Just Passing Through

Saturday afternoon the Coast Guard passed by the Island on their way through the Straits. Had I been thinking, I would have opened my Marine Traffic app which would have told me which vessel I was looking at. But, of course, I was too busy enjoying the view.

All Set

Some of Island guys spent today planting our used Christmas trees into the ice to mark the trail across the ice bridge. Lots of tourists assume a tree line means the trail is safe - it isn't. Any time anyone decides to cross the ice, they are risking their life. Many of us choose to take that risk, but if you are thinking about crossing the ice, never just assume it's safe. Ice conditions can change quickly.

Photo courtesy of Sam Barnwell

In an Emergency

People often ask me about medical care on Mackinac. We have a two-bed emergency room at the Medical Center which has staff on call 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Often it's all people need, but not always. (For example we had to deal with this, this, this,  this and this on the mainland.) Patients who need a higher level of care are regularly taken to the mainland on the ferry boat during the summer or on the airplane during the winter. Sometimes when a crisis happens, and an hour can mean the difference between life and death, patients are shipped to specialized care via an air ambulance service such as North Flight. When private services like that are unavailable (and it is life and death) the US Coast Guard will step in and airlift patients to care on the mainland. In January 2019 they brought the Katmai Bay to the Island when the weather made the helicopter impossible to use. 

A Coast Guard transfer is free, but the air ambulances are quite expensive. (And the Coast Guard will only come if all commercial options are unavailable.)  The husband of a friend of mine was flown to Petoskey by an air ambulance service after suffering a serious stroke. The bill? About $65,000; thankfully his health insurance covered 100% of the cost. Luckily, I have never needed one of these services and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I never will.

 

Beautiful

Mackinac is always beautiful, but in the winter, following a heavy snow, the Island is gorgeous. Even though the landscape lacks color, it's got to be one of the prettiest trips to the grocery store around.

 

Quiet

No flights on or off the Island today due to the weather.  Luckily things are supposed to clear tomorrow and I don't need to be anywhere today....

You've Got to Be Kidding Me

Apparently 2022 didn't get the memo that things were supposed to improve. Sigh.... Right now our dryer is on the fritz, one of our snowmobiles isn't running, and since

Covid is going around on Mackinac, I have students in quarantine who have to zoom into class. I know by themselves none of those are big things, but lumped on top of everything else that is going on... it's just... a lot. 

I'm trying to be a trooper. I'm trying to see the silver linings. Logically, I know these are first world problems; we have enough clothes to get through a week or two without doing laundry; all my students have chrome books and an internet connection; we have a second snowmobile. I should just shut up and smile because I've got it pretty darn easy. But it just keeps getting harder to be upbeat and positive... 

Goodnight

I had to run down to town tonight. This glorious sunset made having to get all bundled up again well worth the effort.

Today

Just after I left for school at 6:00 this morning my youngest was awakened by police lights shining in their bedroom window; the police were searching our street. Just a few minutes later the above was posted on Facebook. At 7:00 am, the superintendent put us on a delay and since Mr. Emotionally Agitated and Possibly Armed was still at large at 10:10, school was cancelled for the day. Thankfully the police located him later on in the afternoon without incident.

I'm looking at the silver lining of today; despite being armed he's OK and he didn't hurt anyone else. I'm incredibly thankful things worked out and everyone was safe. And since I was already at school when I was asked to remain indoors, I had almost six uninterrupted hours to work in my classroom. 

Please keep him and his family in your thoughts. I'm sure the next few days are going to be tough.

Happy New Year

I must admit, I am happy to say good-bye to 2021. It was not a good year for me. In actuality, it was probably one of the hardest years I've ever had, so watching it fade away last night was a good thing. 

I am trying to look at 2022 with a hope-filled heart. I want 2022 to be better; I need 2022 to be better. I hope your 2022 is filled with only good things - including kind people, good health, enough sleep and peace. Happy New Year.

Merry & Bright

Merry Christmas from Mackinac Island.

This picture is from a few days ago.

No snow today, instead it was

foggy, rainy and 34 degrees (about 1 C.)

Camilla

I don't have an Elf on the Shelf in my classroom, instead I have Camilla the Christmas Chicken. My students love her. They even love her awful "dad" jokes.

I love that they make sure to include her in our classroom activities.

She loves bringing the kids new books, curling up by the fire and reading to the class.  This year she brought Cinders, Once There was a Christmas Tree and Sonya's Chickens.

Now that we're heading home for vacation, she is packing up and heading back to the coop. Little do my students know that they'll be able to check in on her using the "coop cam" my husband is setting up in our backyard chicken coop

A Rare Occurance

"Snow Days" never happen on Mackinac Island. OK, almost never happen. But occasionally we do close due to other issues. Today we get the day off due to high winds.  And it isn't just MIPS that's closed; the Public Library is closed, the Service Company has rescheduled trash pick-up, the boats aren't running and the Mackinac Bridge is closed to "high profile" traffic. ("High profile traffic" is defined by the Mackinac Bridge Authority as semi trucks, pick-up trucks with enclosed beds, cars with bike carriers or luggage on the roof, cars pulling boats or trailers [with sides over two feet] and U-Haul type trucks.)

And no wonder it's windy. It's 58 degrees (about 14C) this morning - which is really weird for December in Northern Michigan.  

The only bad thing about today was, I got the text about school being cancelled about 15 minutes after I'd gotten to school. No complaints though, an unexpected day off is always a good thing...

It's Beginning...

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

everywhere you go...

Fall

Fall is fading fast on Mackinac. The vast majority of the leaves have fallen, so I was quite surprised to find these maple leaves near the Post Office this week. Of course it got me wondering... Why did those leaves hang on longer? Was there something abut that location that protected them, or do maples in general drop their leaves later? And, why were all the leave so red this year? So of course I had to look it up.

Apparently when you have cold (but not freezing nights) along with bright sunny days it triggers maples to produce more of a red pigment, while rainy gray days are more favorable for a yellow pigment. It makes perfect sense - this has been one of the nicest falls I can remember: warm and sunny with only a handful of frosts. That must be the reason why, this year, Grand Hill looked like this:

Photo courtesy of Grand Hotel

Those leaves are all gone now, but they were stunning. 

Halloween 2021

Here are our family costumes for 2021. These three high schoolers trick-or-treated for the win, bringing home close to 30 pounds of candy (about 13.5 Kg.) Weighing the candy when they get home is a tradition in our house. S was up from 2020's eight pounds with 11 pounds (about 5 kg) this year, while K was up a tad with nine pounds (about 4 kg.) K came home about an hour before S so it makes sense their total was lower. 

My son wanted to be Lady Dimitrescu, a character from one of the Resident Evil video games. (Don't worry - he's not upset; he's trying to look like a cannibalistic murdering aristocrat who may or may not be a vampire.)

While S was going for a very specific look, my youngest decided to create their look using a mask they made in art class paired with a cape I stitched up to go with a lion mask. The cape has since spent a lot of time at school. Apparently bringing blankets to class isn't allowed in the school dress code, but since a cape is technically an article of clothing, it's allowed. K was thrilled to discover this "loophole."

The Big 25

 Last week my husband and I celebrated

our 25th wedding anniversary. 

It's hard to believe it's been that long...

To celebrate, Allen took me out for an exquisite dinner at Chianti. It was, by far, the very best meal I've ever eaten on Mackinac Island; Grand Hotel food doesn't even come close.  So now I'm hopeful Allen decides to make a trip to Chianti a yearly tradition. Luckily they were running a "locals" special so we didn't have to pay the full $125 per person, though it would have been worth it - the food was that good!

New Digs

If you been hanging out here for a while, I'm sure you know we have chickens. You may also know that usually they leave the island for the winter.

But not this year...

This year they'll be staying in their lovely new coop. (Thanks to help from my husband, kids and nephews.)

.

Oh yes, and my mother-in-law. She did an excellent job supervising the tear down of the old coop and the new coop build. As did her dog, Shay.

The coop came as a kit, which made it much easier for us to put together - even if it did take longer than the 30 minutes the company claimed. It was still worth it; no measuring, no cutting and no design work.

So now the girls cozy, warm and dry in their new home, while I get a much nicer view in my backyard. And I get to keep them. Which I am thrilled about today, but we'll see how I feel in February...

 

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween to all you Trolls out there. For those of you who may not know, those of us who live in Michigan's Upper Peninsula refer to those who live in the Mitten as "trolls" - because they live below the bridge.

My Troll costume was from 2017, but just enough time had passed where my current students didn't remember me wearing it. Though I must admit Id forgotten just how itchy wigs can be. 

Um...... What?

We arrived at school this morning to discover this. Some asshole (not the word I used at school) decided it would be a good idea to throw a can through one of the windows of our school.

Needless to say, the first and second graders had to spend the morning in the library so the custodian could clean up all that glass and put a board where the window should be. So sad...

Edited to add: The caught him! Our Chief of Police put a photograph of a "person of interest" wanted for vandalism of an island business. The guy turned himself in and apparently admitted to vandalizing the school while he was being questioned about the other business he damaged. I hope he has to pay to replace the custom size window he broke, AND to replace the rugs and pillows that aren't safe to use with kids anymore. I'd also love it if he had to come to the classroom and deliver the replacement items along with an apology to the kids, but I doubt that part will happen.

Cuteness

Sometimes I just can't get over how adorable our cat is. I mean, just look at that paw. I can tell fall is here because when things start to cool down, she gets much more snuggly.