if you’re keeping score, the amazingly dense black locust has broken jigsaw blades and a drill bit and today while trimming the ends off the treehouse deck boards it wore my circular saw blade down until it was totally smooth and about as effective at cutting as a butter knife.
granted it was an old blade – the lesson learned, if you’re ever working with black locust be prepared to invest in new blades and drills bits!
odin and i were moving stuff out of my temporary post-fire work digs at odin’s school and it really took everything in me to not follow the fire alarm test instructions to see what would happen.
Odin and are moving my work stuff out of post fire squatting space at his school (@ Pleasant Ridge Waldorf School) http://t.co/RJqncu2AjJ
— Eric C. Snowdeal III (@snowdeal) July 15, 2013
fear of being sent to the principle’s office is still a powerful behavior modifier.
they’re a little delayed this year because of the cool, wet spring, but the raspberries from the garden are finally coming in!
we picked maybe about a gallon today and it’s only the beginning. we’ll freeze most of them for winter smoothies but i’m sure we’ll enjoy them while they are in season. i am particularly fond of berries covered in organic valley half and half or heavy whipping cream.
standing 15 feet up on the outer corner of the treehouse, pre-drilling holes for screws in the black locust decking ( which is so dense that i think it’s going to heat the drill bit so hot it’ll melt ) and it suddenly occurs to me when the wind is swaying the trees that i have a lot of faith in the structural stability of my design O_o
i mean, i feel pretty confident, but still, without the railings up the slights sense of vertigo and swaying in the wind can give you a little pause.
after a long day of seeing lots of sights around the upper peninsula of michigan we found ourselves at the dogpatch restaurant in munising with very 4 hungry kids and 3 adults. nobody could figure out why it had a cartoon theme or why all the cartoons on the walls and the menu was filled with mock-southern language that was difficult to decipher. all the adults and kids were confused.
eventually, i dug deep in my memory and remembered the dogpatch was the setting for li’l abner which ran from 1934 until 1977 which gave some important context. but who under the age of 40 even knows or identifies with li’l abner? why is there a li’l abner themed restaurant in munising? was al capp a fan of the area? are the owners relatives? do they have rights to use the images for commercial gain. there’s an interesting history to the franchise ownership and rights li’l Abner and wikipedia claims fair use when using excerpts which leads me to believe it’s not in the public domain.
and, what is up with the menu? PRINCESS MINIHAHASKIRT?
the food was adequate, but the service was horrible which seems to be the consensus on the foursquare tips.
standing where the au train river empties into the lake superior at the au train scenic overlook and it is coooooold!
Lake superior is take your breath away cold! (@ Lake Superior – AuTrain Scenic Overlook) https://t.co/WfcAqAJvtW
— Eric C. Snowdeal III (@snowdeal) July 6, 2013
we’ve been here a few times over the years. i recalled shooting “lake superior in thirds here five years ago!
before odin was born on the fourth of july kris’ family would get together for the 4th weekend in the upper peninsula of michigan with activities centered around odin’s grandparent’s house in gladstone. the year he was born a few members of kris’ family played a round of golf at the gladstone gold and country club that turned into an annual event and after a few years a “divot award” was created to go to the player that best exemplifies its spirit of, uh, unusual excellence.
kris and i have played almost every year and i have no idea how i don’t have more photos from past years online. i’m guessing they are sitting on disk somewhere. it’s a great time and over nine years participation has expanded beyond family – this year we had 25 golfers! to keep the game from taking all day with the growing number of players we had move to scramble format many years ago. many of the holes have contests like “longest drive” and “closest to the pin”. winners of the contests receive a prize of immense value from the local thrift store.
i’m not a very good golfer and don’t take the game seriously which is part of the reason why i have so much fun tooling around with 25 other folks in golf carts on a beautiful day on a beautiful course.
oh, and there are adult beverages involved.
there’s plenty of wildlife on the course. and not just the adults! ( rimshot ) in addition of seeing a few deer every year, we happened upon a friendly fox who seemed like he might be willing to eat out of my hand if i had any snacks.
a few years ago, one of odin’s teenage cousins started a tradition of getting an outfit for the divot open at a local thrift store. not everyone has embraced the tradition, but some of us believe it’s all part of the fun. i think in a few years everyone will be rocking a thrifty ensemble.
there wasn’t much available in the men’s department, so i decided to go with size 6 capris, a sleeveless woman’s top and a terry cloth fedora. the sleeveless shirt really helped me even out my farmer’s tan.
when i walked into clubhouse, there were about a hundred people eating for some sort of function ( and had no idea we were starting the divot open ) and almost all of them stopped to look up. a guy at nearby table caught my eye and laughed, “i would so totally do that.”
without skipping a beat, i reached for his kids half eaten chicken finger and asked, “you going to finish that?” the wide eyed kid slowly nodded yes.
i heard “ha! i would so totally do that too!” as i walked out the door.
i think some are a little jealous I can fit in size 6 woman capris.
after the game there’s pizza and beer while handing out of awards. it’s been a few years since the divot award came home. i think kris might have won it 2010. maybe next year!
i did get a beer cozie for “most spirit” award for my outfit which was a nice consolation prize 🙂
next year is going to be bigger and better since it’s be the 10th annual divot open and we might even let odin play for the first time on his 10th birthday.
