Mackinac Moment: Off to the Park

Despite the fact that we woke up to snow this morning, we won't be having any more days like these. At least we hope not... 

On the Boat

I came home to boats a couple of weeks ago, but I hadn't gone across until just a few days ago. It's so nice to have boats...

There's still quite a bit if ice in the straits. Some days the boats have to go around the back side of the island, but they are usually able to make it through. Although, on Friday morning the first boat coming over from St. Ignace actually got bogged down in the ice and had to turn around and head back to the mainland.

They made it over eventually,  but it did throw off the schedules of a few folks. Thankfully, rumor has it that both Star Line and Shepler's are planning to start tomorrow - Shepler's from Mackinaw City! 

Growing...

We've been growing rock candy on the kitchen window sill for over a month now and some of the crystals are getting quite big. The kids can't wait to dig into them. Nothing like a snack of pure sugar!

Boats!

As I flew home on Monday morning (after an amazing weekend with some of the most wonderful women I know) I saw a glorious thing. Can you see it? It's pretty tiny, but it's there.

The Arnold Line boat managed to get through the ice in St. Ignace harbor and was making its way across the straits to the island. The best part is, as of yesterday, they are running a limited spring schedule. 

I'm Moving to Australia

Today didn't get much better. While I was teaching math this afternoon I noticed the sapphire from a ring my husband gave me was missing. So far, it has been a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad week. 

Given that tomorrow is Friday the 13th, I may not get out of bed...

And I'm not really moving to Australia. The past few days have just reminded me of one of my favorite childhood books.

Oi Vey

Things have been a bit rough around here lately. In two weeks time we've had a dryer stop drying, a snowmobile stop running, and a refrigerator / freezer unable to chill below 52 degrees. Allen fixed the dryer and the snowmobile, but the fridge was a lost cause. 

Luckily, we had an old cast off in the basement.(And Allen says that I'm the hoarder.) Originally it spent its days at the Water Plant, until it no longer maintained a constant enough temperature, and then it moved into our basement. I'm not completely sure why it ended up in our basement, but it's been there at least five years. 

It's pretty darn hideous, but it's a good thing that we have this little fridge, because its the only thing we've got until the boats run again in mid-April. We probably could haul a new refrigerator across the ice, but it's risky given how slushy the ice has gotten with the week of warm temperatures we've had.

And then, to add insult to injury, last night the damn oven stopped working correctly. Really? Come on! It would heat up, but only the bottom element was working; which meant the bottom of our pizza was inedible charcoal, while the toppings were completely raw. Just what I needed. 

Thank goodness for Allen, since he managed to fix it after work today. Some days I just don't know what I would do without him. (Other than be lonely and have only outrageous repair bills to keep me company.) I also don't know what I would do without this little dear - she came right over and offered to wash off the nastiness off the side of the stove...

Surprise, Surprise, Surprise!

Such a wonderful surprise this morning. I think our principal was probably the most popular guy in town today... 

It's All About the Pokemon, Baby

I'm not quite sure why, but this year both of my children requested that I make them Pokemon Valentine cards to pass out at school. I've heard quite a bit about Pokemon lately, and it's really not my thing. My son is quickly learning about attacks and defenses and the names of countless little monsters; and I just have to smile because it's all Greek to me. I wonder if there's an Idiot's Guide to Pokemon? Hmmmm.

I'll be right back, I need to Google that... 

Yup. A lovely person created one here.

My two are into the video game rather than the card game, but at least it's a place for me to begin. Anyway...

I love that they both had very specific ideas about the graphic design of their cards. S was very clear about having a bubbly blue background, and K knew precisely what she wanted her card to say. Thank goodness I was able to make them both happy. 

If you happen to have a little Pokemon fan at home, feel free to download the full-sized images below. They are big enough to print out as a standard 4 x 6 inch print. They are large images, so don't worry that the entire image doesn't show up here, it will all be there when you download it.

Pokemon, Frillish and Purrloin are owned by the Pokemon Company, International. 

Today's the Day

Today marks the day of 2015's first ice crossing.  On Thursday, as my son and I flew across for a dentist appointment, we checked out the ice. I don't think we'll be crossing for a while yet...

Mackinac Moment: Breaking Ice

When I came out of school this afternoon I noticed a sure sign that winter is here to stay - the ice breaker helping a freighter through the Straits.

Done

As of the end of today, the boats are done for the season. Now we are hoping for calm, cold days so we can get a good ice bridge...

Wish List

This little item (details here) is now near the top of my wish list. It's a bummer that they don't seem to be available in the United States... yet. Given that it's "ski-steered" and "track-driven" it would be legal on Mackinac Island, though it does look a bit tippy to me.

I bet it gets great gas mileage. (A good thing when gas in your town runs over $6.00 a gallon.) Plus, it doesn't look like it goes too fast so it would be great for kids.  I emailed the company just to see how much they cost, but it's been several weeks and I have yet to hear back from them. I guess I'm going to have to live without one. Unless - anyone out there is heading to Zheijang, China, and would like to bring one home for me. If so, please ask if they come in turquoise.

Learning

Every time we hop on the snowmobile after school my daughter says, "Can I drive?" Of course, if we were driving home in a car I'd have to say, "No." But, since kids in Michigan can legally drive a snowmobile "under the direct supervision of an adult," K drives us home pretty much every day. 

When she turns 12, if she passes a snowmobile safety course, she can get a license and drive without an adult. (Kid's can take the class right on the island, or they can take it online here.) The only problem is that K's 75 pounds (about 35 kg) of body weight is not nearly enough to turn the 500 pound (about 225 kg) machine. She does a great job on the straight roads, but I need to help every time we have to turn at a corner. While K loves to drive, my son has absolutely no interest. He's much happier getting a ride in the sled. 

Now, I just have to get use to sitting in the back seat because I have a feeling I won't be driving again soon...

What a Difference a Day Makes

This was yesterday: gray, cold and windy. Not exactly a good day to spend even a little bit of time outside. 

Today, however, was sunny and beautiful. Sure it was still cold, but there's just something about sunshine that almost always puts me in a good mood. 

As you can see, things are getting icy up here. The boat has been going around the North end of the island and the word on the street is that the ferry will probably shut down this weekend, but only time will tell. Luckily, we're in good shape; both of our freezers are overflowing...

Brilliant

Snowmobile helmets are big. So big, that they won't fit in a standard school locker. Most of our high school kids keep them up on top of their lockers, but that's just too high for the elementary kids to reach.  So our custodian, with the help of a few zip ties, came up with this quick, brilliant and cost effective way store helmets at school.

Oh Christmas Cat

Our cat, Minnie, has decided the Christmas tree is a special climbing toy we put up just for her. Then again, she thinks just about everything in our house is a play thing just for her. She's so adorable yet so incredibly frustrating...

Mackinac Moment: Black Friday

Black Friday was rather quiet on Mackinac Island.

We saw a few people people out and about, but for the most part town was empty.

 

Thankful for Insurance

Let me start by saying that my daughter is fine. She's fine today, but three weeks ago things weren't so great.

You see, on a Friday morning, just after breakfast, my daughter swallowed a quarter.  She didn't mean to swallow it; it was an accident. That quarter was then stuck in her esophagus and was not moving. After two sets of x-rays, a phone consultation with an ENT and a shot of glucagon (to get her smooth muscles moving,) we were on our way to DeVoss Children's Hospital in Grand Rapids. The Island Medical Center called the ferry so they held the last boat for us and after the 20 minute boat ride and four hour drive we arrived at the hospital. 

The folks at DeVoss were wonderful - absolutely wonderful. They got her right in because the surgeon, anesthesiologist, and nurses will still there. As luck would have it, they had been called in earlier to remove a penny from a two year-old. They put her under anesthesia and were able to go down her throat with a little camera and easily remove the quarter.  (A 2010 New York  quarter if you're wondering.)

They also removed K's loose tooth. Apparently, when people come out of anesthesia they can clench their teeth, so when they put a child with a loose tooth under, they pull the tooth. That way if the child clenches and the tooth comes out it doesn't get swallowed or worse - inhaled. When she woke up K found her tooth, four quarters and a note from the Tooth Fairy that said, "Don't swallow these." You gotta love an anesthesiologist with a sense of humor. 

We left the hospital around midnight and headed for home. Everything went along smoothly until we were about 15 miles from my mom's house in Petoskey. That's where we hit the deer. A poor little doe jumped out right in front of us. 

In the end it all in all it worked out all right. The car was still driveable and apart from being completely exhausted, we were just fine. Now the bills have started to roll in. As of today that dang quarter is worth about $9,000. $6,000 in hospital bills and $3,000 in car repairs.

Ouch.

This Thanksgiving I am incredibly thankful for insurance.

Tomorrow's the Day!

Did you know that for the last ten years a little spacecraft, named Rosetta, has been traveling to catch up with a comet? The name of the comet is quite a mouthful - P76/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, so let's just call it, "the 

comet," shall we?

The Rosetta orbiter has a small lander aboard named Philae. Tomorrow afternoon Philae will launch and land on the comet.

Land - on a comet! Pretty amazing if you ask me.

Check out this cute video put together by the European Space Agency about the mission. It's short and prefect for kids. OK, I loved it too, especially the part where Philae packs for his trip. My students really appreciated the "I love Earth" patch on his little bag.

As I watched that video (and this one) I found myself wondering about all the math involved in making this happen. (It kind of blows my mind.)

If I've peaked your curiosity, you can watch Philea's landing live here. Coverage starts at 2:00 PM EST.

Halloween

I love Halloween. Love it. Especially helping the kids get the perfect costumes. 

For a number of years now our Tourism Bureau has organized a trick-or-treating through town for the last weekend that the stores are open. This year my son decided he wanted to be a bride: a beautiful bride wearing his great grandmother's mink stole. I was worried he'd take a lot of flack from the other kids (and adults) he knew in town given that a bride is not a typical costume for a ten year-old boy. Thank goodness I was wrong., he got lots of positive comments.

He knew back in August he wanted to be a bride, so we started looking. From the moment he saw it, he loved that dress! We found it at the thrift shop for $25.00. It was a vintage wedding dress with a beaded bodice and a long train, but it had to have been a size zero because it was tight when he wore it with his fleece underneath it. We found the veil at another shop for $5.00. Score! Once we got it all home all I had to do was take the dress in at the bust, add some tucks to shorten it and add a bustle to the back.

Sadly, the "marriage" didn't work out, and by Halloween night my beautiful bride had passed on, started to rot and returned to life as a zombie - who, for some reason, was still wearing the same dress. (Though this time over his coat because once we factored in the wind chill, it was 17 degrees here on Halloween night; about -8 C.) 

He loved being a zombie, but I must admit that I have a personal problem with zombies.  They give me nightmares. We were a little worried about the little ones at school, so the zombie bride only came out at night.

My daughter is now reading her fourth Harry Potter book, so it did not surprise me when she decided she wanted to be Hermione Granger for Halloween this year. I made her Hogwart's robes but I found the tie for $1.50 at yet another thrift shop.  Allen even made her a wand with a tip that could light up.

All afternoon as we trick-or-treated through town people kept saying, "Look, there's Harry Potter." So on Halloween night she changed her mind, had me add a scar to her forehead and decided to be Harry instead.  Her costume was perfect for a Northern Michigan Halloween. She was snug as could be wearing her coat under her robes. 

And just in case you're wondering, the kids trick-or-treated through around 1/2 of the village and each brought home about eight pounds (about 3.5 kg.) of candy. Yum!