Welcome To Da UP, eh?

My last post was negative venting, so hopefully this one will be more positive.

I think it will be.

Chuck took all of last week off, so we took a road trip up north to explore the Upper Peninsula in Michigan, and of course we HAD TO make a stop at Sutton's Bay after Chuck discovered it on a map.

So we left Monday morning and skirted the left coast of Michigan for the scenic route along the shore of Lake Michigan.  But really, the only times we got a view of the Lake was when we stopped and parked the car so we could actually walk to a beach.  When you're driving along the coast, sometimes you can see the water, but usually there's too many trees blocking your view, or you're just not quite close enough to it.  It's a good route though, cuz there's plenty of places to stop and get out of the car and walk to a beach.

Here we stopped at a town called Empire.

After more driving, we came to this dune park and we thought it would be a good place to stop and walk around to stretch out our legs in a pretty place.

But they wanted WAY too much money, so we said, "uh-uh".

And we kept going.

Our next stop was this little historical village that was quite busy in the 1850's, but now it's just a few abandoned buildings and a tiny little shop for tourists.

On the beach I found some pretty white rocks that I took home.  A lady on the beach asked me if I found Petoskey stones.  I never heard of Petosky stones, so she examined my rocks and confirmed that I did not find Petoskey stones.  Apparently, they are a small treasure if you are lucky enough to find one.  A couple days later, Chuck was talking to a lady that he used to work with in Anchorage, and she also advised us to keep our eyes out for Petoskey stones.  I was starting to want one real bad. I guess they are rocks that are mixed with fossils that get washed up on the shore.  They have a kind of "tortoise shell" pattern on them.  I never did find one except for small samples sold in a gift shop (I didn't buy one), but after I knew what I was looking for, I tried to find one on the beach, knowing that I wouldn't find one.

ANYHOOOOOOOO..............back on the road we went.

We stopped HERE:

I desperately wanted to get a picture of a sign at the beach that said "Sutton's Bay", but this was the best I could do.  I found this sign on the side of the Post Office building.

HERE is a picture of Sutton's Bay:

The town itself wasn't anything super special, but it was still one of my favorite places on this trip.  It was a nice little town to walk around in, even though it was kinda touristy.  I really don't know what draws the tourists there; I don't see anything special there that other towns don't have.  

However, I found something there that I never found anywhere else just for me!

An ice cream stand that sells non-dairy ice cream!  And I don't mean the chemical-laden soft-serve ice cream that you get from Dairy Queen or McDonald's!  This ice cream is made with coconut milk! It was yummy!

And that was a real treat for me cuz it's been so long since I actually got to eat an ice cream cone from an ice cream stand!

The next morning we continued on our way up north along the coast of Lake Michigan.

We came to the "Tunnel of Trees".

This was something I was looking forward to and was pretty excited about it.

It was a really pretty drive, and I don't wanna sound negative here, but it was not really what I was expecting.  I was expecting to drive through miles and and miles of a long dark canopy of trees.  But this was really just a road that goes through a thick forest.  There really weren't any canopies going through here.  But it was still worth it to go through it.  There's a lot of houses along the way in there, and I kept thinking about how the mailman that has this route probably really loves his job.

So we kept driving toward Wilderness State Park and got out to walk on the beach some more, and from there we headed to Mackinaw City, which was one of my other favorite spots.

Of course this was a very touristy city, but the way they had it laid out somehow made it not seem so bad.  It's a nice place to just walk around and see the sights.

We came to this bronze statue, which happened to be a real man.  If you put money in his basket, he gives you his business card.  I asked him if his dog was real, but he didn't say a word; but the dog's name tag says "Real", so I guess you could say "he's Real".

Of course, seeing the Mackinaw Bridge was exciting, but I really enjoyed hanging out on this beach.   One thing I learned on this trip was that the bridge divides the Lakes.  On the east side of the bridge is Lake Huron, and the west side of the bridge is Lake Michigan.  So the beach in this picture is actually on Lake Huron.

Until we got this far, we were planning on going to Mackinac Island so we went to the ferry stations to inquire about schedules and fees.  But after awhile, Chuck lost his interest in going there, so we skipped it.

We crossed the bridge and spent the night in St. Ignace, which was another neat place where we found more things to see and do.

I really liked being here in this town too.  They have this long boardwalk that skirts the shores of Lake Huron.  Really nice place to take an evening stroll.

We spent the night in St. Ignace and had breakfast at this little place:

It was very "different" which made it a neat place to go.  The waitresses didn't speak the best English, and the waiter was too distracted and busy to give us good service, so they screwed up our order, but it was still a neat place to go.  We would go there again if we ever got back in the area.

After breakfast we went to this nearby attraction:

We climbed a lot of stairs to get up there, but it was all good, knowing that we were gonna be sitting in the car again all day.

Our next stop was Sault Ste. Marie, where we watched a ship come into Soo Locks, and then we walked around for awhile.

 Then we headed further up north to Whitefish Point where they have the Shipwreck Museum.

There's a lighthouse there with another nice beach to stroll on.

The lighthouse was pretty neat.  You could go up there and see the view from up there, but way at the top it was like a hot sauna, so we didn't stay up there very long.

The house part of the lighthouse was really interesting because it was an actual house where the lighthouse keeper lived with his family.  The inside of this lighthouse is a museum where you can see how the families lived in there.

And of course, let's not forget the beach:

And this is Lake Superior, so we have made contact with three of the Great Lakes in this trip!

And now on to the Shipwreck Museum:

This was a relatively small museum, but very interesting.  I had no idea there were so many shipwrecks in Lake Superior!!

If I remember right, I think the Edmund Fitzgerald was the last boat to sink in those waters, thanks to better weather technology and a change in policies.

Here is the bell from the Edmund Fitzgerald that they pulled out of the water.

I was interested in the last name on this list, since we share the same surname.  It would be pretty cool if I had any bragging rights to being related to that guy, but when I compared his ancestors to mine, I found no connection, even though he was also from Wisconsin.

So after we got done at the Shipwreck Museum, we headed west to view some waterfalls.  

By this time, it was getting into the evening hours, so first we found a hotel, and then found something to eat, which was better because by that time it wasn't quite so hot hiking through the woods.

By the way, we ate at the restaurant next to our hotel and me and Chuck both agree that it was the best reuben sandwich we ever had.

We went to see the Tahquamenon Falls where they have an Upper Falls and Lower Falls.

This is the Lower Falls:

And this is the Upper Falls:

(Gee, ya think.....?)

(I mean really, to go behind the fence is to go off the cliff......duh!)

So anyhoo, after we got back to the hotel, we spent some time outdoors behind the hotel by the water, which was nice.  The next morning we headed back home, stopped in Mackinaw City to walk around on the beach one last time, halfway home we went to Cadillac to visit my brother for a little bit.  Got home Thursday night.  I know I left out a lot of details, but I didn't wanna make this too boring.

Over all it was a very nice trip and the weather was perfect the whole time.

And guess what?!  My next trip is to Washington D.C.!!

I finally have a chance to go there!!

AFTER NEXT WEEK!!

Now that will be fun, fun, fun, and very interesting!

Just Me Venting

Today, I am posting only because I need to vent.

Or am I just feeling extra crabby today?

I don't think I am crabby.  I am just sick of my stupid appliances.

And I blame the tyranny of our government leaders who are overreaching their slimy rotten tentacles far beyond what should be allowed, trying to micromanage my private life.

I am directing screams of hatred towards my stupid GE high-efficient top-loading retarded washing machine!

When we lived in Wasilla, I had a SpeedQueen, and I loved it!!!  Okay, it made some really horrible sounds, but that only started after I washed some pillows in it and it got off balance.  Ever since then it made a horrible grinding sound during the wash cycle.  We had a guy come out and look at it once, and he couldn't find anything wrong with it.  It still worked great, so we put up with it.  Chuck always hated that horrible noise, so every now and then we'd look at the new wash machines when browsing through a store, but never bought one because ours still worked fine.  And besides, I didn't like the idea of buying those new ones that came with all their new regulations that would probably hinder me from getting my clothes nice and clean.  Unfortunately, when we moved, Chuck didn't want to take our SpeedQueen with us.  Oh, how I miss that SpeedQueen, grinding noises and all!

When we moved into this house, the previous owner left ALL the appliances behind.  He probably thought he was doing us a nice favor because they are the new fancy expensive models with all the bells and whistles.  I'm sure they cost a pretty penny. He made a comment something like "you can tell I'm a fan of GE."  I don't remember exactly the reason, but I think he was biased toward GE because he knew someone personally who worked for them, or something like that.  Anyhoo, I didn't wanna say anything and argue with him, but I have a HUGE problem with GE, and I am biased AGAINST anything GE for political reasons which I don't care to get into right now.  So the brand alone was the beginning spark of negativity towards my new appliances, which has since then grown into a small fire of hatred for the fridge, and a huge bonfire of hatred for the stupid retarded wash machine. 

So now I'm stuck with a fancy GE conventional electric oven, and a huge fancy GE refrigerator, which I HATE - I'll vent about that one after I'm done venting about my stupid retarded over-regulated GE wash machine.

I wouldn't even call it a "wash" machine.  It's more like a "get it wet and call it good" machine.

For one thing, as I said, it's got all these "bells and whistles" that come with it that I'm supposed to "ooh" and "aaaaah" over.  But c'mon, I'll never use all those stinkin' buttons!

Okay, I am starting to use the "Extra Rinse" button more often, but only because I have to!

And here is my biggest vent of all.

The first time I used this machine I noticed there were NO choices whatsoever as far as water level. 

Before government got involved in my personal laundry decisions, I had the freedom to choose my water level, whichever I felt would best clean my clothes.

But the "powers that be" decided they wanted to "save the planet" by rationing out my water and telling me I now gotta get my clothes clean in as much water as will fill a thimble.  And now, all the dark clothes come out with white soap streaks on them because there isn't enough water to rinse them out properly. (yes, I have tried using less soap) So, Chuck's work pants now have to be washed, extra rinsed, then washed again with no soap, and extra rinsed, then rinsed again.  How much water do you think I'm using to get his pants clean now?  I highly doubt I am conserving water when I have to wash his pants twice, and rinse them three times.

This makes about as much sense as the so-call water-saving toilets that you gotta flush five times to get all the contents down, and that's AFTER it floods over!  Yeah, that really conserves water...........

The only way I know of to fill up the whole basket is to put it on the "Basket Wash" setting.  It's another feature that the machine has that supposedly keeps your basket clean from mold, etc.,  I'm supposed to do this "basket wash" once every month with a serving of bleach.  So the craziness is that it will fill up the tub if you want to clean the basket, but if I want to wash clothes, the machine gets stingy.  This is so stupid!!!  My clothes are full of white soap streaks, but hey, be happy and rejoice that my basket is clean!

Yay.

I thought about throwing a load of clothes in my machine and putting it on "Basket Clean" if that is the only way to get my clothes buried in water, but the machine does not agitate on that setting, so that won't work.

As far as that "eWash" button goes, supposedly it's supposed to be more eco-friendly.  I don't know what they mean by that.  Even less water?  I have never pushed that button and I never will, even if only as a protest against the planet-saving government.

Another problem I have with this stupid retarded machine is that it easily gets off balance and starts taking a "walk" across the floor, and that machine is so heavy I can't push it back by myself so it always looks askew.  Anyhoo, so I have to pause the machine, rearrange the clothes, and start it up again.  But when I start it up again, it doesn't just continue spinning where it left off, it ADDS more water before it continues spinning. So it's like starting all over with the rinse cycle.  Sometimes my loads go through three full rinse cycles all because they get off balance.  So to add more craziness, the stupid machine doesn't give me more water when I want it, but it gives me more water when I don't want it.  Maybe one way to get more water in the wash cycle is to keep pausing and restarting it.....hmmmmm...........(...."light bulb"......)

So I got on the internet today to see if there was anyone out there with the same problem with water level.  I wasn't surprised to see a LOT of people with the same complaint.  But I did find a video of a guy who works in an appliance store, and he was explaining that the machine decides on your water level based on the weight of your load.  So he suggested "tricking" your machine into thinking your load is bigger by wetting your clothes to make them heavier.  Then I found other websites where people say they regularly dump a gallon of water on their clothes before they start the machine.  

I will definitely try that.

Some people said they actually put weights in their machine.

I think it's ridiculous that we even have to do anything like that.  

These stupid retarded machines are supposed to be the "be all" of  fancy luxury, but they are nothing but an expensive headache.  Sometimes I want to abuse mine and "break it" so we have to buy a new one, and hopefully my next machine will be a SpeedQueen.

Now onto the fridge.

When we lived in Wasilla, we were also looking at refrigerators in the stores.  Ours was getting really old.  It still worked fine, but Chuck, being the frugal kind of guy, was thinking maybe we should get something that used less energy in order to keep the electric bills down.  But we also knew that we were moving, so we didn't bother changing ours out, which was fine with me because I wasn't too happy with the fancy ones they make now.  

Everyone seems to think they have to have the new and fancy.  Maybe something's wrong with me, but new and fancy doesn't necessarily mean better, just because it looks new and fancy.  It might look nice and fancy, but looks are often deceiving and not practical.

So, when we moved into this house, this is the fridge I got stuck with.

It's looks nice, doesn't it?  

It's exactly the kind that I told Chuck I did NOT want when we were looking at them in the store.  And now I'm stuck with what I specifically did not want.

But since I'm forced to have it, I reluctantly gave it a chance to see how well I'd adjust to it, and I can tolerate it okay, but I still hate it.

If you listen real close, you might hear me mumbling some angry words while I'm digging around in there or trying to cram something in there.

For one thing (my biggest peeve about this fridge), I am turned off by having to open two doors.  Not only do I have to open two doors, but I also hate how the doors are "clunky" when you close them.  I know that sounds silly and petty, but having to open two doors is very inconvenient and does not appeal to me at all. When I'm in the kitchen, I do a lot of things fast-paced and one-armed.  I wanna get things in and out of there quickly. If I'm holding something in one hand, I don't wanna have to mess with the extra step of having to open two clunky doors with my free hand to get something in and out of there, nor do I wanna take the time to set my object down on the counter so I can use both hands to open the fridge. These big fancy refrigerators are supposed to make your life easier, but I am here to argue that. For me, they are not practical, and certainly not worth the money. Some people love them because they look nice, but frankly I think they are duped into thinking they got a good product only because it had a big number on the price tag. In other words, they spent a ton of money on it, therefore it must be a good thing. 

 Getting into the cheese drawer requires three steps.  The cheese drawer will not open unless both clunky fridge doors are open because the cheese drawer is as wide as the fridge.  What a pain. That's too many steps for a fast-paced cook like me. Also, the fridge has this "fancy feature" shelf in there that can retract, but I don't find that useful at all.  For one thing I never use the option to retract it, so that fancy feature is basically wasted on me, but because of the design of that shelf, it is necessary to have a metal bar underneath the shelf which gets in my way when I'm trying to cram things under that shelf, and I end up growling and murmuring at it because many times, what I'm trying to get in there would fit nicely if that stupid metal bar wasn't in there.  So I have to shift things around all because of that stupid metal bar which is necessary for a fancy feature that I never use.  Genius.  And also the extra fancy water and ice dispenser takes up so much room in the door, that it gets in the way of shelf room.  Argh. 

I know there's a lot of people that would think I'm weird about hating this expensive fridge.  If it looks fancy and costs a lot of money, it's supposed to be "all that and a bag of chips", and I'm supposed to love it unconditionally, but I'd rather have my old energy-sucking side-by-side fridge that gave me easy access to everything with only one arm. 

Plus, I hate the freezer.

In my old side by side fridge, yes the freezer was narrow, but I had everything arranged on shelves and things were easier to find and easier to get to.  In this freezer, everything is thrown into a giant "bin", and I hate having to dig through it all to find something that's buried at the bottom, and this also makes it extremely difficult to keep things organized.

Another downfall with this fridge is that magnets won't stick to it.

No more tokens of our past trips.

No more pictures or drawings or convenient shopping lists.

No more cute cows on my fridge.

Have to resort to sticky notes now.

Not to mention the persistent fingerprints that always show up nicely.

Yes, the shiny steel looks nice if you don't mind wiping it down constantly.

So, yes, my fridge is another appliance that I would love to get rid of.

Thirdly, my stove.

I do like having a convection oven, however, I would rather have a gas stove top.

These glass stove tops are too slippery; my pans slide around on them too easily, which is kind of a pain when you're trying to stir something with one hand.  You need a second hand to hold your pan in place. This is inconvenient for a multi-tasker. And if you spill food on the hot burner, it stinks really bad, and sometimes it's really hard to clean off. Plus, I hate it when you have to have a special kind of cleaner to clean and protect it. Just plain ol' soap and water is more my thing. It's already got a small section where the coating is wearing off, which will forever be there and eventually get worse.  Plus, the burners take forever to heat up, and forever to cool down.  With a flame on a gas stove, it's easier to control the heat.  Plus, this oven in particular is an expensive one that's got too many buttons for my taste.  I'll never use everything this oven has to offer. Anyhoo, I don't HATE this stove, but I would prefer gas.

Anyhoo, my main beef today is my stupid retarded fancy expensive GE top-loading almost useless wash machine.   Almost every day I'm sending Chuck a text message complaining about that stupid machine, but it will take a lot more than that to get him to cave.  Maybe I should start leaving those white soap streaks on his pants...

Okay, so even though I vented, I still don't feel any better cuz I know I'm still stuck with these appliances, but I had to vent this out cuz it was really really really bugging me.

I know the government's ugly tentacles keep reaching further and further out into my personal space, so by the time I will be able to get a new wash machine, I fear that the kind I want will no longer be available, except maybe on the black market.  

Is there any way to slowly poison my machine so it can't be detected by anyone (especially Chuck)?

Oh yeah, I'm not a big fan of my fancy expensive granite countertops either.

Another bonus to complain about.

(already forming a list of wants and don't wants for my next house)

Visitors

Well, here I am again.

These past two weeks have been busy and fun.  I've been hosting house guests.

First, we had Chuck's sister and her friend come through here on their way to the east coast.  They arrived on Easter Sunday and left on the following Tuesday morning, so we had a couple days to enjoy a visit with them.

We went to the same park that Chuck and I like to take walks in and took pictures of the wildflowers that were blooming and just soaked in the springtime nature of the outdoors.

And we also took them to a quaint little coffee joint for a light breakfast before heading over to Notre Dame to walk around on the campus.

Notre Dame is a very nice and very large Catholic campus.  Walking around there almost made me feel jealous of the students who lived there.  

I am not Catholic, but the inside of the Cathedral was worth going into, just to see all the ornate decorations.

While I was walking around through this cathedral, I got to wondering what their "holy relics" are, knowing that all Catholic churches are required to have at least one.  As if the building read my thoughts, I promptly found a wall full of "holy relics" neatly displayed behind glass, including a lock of hair from "Mother Theresa", who BTW is not my mother and never will be.  Before I let myself loose on a rant, I better just leave it at that.

This building with the dome on it, I think it was the administration building, as there were a lot of offices in there. When you walk in there you see lots of huge paintings on the walls depicting Christopher Columbus.  I'm not sure why.  

We also got to see the Notre Dame stadium, but only from the outside.  They weren't letting anyone go inside.

So anyhoo, Joyce and her friend left on Tuesday morning, and later that same day we got two more visitors!

Stephanie and Lula are finally on their way back HOME, to Alaska, and stopped here for a week and half.  I am so excited for her because Alaska is where she belongs, and Lula will love it there too.

AND what's in for me, you ask?  Well, I get to keep my strong connection to Alaska and go visit her any time I want!  I don't like being reduced from a resident to a visitor, like a common tourist, but this is the way it's gonna be now.

With Lula here, the kitties reacted in different ways.  Peeka was the braver one, as usual.  She was afraid of Lula, but wasn't going to let her have the house.  By the end of their visit, Peeka tolerated her enough to let her get close......but not too close!

Weeners on the other hand, pretty much lived in Justin's dresser drawer the whole time.

Poor Weeners.

While Steph was here, we celebrated her 27th birthday.

 I didn't have a #7 candle, so I had to improvise with seven regular ones.

One day last week we went to Nappanee where they were having a Maple Syrup Festival.

They had LOTS of vendors there, and some carnival rides, but only ONE vendor was selling maple syrup.  What in the world.......?

I guess I was expecting a whole street full of maple syrup vendors.

After all, it was a Maple Syrup Festival, was it not?

They did have all you can eat pancakes there, though.

On another day, Steph and I visited the quilt shop and picked out her colors for her next quilt.  

But before I can start on hers, I must first finish this stack of other quilt projects.

 Here is a grosbeak that visited our birdfeeder the other day.  Never seen him before!  I wonder what other kinds of birds we will see this summer.

We still have those grackles hanging around; I hope they don't keep all the pretty birds away.

Then on Thursday, Joyce and her friend came back, on their way BACK from the east coast.  It was good for Joyce and Steph to see each other again - has it been 12 years?

(I thought I took pictures of them together, but I guess I didn't)

Yesterday Lula seemed bored so we took her to the same park where we took Joyce.

To my dismay, she jumped in the river.  Since we went to the park in our car, we had to make sure she had plenty of time to dry off before we went back home.

She really enjoyed running around in this big open space.

Supposedly this piece of metal came from "Ground Zero".

At least, that is what the plaque claims.

Eagle.

When Joyce and her friend came back, ALL of our guest beds were full!  I kept busy trying to be a good host, cooking meals, etc.  Seemed like I was CONSTANTLY washing dishes!  But I really enjoying having people here.  It breaks up my humdrum routine and reminds me that, even though we live far apart, I know I still have loved ones out there somewhere, just waiting for our next visit.

The house guests are all gone now, and the house seems too quiet, but I suppose I will appreciate normalcy again.

And now that Lula is gone, the kitties can relax again, but I don't know how long it will take for Weeners to peel herself out of Justin's drawer.

I am just thankful that, to my current knowledge, there is no kitty pee where there's isn't supposed to be!  I was kinda worried about that.

Spring Has Sprung!

I know it's been two months since I've posted, but believe me -------

You haven't missed a thing!

I've been pretty much hibernating through the winter, and how can I possibly make an interesting post about that?

Curiously, the winter here has helped with my "missing Alaska syndrome" because the cold weather sorta helped me feel more at home here.  However, I've also noticed the air is dryer here and the wind bites more.  And since there's no natural beauty to go with it (i.e., snowy mountains), the winter here was just cold and boring.  So I am glad to see Spring coming.  I do dread the coming summer, though.

Here is a sign that I might have been suffering from cabin fever:

this is what happens when you mix Halloween with Easter:

Of course, next to rising temperatures, one of the first signs of Spring is more birds to keep the kitties entertained in an open window.

Plus other critters that we weren't expecting, like a bunny rabbit......

and there was even a duck (in our neighbor's yard).

The squirrels are having a grand ol' time!

But those grackles!  I wish they go away!

Those are nasty birds that hog all the food and bully all the songbirds away.

Hopefully they are just migrating through and not here to stay.

Peeka has taken up golf!  Whenever Chuck watches golf on TV, she jumps up by the screen and tries to catch the balls as they fly through the air.  

But here, she is watching the birds on a bird channel that Chuck found:

That is one big chicken!

Last Saturday it was warm enough to take a walk in the park, so that is what we did:

This park has several trails you can take, and this particular trail started with an old cemetery.

So anyhoo, that's about it.  Other than waiting for warmer temps, I've been busy with the usual quilting, scrap booking, and genealogy research.  

.....and cooking.........and cleaning.........

Pretty soon hopefully we will be digging in the garden beds.