Grooming the Birkie Trail... on May 2

Video of grooming the Birkie Trail after 14" of fresh snow overnight. Watch for the deer on the trail:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=jUSx0KU7VUE#!

And the snow continues...

After four days of temperatures in the 70s, the weather changed dramatically yesterday and it started snowing again. Ten inches of snow at 7 a.m. this morning and still snowing. By 9:30 a.m., some areas had reported 12 to 15 inches of snow. Winter storm warning in effect through 7 p.m. this evening.

When I got up this morning, the first thing I did was brush snow off the bird feeders and shovel snow away from under them so the birds could get at the seed on the ground. While I was doing this, a Robin alighted on my back for a few seconds and then dropped to the ground. I was wearing a green fleece jacket so perhaps the Robin mistook me for a patch of green grass.

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No more snow, please!

We have had four winter storm warnings in as many weeks. This is what climate change looks like. Eight inches of new snow on April 23.

The Delta Diner

First visit to and breakfast at the Delta Diner this morning. We have heard so much about this place. Almost all of their business comes from word of mouth, or so we have heard. That's how we found out about it.

Great food, great service, fun place. Enjoyed the Delta Diner experience. It truly is "at the Center of the Middle of Nowhere."

"Far Away, Near Perfect" is the perfect motto for this place.

The Delta Diner will have to be a cycling destination this summer. They have some great events planned: a "Blue Plate Lecture Series" with topics like “View Inside a Zen Monastery through Traditional Oryoki” and, this fall, a Locavore Fall Feast-a Diner/Local Farmer Collaboration.

Hayward area Art Crawl

We are two of 41 artists participating in the first annual Hayward area Art Crawl, August 10-12, organized by the Cable-Hayward Area Arts Council (CHARAC). There are 25 different sites to visit, from Stone Lake 20 miles south of Hayward to Drummond, 30 miles north and other locations within a 20- to 30-mile radius.

In preparation, we had to finish the room downstairs that we wanted to make into a gallery space. We had previously finished a room off the gallery that serves as our studio/digital darkroom. Nothing like a deadline to motivate one to finish a project! We hired a local carpenter months ago to sheetrock the room, texture the walls and prime them. We had to install the lights, paint the walls and put down the floor.

We couldn't afford track lighting, so we chose some modern-looking full-spectrum florescent light fixtures. They provide a very even light that we're happy with. The color of the walls is "Powdered Nutmeg" which Mike describes as being "the color of a latte."

The finished gallery space, carpet and all.

Each Art Crawl site has two or more signs indicating its location, one with a number which corresponds to a number on the map in the brochure that was created to advertise the Art Crawl.

There are many talented artists in this region working in many mediums and we're very excited to be able to participate! We've all had very good visitation during the first two days of the Art Crawl. On to Day 3!

A visit from friends

The Sassi family stayed with us last night, on their way to Door County from Fargo, North Dakota. We all went for a bike ride this morning, giving Max a chance to try out his cool, new Harry Havnoonian bike.

Enrico, Mike, Kelly, Alex, Max

We rode about 10 miles, stopping at Spring Lake, our turn-around point, for a stone-skipping session.

Alex shows how it's done.

Kelly recently found a great bike on Craigslist, a Felt tri bike.

Living without a car

We've been living without a vehicle for almost a month now, since July 3 when we returned home from a month-long trip back East. The clutch went out on our VW van in Escanaba, Michigan, on the way back to Wisconsin. We rented a U-Haul truck and trailer and towed the van to a VW specialist in Ironwood, Michigan. It's still there as he couldn't begin to work on the van until a week ago and we're having some other work done, too.

Our decision to live close to town (less than a couple of miles) rather than further out is now paying off. We've been getting along just fine without a car, using our Marin "utility/commuting" bikes to get groceries/run errands. (Note the cool baskets made by Amish folks from Pennsylvania.)

This month-long period without a car has made us even more aware of how easy it is to use the bikes for our every day needs rather than jumping in the car. Using the bikes gives us much pleasure and makes us feel self-sufficient. We expect to have the van back within a week but, after this experience, I think we'll continue to use the bikes more often than before.

P.S. Much has happened since I last updated this blog. I'll post a review of our activities during the past few months soon.