorsmi@gmail.com I would be more than happy to ride along!

Enough for now...I think I need to squeeze a quick few miles in before getting ready for the work week. ;)

-Derek

Get Your Sleds Out!

2009-12-02T19:59:00.002-05:00

From what it sounds like we are going to see a pretty good lake effect snow event that takes over for a couple days starting Thursday evening into the weekend. Not sure how much will fall...but winds are looking to be from the West/Southwest which provides our area with high potential for LES. Temps look to stay in the low 30s for highs and in the low to mid-20s for lows. This should put us in pretty good standing for a decent event...that will bring enough to at least get the sleds out of the garage. We can only hope I suppose. :P I am no meteorologist...I just go by what my observations have been in the past...and what is general knowledge.

The sled should be ready to rock and roll...it came out of the shop at the end of the season last year...ran it for a few minutes and the house and then winterized it. I have warranty left and will probably purchase the second year warranty toward the end of the month. You never know when something might go wrong I suppose.

Anyway...just wanted to update about the snow. :) Keep your fingers crossed! If we get decent snow I will make sure I get the OutdoorsMI Cam back up this weekend.

-Derek

Snow!!!

2009-11-30T22:23:00.001-05:00

Roughly 3 inches and still falling. I will keep my fingers crossed for a few feet by tomorrow. ;)

-Derek

November Is Over?

2009-11-29T22:06:00.003-05:00

I cannot believe that tomorrow is the end of November. This month has absolutely flown by...as you probably have been able to tell by my lack of posts. I have been busy getting ready for Thanksgiving, Christmas and winter overall.

We spent Thanksgiving with the wife's family...fun stuff. It was a very quick trip. Down the day before and back the night after. It was a long drive and a bit stressful...but we both made it through. Fortunately the weather held out for the trip...now it can let loose because we will probably not be going down there again for quite some time. I could deal with a few feet of snow to fall tomorrow. ;) I did pick up quite a nasty cold there...my ears and nose are killing me. I have had a headache for the last two days. Today was better...but I am still probably around 50%. Now that I think about it my stomach is actually hurting a bit...I hate it!

The Christmas decorations are going up...we had some lights put up by my parents while we were gone...and I finished up some today. We bought our tree today and will probably put it up in the next few days. We picked up a wreath too...that was my final decorating activity for the day.

My sled is ready....I will note it again that it is a 2009 Ski-Doo MXZ Renegade 600 E-Tec. The sled is for sale but only for the right offer and is not listed anywhere but here. I can send pictures and info if you are interested. I can deliver within the Emmet County area...otherwise you will be responsible for picking it up. Whether I sell it or not...I look forward to a good winter of riding. :)

It looks like we might be in store for a bit of snow for the beginning of this week...we should see temperatures in the mid to upper 30s for highs...and lows in the upper 20s bumping up to around 30. The best part? It supposed to be SNOW...not rain. I might be able to at least ride down our trail on the property for a quick few minutes. It might be wishful thinking...but it sure would be cool to get the sled back out!

Anyway I just wanted to let everyone know that I am still here...I will start posting a bit more once the riding takes place...certainly more pictures will go up.

Goodnight from Northern Michigan!

-Derek

Welcome To November...

2009-11-08T11:12:00.003-05:00

I am proud to announce that all my outdoor work is done for the fall. I have no more leaves to pick up, no more wood to cut and no "stuff" laying around outside. I would say the only thing I have left is to move my weather station. I am going to mount it onto the garage...I believe the location that it currently resides results in poor wind readings. So my job for the day is to get that moved. I also heard rumblings that I might be working on a computer for somebody...but I have not heard anything yet.

So I am starting to run some snowmobile video ideas through my head...nothing real impressive yet. I know one of my goals is to do more than still shot YouTube videos. I want some action! Unfortunately, there really is not room for that around here. I am hoping that some of the logging they completed over the summer will leave me with a few nice trails and open areas to explore...without other people knowing about them. For once I would love to be the one to break some powder...I love trail riding but that just does not make for good video. :P Especially on a hybrid sled!

I am continuing my tradition of keeping the deer away from hunters...the apple tree dropped its fruit for the year and I placed it at the back of our yard. It should take the deer a few days to find it...and then hopefully will keep them happy until hunting season is over. I am curious about the baiting rules this year...I have not heard of any bans but I could be wrong. I suppose in my case I am not baiting but just disposing of yard waste. The deer are here anyway...I am not trying to get them to come here. :P A couple years ago we did the same thing...we have a LOT of pictures of them. One in particular has its tongue curled out...which reminds of the commercial on TV for those Fruit Rollup stickers or whatever they are called. The commercial with the deer and some other animal sticking their tongue out to lick the kids face. That is great! I would post a link to it but it appears that YouTube is having trouble.

I did just think of another thing I have to do before winter! I need to get the OutdoorsMI cam back up. I have a network card for the computer that will run it...and I believe the camera should work for the meantime. That will be my second or third project today. It is almost winter...time to stop being so darn lazy! :P

Enough for now...I will try to post something tonight if I get the cam up. :)

Derek

By The Way...

2009-10-31T09:15:00.002-04:00

I did clean house and got rid of those stupid graphic ads I had on here. Only a few people used them to get discounts at retailers...so I figured I would just get rid of them. If you did happen to use them and would like a link let me know.

Derek

Happy Halloween!

2009-10-31T08:40:00.003-04:00

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!

10/14/09 ORV Ride...

2009-10-14T15:41:00.003-04:00

It went MUCH better than yesterday! :P No blood, no pain and no bandages. I made it just over 12 miles just poking around the roads in the area. It was fun...but weird. I am so used to NOT being able to ride on the roads that I feel like I am doing something wrong. I have my ORV sticker...and my ride meets all the requirements of the ordinance...but it just feels wrong. ;) I am glad it is not though! I am curious to see a map...or at least some additional information regarding what is considered a county road. Are seasonal roads county roads? Seems like it...they just are not maintained. That will be the big thing in my neck of the woods...if seasons roads are off limits the riding will be rather boring. All the paved roads are nicely mowed to trail width along the side up our way...I assume that was to make travel a bit easier? Or maybe it is just that time of year to mow for the last time. If anyone wants to hit the roads and shoot over to the Tomahawk trails in Cheboygan...shoot me an email at outdoorsmi@gmail.com. Anyone heard about the different township ordinances? Did any of them create their own set of rules? The Emmet County has done a ridiculously poor job getting the word out about this stuff...they have had two months and I have not heard a word about it. The only things I have seen change are some of the signs on the seasonal roads...they actually have road name and stop signs now. Weird! :P

The four wheeler seemed to work just fine...I noticed that it kind of smells a bit like oil burning but I think it is probably just from rarely being used...or maybe where I spilled a bunch of it last summer without burning it off. Hopefully getting some gas and oil moving through it will soften everything up or burn any excess off. :)

Well, that about covers it for now. I have the bug to get the OutdoorsMI cam back up...stay tuned for that update. I have a PC to run it...just need to get it hooked up. :)

-Derek

More Snow...

2009-10-13T20:26:00.002-04:00

We had some more snow last night. :) It was falling pretty good for quite some time...but by the time I went to bed we started to see more rain than anything. I got a bit over excited and turned all of the outside lights on so we could watch the white stuff fall...it really got me in the mood for some outdoor stuff.

Before the snow can stick we have a few things to finish up outside. I have a row of wood to cover, some more lawn furniture to put away and LOTS of leaves need to fall to be picked up yet. It is a bit depressing knowing that we probably over two months before the actual riding will happen. Last year when the trails opened on December 1st we were able to ride. I am really hoping for the same this year. :D

In other news...today was the first day that the ORV ordinance was in place. I took my first legal ride down the road! Sadly, I injured myself in the first five minutes. I met a car and pulled over to talk for a few minutes. I dropped my goggles and bent down to grab them. My hand slid down the side of the four wheeler and a sharp piece of plastic tore the skin behind my thumbnail off. OUCH. It hurt...hurts a lot. I looked at my hand a moment after leaving the car behind...blood was running down my thumb and down my wrist. I was like "you have got to be kidding me..." Unfortunately, there was no kidding. I turned around and headed home. A quick bandaging and I was good to go. I did not though...I figure I will wait until this weekend to do some riding. :)

Enough from me for now...my creative juices just are not flowing tonight. :P

Goodnight from Northern Michigan!

-Derek

First Snow!!!

2009-10-10T21:52:00.000-04:00

It is getting late...but the first snow was seen tonight! Just a few flakes were falling...but my wife verified that it is in fact falling! :D

-Derek

Cutting wood...

2009-10-07T18:02:00.002-04:00

I hate it. :P I really do not hate it...but with the rain and cold that we have had I just do not care to do it. We cut a bunch of trees for the new satellite dish and all of them need to be picked up now. I chunked them up a few weeks ago...but I have had no motivation to get them moved, split and stacked. Dang it! So now that it is raining and cold I get to do it. Sweet! To top that off...the tractor battery will not charge so I am having to use the four wheeler. It moves faster...but it just does not have the stability that the tractor does. It is difficult to steer and I have to shift. :P

Hauling wood is not done in vain though...to walk in the house and have it be warm and dry is really a change from the last couple weeks. I have been keeping it fairly cold and with the rain it has been fairly damp. Getting the furnace going, even though it sucks to use it in October, is not such a bad thing. Especially since the gas tank just cost me $325.00 to fill. :( I should start taking donations. ;) Anyone who feels bad about me not buying a house can donate to my fund to help me get into something for next year!

The rain has stopped for now...and it looks like it will keep its distance until Saturday. Finally! Some sun will do everyone here some good. Temps are going to work their way into the mid-40s for highs through the weekend and into next week...lows down in the mid 30s. Yay! You know what mid-30s means...we MIGHT get to see some of the white stuff...at least maybe some thick rain.

Well, enough from me for tonight. 10/13/09 Emmet County ORV ordinance takes effect!

Goodnight from Northern Michigan!

Welcome To Seattle, MI...

2009-10-06T17:30:00.002-04:00

Not really. We are getting enough rain you would think you were sitting right next to the Space Needle! :P My rain gauge is still out of commission...not sure what the deal is. It has been a very soggy start to the week though. It rained on and off yesterday...today it was raining when I went to work and has not stopped since. The roads on the way to the house are starting to look more like rivers will all the water pouring down off the hills. When I got home I was greeted by a small lake at the end of our driveway so I went out to push some dirt around so the water goes into the woods. It is a really good thing they keep building the road up...that way our driveway floods more and more each year. Way to go Emmet County! By far we have some of the most brilliant minds designing our road systems. I am not saying I could do any better....but yes I could.

My quick glance leaf color report...on the hill we are probably 75% green still. I would guess that is because of all the rain we have had. In the next week or so though...I predict these puppies will start falling with a fury. Yay for raking leaves in the rain! I do hope it dries up a bit...I desperately need to get the rest of the wood split and stacked. This rain is not helping the drying process at all!

Anyway...this will be a quick Tuesday update...the cat is bugging me and will not stop crawling on the keyboard. :)

Goodnight from Northern Michigan!

P.S. Only a few more days until the ORV ordinance is effective! Have you seen any signs being put up? Any word on a map? If so, email me at outdoorsmi@gmail.com. Thanks!

-Derek

Go State! / Feels Like Fall!

2009-10-03T15:37:00.006-04:00

I am happy to announce that MSU beat Michigan in OT...26 to 20. That is a beautiful thing...two years in a row baby!

The cold is here and summer is gone. We have not had temperatures much above the high 50s for the bulk of last week...and so far mid 50s today. It has been raining a lot too. On Monday/Tuesday I believe we had just over 2 1/2 inches of rain. On top of that it rained most of the day yesterday and for a little while today. My rain gauge stopped working yesterday so I am not sure of the totals today...probably about time to change the batteries.

I have been taking care of the typical fall "stuff " that has to be taken care of in Northern Michigan. I shaved the lawn down, drained the pool, picked up all the lawn furniture and now all I have left is to pick up the rest of the wood so it will be dry by winter. I admit I am cutting it a bit close...but the wood has been cut up for the last few weeks. I should be able to finish that up today into tomorrow. Overall there really is not a heck of a lot going on up here in my neck of the woods. I imagine we will be going to buy pumpkins for Halloween soon...and maybe some other decorations for the yard.

Other big news: I have the wood furnace going. We still need to do a bit of clean up to do on it...but it works and we are warm! Possibly too warm. ;) (Me anyway!) It was mid-June when I finally turned it off...so things are pretty much up to par. Can you believe that? Just a short 3 1/2 months ago I stopped burning wood for the summer! Sadly, there were many days during the summer that we probably could have burned wood to stay warm. Overall, it was a nice summer if you like cool and dry. We may still see some nice warm days...but rolling into October we would really be pressing our luck.

Well, that covers most everything I have for now...trust me there will be a lot more updates as winter approaches. I am a bit disappointed that I am not going to be able to move over to outdoorsmi.com now...that was going to be my early winter project. Hopefully I can get that domain back. Keep your fingers crossed!

-Derek

Doh!

2009-10-01T21:11:00.003-04:00

It looks like maybe my ideas for outdoorsmi.com might be slightly hijacked for right now...the server that I hosted it on is down...the domain was registered by the owner...and I have not been able to get a hold of him. Fortunately, the domain has a one year renewal...so maybe I can try to pick it back up if I do not hear from him.

I noticed it was down the other day...I will keep everyone informed. I know there was not any content yet...but it server as a good advertisement for the blog meanwhile.

-Derek

What a week/end!

2009-09-17T19:06:00.002-04:00

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?

2009-09-08T20:30:00.013-04:00

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!

2009-09-08T20:26:00.002-04:00

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

Cold, Rain and Blah...

2009-08-29T17:37:00.005-04:00

Most of the last week was fairly decent. Not a ton of weather and temperatures remained fairly warm. Much cooler than we could have hoped for though. :P Along with this weekend came lots of changes. It has rained non-stop since yesterday afternoon. Temperatures made it into the low 60s yesterday and have no made it out of the high 50s so far today. We have received well over an inch of rain since yesterday afternoon and it does not look to stop until sometime tomorrow.

Looking out the window...you sure can tell we have had a lot of rain this summer. Everything on the ground is still extremely green. The trees are starting to show a bit of tint away from the green...but for the most part they are hanging onto the chlorophyll. Away from the house there are quite a few trees that are already losing their leaves...I am curious what that might mean for us weather-wise. I did see everyones favorite winter indicator the other day. A wooley worm was crawling on the sidewalk here at the house. It was black from head to toe! From what I read on the Farmer's Almanac website, a black wooley worm means a tough winter. That is a fairly different forecast than what all the long range meteorologists are saying. They say that El Nino is going to grip us through the winter causing a warmer than normal winter...possibly with less precipitation. I wanted to make sure I am not lying so I just went out and did some research. The Climate Prediction Center (CPC) has a few maps related to their winter forecast. Our area is going to be right on the edge of the above normal/normal temperatures. It also is in the equal chance area for above or below normal precipitation. They sure are not very clear...but guessing that far out is impossible. My research was done here. I did not spend much time on it...but I summed it up pretty good I think. :) So...it is looking like Winter 2009-10 might not shape up that bad for us. I REALLY hope it is warmer than last year! We had some incredibly long stretches of extremely cold if you remember. :P

I have been getting the bug lately. The snowmobiling bug. My wallpaper on my PC at work is a picture of my new sled sitting in a sunset...and all I have done this weekend is watch riding videos on YouTube. :P I have to say I really have not seen any that truly impress me. Everyone just wants to jump their sleds...show me some carving and scenery too please. ;) My goal this winter is to make some videos to place online. I just need a decent video camera before I can do that. ;)

It took me longer to write the last paragraph than it did for the rest of the post...so I am quickly losing focus. :P One note before I leave for tonight...I will try to get the OutdoorsMI webcam back up soon. I have a PC to run it now...I just need to put it somewhere that will not get in the way. ;)

Goodnight from Northern Michigan!

-Derek

100 Day Mark!!!!

2009-08-22T09:47:00.002-04:00

I am getting really stoked for this snowmobile season! There are only 100 more days. That really is not much reason to be excited...but MAN my favorite time of year is finally approaching. Fall cools down (even though the whole summer has been cold, the leaves turn, Halloween shows up, then Thanksgiving and finally some snow (hopefully)! How can you not like this time of year? All the good holidays and weather are just on the horizon! Not to mention I will be married three whole years in December. Hard to believe it has already been three years!

The week was fairly slow outside of work. It was a busy week in the office for sure. A lot of projects are wrapping up and a lot of new projects are getting rolling full force. Some old projects are just finally getting moving quick too! I must admit my project management skills were seriously lacking...but I think I have a pretty good grip on what I need to do in order to get things done. I think in the past I had trouble getting a bit upset about things...and in turn I let all the projects step all over me. Not anymore baby! Enough about work.

Every day this week was HOT except for Friday. The humidity was killer too! Wednesday the rain started...and it kept falling through last night. We saw some breaks and occasional sun...but most of the week was cloudy and rainy. This did not help with getting outside! :P So instead we spent the evenings packing a lot of our "crap" that we do not use. It will go into the back room and not be touched until we buy a house. Things were just getting a bit cluttered.

Well, obviously I do not have much to write about since I am blabbing about packing up all of our old stuff. I will stop for now...hopefully I will have some interested posts or some pictures to post. Speaking of pictures...I was supposed to upload a bunch to Picasa the other day. Unfortunately, my SD card crapped out and I lost a ton of my pictures that I had taken over the last few months. Dang it! So I will start a collection again and get them uploaded ASAP.

Cross your fingers that the clouds move soon!

-Derek

A Quiet Weekend...

2009-08-17T21:21:00.003-04:00

Not a heck of a lot was going on in Northern Michigan over the weekend...at least that I was interested in. There was the Kid Rock concert...I would not pay to see that if it were the last entertainment on earth...there was the Festival by the Bay in Petoskey as well. We drove through town but it was too busy for our liking. I am sure there were a number of other events going on...but I only had one thing on my mind. I wanted to fly my new stunt kite! :P

The kite strings that came with the kite worked their way into a tangled mess when I first tried to fly it, so we got in the car on Sunday and shot up to Mackinaw. On the way there we ran into a bit of excitement. Just North of Pellston a bunch of emergency vehicles were making their way through traffic and pulling into the airport. Naturally, I pulled off to the side of the road to let them by me. Once they passed I drove a bit further and there were probably 30 or so cars lined up along side the road. My first thought, since people were watching, was maybe it was some kind of drill...or maybe even the end of some kind of parade. I pulled into the township hall and asked a bystander what was going on. She replied "I think this airplane is going to crash in a minute." So I looked around...and everybody was standing outside of their cars with cameras and cell phones pointed to the sky. All I kept thinking to myself is "How can all of these people...when someones life is in danger...stand here and gawk and stare like they are watching a movie on television? How is it that no one seems concerned for those in the plane?" So we turned the car around and started out the driveway. Another thought came to mind. "What if the plane hits us?" Hehe. That scared me a bit...but as we were about to leave the plane gently glided onto the grass next to the runway. As we watched it come down I realized there was no landing gear. So apparently the plane had some issues and the guy flying it was pretty darn talented and new how to land his plane without wheels. :P I congratulate him for that! There was no fire, smoke or explosions...so I am sure all the people who were ready with video cameras were a bit disappointed. I am very happy for all who were aboard the plane though. I read the article in the paper today and everyone was just fine. The plane had apparently taken off from Harbor Springs shortly before experiencing electrical issues and having to land without gear in Pellston. I am just glad to know that everyone was okay...including a 79 year old man.

Anyway...to the kite strings. We went to Mackinaw to the Mackinaw Kite Co. and found some strings with some help from one of the women working. She was very nice and even showed me how to properly tie the strings to the kite. It all made sense once I saw it done... :P I felt a bit stupid for trying to get them tied the way I did the other day...but I was not discouraged. We made our way to Sturgeon Bay by way of Carp Lake. We wound our way to the state park and found HUNDREDS of people...and cars...lined up along both sides of the road by the beach. That was a bit disappointing because we could not even find a place on the beach to sit for a few minutes. We crossed over onto the dunes side of the road and got the kite ready to rock and roll. Within a few minutes it was in the sky...and then *THUD*. Not bad for a first try. Next try...up in the air...*THUD*. Dang it. Third time is a charm...up in the air...maybe for a minute and then *THUD* again. It was kind of a never ending process until we both got frustrated...and on the last flight it stayed in the sky for a couple minutes. Of course then...*THUD*. So we packed it up...feeling extremely accomplished...and hit the road to Cross Village. We took M-119 all the way back to Harbor Springs and went home.

So the weekend was not a complete loss...it was relaxing and gave us a chance to just hang out.

Goodnight from Northern Michigan!

-Derek

Emmet County ORV Ordinance Passes!

2009-08-14T13:10:00.002-04:00

Well, everyone did it! Unfortunately I was not able to make it to the meeting...but everyone that did voiced enough opinion to get the ordinance passed. There is a 60 day waiting period before the ordinance goes into affect. That part is kind of hokey since we will be into the middle of October before anyone can ride. BUT it will be here in time for everyone to get hunting gear setup. There are more details to follow from the county...and a map of ORV trails/roads. I just wanted to drop in and let everyone know that it DID pass. More this weekend.

-Derek

Countdown To The Ride!

2009-08-03T19:11:00.002-04:00

Help me count down to the first ride! You can keep an eye, down to the minute, on the clock to the right of your screen. I am looking to gather comments to start getting excited about the upcoming snowmobiling season. Trails open December 1st and I am pumped! My first full year driving the 09 Ski-Doo MXZ Renegade! This year it had better work as intended! As you remember I had it in the shop for nearly a month last year to get part of the engine rebuilt due to a factory defect.

If anyone wants to put together a Northern Michigan ride for the better days of the season...email me at outdoorsmi@gmail.com. Maybe we can even beat the Moose Jaw numbers? Possibly we can take donations for a non-profit or something. I know John Dee does something very similar in the U.P. and he does very well with it. It would be nice to show support through something we all love to do. Shoot me an email if you would be interested in helping to put something together.

-Derek

I Said I Would Be Busy...

2009-08-02T16:52:00.004-04:00

Note: 120 days until trails open! (Dec. 1st)

Note: Aug. 13th ORV Meeting @ Emmet County Fairgrounds.

It turns out I was right. :P My last post was July 17th! Here it is...August 2nd. Getting things back in line after vacation took a bit longer than I expected...and it has actually been fairly nice out so I have been spending much of my time outdoors. Since most of my pictures are now dated...I will just throw them up to my picasa site for everyone to view. They will be categorized by date...and I will try to put in a brief description of what was happening when I took them. That really kind of defeats the purpose of having the blog...but I do not have time to go through and right all the posts it would take to explain everything. My picasa site is http://picasaweb.google.com/dallerding.

This weekend was fairly uneventful. My parents were up to help me cut trees down around the house so that we can get upgraded DirecTV equipment (and for fire wood of course!). Good times! So yesterday morning we woke up fairly early and started hacking them down. Everything went very well! When we were done I decided that one more tree should come down...but on my way back over to my saw I was stung somewhere in the range of 7-9 times by bees. There was a ground nest where my saw was. So my leg was a little bit sore yesterday...and even when I woke up today. I am just glad I am not allergic to the little demons. I sprayed today to either kill them or get them to move. I feel bad doing that...but I just cannot have them where I need to be. It had been many many years since I had been stung by a bee until last Sunday when I was disc golfing at Boyne Mountain. I was walking in some taller grass and got nailed on my left shin. Then yesterday I got one on the calf of my left leg...and roughly 7-8 on my right leg. We decided that was enough wood cutting...it was starting to rain by that point anyway.

So I mentioned disc golf...last Sunday was my second time out for the year. We shot over to Petoskey's course the weekend before. Boyne Mountain is a great place to play. As far as difficulty goes...it is not too easy. The course is very well kept so the chances of losing a disc are minimal. Usually you get to right the chair lift to the top...(as I probably mentioned last Fall) but this time we were shuttled by van because the lift was closed for the day. It was the first time I had seen others playing that course the same time that we were. There were two other groups that went ahead of us. I hope to get some more disc AND ball golfing in before the summer is over...Fall is quickly approaching.

I believe I am going to start my winter hobby up soon...I have never done it but I am goinig to try to make some beer. If I get good at it...my beer cost basically goes right out the window. It is also a decent skill to have so when they ban alcohol again...my basement will be ready. *laugh* In my retirement years I would absolutely love to start a small brewery. By then who knows what will be legal and what will not. Only three more years until we start deciding who our next president will be. Anyway, if anyone has any good beer making tips...post them to the comments section. :) I am sure I, along with others, would love to hear them.

That about sums things up for now...I really will try to post more frequently so I do not just give up like I did with this post. ;) My ambition level today is low due to my wife being fairly sick. She has some kind of swelling behind her ear...and it sounds very painful. She has been dealing with it for two days now...and started meds yesterday. I am really hoping that by tomorrow things start looking up so we can get back out and enjoy some August activities. Last year this weekend we were in Paradise, MI camping. I would love to try and get out to do some camping.

Thats it from me for now...watch for new pictures being uploaded.

Goodnight from Northern Michigan!

-Derek

Emmet County ORV Ordinances

2009-07-17T18:56:00.004-04:00

Check it out! I am really hoping that support for the passing of these ordinances will result in us finally being able to use our ORVs in Emmet County! I get to ride in my woods...that is it. It is fun...but being able to get out and about would be a great time!

Check out the links section on the right hand side of the page to see information about the public meeting and the actual draft of the ordinances.

Let your friends know! Write or call the county...and maybe even show up at the meeting. Let them know that you want this to pass!

-Derek

Cold!

2009-07-16T18:59:00.003-04:00

Luckily this time I am not sick again. It is just going to get COLD over the next couple days. Tomorrow we are supposed to see highs in the high 50s! Over the weekend it gets a little better...we should see mid 60s into low 70s. We should also see a few rain showers through Saturday. Sunday looks to turn out okay with highs in the 70s and no rain...yet.

Every once in a while I sit down and think about where I should take the blog. It is during those times that I realize that I REALLY neglect the actual content that I promised from day one. Survival, Outdoors, and Other Essentials. In that title I mean encompass not only those...but everything that I find of interest under each of those subjects, and hopefully catch on some bits that other people will enjoy as well.

I looked at my tracking stats today. There are a number of topics that bring people in to read. By far numero uno is my article on using potassium permanganate and glycerin to make fire in a survival situation. It really amazes me that so many people are interested in that! I have to admit...it is a really cool way to make fire. The others are not as popular...but people come to my site for the Ruger P345 article, articles on my 09 Ski-Doo MXZ Renegade and Northern Michigan. Some seasonal articles that I wrote, which I admit were not of high quality, brought it people looking for information on wild leeks and morel mushrooms. Finally, and this is kind of wierd, but people are searching directly for my name. I did not know I was that popular! :P In the past some of my top searches were from knife making, North Country Trail, and survival in general.

I always get down on myself for not keeping the blog on topic. However, I realized by looking at my stats today, that I really have done a 85% good job keeping on topic. When I do not have anything to write about...I usually keep it short or do not write anything at all. When there is something I feel like I need to talk about I will write about it...but most of the time I just keep my mouth shut. ;)

Anyway, with all of that, I want to thank everyone that visits the blog. I do not get an incredible numbers of hits...so I do thank all of you that take the time to glance through what I have written. I will continue to write and hope to get a bit more on topic.

I decided at the beginning of this week that some changes in my life were needed. Through the last two years I have put on a decent amount of weight. It has not kept me from doing anything by any means...but it has made it a bit harder to get out and have energy. That also comes from stress, sitting at a desk all day, and having just a general disinterest in everything. No, I am not quitting my job, but I am going to get out and do what I can to take the weight off so I can enjoy the outdoors again. I get winded just walking up the road! So I am going to walking and getting out as much as I can. While I am doing this...I hope to bring pictures and stuff to talk about back to the blog. I was thinking of featuring some sort of gear on the outings...possibly shooting some video of a survival technique or just an outdoor technique in general. This should get me started back on the right track with the blog and possibly inspire me to hurry up and get www.outdoorsmi.com up and running.

Okay, now that I have all of that out of my system, big news for Emmet County. On August 13th the county will meet to discuss allowing ORVs on the shoulders of county roads. That would not mean MUCH out this way I suppose...everyone already rides out here...but it would mean that we could do it legally. It would also mean that I could drive my four wheeler right to the gas station! How great would that be? The limitations are fairly great though. The townships in which the county roads lie can determine whether or not the roads are ORV friendly. State and US highways are exempt...so I could not ride my four wheeler to work. :P Forest roads and forest trails are off limits. No complaints I guess. The only thing I would change...not even change but plan for...would be a designated area for ORV use on state land. Cheboygan county has their Black Mountain Recreation Area. Why does Emmet county not have something like that? Maybe this will be something for the state and county to look into in the future.

When I left for vacation I promised that I would provide images of my shelter during the early stages. You can see those here: http://picasaweb.google.com/dallerding/WoodsShelter# and here: http://picasaweb.google.com/dallerding/WoodsShelterP2#. With my new found enthusiasm...one goal I have is to finish the shelter off. I will make sure I keep really close tabs on the progress and list all the pictures as I take them.

Well, this is a long post compared to most that I have written in the last couple months. I feel better about how things are going to go...and certainly about getting outdoors more.

Goodnight from Northern Michigan!

-Derek

Happy Independence Day!

2009-07-04T10:20:00.002-04:00

Just wanted to wish everyone a happy 4th! I hope everyone has a fun but safe time! I know I would kill to go out on the boat today...but there are no lakes big enough for boats near here....AND I have no boat. :P

-Derek

Ask Me Where I Am...

2009-07-03T22:05:00.003-04:00

The great state of Kentucky is my home for the next week. I have visitors at the house and decided it would be a good time to take some time off of work and head down here. I woke up at 5AM...on the road at 6:30AM...and I pulled in the driveway at 7:30PM. That was with an hour lunch break and a couple stops. About 12 hours of grueling drive. Traffic was not that bad though. I was expecting much worse.

I am going to try to post each night I am down here to show the area and what I get to do. It is very pretty in Eastern KY. The mountains are beautiful this time of year. They have been getting rain so far this summer...which has kept everything nice and green.

On another note...I had a request to show some of my early shelter pictures. I will do that as soon as I get back home. If you would like to email me... outdoorsmi@gmail.com.

I am absolutely beat down...so this is my very quick post for the evening. Stay tuned for my stories through the week!

Goodnight from Kentucky...err...Northern Michigan!

-Derek

I am SO HOT...

2009-06-23T21:32:00.002-04:00

Well, the wife MIGHT agree (no guarantee)...but I am not talking about physical appearance. It is absolutely miserable up here! Some beg to differ...crazy heat lovers. Temps were in the mid-80s today and the air is still a bit on the heavy side. I prefer winter as you know...so I have some trouble adjusting to the hot months. July and August are killers for me...but as September rolls around I know cooler temps and snow are on their way. So I sound like I am rushing the summer away. I do not get to enjoy it at all because I am always at work, doing chores, or side work of some kind. So really I wish summer away as fast as possible.

Tonight was a good night though. I made a typical "picnic dinner" with hot dogs, chips, beans, corn, and a cold pop. Afterwards, we drove into Petoskey and got a small ice cream at Murdick's and walked through the Pennsylvania Park. We decided to meander down to see how the break wall is coming along (they are rebuilding it this summer). It appears that good progress is being made...but it is going to be a while before the project is done. The air was a bit hazy but sitting on the boat dock was a great place to catch a peek of all the boats floating around. We walked passed the softball game and got out of there.

I did not have my camera otherwise I would have a better story and some pictures to go along with it...I need to get better about that.

Enough for tonight...goodnight from Northern Michigan!

-Derek

Got Cold? Part Deux

2009-06-16T20:29:00.004-04:00

I am not talking about weather...it has been a beautiful beginning to the week! In fact, even the weekend was nice. The sun has been shining and temperatures have been in the mid 70s every day. Nights are still getting cool...but they are very tolerable. The house has been staying very warm at night so I do not need the wood furnace anymore! It has been so hot in the house that I opened the window in the middle of the night a few nights ago. Unfortunately, a few hours later I felt a raw feeling in the back of my nose and throat. I got sick again. I guarantee the window being open did it to me...and I have pretty much been miserable the last couple days. Today was a bit better...it is turning from the raw feeling to an actual cold. My nose is running and I have been sneezing all day. Well, I will pull through as usual and get to my usual activities.

In other news...I started working on my shelter again! I went out Sunday and got about half of it finished up. The walls being up really strengthened up the sides that are done. I do have a bit of thinking to do regarding how the doorway will be finished up...but I will come up with something. The whole shelter is turning into a bit different shape than I expected...and really than what I was hoping for. It was supposed to be more of a round shape but it is turning into more of a mohawk looking thing. I even took some pictures of my work! I continued to stray off of my original design by not weaving all of the sticks into the wall cross bars. I weaved them through on the center portion of the wall but as I got to the edges decided that it was just too darn hard to try to bend the dead sticks into the shape they needed to be in to finish up. I think it is really coming along nicely though...and once covered with some camo (pine bows probably) it will blend

in nicely. Hopefully anyway. The darn thing is probably close to 12 feet tall in spots...so it would be hard to miss honestly...especially this winter! ;) I do not have many pictures to share but there she is. It should be fun this fall and winter to mess around in. As long as it does not cave it I will be in good shape for some winter events out there.

Anyway...that about covers everything for the past few days. I plan to do a bit of golfing over the next few afternoons...as long as the weather pans out. I have some coupons for Chestnut Valley and Marsh Ridge. I have played Chestnut before...very poorly...and I have never been to Marsh Ridge. It should be a good time!

Goodnight from Northern Michigan!

-Derek

Got Cold?

2009-06-08T19:06:00.000-04:00

Just a quick post...nothing big happening lately. It has been cold and rainy. :( It is June 8th and I am using the wood furnace still! That is sick! Hopefully things warm up soon so we can get some camping and state parking in. I am going to start planning a light house tour for a weekend...but that probably will not happen until later in the summer.

Enough out of me for now...otherwise I would just be wasting your time. :P

-Derek

Happy Belated Memorial Day...

2009-05-26T20:59:00.002-04:00

I have been slacking a little bit since my last post. Last week was fairly rough...and thus far this week is even worse! However, I will spare you the details and just write a quick bit.

Over the weekend we celebrated my moms birthday along with Memorial Day. I avoided most other contact with people since I wanted a nice quiet weekend to enjoy. We started the weekend at a local bar called The Side Door Saloon. I had an olive burger! You must get one if you go there. They are one of the cheapest items on the menu...but they are pretty darn good. Had a few beverages and took off for home.

On Saturday we did nothing but work on the pool. The sand filter water valve cracked in MANY different places over the years. I spent last week sealing it shut so we could get it up and running. So Saturday we got the pump and filter going and start clearing out all the algea and other sludge (dead frogs) from the pool. It was pretty gross. A bunch of pool shock and a day later it was looking pretty good. There is still a bit of sludge in the bottom...but it will be crystal clear in a few days.

On Sunday I...I have to take a quick second to make note of something Andrew Zimmern just said. "It tastes like a rabbit that mated with a chicken and had a baby." Yup...take a second and picture it. :)

On Sunday I played golf for the first time of the season. I would like to think that my game improved over the winter...magically. It was pretty bad...but it was fun. I played with my dad at Maple Ridge in Brutus. A somewhat challenging and nice course. It has certainly improved over the last few years. It may help that it is spring too! That night we had a camp fire and celebrated my moms birthday with burgers cooked on the charcoal grill. They turned out pretty good!

On Monday I played another round of golf...this time with a couple of my friends. The wife tagged along too. We played in Vanderbilt at Black Bear. That was a nice course. We played all 19 holes...my arms were noodles by the end of the day. The first 9 holes went well...but after that I let my mind get the best of me and I could not hit anything. We went home from there...and I was asleep by 8:30 PM. :P

Well, that is pretty much the update for the week. I will possibly write a bit tomorrow since it is supposed to rain and be miserable. Stay tuned!

Goodnight from Northern Michigan!

-Derek

NWTF

2009-05-17T09:40:00.002-04:00

I had never heard of the NWTF, when Friday afternoon my buddy called and asked if I would like to go to a dinner for them. I asked, "What does NWTF stand for?" He replied, "National Wild Turkey Federation." Ahhh that made sense. I did not know Northern Michigan had a NWTF chapter. They are the Little Traverse Bay Gobblers. It was some free food so I snagged the wife Saturday afternoon and we met my friend and went to the dinner. It was not that bad! We were very over dressed for the occasion. We had been to a Roffed Grouse Society dinner a few years ago...there is a big difference in the crowd that each group brings in. However, there were still many upstanding people at the banquet...and none of them were afraid to show their passion for the NWTF. Most of the auction items went for between $200 and $300. The dinner tickets were $60 for single and $90 for double. There were other little sales/auctions in between the major items and they went well as well. Overall, I imagine they did very well. Even I won something! Nothing big, but a door prize of $10 for the new Parks Place Cafe in Conway. In one of the blog postings I wrote about our North Country Trail trip...and we passed a place called Beach's Log Cabin. They sold and now the place belongs to Charles Parks. (Sorry if I am missing an E in Parks.) He owns the funeral home a couple miles south from the restaurant. I imagine we will be checking it out soon...I will give a full review once I have been there!

It has turned out to be a beautiful day. For a few minutes last night I thought I was going to regret putting my snowmobile away! We had a few flakes of snow falling around 9:30 PM last night. It was in the mid 30s and trying to rain...but a little bit of the moisture fell in frozen form. I did have to get the wood furnace fired up again today...I was hesitant because of how windy it is but I let it rip anyway. I do not want to use any more gas than I have to this year. We have lasted the entire winter on one tank of propane. That includes a few days of laziness, all the times we were not here for a couple days, and all of the mornings when the fire had just used itself up overnight. I personally think one tank is not that bad! They came and filled it I believe in September or October last year. So 8-9 months on one tank...not too shabby. We did put a note on the tank not to fill it during the winter...it was a constant reminder to me that I needed to use wood and not burn the gas furnace. I would say it worked! On a normal winter we would probably have gone through 2-3 tanks. I am proud of us because this was one of the longest and coldest winters in quite some time. It was a darn good thing that I cut and extra row of wood though! ;)

I got wind of some potential golfing today...I have not heard anything yet but I will see how it pans out. I have been trying to get something together for a few weeks now...I have not practiced at all yet. :P Why ruin what might be a few good hits by confusing myself with how to hold the club all over again? I was going to spend this summer having fun...golfing (both ball and disc), hiking, camping, etc. If I end up buying a house...probably disc golfing and hiking will be my only spots to partake in. They are free! :P

Anyway, enough out of me for now. I am going to try to get the OutdoorsMI Cam back up at some point...my computer that runs it has been out of commission for a while. I will hurry that process along if I can. I might try to do something wireless so that I can put a cam in the woods. That would be fun.

Good morning from Northern Michigan!

-Derek

New Site...

2009-05-16T10:03:00.002-04:00

I have still to work on the new site...it will happen though. Once I get settled on something and move forward with it I will have it up and running. My primary computer is not hooked up due to some fan issues...and I would much rather work on that PC than this one. In fact, I think my web software is installed on that computer. If so, this will be a quick build. :P

-Derek

Conficker...

2009-05-16T09:58:00.002-04:00

I did forget to mention that I received the Conficker virus. All is taken care of now...but it was a nuisance not being able to make it to any security sites to get rid of it! Luckily everybody puts their tools on CNET for us to download! ;) I only had it for a couple days...it came from North Central Michigan College. The wife uses her flash drive to bring files back and forth...and the girl sitting next to her at NCMC said that she got a virus from the college. Well, wife brought it home and infected us. How grand! BUT atleast it appears to be gone and all is good again in the world.

I did use Norton Security Scan and AVG Free AV to get rid of it. I assume this will surely help me decide to get a paid subscription to an AV service. I believe in free...but I do not believe in how well it works. ;) When it is free there is nothing to lose if you suck!

-Derek

Rain, Cold and Not Much To Do...

2009-05-16T09:47:00.002-04:00

Another week has gone by without much excitement in Northern Michigan. Maybe I am just not looking hard enough for things to do...but with work and all the extra curricular stuff I have going...there is just not enough time in the day. However, things are looking up around here.

The leaves are really starting to poke their heads out now. When the wind blows it actually sounds like summer as the leaves rustle. The ferns have lost their curly shape and are standing at full attention. The woods is carpeted with green foliage and beautiful wild flowers. We will soon be entering the full blown "pretty period" of spring. That is where absolutely everything is flowering, the leaves are full, and the temperatures are warm enough to walk around without a coat on. (Those that know me would say the middle of January is warm enough for me...but you get what I am saying.)

I did not make time for much outdoors this week. I spent a couple extra minutes at work each day and by the time I got home I was ready for dinner and a nice quiet evening. I look forward to a quiet weekend too. :P If the rain stops I may go out mushroom hunting...but it just seems a bit to chilly for that right now. In fact, I fired up the wood furnace this morning! After nearly a month of being out of commission because of the dry weather and no green on the trees it gets used once more. I usually do not use it this time of year because of the dry leaves on the ground. I do not want to be responsible for a forest fire. BUT it is raining nicely today so I figured it will not hurt much to get a small one going. The chimney is over nearly 30 feet tall anyway...so most everything should be blown out by the time it would reach the top. I suppose anyway...that is just my guess. ;)

Anyway...I think that about covers it for this morning. If anyone out there rides ATVs in Cheboygan county shoot me an email. outdoorsmi@gmail.com. I would love to head out for a couple hours on the beast to see what it can do!

Good morning from Northern Michigan...

-Derek

Morel Mushrooms And Wild Leeks...

2009-05-10T15:10:00.003-04:00

I went hunting today! What I was hunting could not run away from me...and it did not take a gun, trap, or bow to kill it. I was hunting for morel mushrooms and wild leeks. I had success...sort of. In all today I found 78 "caps" in around an hour. They are also known as false morels...but from my research it turns out they are just an earlier species of morel. Everyone has their own stories about false morels I guess...how they can be poisonous. Well, all morels are poisonous if not prepared properly. I have been told by a number of people that as long as they are cooked properly they will not pose a problem. I did go out the other day and found 30 others...so my total for the weekend is 108. There were only four "black" morels in the entire batch. I am thinking that within the next week or so we will start seeing a number of black morels popping up. I have discovered a couple new spots this year. Others had been through as well...but missed a LOT of mushrooms. I doubt some of the spots we went had been touched by foot in many years. It was pretty cool.

My other hunt was for the wild leeks. We have some growing back behind the house...but the supply is limited. I wanted to find more. I took to the woods after mushroom hunting and found a HUGE patch of them. I need to find out about the property they are on though...if they belong to someone I do not want to touch them. I may hit the state land around the house and check for them too. I do not want to sell them or make money on anything from the woods....I just want to cook with them! :) Nothing better than walking into the woods and coming out with a meal. It is just too bad I feel weird killing squirrels. ;)

My spots will remain a secret...but certainly not undiscovered by others. In fact, I saw some others on Friday night foraging through the woods near where we were hunting. Weird for being so late...but I wished them luck and they went on their way.

Anyway, that is what I have been up to. Nothing much more. The leaves are just barely popping out but the ground is really starting to turn green. Many of the early flowers are already nearing their peak. Crazy! We will see more popping up as the temperatures warm up. We have been stuck in the cool region for a few days...in fact we are under a freeze warning for the next two days...then some rain and thunderstorms look to move into the area. Certainly no snow though! :D However, I was thinking about the snowmobile yesterday...I am kind of looking forward to getting back on it!!! :P I will be summerizing all of the sleds today or tomorrow.

Enough for now! Pictures of my mushrooms can be seen http://picasaweb.google.com/dallerding. They are not in the wild in the pictures...but it was my first days haul. (30 of them.)

-Derek

Signs Of Life...

2009-05-02T08:33:00.002-04:00

After a couple weeks a extremely "blah" weather and scenery, things are really starting to look up. The sun is shining today, the flowers are starting to pop out, and even the trees are start to bud! So just in a short period of time this area has gone from the dullest and lease entertaining spot to a life creation "mall". I use the word mall because there is a variety of different spots, just in our yard, that you can see different things. In the back yard we have flowers. They are either budding our have already popped. You walk a bit further around the house and you will see a number of trees starting to pop their leaves out. You will then run into the area that ditched the snow fastest and you see green grass that will be needing a good mowing soon. Then finally you arrive in the front yard and there is a Robin nest right outside of our front door. Literally ten feet. They were a bit smarter this year and built it lower on our pine tree. Unfortunately, we have had a number of cats around, but I think they have moved along. So as long as the birds stay vigilant and do not get into to much trouble we should see some eggs soon. Then of course we will hear the ungodly cry of baby birds 24 hours a day...but atleast they are not crows or ravens. :P Those are by far the worst.

My projects lately have been fairly limited. I cleaned up the yard just a little bit...I am extremely proud of my accomplishments from last fall. 98% of the leaves were picked up this year...so all I had to do was wake the grass up and pick up some leaves and stones that got thrown with the snow blower. The snowmobiles are locked away in the garage, waiting to be summerized this weekend, and the four wheeler is in excellent riding condition. I cannot wait to get that thing over to Cheboygan county to ride a bit.

Anyway, no big updates for now. We are still looking at houses and may have found one that will work out for us if they seller is willing to work with us. We shall see! It would put us a bit closer to town...and certainly take away my woods...but the convenience factor of it would make up the difference I believe. There would be very little maintenance of the property and I could ride my bike to work in the summer...maybe even snowmobile in the winter. That would be a good time.

There is a Gun and Knife show in Cheboygan today. If anyone is over there...check it out. Oh! Speaking of that I did think of one big thing to talk about. If you visit any of the local sporting goods stores...check out the ammo area. There is absolutely NOTHING on their shelves. I have very popular guns too...not anything obscure that would sell out fast. 9mm and 45. It is pretty scary...I wish I could have stocked up when I started to buy last summer. You have all heard of the ammo shortage...but I cannot even buy bullets for my guns! Yay for Obama!

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009-03-29-ammo-shortage_N.htm

Let us see how scared everyone can get in the second 100 days. :)

Good morning from Northern Michigan!

-Derek

Removing IE7...

2009-04-22T11:17:00.002-04:00

I know IE7 is quite stable and works for most people...but I found that it is not supported for an application at work. To remove IE7 (or atleast stop it from working) do this: (In Windows XP)

1. Go to Control Panel and remove Internet Explorer from Windows Components.

2. Reboot.

3. Uninstall IE7 with the uninstall utility included with it. (C:\Windows\ie7\spuninst\spuninst.exe)

4. Reboot.

5. Go back into Control Panel and Windows Components...and add Internet Explorer again.

When I did this IE6 took back over and my application worked just fine.

I wanted to add this online before I forgot what steps I took.

-Derek

What Was REALLY Wrong With My Sled?

2009-04-19T12:49:00.003-04:00

The problem was that no one really knew until they had it all torn to pieces. The truth came out...and it was a pinched oil line. It came that way from the factory and eventually got worse as everything settled. The motor was bolted down on top of the oil line and it squeezed shut. It caused damage to one of the cylinders and a piston. I tried it out a bit yesterday and everything seemed just fine. Unfortunately, there is not enough snow left to do any real riding. Dang it! I might buy a couple years of B.E.S.T. coverage from BRP next winter just to make sure everything goes well since I was not able to run it through the ringers this spring. Rest assured I will be riding the crap out of it next December.

The only thing I have left to do to ALL of the sleds is get them summerized. I have been doing it myself for the last couple years and everything seems to go well. Fog the engine and stabilize the gas. I might have the Yamaha looked at this summer so I can get it back in running condition. It'd be nice to have another sled so a few of us can go out. Now that I have a bit of an understanding about how two stroke engines work (from the demonstration of what broke on my new sled) I might even try to do it myself. We shall see.

About 95% of all of our snow is now gone. I took the four wheeler out last night and took a quick glance around...most of the trails around our house are 100% clear. In some of the valleys there might be a bit more snow but it did not stop me on a 250 with bald tires. :P I will certainly be needing some new tires if I plan to do any real riding this year. I am looking for another 250 that my wife could drive. So if you know anyone with a lightly used 250 I might be interested.

I am having a heck of a time getting started on the new site...I need some room in the house to work. ;) Just a little cleanup and I will be able to get moving on it. I also need some good software. I have tried a few publicly licensed programs but I am not a bit fan of them. My favorite WYSIWYG program is Dreamweaver. I had a copy of it but my CD broke. I have been trying to find a replacement for it...but have had no luck.

Anyway...I have some pictures from Weber Lake that I took yesterday...I will upload those tonight and post the link.

-Derek

The Second Most Boring Time Of Year...

2009-04-14T19:55:00.002-04:00

Spring in Northern Michigan is probably the second most boring part of the year. The time between fall and winter is horrible because it is cold, rainy, and miserable. Right now it is atleast warming, the snow is melting, and the sun is out most days. There just is not much you can do outside because there is still a lot of snow in spots. In areas of the woods we still have nearly a foot of snow...in others it is wet...and yet others are bone dry and great for walking.

The one thing I did do over the weekend...is get the four wheeler out! The battery is new and charged...and everything is working as it should. I have had it out twice just putting through the woods. Unfortunately it is two wheel drive...so I cannot ride through deep snow. Not a problem...it was free. :P

The cam has been down because the computer that runs it is not running right now. It would be neat to watch the snow melt through the day...but no such luck. I saw a wireless webcam online today that might be something to consider.

I think that about sums it about for now...nothing new and exciting until I can actually get outdoors and play!

Goodnight from Northern Michigan!

-Derek

Spring Is Quickly Arriving...

2009-04-10T22:10:00.002-04:00

It is very hard to believe that it has been nearly a week since my last post. Again. I have been extremely wrapped up in work trying to get some projects finished. I really look forward to that so I can enjoy my days a bit more working on new things.

My outdoors time has been very limited lately. Between work and trying to get the house cleaned up...there just has not been time to hang out outside. This weekend should be good for that. I will probably get the sleds put away for the summer and work on getting some of the snow moved away from the house. There should also be some shooting going on...we shall see. No worries...we will not be shooting the Easter Bunny. :P He is safe again this year. I will probably also get a new battery for the four wheeler and get that beast up and running. It is only a 250...but it does everything I could want it to...other than going through snow. It is only two wheel drive.

So here is the low down on my Renegade...and why I have not been able to ride for nearly a month. I apologize if I have already written about it...I have a better understanding of what was happening. (So they tell me anyway.) What allegedly was happening is as the sled warmed up, the pistons expanded and became too big. They slowly tore away metal and started to ruin the engine. I took it in for stalling when in reverse if you remember correctly. Nothing to do with it performing poorly...or having terrible gas or oil usage. I am thinking I might have been used for warranty repair work. Who knows. Anyway, it took them a couple weeks to even get the parts to fix it...and now they are waiting on a hose to arrive on the 14th. Then one month later I will have my sled back. It really is too bad that I am a nice person...I would give them a piece of my mind for all the lack of communication in this whole ordeal. Anyway...it is no longer snowmobile season so it does not matter.

The snow has been melting very quickly. The North area of the yard is completely bare...while the South is still covered with anywhere from 6-12". That should lead to some riding tomorrow on the Yamaha. I have not been in the woods for a couple weeks...so it should be interesting to see where is snow and where there is not. Hopefully there is enough to get a little ride in. There will probably be no riding off the property though...since the roads are all bare.

I will give an update on everything that goes on over the weekend...and include some pictures. It should be a decent weekend for outdoor activities...with temperatures reaching up into the mid to high 40s and nothing but sun and a couple clouds. Overall it should be a very nice weekend no matter what your activity is going to be.

That is enough of me for now...

Goodnight from Northern Michigan!

-Derek

Snowmobile Trails Are Closed...

2009-04-05T14:29:00.002-04:00

One more fairly important item to note...all snowmobile trails are closed in the lower peninsula. I am not sure when they close in the U.P. but I imagine it is not far off if they have not closed already. As far as I know two track roads and your own private property are still game...but you cannot ride on any trails that pass through private property.

-Derek

Mini Vacation...

2009-04-05T14:21:00.003-04:00

I have not written because I have been on a mini vacation. It was quite nice to get out of here...especially since my sled is in the shop. We ran down to Holland for the bulk of last week. It was a last second decision but we took off and enjoyed some warmer temps and NO SNOW! We did not do much but I did check out the prices of ammo down there. Dang! It was very expensive no matter where you go. It might actually be a deal to buy it up North! :P

Today started off VERY nice. Very few clouds and some incredible sunshine! I saw a high temp of 45 degrees. Unfortunately, the clouds have made their way in and any sun we had is now gone. Temps are hovering around 44 degrees though. Not too shabby. Luckily for us, there is some snow in the forecast. (I am getting a bit sarcastic when I talk about snow this time of year.) Monday and Tuesday look to bring us a bit...no estimates on how much though. Temps are going to hit the low 30s for highs...so there may be some accumulation. Yay! If I get my sled back this week...at lease I might have enough snow to try it out.

I do have just a couple pictures to share from Holland...but my camera is sitting in the car...so I will put those on the blog later.

Other than all of that...I mixed our mailbox and took the battery out the of the four wheeler to be replaced. That is it! It has been a very uneventful day so far. If anything exciting comes up...you will know!

-Derek

Get out and ride!

2009-03-29T10:16:00.002-04:00

This may be your last chance!!! Not only do trails close soon...but the snow is almost gone. The last week of warm temperatures has really taken a toll on the trails...atleast from the road. The trails that are in the woods are probably still very rideable. Now for some good news. We have received close to 6 inches of new snow overnight! It is expected to keep falling all day too. For the die hard folks this is perfect! I might even dig out the ol' Yamaha and see what the trails look like this morning.

I do not recall if I mentioned I took my Renegade in for service or not. I was having trouble getting it to shift over to reverse...each time I hit the button it would stall. After 6-7 tries it would finally shift and I would be able to back up. Trying to shift into forward stalled the sled after backing up. I was getting frustrated so I called Burt Lake Marina to have them look at it. After four days I finally called them to see what was up. I got a voicemail reply saying that they had the engine torn apart and it should be done next week. WHAT?!?!? It turns out that the pistons that they used in the Renegades were too large and caused damage in the engine. So my engine is being rebuilt. (Note: This exact same thing happened to my buddy that bought a Renegade...but his actually broke pieces of the engine while riding. The fix is the same. Rebuild.) So hopefully I will get my sled back this week so I can try it out in the woods. I really would like to ride the snot out of it when I get it back to make sure everything works as it is supposed to.

I have not had much time to write ot work on the new site this week...my priority has been work. We had a new Check 21 product that we had to implement on Friday. NEVER implement new products on Friday. Bad idea. There is no one to support ANYTHING.

Stay tuned for updates on the new site...I am really excited to get it rolled out! It may take some time...but it will be worth it.

Get out and ride!

-Derek

Hey! Big News!

2009-03-21T11:56:00.003-04:00

I am excited to announce that my blog will be moving! I have teamed up with some additional local bloggers to develop a new site completely dedicated to the great outdoors in Northern Michigan. All of the content that you view right now will continue to be available...but you will also receive insight from others making your viewing experience even more valuable.

I will continue to post here until the new site is done...and will post the URL when we have something up and running. Stay tuned!

Anyway, sorry for my absence lately. I have been sick AGAIN and this time I am trying to take care of myself. I went to the doc and gots meds finally (after nearly a month of struggling with this sickness) and should be up and running soon.

A quick snow update...it is going fast! The snow off the hills is just about zero. There are a few spots around town that have some white stuff on the ground...but nothing worth messing with. On the hills we still have over a foot of snow. Unfortunately, my sled is sick and is at the shop. This will most likely be your last weekend to do ANY riding if you plan to do so. 40s and rain next week. There might be some cooling and snow over the next couple weeks...but I think winter is about done. I am really looking forward to getting outside and enjoying the spring!

It is now time to get some stuff figured out on the new site. It has been a LONG time since I have had to do any real host side work...so the new release date might be a bit into the future. ;)

Good morning from Northern Michigan!

-Derek

A quick ride...

2009-03-09T21:43:00.001-04:00

We took a quick ride to Alanson tonight. Trails were not groomed but they were in great shape. There were a couple spots where the water was collecting toward town...but overall they were awesome.

Time for bed...but I will write about the ride tomorrow.

-Derek

Lots of new snow...

2009-03-09T13:06:00.002-04:00

We got a general foot of new snow around the house. 2 hours of shoveling and snowblowing wore me out. :P Now only 5 hours until I get to snowmobile.

It warmed up...

2009-03-08T10:13:00.002-04:00

We did see some 40s over the past couple days. However, it never rained. There is still PLENTY of snow! I will probably hits the trails around the house today to see what kind of shape they are in. According to HSSC the trails have a decent base, and as long as it got cold enough last night, they groomed overnight. No news on their website yet.

From the looks of it, our winter has been spared once again! We are under a winter weather advisory right now. Possibly 2 to 4 inches tonight. That sucks since I have to work tomorrow and will not get to enjoy it. Of course after this snow it looks to turn warm and start raining again for the first part of the week. Doh! The good news is as we roll into the weekend it should cool off again. This is our roller coaster season here in Northern Michigan!

Until I ride a bit I have nothing much to talk about. I did get the four wheeler out yesterday and did a few donuts on the ice...but the battery died and I put it away. :P The battery has been a thorn in my side since the day we brought it home. The machine sat in a shed for a year and a half until we picked it up...so the battery kicked over. Once we get a new one though...the chains go on and I hit the woods! :D In a sense I am getting excited for spring. I like the smell of the woods, the sound of the animals, and the fresh foliage starting to pop out. PLUS, spring brings my ability to get outside for walks. ;) This has been a COLD winter...so I have not done much outside. No hiking, walking, skiing, snowshoeing...I have been incredibly lazy. I will give you an example of how bad it is. :P We have been looking at new homes lately...Wednesday we had to walk down an unplowed driveway. Maybe just shy of a couple hundred yards. Half way down the driveway...my stupid leg started to get a charlie horse! In less than a foot of snow! How pathetic! *laugh* Hopefully that will change soon. :P

Enough for now...

-Derek

Is Winter Over?

2009-03-04T20:41:00.002-05:00

Not quite yet. We are most certainly going to see some warmer temperatures...and even some rain over the next couple days...but I think we still have some winter left. There are some chances for snow through the next couple weeks according to AccuWeather. I do not really hold much that AccuWeather says to be reliable...but I use them for the current temperatures and such. As long as I get one more good ride in I will be happy. If I can avoid the rain I will head out this weekend...and probably again with my dad before all the snow melts. We were riding in the middle of April last year. There sure was not much snow...but it was fun. ;) I look forward to a similar event this year!

I am still sick...so I have not done ANYTHING this week. I do need to get out and put the snowshoes to use. I feel bad that I got them and they have been sitting in the closet since that day! It has been so dang bitter cold for most of the winter that I have not taken full advantage of all of the sports that winter offers. It does not help that my skis are broken. :P The bottoms peeled off. Doh!

Anyway...enough for tonight. Goodnight from Northern Michigan!

-Derek

03/01/09 Ride...

2009-03-01T18:37:00.007-05:00

I made it out again today! It still was not a very long ride...but I did make it over toward Indian River. Here is my analysis of the trails. I was met with some of the worst conditions I have seen all winter. All this new snow and horrible trails? What gives? Atleast I have an answer. I visited the HSSC website and found that the crew was in the Soo for some kind of groomer show. They did not have enough people to man the groomers when they got back...so the trails were left unattended. The area East of Alanson was probably the worst. There were a LOT of bumps...and often some ice underneath a little bit of snow. The areas West of Alanson were still quite bad. The bumps were almost obnoxious...even on the Renegade. I am not supposed to complain though...I do not volunteer with HSSC and I do not donate to HSSC. That may change...since even one extra groomer could have done the rest of the trails east of Pleasantview last night. I might get involved and train to be a groomer in the '09-'10 winter.

So I took off from up toward Harbor Springs and shot down to Alanson. That was a bumpy ride but there was plenty of snow. I got behind two sleds on my way off the hills and they gladly pulled off and let me pass. That is awesome. I do not drive fast but I go a bit faster than the "Sunday Drivers". I got to Alanson and shot over to trail 76 toward Indian River. The swamp was in TERRIBLE shape. The first picture above is along Banwell Rd. You cannot really see how bad it is...but you had better be prepared to drive SLOW if you are going that way. It is REALLY rough. In the swamp there is little snow and lots of ice. The corners are built up so if you ride the outside they would be fine. The side of the road on Lakeview was not horrible but there is not a ton of snow to ride on. Once I got to Coors Rd. things improved and I was able to enjoy the ride a bit more. Winding through the trails I got close to Indian River and decided to turn around and head home before it got dark. I had to stock the basement with wood for the night...we are possibly going to be in the -20s tonight! Anyway, on the way back home I was facing the sun (West) and I got to experience what the sport is all about. Enjoying the outdoors...and going places that you might not be able to get on foot with ease. Just down the trail from where you can head toward Webber Lake or Indian River I stopped for a second too enjoy the scenery. I took a picture of a small hill leading down into the woods. It is not an incredible picture...but it is something that most people probably would not take the time to enjoy. I think it is a beautiful spot on the trail system.

I think I am about done for now...it is seriously time for some dinner. :P I am going to upload ALL of my pictures to my Picasa site for you to view. http://picasaweb.google.com/dallerding.

Goodnight from Northern Michigan!

-Derek

R.I.P Paul Harvey

2009-03-01T18:34:00.002-05:00

His broadcasts will be missed.

-Derek

02/28/09 Ride...

2009-03-01T10:47:00.006-05:00

It was not a long ride by any means...but it was enjoyable. I was gone for probably around half an hour. I just shot down to Alanson to put some gas in the sled so I would not have to do it today. Unfortunately, I think I will still have to stop by Spanky's to see if they have the XPS synthetic for the E-Tecs. I have been going all the way to Indian River ot get it...so hopefully Spanky's will be stocked.

I do have a few pictures to share of the trail...you will see those stuck throughout the post. It was in pretty rough shape in some spots. There was plenty of snow...it was just beaten down from the days use. There must have been a lot of sleds out during the afternoon. I went out around 6:30 PM and I only passed one sled on my way to Alanson. I bought my gas and shot back home. I saw no sleds on my way back...until I got just beyond Crump Rd. There was a sled and rider sitting on the side of the trail. The rider flagged me down. It turned out to be a lady from Cross Village that was heading home. One of the spark plugs on her sled popped out and she could not get it started again. I checked the plugs and plug wires and gave it a pull. It did not want to start right away...but with a little coaxing it fired up and was ready to roll. I followed the sled until North Conway road and I took off ahead from there. I got way ahead and show down some side trails to get home. It was a beautiful night to ride for sure!

I am really glad the sales fell through on my sled. There is a guy that is still interested in it if I decide to sell it...but at this point I am pretty darn happy that I decided to keep it. Getting rid of it would have been pointless this year. Maybe next fall I can sell it and pay it off...but for now I am just going to enjoy all the winter that I can get. We are trying to put together a ride to the U.P. for a night. That would be a good time. I have never been up there on a sled. I have visions of super highway snowmobile trails. I am sure that my visions are a bit distorted...but that is what I dream of. :P Being able to open it wide and scoot along for a bit would be awesome.

Right now it is a beautiful sunny day outside. It is COLD but it is nice. I woke up to around 5 degrees this morning. I would guess we are nearing around 10-12 degrees...but that is a guess since I am too lazy to get up and look. ;) This week is supposed to warm up a bit...with a few very small chances for new snow. We might even see a bit of rain toward the end. Yikes! I better get outside!

Well, that is about it for now. I think I will probably be out for a ride later tonight...so I will try to get some additional pictures posted.

Goodmorning from Northern Michigan!

-Derek

Local Snowfall Totals...

2009-02-28T11:09:00.002-05:00

By local I mean at my house. :P The snow has shrunk a bit to around 8" of new snow. However, yesterday morning I would estimate 10-11" of powder had fallen. Less snow fell down off the hills.

I will write either tonight or tomorrow with some other content that might not be related to snow. :P

-Derek

I need followers...

2009-02-27T19:38:00.002-05:00

On the right hand side, a bit down the page, you will find a place to become a follower of my blog. Come on! What do you have to lose? You follow me...I will follow you...if you have a blog. :P

I am going to be riding early tomorrow AM I think. Hit me up if you are in the area. I do not know the sweet spots really...but I would not mind riding with some fellow winter lovers!

-Derek

Winter Storm Warning P3...

2009-02-27T06:47:00.003-05:00

Nothing was as bad as it was at the beginning of the storm. The snow tapered off by 10:30PM or so...and it lightly fell through the night. We did get around 7-8 inches of new snow. Not too shabby! I was hoping for more...but I will take what I can get. ;)

If anyone is riding this weekend...let me know.

Good morning from Northern Michigan!

-Derek

Winter Storm Warning P2...

2009-02-26T20:21:00.002-05:00

The snow has started to really fall. The garage is almost invisible 30 feet from the house. Yay for snow! I will try to get the cam up and running for all to see.

-Derek

Winter Storm Warning...

2009-02-26T19:34:00.002-05:00

Oh boy! Here we are...it is February 26th...and we are about to get our worst snow storm of the season. 6+ (estimates range from 9-12" in our area) of snow will fall by tomorrow morning. On top of that the temperatures tomorrow are going to plummet and the winds are going to go nuts. Can you say snow day? I have only had one unexpected day off at work in over four years. Maybe one more might not hurt? :P

So looking at the NWS radar the precipitation is starting to work its way into Emmet County. It looks to be falling pretty good just beyond Traverse City...and heading NE. That means it is headed right toward us. It is supposed to continue snowing through early morning.

I will keep posting as things progress. :)

-Derek

Powder, Drifts, Sled...

2009-02-22T19:56:00.002-05:00

The title may be misleading...as it could be read in a bad way. :P Many people have bad experiences with powder, drifts, and their sleds. My experience was incredible. I got the sled out this morning to take a spin around the woods. What I found was nearly a foot of brand new FRESH powder from the snow storms over the last couple days. It was sweet.

I started off in the woods behind our house. We have all sorts of roads through the woods...and a nice field to play in. I spent about an hour blazing new trails, jumping, and carving the new snow. A foot of snow is not much for carving...but it was close enough for me. ;) The jump has slowly been created by a plow that runs into the field. The snow bank has gradually gotten taller and finally got tall enough today to hit and get some air. Again not much, but close enough for me. I then took to the trails and met a few people along the way. I decided that I did not want to trail ride since there were so many people. I headed home and watched some TV. Sounds good right? Well, there is more.

A few minutes after I got home, a buddy from work called. We decided to meet up at the Pleasantview Township hall and head out from there. We headed up toward Pellston on trails that were nothing but powder. I think they groomed the trails...but not late enough in the night last night. It was awesome riding though. We got to Pellston and shot North to Mackinaw. The rail road grade was in EXCELLENT condition. No bumps, no dirt, just snow. We stopped for a bite at the Key Hole Bar and continued our journey. Our next destination was out in Levering. We jumped off the trail onto the roads. It was all sorts of fun...the drifts were coming across the road. Busting through those was a bit tough on the body...but well worth it. That was pretty much the trip...we took the trails back home from our destination and called it a night. I went my way and he went his...both of us had about a 10 minute drive home.

All said and done we had about 4 hours of riding and 110 or so miles in. Not bad for a last minute ride! :P

The weather looks to cooperate temperature wise this week. Not much in the way of snowfall....but the temps should stay cool enough to keep the new snow we received. Good news for those of us who like late season riding. ;)

Enough for now...Goodnight from Northern Michigan!

No pictures by the way...we never stopped long enough to take any. :P I WILL get some posted though.

-Derek