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Good Morning Everyone, what a differance a day makes, eh

Good morning everyone & have a nice weekend.

Forty below windchills this morning in Eagle River. Brrrr!

Thanks for all of your kind words yesterday, sparked by talk of concluding the Pasty Cam after 7 years. And it was only talk, just thinking out loud about when and how the Pasty Cam will sail off into history. Nope, we look forward to continuing right on into year number 8 of this daily feature. Thanks for the offers of support from so many. The purchase of pasties, calendars, and other gifts, as well as visits to our sponsors help keep the lights on here at Pasty Central.

As you may know, this web project originated almost 10 years ago as a fund raiser to help support Still Waters Assisted Living Community in Calumet. The USDA pasty kitchen and nationwide Internet service which resulted (Pasty Central and Pasty.NET) have been the source of much-needed support for the Home during a very difficult decade. Still Waters continues to face many challenges, the biggest being 'how to pay the mortgage'. If you know of anyone with a million bucks to spare, it would go a long way toward repaying Rural Development, the mortgage holder.

Let me add about this website - it's my first Internet stop every morning as well. Not just because I edit and publish the pages, but because of yesterday's feedback, new pictures in the Guest Gallery, news of class reunions, ongoing conversation, pictures and graphics posted by others, etc. I would definitely miss the Pasty Cam if it was ever concluded. Perhaps, instead of the analogy of a TV show (which ends after so many seasons), we should compare a site like Pasty Central to a broadcaster like Paul Harvey... who will probably still be talking when he's 120. (And I'll be listening, by the way).

Hooray, Charlie. I feel better already.

By the way, I have tried to order from the
site--Dan Urbanski's calendars, but couldn't
place the orders because my Canadian postal
code doesn't match the zip code space. Any
ideas?

Give us a call at the toll-free order number: 1-877-727-8911 (877-PASTY-11)

Mornin' Charlie--my first site too. Makes for a good beginning to a day usually filled with "the same ole' stuff".

Thanks for your kind words, too, Chuck.

Have a... Good Day!

Charlie, please don't scare us like that again! We need this touchstone with sanity -- and sometimes lovable insanity. God bless you for the good you do! Yesterday's postings show how much your efforts are appreciated. Thank you thank you thank you!

Since both my parents were at Still Waters, and now my aunt is there, I cannot say enough for that place. I was so saddened by your msg that Still Waters is having problems meeting its mortgage payments.

If I would win the lottery, I would buy and donate the building! (it's hard to win when you don't buy tickets)

thought for the day " WHERE TWO OR THREE ARE GATHERED IN MY NAME, I AM IN THERE MIDST"

I am also very glad to hear the Pasty Cam will continue. I like so many others make it my first site every morning. Thanks! Have a great week-end!

I am also very happy to hear that Pasty Cam isn't going anywhere. It's the first site I go to when I get to work. I love all of the pictures that everyone has posted. They brighten up my boring cubicle!

Thanks for the great news! My husand and I have very demanding jobs, so every morning we begin our day visiting this site...and every so often during the day when it feels like life is being sucked out of us...we both agree that pasty cam refreshes the soul! Thank you so much!

YES!!! Thank you!

Thanks, Charlie, for the good word. Yesterday was very hectic and I only got to check the main page before heading out. This morning, I read through yesterday's "What's UP" and raced to today's to find out if you'd made a decision. Thank you so much. Like everyone else who wrote in, I start my day here. It's my only connection now with home. I don't have a million bucks myself, but I'll see what I can do to find 'em for you. (Like you, I have friends in high places.)

Cha cha cha...the Pasty Cam continues :)

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend. We finally got snow and the temps are back to normal. YES!!! Problem is that my companion dog got all confused with that warm weather here last week and has started to shed....all over the house...all over my truck....and all over everything else she comes in contact with. Is this a sign of an early spring...or a sign of a confused dog sitting too close to the heater :)

I went downtown, Houghton, from the Range area an hour ago. Unbelievable the number of vehicles with no headlights turned on. At times with the gusts of winds, it's nearly white out conditions.

We have people driving like that in pea soup fog here, too -- wonder what they're thinking. They can't be able to see anything. Then they drive too fast, like if they can't see anything, it must be clear.

Culture shock in Indiana:

1) You are shocked by the lack of trucks and four wheel drive vehicles. And your first normal Michigan reaction when your neighbor buys a small vehicle is "so how do you think dat will handle in all da snow?"

2) When people refer to 'up north', they are not referring to the UP, but the southern shores of Lake Michigan. If they only knew.

3) You give up trying to explain what a pasty is...let alone how to pronounce it.

4) The right of passage for a teenage driver is not driving over the Mackinac Bridge, but driving on I-94...during rush hour.

5) You cannot grasp the meaning of 'rush hour' traffic...and 'driver rage'. You're Michigan attitude is, 'what's the problem, we're all going the same place and we're gonna all get there eventually'. You're just happy that your truck is running...period.

6) "Off the beaten path" is a reference used in Indiana in reference to any road that is not an interstate (even an expressway on/off ramp qualifies as 'off the beaten path'). If only they knew.

7) People in Indiana do not know what a 'two tracker' is....and besides, their small cars would probably be swallowed up in the spring ruts.

8) Grocery shopping is not considered 'social hour' in Indiana. If you try carrying on a conversation with the cashier, the person who is behind you will stare at their watch, and sigh...and repeat this process until you get the message.

9) That's another thing...people in Indiana have watches. The first Christmas we moved here to the 'northern woods' of Indiana, I said to my husband, "Ya know, I think I want me one of those fangled watches everyone in town is always looking at when I try to carry on a conversation with the cashier." So hubby goes out and he buys me this nice watch...and it said 'waterproof' on it...but it really wasn't, cuz when I washed the dishes Christmas night, it got wet and stopped working. So I put it on the sink ledge, hoping to dry it out...only it got knocked into the sink and down into the garbage disposal...without us knowing. And that's another thing we're trying to get used to here in Indiana...that dang garbage disposal. So anywho, the next time we used the garbage disposal we heard all this clanking and grinding and then the darn thing stopped. Hubby tooked the dang disposal apart, and lo and behold there was my watch...shredded to peices. Needless to say, I don't do the watch thing (I didn't quite grasp it).

10) Garbage day in Indiana. Needless to say, because of the watch, we don't use the garbage disposal...so we have a lot of garbage. And we can't have a burning barrel...according to the ordinance fella that wrote me a ticket. So hubby says to the ordinance fella, "so where's the dump at?" This ordinance fella got all flustered and confused, until my hubby explained to him, "da garbage dump...you know, da place where da city folk go to watch da bears". Next thing we knew, we had the ordinance fella running around screaming "bears!?"...and he in turn called the animal control...and they in turn called the swat team...who in turn called the guys with the helicopter...and they are still out there looking for dat bear, for all I know. Meanwhile, hubby got some large rocks and placed them in a circle in the backyard, and dubbed the burning pit, the campfire pit. It keeps the ordinance fella at bay.

11) Star gazing in Indiana. The first night, we are gathered outside around our campfire pit, with the youngins, staring into the sky, and pointing out stars. The youngest points to a 'star' and asks, "what star is that mommy...and why is it moving?" Hubby and I look and see that there are several 'stars' moving...come to find out that the northern lights here in Indiana are the lights for the planes waiting to land in the Chicago airport.

12) Snow day in Indiana. It started snowing really bad, and I decided that I should clear the driveway. I jumped in my truck and drove out of the driveway, then backed in, and drove out, and repeated this process until I had a nice two track path in my driveway. Meanwhile, the neighbors have their snow blowers going in full gear...and are looking at me real funny. Finally, one of the neighbors shuts off his snow blower and ventures over to me. "What are you doing?" he asks. I explain that back in Michigan, I had a gravel driveway, referred to fondly as 'county mix', and you just keep making paths in the snow...not only did the packed snow add traction, but it helped cover up the ruts. He is even more confused, scratches his head, and wanders over to the other neighbors who have shut off their snow blowers and are staring at me...and are obviously equally confused. The men huddle together and my weird snow removal method is the topic of their conversation...and probably will be for many Denny breakfasts to come.

The next morning I wake up to the sound of tires spinning in driveways...up and down the block. It seems that those who shoveled their driveways down to the pavement are dealing with a layer of ice, on their driveway. I cannot resist the urge, so I walk over to my neighbor who is spinning his tires on his freshly shoveled icey driveway. He rolls down his car window, expecting me to tell him "I told you so". Instead, I roll my eyes and lean my head into his window, "and dat's another thing...you're supposed to back your car into your driveway when it snows...it's easier to plow through the snow than to back through it...any Michiganer can tell you dat. Dat way you can rock back and forth between your gears when you get stuck."

I am so misunderstood here in Indiana. Sigh.

Charlie: Thank you, thank you, thank you for continuing into year eight with Pasty Cam! I LOVE Eagle River, but with 40 below windchills think I'll wait until it's a bit warmer to visit again. Again, thanks for this wonderful site!!

Another "Thank you" for continuing this site. It provides a good, quick view of what is going on in the CC. Of coure it also brings on some nostalgia, but, that is ok.

r&j, I couldn't have said it better. Thanks Charlie and Mary for tolerating us and keeping us in line. I know it's a big job some days! 'Just put our folks in an assisted living and I understand the need to keep Still Waters going. Without these facilities, we would be lost. Keep up the good work.

Check out this great article from the Mining Journal:


Incredible lake rise perplexed oldtimers
By JENNIFER LAMMI, Marquette County History Museum


On Friday, June 16, 1939, shortly after 10:30 a.m., Lake Superior's water level at Marquette Harbor began to rise, pulling docks off their pilings and inundating the shoreline.

The surge reversed the flow of creeks, inundated wetlands, and flooded highways. Pilings in the lower harbor of Marquette, normally four feet above water, were submerged. Boats were washed onto shore. When the surge pulled away, boats had to be pushed back into the water to prevent them from becoming stranded as the water level dropped. Every half hour for the rest of the afternoon the surge alternately rose and fell. It continued into Saturday.
On the north side of Lake Superior, Canadian reports indicated that the surge reached an amplitude of eight feet in a period of 20 minutes at Heron Bay. In Munising, the surge was seven feet, two inches at the municipal dock. Logs that had been resting on the bottom of the bay for 20 years rose to the surface. Highway 41 between L'Anse and Baraga was closed due to the debris, including huge logs, which had washed up onto the highway as the waves surged over it.

At the time, it was unclear what could cause such a "tidal wave" that would leave life-long fishermen in awe. It was concluded that this was an outstanding example of a seiche.

Seiche (pronounced "saysh") is a French word that means "to sway back and forth." It was first used by a Swiss lake scientist, Francois-Alphonse Forel, in the late 1800s to describe the phenomenon when wind or air pressure changes cause the entire surface of a body of water to rhythmically rock back and forth from shore to shore like the swishing water in a bathtub. It is a resonant oscillation - a standing wave - in an enclosed body of water. Francois-Alphonse Forel is also known as the founder of limnology, or the study of lakes.

So what caused the tremendous seiche on Friday, June 16, 1939? Scientists determined that when a low pressure front moved across the countryside and reached the lake, it raised the pressure on the water causing it to depress the lake level and push the water away from the shore. After the low front passed and the pressure on the lake returned to more normal levels, the water rushed back in order to create equilibrium, causing the shoreline to be overcome with water. This oscillation occurred again and again, as the low pressure fronts passed. Although the fronts were not regular, the surges were. The highest waves occurred between 10 and 11:00 a.m. on Friday.

Earlier that day, Covington and Trout Creek reported winds of 50 to 75 miles per hour around 9 a.m., which tore the roofs off houses, leveled a dozen barns and blew 75 to 100 trees down in the area, some of which were two feet in diameter. The falling trees took down telephone, telegraph and power lines. Windows in almost every house in Trout Creek were broken, and many sheds were demolished. Injuries were confined to a few cows.

Around 10 a.m. the barometer at the U.S. Weather Bureau changed 0.3 inches in 15 minutes, the most unstable the official in charge had even seen. A downpour of pea-sized hail and rain followed, then the level of the lake dropped quickly as the severe thunderstorm reached it. As the front passed, the surge came onto shore. Storms raged until 4:40 p.m. that day, but the seiche continued through Saturday. No one was injured, and only minor damage was reported to lakeside buildings and small boats.

Seiches occur almost continually in enclosed water bodies, although most are not noticed as boats and shorelines are not effected. They only occur during the "ice-free" season. Seiches are an important part of lake ecology. When winds move surface waters away from the shoreline, an upwelling occurs where deeper waters rise to replace the surface waters driven offshore, and

nutrients are brought up from the bottom of the lake. In essence, the water column is shifted.

Seiches also flush surrounding wetlands with nutrients and oxygen, making them more biologically productive and healthy.

Lake Superior is 32,000 square miles in area. It holds three quadrillion gallons of water, which is a three with 15 zeros after it. It contains 10 percent of the world's fresh water, with a shoreline length of more than 1,800 miles. It is the largest freshwater lake in the world by surface area and second largest in volume, second only to Lake Baikal in Russia. Given Superior's tremendous amount of water, it takes a very severe storm front for large seiches to occur.

On July 13, 1995, another seiche occurred, although it was not as severe. The lake water went out and came back within 15 to 20 minutes, and the water levels changed three feet in that time.

Charlie:
...yesterday's talk of concluding the Pasty Cam after 7 years...

I double checked my calendar, and...
it wasn't April 1! -- Quick, get the defibrilator!

Whew, that was a close one... you sure had us going there for a while...

julie b.MI, "...Highway 41 between L'Anse and Baraga was closed due to the debris, including huge logs, which had washed up onto the highway as the waves surged over it."
This same surge happened in August of 1968, between L'Anse & Baraga when US41 was closed and guests to my bridal shower were delayed.

Yesterdays news was rough first Charlie ponders closeing this site down..And a cousin with a sick sense of humor e-mails me that Lindell's was sold and stripped by a Chicago developer {He was "kidding"} " I could hardly sleep last night..

I remember sand and logs over the same stretch of road between L'Anse and Baraga in November, 1975, just before Thanksgiving. A day or two before, it had been so warm I was out in my kayak in a T-shirt. Then we had a big snowstorm, so I guess there would have been a big pressure difference to get things swingin', then the wind from the storm piling water into the narrow end of the bay.

Charley; Best news I've heard all day..we are be-
hind you. Something good will happen to make the
situation better for you. Keep up your spirits.

Charlie, What if every pasty cam reader who was able, send you $5.00 towards the Still Waters mortgage? Bet we could make a nice-sized dent in it...Please think about it.

julie b: wow!

UPmama, Ditto. Count me in. :)

Julie B: Very interesting and informative. Wow!
upmama: Wonderful idea. Count me in as well!
sur5er: Greatly enjoyed reading your "culture shock" story of living in Indiana. Well written!

Charlie, what a relief! It was almost surgical, you scared the 'patooty-outa-me'. When and where do we send our $5?

Would be glad to put my two cents worth (+ 4.98....or whatever!) in too. Just let us know how to make out checks and when. Talk about money well spent! What a deal. Just think of the enjoyment, entertainment and information to be had here every day...for less than the price of one dubious movie! Wonderful idea, upmama!

Let's make it $10.00 a pop and mail it to Still Waters. Would that work? Tell us who to make the checks out to Charlie and we will make it happen.