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The Pasty Cam was still a new adventure for MTU student Jonathan Hopper on April 7, 1998. He carried the floppy-operated Mavica wherever he went in the Copper Country, grabbing images, filling up diskette's. How things have changed in 8 years! Today's megapixel cameras would fill up one diskette with just a single photo... instead we have Gigabyte storage the size of your fingernail, with room for hundreds of pictures. Still, even with the primative equipment, Jonathan provided a steady flow of sights for his dad to choose from for the picture of the day.

This shot of the Ranger which appeared 8 years ago probably added to the attraction which Jon felt for Isle Royale. He would end up travelling there a number of times, bringing back even more rich views of this remote part of Keweenaw County, which I can almost see this morming in the distance, looking across the dunes from our home in Eagle River.

more tomorrow

Morning........a bit soggy today

Morning everybody! It's a cold, windy day in MN. Had I not taken my dog out to potty, I'd have been the early bird. But mother nature calls. Have a great Friday. "Hi" to Dave.

Oh yeah, does anybody remember when the boat that was taken to Isle Royale was that huge white thing? I can't for the life of me remember its name. But I remember as a child standing in awe, on Tuesdays I think, watching that thing go by. Anybody remember?

Morning!

Good morning everyone :) It's a drizzling out a little bit...but the temps are at least a little on the warm side.

Mikie, Did your daughter-in-law have the baby last night?

Great pictures today to tug at the UP heart-strings! Have a good weekend all! Rain turning to sleet tonight here in SW Michigan.

Good morning from Mishawaka, IN. It's a damp, dark morning. Last day of my spring break. Glad I had the week off to get used to DST. After nearly 40 years of not changing time my body still thinks it's on the old ways. After we get back we have two months left of this school year. It has gone quickly.

Well, looky there, a moose. We are all safe down here. Too many fires to really discuss which one was more dangerous. They were all around Amarillo. I work 38 miles north and this is the second time in a week they have closed a highway to traffice because of fire. Would be so bad if we didn't have to go 12 miles east and then 35 miles around to get back to Amarillo. Hoping for some rain so tell the tribes up there to get busy, we need it bad.

http://www.kotus.fi/verkkojulkaisut/julk125/turku/kuvat/aninkaistenmaki.jpg

Margaret, Amarillo...I'll do a sedate version of a rain dance for what it's worth , for you. This gloomy & dreary weather here in NW Illinois is not so bad after a winter of Texas driness. The sun will shine again here Lord willing soon. Just be careful driving near all that smoke. Hey pasty friends, does anyone know the dates of the gathering of Pasty cammers in Calumet this summer. I WILL be there. Thanks for any help.

Margaret,
Are you asking us to dance? If so, we will do the rain dance. A little rain up here would be nice too. Sure hope the fires can be stopped. I will be thinking of you.

Hey Sur5er, Trigal, Deb S., Bobbysgirl etc. Get Dancing!!

Oh I would love to send rain your way Margaret! We have sandy soil here, but with all the rain we have been getting, there is water sitting on top of the sand, to wet even for sandy soil to absorb! But the farmer's are thrilled so its worth it.

Some of you may already know of this eagle cam site. I will post this for those that don't. There are 2 eggs this year and they should hatch in a few days. This is the best eagle cam site that I have seen. Just click on the "live eagle cam" picture. It works most of the time, even though it says they are having trouble.
http://www.nu.com/eagles/default.asp

Also, here is a peregrine falcon site.
http://134.156.98.1/falconcam/

No baby yet. Precious has called me several times to ask.

Thumbgardener,
That is the best live web cam I have ever experienced. Wow, until today, I had no idea something as cool as that hidden camera exisisted. I will now check it daily. Thanks so much!

Unfortunately Isle Royale cannot be seen directly from Eagle River.
The local horizons for each do not overlap. This was a constant
arguing point for your late neghbors, Charlie. Eleanor would say
she saw I. Royale, Van would say it's impossible. On very very rare
occasions, what one might see is a mirage over the lake.

Lorelei, you're welcome. I found the site last year and really enjoyed it. There was only one egg last year. I was so excited when I was able to see the baby eagle the same day it hatched. Sometimes you will see the eagles change places to sit on the eggs. After the eggs hatch watch for one of the eagles to bring fish to the nest to feed the babies.
On the falcon cam there are 3 eggs so far. Last year I think there were 4, but only 3 hatched.

Thumbgardner: thanks for the live eagle cam link.

Margaret: good luck! Fire is very scary--nothing you can do but run from it.

Good afternoon from Mishawaka, IN. Here's another bald eagle website http://www.friendsofblackwater.org/camhtm2.html

You can also get to webcams of barn owls, herrons, bats, bluebirds, and a couple of other things from this website. This nest has two eggs which should hatch in a couple of weeks.

Thanks for the sites mentioned here. I've already bookmarked them.

Margaret, Got the rain dance going for you, girlfriend...please stay safe ;)

Technoido, I beg to differ ;) I figure if I can see Chicago (some 50 miles away), standing on the beach in Beverly Shores/Michigan City, ya'll can see Isle Royale, from Eagle River :)

Oops, gave you the web address to the site in Maryland. It also has an osprey webcam. Here is the website address for Kent, WA.

http://www.wdfw.wa.gov/wildwatch/eaglecam/

This year PastyFest will be on July 1, again in Aggasiz Park, where Pasty Central will be treating the first 500 visitors to a free pasty!

You'll want to be there for the bakeoff competition, to see who captures the Copper Pasty Award.

For more, see mainstreetcalumet.com

Deb S.,was that boat the South American? The band would play and it was a big deal.

Hi Japei,I like todays picture. I noticed all of the ladders on the roof. Guess they were for clearing snow off.

Hi everyone,
I have been going to www.iws.org. California sight. They recently put an eaglet in the nest and this nest has 2 adult females and one male. I love it because its at 5 second intervals. Hope you all check it out. Heading out to Sacramento on Monday!!!

I go to the Kodak Birdcam site located in Rochester NY. They are Peregrine falcons named Mariah and Kaver and have six eggs this year. It is one of my favorites. Try birdcam.kodak.com.

Fran, Yes, that was it! Thank you. Where were you from UP there? I used to love to watch that boat go by. I thought it was so majestic. But then I was just a kid and to a kid it was great. I don't think the Ranger compares. But I could be wrong. Anyway, thanks for remembering.

Lorelei, Are you looking for snow dancing or rain dancing? We need to know, you know.

Well, Charlie- I noticed the moose moves. Definitely had to save that one. Thanks.

Deb S., I was born and raised in Dollar Bay. I loved seeing the big ships go by. The South American arrival in Houghton wasa big event .If I remember correctly the band that met them at the dock was composed of people from different towns.

On a different note we are waiting for extremely severe storms to hit here.Tornado warnings are up.Right now it is at Monteagle Mt.and is on a path along I 24. Hail up there is nickel size but they say tennis ball size or baseball size is possible.Winds are the eqivalent of a weak tornado. Needless to say I am fully dressed and have my shoes on. I don't have a basement so we would have to go in the master bath which has no window. Believe me I would take snow any day!!!!

Fran, I lived in Dollar Bay for about a year. I liked it there. But I lived most of my Michigan years in Lake Linden.

We have tornado warnings here in MN too, but I've yet to see one. I pray nothing hits you guys. I see so much severe weather down in Georgia when I'm watching Braves games. You guys can have it. I'll take the cold and snow any day of the year than some of the severe weather that some of the other states get. Take care and be ready to go. We're thinking about you and Margaret with her fires. Everybody will be praying for all of you.

Hi all ... Deb ...
I'm sure you remember Aunt Marchita and Uncle Flip ...
They brought me down to see the South American a couple of times when they were home for vacation.
Some people used to throw silver dollars off the boat to us little kids.

It was great fun. We could see it coming out of the canal by Chassell as well.

You could hear the horn...we would jump on our bikes and get down to the lake so we could see her... That was a truly awesome ship.

Hey Dave, How lucky you were to get to go on that ship. Just hearing the horn got you going, didn't it? It was awesome. Yeah, was sad to hear that Marchita died. Do you know where Mark is nowadays? Went to the drive-in theatre in Chassell with him, Rod and somebody else one time. Had a ball. I always liked Mark. Seems all the cousins around our ages are boys. The girls are all older.
Oh well, anyway, you were lucky to have gone on that ship.