Last week the Daily Mining Gazette reported the $853,000 repair project which has left the Houghton County Courthouse with a shiny new look. Donn de Yampert captured a bit of the work in progress, and included it in his album of photos in the Guest Gallery.

There have been a lot of repairs and renovations across the U.P. this summer. For being a relatively slow time in the economy, it seems there was construction everywhere. Perhaps you were slowed down by some of it in your own U.P. vacation travels this year.

On this final day of summer, our world-wandering Toivo has an extended weekend to finish the passage from New Zealand to his next stop. Do you suppose it is the last day of winter on that side of the world? Will Toivo ever make it to Hawaii? Stay tuned.

I always loved that courthouse....used to look for it every time we would come to town from bootjack!

what was wrong with the old copper??????

Here's a question for all the old wives tales buffs...I have seen many wooly caterpillars on the road lately and they are small and a light brown in color....Does anyone remember what this means to predict the type of winter we will have?

Desert Rat; I always thought it was the size of the band around the body. The wider the band, the colder the winter.

Thanks for the info Kevin K.

Kevin K. Thanks for the info.

Don't know the old wives thing about caterpillers, but I know it's great to see the improvements on some of the old buildings in the UP. But, there are some that are being ignored and it's sad to see these huge old abandoned schools etc. go to ruin. Especially when a couple of them were my old schools! So much brick, hope someone will recycle it at least. Maybe Hollywood could film a movie in one of them and thus finance the rehab.
Was in the beautiful Up week before last and then had to come home early for the Hurricane, darn! It didn't do much in our yard (thank goodness) but sure made a mess of the East coast shore areas. Many still without electric and many lost homes. I wonder how long folks will continue to build their "castles on the sand".

The old copper had been up there for so long the corrosion had gone clear through, so it leaked. Like rust on iron or steel, the oxide on copper eats it away. I bet some of the copper shop artists will be using the old stuff for their art work. :>)

Donn~
Nice shot of the "old" and the "new"! I like the angle!

I was married in that thar building!

Generally speaking, if the woolly bears are observed wearing sweaters and mittens it's an indication of a long, hard winter ahead. If attired only in shorts and sunglasses, the woolly bears are anticipating a beautiful native american summer followed by a mild winter... Either that, or they're headed south to Florida to avoid another typical wild, white and woolly UP winter before morphing into the tiger moth (family Arctiidae) come spring.

Desert Rat: the way it was explained to me about the wooley catapillar theory was that the more black in color, the harder the winter, and the brown represented the milder winter. Here in Iowa, I'm seeing more black on those guys.

To: Missing the UP from NJ
Where in NJ are you located?
Come back,
Dan Kemp
Laurium

Family lore has it that my great grandfather was in the roofing business and had some part in putting the original roof on. His name was William Brimacombe. I love the architecture.

we always got the story from grampa if the bees and hornets built their nests up high we would have lots of snow..if built lower to ground ,less snow.but then again some build in the ground.

The newspaper reporter asked the old indian chief what kind of winter was ahead. He responded "We have-um long cold winter" The reporter pressed further as to his indicators was it the color of the rabbits, the thickness of the fur on the beavers, the catapillars, or the feathers on the birds? The old chief replied "no none of those---- White man have um big wood pile".

Hey Yooper stuck out East,

I'm from Ringwood. It's a pretty nice little Borough. We have the New Jersey State Botanical Gardens here. I have often said, "It's the only reason I don't run screaming from the state of New Jersey!!" I use the trails and paths and can kinda pretend I'm walking the woods of the UP.

Where are you from?

Julie Stevens Beck:
Any relation to a Billy (or Bill) Stevens from Woodside?

Hello there;

Haven't a clue as to what this is all about but I'm gathering that it's quite international. I'm in the foothills of Northern California. somewhere between Sacramento and Tahoe and I'm currently lousy with wooly-bear caterpillars and wanted to know more about this phenomenon. As to whether the amount of brown is significant in folklore, I have one completely brown and I've not seen that before. They are a regular harbinger of winter but I have a bumper crop and wondered why. I would also like to know what they become and one contributor mentioned a variety of tiger moth but some of these guys seem to be just croaking and others are just wandering around eating stuff. It's currently quite warm; not in the least autumnal. Another evidence of global warming possibly? Gaah!

If the size of the black band fortells the winter, I just saw an all BLACK wooly bear caterpiller out here in Pennsylvania not two weeks ago........better figure on hibernating this year.

What do the catapillars do in the winter. There is one on my front porch now and it is snowing like crazy. I feel sorry for it. It has a lot of fur on it and it is black and orange. Shouldn't it be taking shelter at this point. It is curled up along side my Welcome matt that is made of fibers and it is snowing and blowing like crazy here in upstate New York. I didn't realize that the catapillar was around in the winter. I thought is would have been in hibernation by now. Could this be a catapillar that grew late and will die with the snow. I was trying to think of where I could put it so it would live. I am afraid it will die if I don't do something soon. Does anyone have any advice? It is cold and the snow is blowing and that poor catapillar will probably be buried in the snow unless I can find a place for it to stay through the winter. Today is December 6, 2003 and I have never seen a catapillar this long into the year. Is this common for a catapillar with fur to live out the winter? If not, is there something I can do for it to save it? I know it sounds silly but I do feel sorry for it. Please email me as soon as possible so I might help it if i am told I should. The other night it was cold so I put a dried leaf over it to keep the wind from blowing on it. I know I sound crazy but I have always had a fondness for the little furry creatures. If there is something I can do to keep it alive, please tell me. Please email me directly. If it is common for the furry catapillar to be around in the winter, then please let me know I have nothing to worry about.
THANK YOU.

I too found a Wooly Bear Catapillar on a piece of carpet laying in my garage. Knowing the temperature was not going to stay in the 30's much longer (it was January 2,2004), I brought it in as the weatherman was forcasting temperatures in the single didgets over the next few days. I did this once as a child and remembered it building a cocoon on on twig I stuck in it's jar. Does any one out there know what it needs for food or drink?

Today is February 13,2004, and I've always relied on the wooley to predict the winter. Last year the one I spied in Fall was almost all black, this year it was just tipped on the ends with black, but today there was one on my back porch, and I was also shocked that it would be there in the winter, do they hibernate, I have never seen one in the winter. I live in PA, and this winter started later than last year, but the amount of snow in the last two weeks was almost 4 feet. Someone tell me what these critters do in the cold winter, should I put in a jar, what do they eat, my mother always judged the winter here on there stripes. Help

found woolley bear a couple weeks ago, brought it in and put it in terriaum. spray water in occassionally. what should i feed it?