Over the years the Pasty Cam has covered many aspects of life in the U.P., like this familiar scene. But here are a few of my more favorite sights:

Cruising upstairs

Saturday night bath

Pelkie Crop Circles

Bringing home the bacon

Man, talk about an early start today! You tryin' to show up Charlie, or what. Nice pic collection! Ni-night, now, Toivo.

Toivo wow you must have set the alarm clock so you wouldn't be late with the picture of the day! Thanks for showing us some of the best of the past pictures, sure do love the guy on the bike with his deer. Take care and stay warm.

Whoa Toivo - Good job! Have to love the deer picture, being November and hardly any snow back then.

I'm fascinated by the shot of snow being cleared off the roof. I suppose it has to be cleared because of the weight of snow? (I have no experience of snow clearing so you have to excuse my ignorance) The bales of hay are very familiar to me as Devon is a very rural county. When I visited Ohio last year I saw quite a variety of mail boxes, some of which must have reflected the householders hobby or interest. In Wisconsin I saw one which was half a motorbike!! Mail box spotting could be a hobby in itself.

First bike/deer accident I've seen this year....anybody injured? Keep up the excellent picture taking

the mailbox picture needs to be a picture on the wall.everyone loves pasty central

Hello from sunny Florida. You are right there is no place like da U.P. For those of you who are wondering what happened to Marvin and Kathleen. We were married on Bumbletown hill on the first day of year. Life since than has been a very busy moving into our house on the hill and then heading back to Florida to get all the stuff done so we can sell my house and move up to the hill by spring time. We get strange looks from people here in Florida when we tell them we are headed home to the U.P. We are taking time for our honeymoon the end of this month. When we get back we will continue with our goal to get back home to Da U.P. and our Bumbletown hill

I think Toivo entered today's picture so early so he could sleep in.

D from Lake Linden,MI. Jean, from Devon, you're right! Snow build-up on the roofs will cause cave-ins, and every year one can drive by somewhere and see the damage from snow. On the lighter side, my neighbor is using some of the snow from scooping out his driveway, for building a great snow hill ramp for his son to slide down with friends. Others use their snow to bank up around the foundation of their homes for more insulation from the cold weather, and our dog has designed a maze of snow paths to run through several times a day. Today our village crew is using a huge plow-like machine, called a snow-go, to widen our town streets by driving along each side of the street to cut the snowbanks back. Children love watching the snow-go's huge schute fill the dump truck following along side the snow-go. The trucks dump their snowfilled loads somewhere else in town, like an empty lot or field. Snow keeps one busy.

It is also good to keep the snow cleared off the
roof to prevent the build up of ice dams from
freeze-thaw cycles which trap melted snow which then can leak under the shingles and into the house where it can rot out the roof. Glad I do not have to do that any more.

I was cleaning a roof valley one winter (I think it may have been 77/78) where about 6 feet of snow had accumulated. I was not really paying too much attention to how much snow I had raked but when I tried to move I realized I was nearly up to my armpits in the stuff. Almost had to call my wife to free me. Of course this was in the CC not down here in the Banana Belt.

By AimeeR, MTU on Tuesday, February 11, 2003 - 09:56 am:

Tech students also love the clean snow from the roof for snow statues! They shovel into the back of pick-up trucks and take it back to their site.

Here's a picture of the carved snowbanks

Marvin, thanks for the up-date. Are we going to see a picture or two of the wedding?? If I remember correctly you two met on Pasty.com. Want to wish you a super life together...what a nice story for Valentine's day!!....but where is Bumbletown Hill??????

Is that picture above (from Aimee) from the 100 block of Iroquis on Laurium? Looks like its looking down the road from where I used to live in the 200 block of Iroquis..looks like Brusso's house(the yellow one on the right)
Thanks for the pics ...always nice seeing pics from back home! and to remember what it was like having to scoop for hours just to get out the the driveway,I remember those snowbanks all too well; ) Only a inch (if we are lucky) on the ground here in Lansing..hardly snows at all,and when it does it mostly melts and turns into dirty slushy ice-

Oops,I meant to say the south block of Iroquois ...I forgot I used to live at 122..Ha ha oops I was thinking 200 for some reason...sorry about that~ Its been quite a few years my memory slipped me on the addresses.. ;)

Jean in Devon. You're right, mailbox spotting is a hobby. Down here in southwestern Wisconsin (along Iowa and Illinois borders) you see many different configurations of mailboxes. Many mounted on old hand plows or milk cans. The most popular in this area seem to be replicas of John Deere tractors, cows, pigs, barns, ears of corn, and the ever popular Amish horse and buggy. Can you tell that this is rural farm country?

I remember many years ago when we had several feet of snow on our roof in Minneapolis. I thought that I should remove the snow. I decided to climb up on the roof and shovel it. Since I was concerned about falling off two storeys down to the ground, I went to the hardware store and bought a thick rope. I had my wife tie it around her waist and stand on the ground on the opposite side of the house from where I was shoveling. I tied the other end around my waist. After I successfully cleared the roof and got down, I began thinking farther ahead about what could have happened. I weighed about 220 lbs and my wife, about 120. I'm glad I didn't fall off the roof, hurt myself, and leave my wife dangling up by the eaves. We just didn't have the procedures down pat like you Yoopers when we only had to do it once in a while.

This is a great website. Keep up the good work.

What kind plow drivers you have UP there! Here in northern Menominee county many mailboxes are knocked down. It is worse along US-2-41 west of Escanaba where it seems most are at an angle or in the snow bank.
When I lived in Menominee 48 years ago, my parents came down from Munising to vist us. That is when I first heard "banana belt" from my Mother who always called Chassell "home" even though she had lived 59 years in Munising.

Mary Lou,

Heading north on 41 you will take a left just before the Allouez Amoco. Keep on driving to the top and there will be a place for you to pull off and take some shots.

TO: Jean of Devon. There is a magazine over here that has pictures of those mailboxs in it and if my memory serves me correctly they give a prize for the best mailbox for the particular issue.
For those rhat may be interested the Magazines are "Country" & "Country Extra" and they are from Wisconsin. Ad free and just stories and Pictures.

I was born up in Bumbletown
way in the keweenaw hills
there are no drugs up on bumbletown
there's only a beautiful hill

There's a marvelous view
from old bumbletown
you can see out to isle royale
you can see -way past copper city
the whole keweenaw to see

bumbletown--you'll always be
home sweet home to me
good ole bumble town-
bumbletown----home sweet home to me

Tune to "ROCKY TOP"

Ahh memories: How many remember in the spring the little maple sap icycles on the maple trees where the Sno-Go had blown snow through the trees in the winter while widening streets. They were real sweet and we called them natures popsicles. I wonder if the youth of today enjoys them like we did?

Luanne, The best mailbox I've ever seen was on a back road between Portage and Baraboo Wi. It was a metal sculpture of the grim reaper with the box incorporated in it. It really made my blood run cold

The picture is actually on Florida street. I always think it's funny that the snowbanks are so nice and straight...

Is Bumbletown shoveling out their chimney's yet this year to let out the wood smoke? They get some big time snow up there indeed. Probably almost as much as the snow belt from Painesdale to Twin Lakes.

Wheatman

Naomi you are indeed looking at Florida St. facing North toward 1st St. with the old domed roof Fontana trucking garage basically to the right.

Kudos

To Jean of Devon: Another thing to consider about keeping your roof shovelled is that occasionally a warm spell comes along with even the possibility of rain. The last thing you want to occur is to have it start to rain on top of 3 or 4 feet of snow. Of course, none of the rain falls off of the roof, just adds to the already huge amount of weight on it. A good rule of thumb is to shovel the roof every 75 to 100 inches of snow. I just finished shovelling my garage, porch, deck, sauna and am working on the lower-pitched portion of our home in Houghton. The last thing you have to worry about in shovelling roofs is getting cold - all you do is get really tired and sweaty. If you drive around the countryside anywhere in Houghton County you will run across old garages and barns with their roof caved in and the sidewalls bulged out. Interesting place and one of the few where there are always advertisements in the paper offering to clear your roof of snow.

You should come for a visit.

Bumbletown Hill used to be the "make-out" spot when I was a kid growing up in Copper City.
Guess it still has an air of love up there!
Thats great! Seeing all the snow pics brings back many fond memories of childhood!

Thank you all for explaining the reasons for removing snow off roofs. Luanne-I visited a cousin near Darlington WI last year who lives on a farm, and stayed for 3 nights. As it's dairy cattle country the same as Devon I felt quite at home. The only thing different was that our grass remains green through the winter but the grass there was a faded buff colour. Lowell - there's a magazine for every interest so I'm not surprised there's one for mail box spotting!!!

Jean, I live about 23 miles from Darlington!! I've never been to England, but my great grandparents were from Helston and Mevagizzy (sp?).

Jean, I can see how you felt at home with the Wisconsin countryside. I went to England for the first time this fall, spending a week in Devon and Cornwall. You can really get up close to the cattle and sheep there! My folks' families came from Buckfastleigh and Tavistock, so we made brief stops in both places.
What made me feel most at home in your country were the many tea rooms. I was reminded of summers spent on Lake Superior, with trips to "town" including a stop for coffee.

R.J.Thanks for the memories of "sapsicles" as we called them! I tell my kids about them, as they are missing out growing up with only pines around.

The bridge photo is really pretty tonight.Looks different than usual.

You noticed that we have a much better camera. You get an A for being on the ball. Check out the bridge cam. The link is at the bottom of this page.

Yeah! I noticed it too! I really like it. Can't wait to look at it in the daylight!

Toivo, Could you show me on the map where Princess Point is located? Thanks

Was Princess Point referenced somewhere here on the Pasty Cam?

I believe Princess Point is behind Dollar Bay, on Portage Lake. There is an area of black sand there and there was, in the past, some sort of plant there.....I think it was a powder plant. There are a few cottages starting to go up on the point and some grass is being planted. My family's cottage was directly accross the lake in Bootjack.

To Luanne - I enjoyed my visit to SW WI The colour of the grass made it look a completely different landscape from what I've ever seen before. My family comes from the Roche and St Dennis area of Cornwall which is just north of St Austell. My Great Aunt Annie went to WI and she's buried in Belmont cemetary - I visited her grave. My Great Aunt Mary went to CA but I haven't been able to find out where she ended up or her descendants. We think one of her sons may have moved to WI. To bc -I hope you had a clotted cream tea while you were over here!!

To Jean, Devon, England: I've been to Cornwall twice now. The first was to visit the Liskeard area. I did find gravestones for the Davie and Olliver families in St. Neot. That's my Mom's side of the family. In St. Agnes is my Dad's side, the Harris and Peters families. I didn't have much time in St. Agnes as the tour I was with was stationed in Penzance. Each time I've been to Cornwall, I've had cream tea. The clotted cream is phenomenal. I also had a couple of pasties each trip. On the last trip we stayed a night in Two Bridges after visiting Dartmoor. I plan on returning as often as I can. Did you get any of the snow that Penzance got a couple of weeks ago?

Princess Point is noted on the first mail box above. It is the stamp sand area across M41 from the Citgo Store on the east side of town. This area has really started to develop in the past three years with lagoons, boats, homes, water treatment plant, etc... The Houghton sewage treatment center and the Nara wilderness trail are east of these things by a half mile at the most. Have a great day to all of you.
Donn

To Jim, Twin Cities

I loved your story. With that kind of thinking you'd be a natural in the UP. Keep on with stunts like that and you'll earn your honorary "Yooper."

Daryl, thanks for being the host site for the lift bridge cam--the new pix is GREAT!

Just a "heads up", you might make a simple .jpg graphic image with the same filename as was used before the change, with the text noting the new location. I've been watching the "under repairs" pix for nearly a week, wondering what all the noise about the new cam was about! :-/ (I'd bookmarked the old pix URL.)

Thanks again!

Jean, Very interesting hearing about your people.
My Great grandpa was a Philpott from Helston, and my Great grandma was a Rickard from Mevagizzy (sp?). Interesting side note, great grandma had booked passage on the Titanic but it was oversold and she was turned away. They both settled in the Houghton area of the UP.

Pete,
I'll bet Bumbletown Hill is still a hot spot for the locals at night. Remember that ice rink in Copper City next to Stiviches store where all the kids would hang out? The 3-story house across the street had a bunch of pesky kids who practically lived at the rink. They played decent hockey also. One of the old fire trucks that burned up in the local firehouse was a metal sculpture nearby. Wonder if CC has changed much since the 60's? Probably not.

The UP, I'm told, is lovely all year round. I have a cousin in White Pine and we chat regularly. He never sent pics, though. Yours are lovely. Hope to visit the area, it looks so inviting. Keep the cam going, I love the work.

Wow, this is so cool! I love your site. I live in Milwaukee, parents lived in Ishpeming. Since they passed away four years ago, I don't get up that often. I do however in the summer months with my sister and her family to go to the lake.

The pictures just confirm how much I miss it!

would like to know if anyone in menominee mi knowsany information about the alvin enstrom family. who lived in menominee mi in 1950?and their daughter virginia. who was a nurse in chicago. i beleive she weas married in menominee in 1951 or 1952. she would be 72 years old.i would like to contact.about old times .