• Monday-What'sUP November 14 - 11:38 pm

Paco sure knows how to live! For that matter, so does Joyce Tormala, since she always seems to find just the right scenes through her viewfinder, to give us a sense of peace come Monday morning. These shots were taken on Agate Beach in Toivola. The first two being A.W.S. (after the wind storm), a few days back and the third one being D.W.S (day of the wind storm). Check out the size of the waves in both perspectives and how far onto the beach the wind was pushing them, looks like high tide. Poor little tree on the edge of the beach had wet feet that day!

Lucky dog, Lucky dog, arf arf arf!

The lakeshore looks so cold and desolate today and the lake looks so angry. Not a good day for walking on the beach and letting the sand squoosh between your toes. :)

looks like a very contented pup!! but then if I were watching L. Superior instead of the Atlantic Ocean I would be content also. These waves look similar to the ocean out here (NJ), but with a whole different ancestory so to speak. are those piles of stones that were washed ashore in the winds? I think I have been a fan of a mother/son photography expo here. Is Joyce Nathan's mom?

Yikes, the wind does blow them in. With a coat like Paco's, it's just another day at the beach.

Anna: Joyce is Nathan's Aunt. But they but have the same great eye for photography.

Once again, great pictures Joyce. Paco looks so very happy. Looks like he is getting his winter coat too.
Anna, I think Sgt. Nathan is Joyce's nephew.
Have a great day everyone!!

I would have liked to go on the hunt for agates after that storm!

Keep you eyes on the bridge cam this morning, There's a Lake freighter sitting at the old coal dock in Dollar bay!

I believe it's the olgby Norton's Armco.

Always nice to see a Boat in the Portage.

What an adorable expression on Paco's face! Sad news over at JohnDee.com, his beloved yellow labby, Baileys, has cancer and it doesn't sound good, Keep them in your thoughts and love every moment with your pet(s)!

Arrrg the boat just left, I watched it on the riply cam from MTU, but the bridge cam only got the bridge up and then coming back down.

Hopefully who ever runs the cam will but som intermediate shots up.

make that PUT some intermediate shots up ;-)

Hi everyone!
Great comparison shots of the beach. I could use those to teach about beach processes and shoreline erosion-- my lecture planned for November 29th.
Have a great day everyone!
--Dr. Nat

Are they in the process of painting the bridge? It looks kind of blue. Maybe it's my imagination.

Tide no.... (well, yes but on the great lakes its miniscule - around an inch or two depending...) When the winds "push" the water up far than it would normally be in the great lakes its called a seiche. (spelling?) Seiches can make the water be up to a foot higher (or more) than usual. Anyone know the great lakes RECORD for biggest seiche??

Large seiches (i.e, greater than one metre (3 ft)) occur in the Great Lakes basin every year, usually from May to September. The Great Lake most affected by seiches is Lake Erie because it is the shallowest and its basin is often aligned with storm wind directions. One passing storm set up a seiche in 1979 that resulted in a water-level difference of 4.3 metres (14 feet) between Toledo and Buffalo.

Couldnt resist posting a follow-up. This is from http://www.islandnet.com/~see/weather/almanac/arc2004/alm04jun.htm
if you want more information on SEICHES.

Anyone know the exact date of the seiche which hit Keweenaw Bay in the mid-60's. It sloshed water, logs, rocks, debri, etc. over the highway at the tip of the bay. Folks at Cat Harbor said that bay actually emptied!

Sometimes those are the most enjoyable days to take a walk in as long as you are dressed for it! Just think of all the unresponsible pet owners out there who never take their dog off of that 8 foot chain! Paco is a very lucky dog!

What a luck Yooper dog, eh. Joyce, is Paco part Chow Chow? He looks a lot like my companion dog, which is a German Sheppard Chow Chow.

Alex, all is forgiven, because that sure is one beautiful picture...and with it taking up the entire screen, it makes you feel as though you are standing right on the shore. :)

Mary says: Yes, Alex is forgiven, but also deleted! :-> He emailed me for help, so I resized the picture and sent it back to him so he could re-post it with his own message! Check back later...

Alex humbly bows to Mary for her kind forgiveness AGAIN! :)

Here is a photo of the bridge up this morning. My buddy Robert E-Mailed it to me, because he knows how much I love the bridge, and I thought I would share it with all of you!



Mary says: Hey Alex, while you're down there bowing, could you do the floors for me? :->

Here is the ship going under the bridge this morning at 9 am.

Steamer Armco, owned by Oglebay Norton Marine Services of Cleveland, Ohio. She was built in 1953 by the American Shipbuilding Company at Lorain, Ohio. She is 767' long, 70' wide and 36' deep from her keel to spar deck at amidship. Can carry 25,500 tons of cargo. Powered by a 7,700 Horsepower Westinghouse steam turbine. She was one of eight 'AAA class' lake frighters. The other AAAs are Arthur M. Anderson, Phillip R. Clarke, Cason J. Callaway, Reserve, Kaye E. Barker, William Clay Ford (now scrapped) and Pathfinder (now a barge).

Here is a site with a picture from June 1968 at the tip of Keweenaw Bay. I heard that docks on the east side of Isle Royale were left with no water during that one.


http://www.glerl.noaa.gov/seagrant/glwlphotos/Superior/SuperiorGeo.html.

The joy in that dog's puss! Ain't it wonderful. Not showing, of
course, is dogowner who -- every day -- has a reason to get out
there so his dog can have a good long outing. I bet if someone
checked it out, dogowners live beaucoup more years than
catowners just from having to exercise that mutt of theirs every
day. And don't they have fun while doing it!

Great picture of the dog today. Spend as much time with your pets as you can, cause, when they get sick, they leave us quick. They are family.


DARYL- Thanks for the pictures of the ship going
thru the bridge this morning, especially the zoom-in one.

Daryl: Thanks for the beautiful pictures of the ship. The close-up one is my wallpaper for the week. Great!

I'm not the only one to notice the large halo around the sun today. Several years ago I asked the "Morning News"(morning coffee drinkers at the Toivola Lunch) what the large halo around the moon is trying to tell us. They all said bad weather is on the way. They were right! Paco has been our hiking buddy for almost 11 years now. She loves the lake as much as I do and if I mention the lake within earshot,I'd better be ready to go there. Twist my arm,puhleeze! The kids are responsible for her name. Yes,pets are members of the family. We learn so much from them. Her mother is a Black Lab. Methinks a classic Heinz 57 may be her pa!
Sgt. Nathan is my nephew,though he has many son-like qualities. Today,after a short 8 day leave, we brought our son,PFC Tormala,Jason,to Sawyer to meet his flight back to Fort Hood,from where he will soon deploy to Iraq. He and Nathan have been together as often has time allows,and from the stories and pictures we've heard and seen,they have made the most of it!
Thank you so much for the pics post and comments!

Joyce ... first the picture of Paco is really nice. It looks to me as if he's trying to tell you to "hurry up and take that picture ... I got some exploring to do!"
Now I have another question for you ... Is what you referred to as the Toivola Lunch what we knew as the Toivola Diner? And if so ... is it up and doing business again? (Seems like the last time we went that way - a few years ago now - it was closed.) Remember fondly the pie (better get there early!) and the rieska (sp?) bread ... DELICIOUS ON A COLD FALL DAY WITH SOME OF THEIR HOMEMADE CHICKEN SOUP!

Sorry Joyce ... Guess I didn't read your message very well ... Must have been the mention of the Toivola Lunch! I meant SHE is looking at you...

Thanks,Cindy.Yes,the Toivola Lunch/Diner are one. The business closed in 1999. It has been sold and is now open,along with the adjacent store. I believe November 7th was opening day. The parking lot has been full! I'm drooling...

That's great news Joyce! Even though we aren't planning any trips UP north 'til next spring - at the earliest - (unless of course one of us develops some major 'tooth' problems ... Doesn't everybody drive nearly 600 miles to visit the dentist???) we'll have to make sure that we detour that way (on the way to Ontonagon ... hubby's ol' stomping grounds) and grab a bite. Hopefully all you residents will keep them busy enough to stay open 'til we get a chance to get UP there!

WOW! BIG ship!!!!

" WOW! BIG ship!!!!
Yes, and if you think that's a big 'un at 767' long, there are at least a dozen Great Lakes Vessels over 1000 feet in length - almost 1/3 longer than the ARMCO and some over 3 times the cargo capacity!

		American Steamship Co.
Vessel Name	Length	Beam	Depth	Capacity
American Spirit	1004'00"	105'00"	50'00"	59700 tons
Burns Harbor	1000'00"	105'00"	56'00"	78850 tons
Indiana Harbor	1000'00"	105'00"	56'00"	78850 tons
Walter J. McCarthy Jr.	1000'00"	105'00"	56'00"	78850 tons
		Oglebay Norton Marine Services Co.
Vessel Name	Length	Beam	Depth	Capacity
Armco	767'00"	70'00"	36'00"	25500 tons
Columbia Star	1000'00"	105'00"	56'00"	78850 tons
Oglebay Norton	1000'00"	105'00"	56'00"	78850 tons
		Interlake Steamship Company
Vessel Name	Length	Beam	Depth	Capacity
James R Barker	1004'00"	105'00"	50'00"	63300 tons
Mesabi Miner	1004'00"	105'00"	50'00"	63300 tons
Paul R Tregurtha	1013'06"	105'00"	56'00"	68000 tons
Stewart J Cort	1000'00"	105'00"	49'00"	58000 tons
		Great Lakes Fleet Inc.
Vessel Name	Length	Beam	Depth	Capacity
Edgar B. Speer	1004'00"	105'00"	56'00"	73700 tons
Edwin H. Gott	1004'00"	105'00"	52'00"	74100 tons

See Boatnerd's Fleet Photo Gallery

Daryl, I guess you liked my write up on the Armco from that i posed to some site that was linked to in the whats up section.

FRNash and others, The capacitys listed on boatnerd, and everywhere else for that matter, are deciving. The capacity given for the BayShip footers such as the McCarthy are at 34' of draft. The capacity for the Tregurtha for example is given at 30'1" of draft. Neither of those drafts are really reached. The last time that happened was back in the mid 80s when waterlevels were high, and even then it was only able to be done on the Escanaba to Indiana Harbor run. The Lewis Wilson Foy (now Oglebay Norton) was able to load down to her 34' max draft marks on that run once and slightly passed the 80,000 gross tons mark. The most that can really be hoped for is 28' of draft, even that is pushing it with the low water we have right now. 27'6" is pretty normal right now.