• Tuesday-What'sUP August 26 - 03:03 pm

Hi All....just wanted to let you know there will be a delay in uploading today's photos and notes. You can blame ME for the delay today, as I forgot to attach the notes to my email, so Charlie didn't have them to do earlier this morning and now he's out on a repair run. The lightening last night hit one of the wireless towers in the Keweenaw and he's working on making it operational again.
OK, so now I'm prepared for all the tongue lashings I deserve! :->

Stay tuned...photos by Deb Simons to follow later.

Here I am in Berkley waiting with baited breath for the Pasty cam notes to update.Oh what should I do? No one here to talk to but Jimmie the fat white cat, and he has a very limited vocabulary. Tired of playing solitaire, nothing good on tv, Precious is out,and no one is on Facebook to talk to. Oh woe is me, no Pasty to read. Might as well get ready for bed. Nitey nite all.

Oh but Mikie, you're going to be a grandpa again!!! How excited you must be. I'm about ready for bed too. But I'm going to Facebook first.

Nitey nite all!

OK... so here are the original notes, that Charlie managed to get put on before midnight:

The only transport over to Mackinac Island in the spring, summer and fall, is either by boat or airplane. The ferry boats shuttle folks back and forth all day long, so the scene Deb Simons caught with the Big Mac in the background is a classic Island view for sure. I love how she captured it with the flowers and fence at the foreground, adding just a bit of color to the choppy, blue water. Deb (and Mr. Deb, too), discovered that the ferry ride provides more than just a trip to the Island. If you board one of the rooster tail boats and the sun is just right, you can catch yourself a rainbow right there off the stern of the boat. Nice job, Deb!

And I'm here cuz I had to break away from Farmtown on Facebook!

Such nice pictures, I'm just sorry it took so long to get them on today. I spent the better part of the day on the top of Brockway Mountain with Jonathan (the original Pasty Camist of this daily feature) working on replacing equipment as a result of a tremendous lightning storm last night.

It is really ironic, the previous afternoon (Monday) we had just completed and mailed the final materials for a grant request in the "Broadband Stimulus" program, to upgrade and extend remote Internet services like Pasty.NET. We had worked the last couple of weeks, making the case for upgrading our networks, including the Keweenaw Peninsula array of towers that interconnect the scattered population centers like Copper Harbor, Eagle Harbor, Eagle River, Agate Harbor, Gay, Lac LaBelle, etc. We had very closely accounted for all of the infrastructure that makes it happen, realizing that much of the equipment is aging and outdated. Then, overnight - just after the application was sent - lightning took out a bunch of that equipment. Fortunately we have newer replacement units on hand, so we are getting a minor upgrade MINUS stimulus funding, courtesy of Mother Nature.

It was a pleasant day up on Brockwy, though windy. Lots of birdwatchers and late-season sight-seers. And we are back online.

Thank You, Charlie and Jonathan.

Perfect pictures, Deb! What a job that must have been, Jonathan
and Charlie. Thanks.

Thank you Jon and Charlie for making sure we continue to get our pasty fix.

The first picture was taken as we were standing, waiting for our boat to pick us up. We snapped a picture of it as it was coming over. What an experience to see the ferry's with the rooster tails. It's an experience to just be there, actually. I highly recommend it. Seeing the Big Mac in the background is a plus, that's for sure.

We sure appreciate the herculean efforts to ensure that we get our daily dose of da UP, while maintaining the Pasty.net facilities with your left hand(s)!

Seems to me like more than a little bit of sisu involved, eh?

(Said while searching for a Finnish origin for "Hopper"; "Suppilo" (hopper, funnel), "Sirkka" (cricket), or "Heinäsirkka", "Hepokatti (grasshopper) perhaps?)



Of course it isn't necessarily only da Finns that have sisu, they just gave it a name! It has also just a way of life in the rugged environment of da UP, eh?

So I'm finally looking at it and the water color is amazing.

Whenever my wife + I visit Mackinac Island, we take Shepler's Ferry, but it gives me a chance 2 see the rooster tail spray from the Star Line Ferry, and I like the rainbow effect from the spray, which is stuff 1 would especially want 2 get on film. Good pics.

Hi
Ohhhh, I wish i was up there! Various family members donn't want to go up over Labor Day for various reasons. I nearly had people talked into going this weekend but the weather in the northern lower is supposed to be cool & rainy, so that's probably shot too.