There and Back Again: A Trip Home... And Back to Not Home

Hello All,

Hurray!  Hurrah!  Huzzah!  Huzzah?  Sorry, I'm a historian, so I picked that one up from my Civil War studies.

Hurray, etc. because I finally made it up to the Upper Peninsula for a few days.  A few glorious days.  Yes, the drive up was long.  Yes, I had to work like a maniac to get huge amounts of snow off of roofs.  Yes, it was too short of a time.  However, any time - good, mediocre or bad - in the U.P. is better than the best time anywhere else.

Our main purpose in going to our house in Houghton, on the Keweenaw Peninsula, was to maintain the house.  Snow was the biggest problem.  From photos that our neighbor sent us showed what I had heard about - massive amounts of snow on top of our camper and on our porch roof.  The Keweenaw had almost no snow at all when we were there over New Year's weekend.  Since then, however, they have been socked and socked hard.  In January sixty seven inches fell.  In February they got fifty one.  Our daughter had been up in the beginning of March and there had been at least a foot since then.  That's over ten feet of snow in a little over three months.  Holy Wah!

Some people would say to that: "Why would anyone ever want to live in a place where you get so much snow?"  To that, *I* say: "That's exactly why I like to live there."

You see, winter in downstate Michigan is this on again, off again, thirty degrees then forty degrees, snow/rain/ice/mud kind of season.  Most of the time here in the Great Lakes Bay region, you really can't do anything outdoors.   It's just miserable.  I'd rather have some snow to play on - snowshoe, ski, snowmobile, etc.  Fishing can be done through the ice - because we have solid, stable ice on the inland lakes.  If you're going to have winter, let's have a real winter.  Otherwise let's go to Florida or Arizona, eh?

Yes with great opportunity can come great challenges.  I had to carve out a cube of snow from our driveway about equivalent to our mid-size Honda Element.  The snowplows had piled up about five feet of snow in the mouth of our driveway.  And I needed to do that excavation before the end of the day we got there because you are not allowed to park on the street overnight in the City of Houghton.  The plows don't like dodging around vehicles as they work at night.  However, the driveway adventure was do-able.  That's what snow blowers and good shovels are for.

The next day was doing some "you've got to be there in person" kind of banking and also for clearing about two feet of snow off of the top of our camper.  Also found time to get some good food.

Saturday we took the dogs up to the Delaware Mine, just south of Copper Harbor, to go snowshoeing.  It looked dicey for my wife and our elderly dogs as there was about four feet of snow on the ground with no snowmobile tracks to pave the way for us.  However, Intrepid Jim was able to break a trail through the drifts and fun was had for all.

Sunday called for climbing out the second story bedroom window out to the porch roof.  Three to four foot drifts were up there threatening to do harm to the porch structure.  All in a day's work.  A Yooper day's work, eh?

Add in some good Keweenaw food and some great Keweenaw beer and it was a very good trip.  My wife had some much needed R&R after organizing and leading a huge fundraising event for the foundation she directs.  I got some much needed time away from school, work and family illnesses.  We even survived with little or no Internet access and sometimes limited cell phone service.

On the nine hour trip back we worked on plans for getting us back up to the Keweenaw for good.  It could happen.

In closing, I'll note that as I write this the Keweenaw has a winter storm warning with 12-17 inches of new snow possible.  Holy Wah!

My Copper Country Song

I heard James Taylor's "Carolina In My Mind" on the speakers at work today and I could not get it out of my head.  He sings about being homesick for his North Carolina home.  If you are not familiar with it, here is a link to a video of a recent version.  It made me sort of homesick for the Copper Country/Keweenaw Peninsula where we still own our house.

It occurred to me that "Copper Country" and "Carolina" are similar syllable-wise, etc.  So I wondered if I could write Copper Country themed lyrics based on J.T.'s work.  I've never written lyrics before, but hey, I never Tweeted before a few weeks ago either.  So, why not?

My apologies to Mr. Taylor and I hope I have not violated some copyright law or something.  I don't at this time intend to make any money on this and would pursue getting permission if I did.  Technically this whole blog site is a school project, so maybe I won't have storm troopers busting down my door tomorrow morning.

Let me know what you think and if you have any change suggestions.  If you are a singer and want to do a cover of this I would really like to hear it.  You *really* don't want *me* to sing it.

Anyway, here it is:

Copper Country In My Mind

Lyrics by Jim Curtis

Based on “Carolina In My Mind” by James Taylor

In my mind I’m gone to Copper Country
Can’t you see the sunshine?
Can’t you just feel the moonshine?
That Keweenaw’s a friend of mine
Her voice is wild and kind
Oh I’m gone to Copper Country in my mind

Quincy she’s a copper mine
The sun comes out and watch her shine
Watch her watch the towns below
A silver tear appearing now I’m crying ain’t I?
I’m gone to Copper Country in my mind

There ain’t no doubt in no-one’s mind
That land’s the finest land around
Whispering wind in the pines
Northern Lights the sky’s on fire and I’m dying, ain’t I?
I’m gone to Copper Country in my mind

In my mind I’m gone to Copper Country
Can’t you see the Big Lake?
Can’t you just feel your toes ache?
The white water waves break
Rock art left behind
And I’m gone to Copper Country in my mind

Dark and silent late last night
Think I might have heard the owls a’calling
Geese that honk and hawks in flight.
And signs that might be omens say I’m goin’, I’m goin’
I’m gone to Copper Country in my mind

Now with crowds of people bustlin’ all around me
Feelin’ stuck on the dark side of the moon
And it looks like it goes on like this forever
You must forgive me

If I’m up and gone to Copper Country in my mind

In my mind I’m gone to Copper Country
Can’t you see the snow fall?
Can’t you just feel the wind howl?
And ain’t the drifts ten feet tall?
You gaze until you’re blind
Oh I’m gone to Copper Country in my mind

Oh I’m gone to Copper Country in my mind

I’m already gone

I’m gone

Say nice things about me

I’m gone

You’ll have to carry on without me

I’m gone
Oh I’m gone to Copper Country in my mind

I’m gone

Yes, I’m gone to Copper Country in my mind.

Yooper Critters!

"...we got some of da best hunting and fishing in da whole world.  Bear as tall as Norway Pines!  We got wolf, moose, beaver, wild turkey, quail, rabbit, fox and, ah course: da bucks.  Holy Wah do we got bucks - big as Buicks!  You can slice da venison off a one Superior State buck and feed da whole state of Wisconsin!"
- Albert Soady (played by Harve Presnell) in "Escanaba in da Moonlight" (2001)

Yes, as Albert says in the Jeff Daniels mystical off the wall comedy film, the Upper Peninsula sure does have critters.  All kinds of critters.

I was thinking about that this morning after I saw a pair of bald eagles while driving to school.  No, I wasn't in the U.P., I was in the Lowp, as I call the Lower Peninsula.  I was not even in the northern part of the Lowp.  I was at the intersection of Tittabawasee Road and and M-47 near Freeland, MI just after the bridge over the Tittabawasee River.  As I crossed M-47 a bird with a huge wingspan leaped off a branch of a tree and flew off.  As I sped by I could clearly see the second massive bird with the distinctive white head sitting on a nearby branch.  I was surprised because I usually don't see many bald eagles in the Saginaw area, although I do know a few are around.  They must have been attracted by the open water on the river.

This eagle was photographed at the Seney National Wildlife Refuge in the central U.P.

Well, the U.P. sure has eagles.  Tons of them.  I love 'em.  They are one of my totem creatures.  My heart jumps a little every time I see them.  On the Keweenaw Peninsula in the northwest of Upper Michigan, there are raptor migrations in the spring where you can see hundreds of bald eagles, golden eagles and thousands of other birds as they travel north.  I almost need a heart defibrillator when I see that many in one area.

Albert left out a few critters besides eagles: sandhill cranes; owls; canada geese; hawks of all kinds; trout; salmon; whitefish (my favorite),.....

Usually what I picture whitefish as looking like.  I hear they are a silver fish.

...pike and many other water breathers; moose; mink; weasels; porcupines; fishers (they eat porcupines); bobcat; lynx; coyotes; and many miscellaneous little critters the predators love to eat.

And yes, we have cougars.  After hundreds of sightings and tracks reported over the years, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources has finally admitted that there are cougars in the Upper Peninsula.  Well, we Yoopers are used to Lansing taking its time when it comes to things regarding the U.P.

I'm sure I may have left off a few from Yooper critter list.  There are so many, I lose track.  Remind me, please.

You don't have to be a hunter or fisher (the non-porkie eating kind) to appreciate Yooper critters.  Lots of folks from the U.P. or just visiting love to wander around the two tracks through the woods just to look at critters.  You don't have to eat them and/or put them on your wall to appreciate them.

What's your favorite Yooper critter?  Why?  Which Yooper critter would you like to see but have not yet?  Drop me a line and let me know.