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In follow-up to yesterday's Pasty Cam... John Lauzon's Guest Gallery album, shows you the detail of his handiwork in the Western U.P. even better... in the 'full' version of the photo. Here is the carving itself, cropped to fit this column, truly a unique work of art:

Good Morning from "Balmy" Motown. Snow coming tonight!!

I'm so glad you're willing to keep it going. It
certainly makes my day to stay in touch with
that little piece of Heaven on Earth. Thank you
for all of the hard work that goes into keeping
this site alive!

To Charlie with reference to the possibility of discontinuing Pasty Cam, I'm one of the 100 million "hits" who has truly enjoyed a connection to the UP, both while in Royal Oak, MI and now in my new home in Sedar Bay. If costs are a problem, I'm sure all those who enjoy Pasty Cam would be willing to contribute toward continuation of a very special representation of life in the UP.

If you do discontinue Pasty Cam, do you have other thoughts in mind to keep all Yoopers, Displaced Yoopers, and Wanna Be Yoopers connected to the UP?

As a result of your note about pasty sales at the VFW Calumet Post, I'll be picking up my order on Saturday and look forward to a wonderful dinner. By the way, I sent pasties to two friends for Christmas and they were received with great pleasure. Also sent Toivo & Eino's pasty sauce so they could enjoy the best of the UP. Best wishes, AČ

Good Morning. Love the pictures this week. It's nice to be talented like that.

Morning from Wixom.

If you discontinue pasty cam, there will be a lot of lost souls out there. Keep it up please.

Please keep pasty cam going - if there's anything all of us out here can do to help, let us know. Don't know what I'd do first thing every morning without checking out the daily picture! Love this site!

I'm for keeping the PASTY CAM going. I still have a lot of stories to tell too. Tell us where the help is needed.

I'll second Roudys suggestion.

Anyone who will take the time to look at the blast from the past and read about Bill, or look at the wallpapers of the week, will understand what a treasure this site is. It in no way has run its course. It is getting better and better.

PLEASE DON'T END IT!

Like others, I would do anything I could to help it keep going. Could it be scaled down to make it easier for the editors? Could paid positions be offered? Many posters have been looking to relocate, but are concerned about jobs. Like others, I am sure, I look at your sponsors' sites and do support them.

This site has been a joy! (and a refuge in hard times.)

Please please please don't even THINK of discontinuing this.

Is there a particular reason you would think of stopping? I'm
sure many of us would be willing to chip in to help where we
can. This is like a daily dose of sunshine.

Please continue this beautiful site. It is a place I go to every morning and evening. Not sure I would enjoy my computer as much if this site wasn't around.

Wow! If Pasty Cam is discontinued, it would be like losing your best friend!

Oh, please don't end the daily pictures. It is my very first stop on the Internet daily. I have learned soooo much from this website, and I live here in the U.P. I have been to places, seen things, that I had no clue about until I learned of them on Pasty Cam. So much talent, so much beauty, makes it Truly "Somplace Special".

No! No! No!

Concur with all of the above. Pasty cam is my wake up call every morning and sign off every evening. I have yet to find a site which even comes close to providing the camaraderie and just plain old fashioned intresting topics that are found on Pasty Cam.
Keep up the good work.

I'll second that Phil - MN... what would I do to relax after a stressful day at work when my friends from Pasty are gone?

Please don't ned the Pasty Cam. So many of us NEED this site.

Here's one way it grows: Not only do I use Pasty Cam pix for my wallpaper, but my screen saver is a slideshow of everchanging seasonal UP sights. People come by my cubicle and ask, "Where is that?" I tell them, then add a detail or two, courtesy of Mary, Charlie, Toivo and all the rest of you Pasty Camers, including me. If my guest is still listening, I tell about pasty.com, pasties and Still Waters. Pretty soon, Charlie is counting more hits, more pasties are being sold, and new people are trying to find Eagle River on a map.

Good management routinely asks questions like whether to continue Pasty Cam. You guys have my full confidence.

This is only my second year of viewing the Pasty Cam daily, but would miss it very much. Thank-you for making the decision to keep going for another year. I know it has to be alot of work & I greatly appreciate your giving it to us. I found the site by going to MTU's web site when my son started going to school there. It helps me feel closer to him & not miss him as much by viewing it daily! Thanks for your hard work! It is a wonderful website!

Charlie,
I am sure that you are going to recieve a flood of feedback-all of it pleading with you to keep Pasty Cam going, with a million different personal reasons and stories of how it has positively affected people's lives, but I feel compelled to add my 2 cents.

I spent nearly all of this past seven years at sea, away from the Keweenaw and my family and during that time, the Pasty Cam was the one thing that I could look forward to every single morning I woke up thousands of miles away in the North Sea or the South Atlantic. Every single day the Pasty Cam picture became my desktop background and after a short time, even my fellow pirates all were doing the same thing. these were people from Norway, England, Indonesia, Poland, Austrailia, Trinidad, Azerbajan, Sweden, Mexico, Russia, Portugal-not the UP, Michigan or even the US.

That showed me how special your site is and how beautifully these images portray the UP. These same people would stop by my desk every day to ask questions about the people or places they saw or read about in the following discussions.

I have been on the beach now for a little over a year and I am sure that most of them still access your site, daily. I know some do, as I still get email frothem asking those same questions. Please don't discontinue something so special to so many, including those of us fortunate to be living here.

Don't stop! Like many of the others I check Pasty Cam first thing daily at work and have the wallpaper on my computer screens. The pix are a great way to begin the day!

My parents were Yoopers from the Keewenaw and I have visited the UP several times. It is one of my favorite vacation spots. Keep the site going, please!

I don't know what I would if this site disappeared. It has been a real help in my post Eagle River life. I miss it so much and I feel like I'm still there with this great site and even more so knowing that you live just down the road from where I use to. I don't know how to explain it but I feel connected knowing your there and this site is here as well. Please don't ever stop. It must be alot of work but so many people enjoy it. Thanks Charlie, and thanks to all the folks who take the time to put their photos in the Guest Gallery.

Charlie,

Being local, if you ever need any help in any way on the site to keep things going, just give me a shout and let me know what you need help with.

We can never let this go away, too many Great people and too many great Pictures still need to be put together.

And let me say thanks for the years already dedicated by you, Mary and others..

Bob

Charlie,
Don't end this wonderful sight....many of us displaced yoopers love to log in daily to catch a glimpse of life as we knew it up there...it keeps us connected.

I want to add my feelings to all the others who have written. I check this site the first thing every morning to know what is going on where my son has lived for the last about 18 years. He vowed to "end his life in the UP" when he went to Tech and wouldn't be anywhere else. He has taken me to many of the places that are often shown and I hope to be viewing this site for a long time to come. Thanks for your efforts - they are much apprefiated.

I'm compelled to add my $.02 here....please, PLEASE don't end this feature. I know it must be a LOT of hard work but you have no idea how many lives you touch with the beautiful pictures and comments on this site. All us folks who view this site as a slice of "home" everyday....what would be do? I would be at such a loss....

Please, don't end it!

I would feel so sad not to have Pasty Cam to look at every day. It is one way I can keep in touch with the UP where I grew up. Even though I have been gone from the area for some time, it is a special place for me. I have lived out here for over 30 yrs. but still do not consider it home and to me home is the UP. I am so glad I grew up there by the great lakes. Please keep Pasty Cam going.

Everything that I would say has been said. I only found this site a couple of months ago and since then it has been a wonderful link to my life before becoming a Troll.
Say what you need to keep it going and it certainly looks like the resources will be there.
Thanks so much for my daily touch of heaven.

Please keep the Pasty Cam going. I just found this site, and you don't know how much it means to me.

A few years ago, I was victimized by a crime...and had to relocate out of the state of Michigan...away from friends, family, and of course the UP.

I get so homesick...especially for the UP. Although I lived in the southern portion of Michigan, the UP was only a hop, skip away...and it was my home away from home. Many a weekend, my daughter and I would jump into our car and head for the UP...the Mackinac Bridge a sign that we had made it home to the UP.

One of our favorite places to travel was to the Keweenaw Pennisula...and it was where my daughter saw her first black bear in the wilderness.

Anywho, the Pasty Cam allows me to 'revist' my home away from home...and I want to thank you for making that possible for me. You don't know how much this means to a crime victim who lost everything. Thank you.

CHARLIE; I WAS BORN IN THE UP, BUT HAVE BEEN A TROLL MOST OF MY LIFE. I FOUND YOUR SITE EARLY IN IT'S CAREER. I DON'T HAVE TO LOOK FOR YOUR SITE, BECAUSE IT IS MY HOME PAGE WHEN I LOG ONTO THE INTERNET. WOULD LOVE TO SEE IT CONTINUE. ALL THE BEST TO YOU AND ALL WHO KEEP THIS WONDERFUL SITE GOING.

Gosh, if the business decision comes along to downsize our daily fix, please wean us off slowly. This site has made us all into a family of sorts and it is "G" rated. Thank you for all the hard work put into this site by the Pasty.Net folks.

Please keep this site going! It's a great connection to a place that I miss very much, and I hope to be able to live there again someday. For now, vacations have to suffice.

I have also enjoyed having the opportunity to share my photography on this site, and it has been an honor to have a few pics selected as a daily feature.

ps. My pasties arrived yesterday, courtesy of George and his Eagle Harbor web snowfall contest (I got the December snowfall right!) and they are fantastic! People, if you haven't tried these pasties yet I highly recommend you do so!

gee i hope u dont go ive ordered pasties and now u need my bankcard to keep going OK just let us know how much we owe

Please keepit going. This is the first place I visit each day. It keeps me from getting home sick. It keeps the blues away. You are doing a great job.!! I think it is wonderful to let the world know how great and beautiful the U.P. is. If I still lived there I would volunteer my services. Bless you all for the great work you are doing.

I know maintaining pasty.com must be a lot work, but judging from the wide variety of locations of the people on the cam notes, it is much visited & much appreciated. I know I appreciate it. Like several others, I use it as my home page when I go on line. That way I get to see the beautiful pictures first.
My connection with the UP & the Copper Country is, or I should say was, my great-grandmother who came to the area at 3 yrs old, in 1861 with her parents & 6 siblings. My great-great-parents were from Cornwall, emigrated to Canada where Grandma was born and then to Michigan. Since she lived to be 90 yrs old I remember her telling me of her time living in Rockland and the tremendous snows in the winter.
My first trip to the UP and the Keweenaw in 1965, long after Grandma was gone, was almost like coming home.
Your site is my link to this wonderful place. I hope you don't end it. It is definitely not like a tv program. It's much better.

A hearty AMEN to all above! Do let us know if you need something (ANYTHING) from us.

When you had to break away and add What's Up and other conversations i knew, there was a change that would make Pasty Cam so different than it was. But it hasn't turned out to be bad. In fact, I couldn't read all the notes before and still can't in my daily schedule. But I can glimpse them on the main page. I love the pic of the day, always and the insightful comments about the pic. I will probably NEVER live in the UP and I NEVER have. I was born a city girl and will always be, but I LOVE the UP, feel it is a part of me. When my children were babies, we'd take them up every year to camp, as an adult, I have only made occasional trips, but they are always wonderful. What can I say, Charlie & Mary, if you aren't paid enough, I understand, but I am now living in another piece of Paradise and working for min wage...and it's worth it. Thank you so much for your dedication.

Charlie, we probably will never know how much is involved in your efforts to keep this site going. But as you read all these comments about how much pasty cam means to so many of us, please take our thanks to heart. As I talk up this site to my card playing friends down here in Texas,so many are Michiganers who"wouldn't be caught dead living in the UP" that " God forsaken place" I go "YES"! Less to mess it up. I just turned 67 years old the other day, and in my practical heart I know I'll never live in my mom's home area. But my daily visites to the site allow me to know my heritage and the people who share my love of it's special character. You must know now how much pasty.com means to us dreamers!THANK YOU a thousand times over.

Don't know what I'd do without my daily Yooper "fix". Our wallpaper is always a scene from the U.P. And the daily comments keep me in touch. I guess I only qualify as an adopted Yooper. Not born there but grew up there. Currently am able to spend a couple months there in the summer.My heart is still there. Please continue the site as long as possible.

It would be a shame to end this site, it is a jem of the internet. I can account for many of thos 100 million hits, as it is the first place I go to start my day, and the last to end it.
I grew up a "troll" but spent many vacations camping around Da Yoop. This site always brings back fond memories of those family trips.

Mary, California
Beautiful, artistic BUT isn't this harmful to a living tree to cut off the bark (protective layer, skin) and open up the tree to invasion of bugs and infection besides cutting off the flow of nutrients from the ground into the upper limbs? PS PLEASE, keep pasty cam alive!!

I know Pasty Cam is a lot of work and I do APPRECIATE it! Surely hope you can continue it. I love the pictures AND the comments!

Charlie:
Keep pasty-cam going, I check it daily & keeps me in touch with the UP in addition I have found long lost friends posted & renewed old friendships by e-mail. Besides my sister Mary won't have anything to do. Thanks for all you have brought to so many people.

Please, oh please, oh please keep Pasty Cam alive! God Bless You, Charlie, for your dilligent work and perseverance!

p.s. How would we have ever known of Dan Urbanski's wonderful talent without Pasty Cam?

Charlie: perhaps you want to 'retire' and well you should. All good wishes from all of us. But, please, please, please, isn't there any way to keep this going?

i have never wrote befor. but i hve been a viewer. i have had several very major losses latly. this sight has been a help. not just the pictures, but the chatter.

Please don't think of discontinuing! This is a "VITAL" link for those of us that cannot be there with you fortunate souls living in the UP!

Thanks for all the glorious years of pictures and memories so far.

Hi Folks,
Just came from the grocery store in Calumet, Be very careful out there today. It is almost gale force winds and I was almost blown over twice.
Getting my car door shut was a challenge.
If you have elderly folks , tell them to stay home, the visibility is bad but the winds make it
worse.

Charlie Have you heard enough? Pasty.Com is the best site ever, if you need money or any thing else to keep it going, let us know, THE U.P. ROCKS as my 13 year old would say, he's learned to love and respect the U.P. from his family, so has our dog, our dog loved your dog, come on Charlie let's have a pasty together, a shot at the Gay Bar, and continue on, EH!
Couldn't live without the web site!

Does anybody know of a place online where I can hear the original Heikki Lunta Snowdance song? I am down in the twin cities dreaming of a significant dumping the white stuff so I can get out skiing!

"we have considered the possibility of concluding the Pasty Cam next month after 7 complete years of daily pictures"


Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!

Say it ain't so, Joe.

WHat would we use for desktop wallpaper?!
Please continue the pics. It makes it the best "provider" page I've seen yet.
Now if only I could get high-speed rurally, I'd be a subscriber!

I wouldn't compare this site in any way to a TV show - horrors!! - but rather, as stated repeatedly above, an important part of the Yooper family. As you know, those Yooper family members live a long, long time, and get more colorful every year. Y'Know youse got anudder eighddy years to go, eh! At least!!
See ya tomorrow, Charlie.

Py da vay, the Pasty Cam is the "face" of this site. You'd look kinda funny without it.

Please don't discontinue this site.It keeps me connected to my birthplace.

A friend just emailed and told me the news. I swear I felt it in my
heart. I'm too busy some days to check but if I miss a few I
always go back. My mom is from the UP and just seeing the
pictures makes me feel closer to her some how. Please keep us
connected.

I use to work with the Gentleman that wrote and sang the origional "Heikki Lunta Snow Dance Song". Awww but that's another story to tell. Ya gotta get up and get around don't ya know?

You are the touch of reality that we need daily.If you need anything, say the word.

don't stop.......what will everyone do without a daily U.P. fix...guess i'm gonna have to move north now...my heart is breaking...i love this web site...i check in every single day...i feel like i'm losing a friend

As an old Tech Toot (66-67) I'd certainly miss Pasty Central. One NEEDS to keep touch with reality. Even surrounded by much beauty here in the northwest lower P I still always need my views of da BIG lake. Say it ain't so....don't let'er go! May pasty dot com live loooooong (and prosper.)

Charley; Realize what your doing with Pasty often
seems like a thankless job..but it means so much
to so many. You've brought hope to people that long to be in the U.P. and you've been an inspiration to many. Please continue what your doing. Thank You

How can we help in keeping this site going? It has been so nice over these years to be able to escape and feel connected. Let's come up with some options to help this site stay up and running for a long, long time.

I would be very, very sad it this site disappeared.

I visit the site daily and would be terribly disappointed if you closed it. Please say it ain't so.

I vote to keep this site alive and well. Where else can I share the following with a lot of friends I've never met?


Toivo left the U.P. and moved to the Lower, and bought a donkey from an old farmer for $100. The farmer agreed to deliver the donkey the next day.

The next day, the farmer drove up and said, "I'm sorry, but I have some bad news -- the donkey died last night."

"Well, den," said Toivo, "Jus'give my money back."

"I can't do that Sir, I went and spent it already."

"OK, den. Jus' unload dat donkey."

"What are you gonna do with him?"

"I'm gonna raffle him off."

"You can't raffle a dead donkey, you dumb Yooper!"

"Well dats where you're wrong. You wait you an' you learn how smart we Yoopers are!"

A month later the farmer ran into the Yooper and asked, "What happened with that dead donkey?"

"I raffled dat donkey off. I sold 500 tickets at two dollars apiece and made $998."

"Didn't anyone complain?"

"Jus dat guy who won. So I gave him his two dollars back."

IF it came to it ..could pastycam remain for those with pasty net internet service ..
Charlie I do not know if people understand you offer national internet..
If all those people who come to this site signed with your service ..well Imagine what would be possible for this site and stillwaters.

Just read the first message in what's up and found out that Pasty.net will be around for another year (hopefully). Having just discovered it this year, I am very grateful to hear that it will stay around. I rely on this site every day and would miss it tremendously. Thanks to all at Pasty.net for all they do.

Along with others, I, too visit this site daily. I feel as if I'm
back in the UP when I see the daily photo and have met
some great folks here, as well as having re-connected with
relatives. Charlie, Toivo, and Mary, I tip my red Kromer to
you for all you've done for us!

Charlie, please say it is not so!!!!!. I, along with a million other folks visit this site every day and we would all have a big hole in our lives if it were discontinued. Hopefully, you can get some help with all of the work that you undoubtably put in each day maintaining the site. Keep up the good work!!!, and please keep it going.

OH dear, closing the cyber door to pasty cam website? That would be a shame. The connection to home, the U.P., for us displaced yoopers is just a small part of the importance of this site. Pasty.com is awe inspiring, heart warming, soul healing and so educational as well. The photos posted by so many artists was my first interest in this site. I just love browsing thru the pages and pages of photos! To see the big lake, the trees, the sunsets and photos as simple as a snapshot in the side view mirror of a dog sniffing out the back window, joyously, as his human takes him for a drive, make me smile. I need that daily smile! What can we do pasty people to help see the site continue? I'll help...gladly.

Charlie, this 'daily glimpse of life from the U.P.'is more than my most favorite website. It uplifts and energizes me, it gives me peace, and it keeps my family connected to a place and way of life that we love. It is a reminder of many happy memories, a door to future plans and dreams, and the topic of many discussions. It is a pure joy to visit! God Bless you all for the work involved. I, for another, pray that the Lord is willing for this site to continue.

I am a newcomer to Pasty Cam. I enjoy it very much. Now it might retire? Hope not! Please keep it going so I can keep enjoying it for a couple more years at least, Thanks.

leFlorida,yes I am Ozzie Winquist.I'm a winter resident of Zephyrhills, FL and also a summer resident of Copper City, MI.Where are you located? Do you know about the annual Yooper picnic in Sarasota, FL?We go there every year and this year it will be March 10th .There is another one in Melbourne,FL and it's usually in early March on a Sunday.

Charlie,

If there is anything I can do to assist in keeping this website going, please let me know. I work with crime victims via the computer every day (thoughout the states)....so I more than have the computer time.

Howdy, I had lost your site a few months back but finally found it again. I love the pics I find here and the "friendliness" all seem to show each other. I know Zypherhills well, I lived in Tampa 30 years before moving to Texas. I am not a fan of cold weather but would imagine Copper Harbor a wonderful place in the summer.

Thanks to all for their friendliness. If you wish, visit my site sometime. Movie cards depicting scripture and ideas... www.texasplaces.homestead.com/texasplaces.html

I was born in Saginaw and spent my childhood till age 11 in Michigan. My parents only took me to the UP a few times, but they are among the most vivid of my childhood. Now I live in Washington State, and while this area has a beauty all it's own, nothing compares to the UP. I can only hope that when my daughter is old enough, I can take her back to Michigan and show her the Upper Peninsula. Until then, my only outlet is Pasty Cam. Please keep the site going. There is always a way...