Homecoming

Anne and I woke up in Ann Arbor.  Anne started to water her mom’s plants and I went looking for wi-fi at the Bread Co. Panera’s.  Afterwards I spied the above pictured male cardinal and juvenile. Both pictures were shot from Bubs and Harry’s front porch.  Today’s header is from up the service drive.  We met Jane again, this time for breakfast, at the Broken Egg on Main.  They serve BIG breakfasts.  Like the day before, we were not on the road until eleven.  I did all the driving and with only two stops we made it back to Saint Louis in good time.  The only minor mishap came while we were detouring through the Park, around the New I-64 construction.  We had to turn around because the road in front of the zoo is closed for some other construction.  Anne and the car returned home, after being gone for almost six weeks and having logged 4250 miles this summer.

Planetfall

Saturday we left the Cabin and landed on the Planet Ann Arbor.  Before we left, about an hour before the butt crack of noon, six of us walked the beach.  I got my camera to take a group shot of us on only the second try.  I also got some good shots of this sandpiper, but I’ll leave to better Sibley readers then I to determine which kind.  We said our goodbyes, honked our master’s salute and headed south.  We tried to raise Kayak Women on her iPhome, but apparently she was off the grid near Grayling.  We couldn’t raise her until we were almost to West Branch, so a luncheon rendezvous was not to be.  There was a backup on US-23 at I-96, but otherwise clear sailing.  We picked up Dave’s bus and train ticket, dropped the bikes off at Bubs and Harry’s and made it back downtown to meet Jane for dinner at Habana on Washington.  We walked around after dinner, hitting the Robot Shop, a chocolate shop (thanks, Jane!), Sixteen Hands and the Peaceable Kingdom, until it was time to take Dave to the train station for his bus.  We arrived in plenty of time, sat around for a while and then had a tearful goodbye (sniff, sniff).  Afterwards Anne and I decamped to her folks house and watched most of Speilberg’s War of the Worlds.  Then at eleven the really scary show came on, the news.  I can’t believe how many murders were reported, and they call Saint Louis the murder capital of the country.

Last Day at the Cabin

UKW stopped by in the morning and tried to entice us to go kayaking. We were kvetching and said maybe later. Some of us walked the beach and got wet. Some of us started to walk the beach, only to turn around when it started to rain. In a break in the rain, I walked over to the green guy’s internet café, noticed Pete’s tour boat comments, posted the day’s blog while huddling under the eves of the roof, all the while keeping dry. We were back at the breakfast table when, Aimee returned from the whiskey for coffee. Carl and I got in lake baths. Woo-Hoo! Karen’s arrival, owl pellets, Indian Pipes and lots and lots of reading rounded out the day. Oh, did I mention rain?

Rainy Day

We woke up with the rain drumming on the porch roof. It beats a lot louder on the roof of the new addition then on either the now old porch or the main cabin. I crawled out of bed. Rainy day. Carl, Jay, Ashlan, Anne, Dave and I drove to town, to the Freighter View, to visit Betty.

Jay and I dropped the rest off at Freighter View and convoyed over to Fernelius Hyundai. The check engine light had come on again in Ann Arbor. It first came on when Anne first reached the Soo, last month. A couple of hundred later and we had a new gas cap and a new gas spout. The check engine light stayed off for the next two-thousand miles.

We left the car there and headed back to Freighter View. With Aimee and Betty, there were eight of us in Betty’s room. We kvetched for a while, the high point of the conversation was when Anne told a joke she had learned from Duke. It went something like this:

The drunk husband comes stumbling home only to be met at the front door by his angry wife. He acclaims upon see seeing her, even in her rage, “You look so bootiful”. What the wife asks in disbelief? “You look so bootiful.”, he said, “When you take your bra off ,all the wrinkles come out of your face and you look so bootiful.”

After hearing this joke, Betty proclaimed that it was actually a true story. The husband was the base commander.

We all adjourned to Penny’s Kitchen for lunch and internet access. Afterwards, I returned to Fernelius and waited for the car. Fortunately for me there was no charge this time. I got a pretty good laugh out of Betty with the Broccoli joke:

A women walks into the green grocer and asks for a pound of broccoli. I’m sorry ma’am, but we’re fresh out of broccoli, can I interest you in some spinach? Hmm, no, I’ll have some broccoli. I’m sorry ma’am maybe you didn’t hear me, but I don’t have any broccoli, can I interest you in some asparagus? Hmm that sounds good, but no, I’ll have some broccoli. Exasperated at this time the grocer asks, lady can you spell dog as in dogma? Puzzled, she answers, sure D-O-G. Now he asks can you spell cat as in catatonic? Even more perplexes she answers, C-A-T. Finally, he asks can spell fuck as in broccoli? Thinking for a moment the women answers, there is no fuck in broccoli. That is what I have been trying to tell you, the grocer answers.

At first I was afraid that Betty hadn’t got the joke then she laughed so hard that I was afraid that it would kill her. After lunch, it was still raining, so Jay, Carl, Ashlan, Anne, Dave and I went to Don-Dee Lanes to bowl. On Tuesdays and Thursdays it is bowl all you want for just five bucks. Shoes are two bucks and if you don’t have socks, you can buy these really cute bowling socks to keep, for just three bucks. Carl bowled nine games, most of the rest of us bowled six games.

Bubs joined us for dinner at Cozy Inn. We had Fran’s cherry pie afterwards for desert. I’m trying to type this blog while Ashlan and Dave are bouncing the table while playing Egyptian Rat Killer.

God is Great, Beer is Good, People Are Crazy

Anne, Aimee and I went for a bike ride. We loaded the bikes on to the back of the car and first drove to the Dancing Crane for espresso. Our next stop was the lighthouse on Point Iroquois. We arrived just in time to see the Soo Locks Boat Tour go by. Anne got the better shot, because she was quicker. We walked around and finished our lattes. There was a construction crew erecting an interpretive center there. We got on our bikes and headed west. We stopped at the national forest picnic area and walked around. The picnic area was also under construction. We rode through the Bayview campground that was sporting new out-houses. We rode on to the hatchery, which was closed for construction too. Detecting a theme here yet? Maybe iot is the stimulus money?? We sailed back to the lighthouse, stopping only at the Point Iroquois store (for &Ms), which is now under new management. Pictured above is a pair of women who peddlepedal their bums, Pooh and UKW (Uber-Kykling Women). We got twenty miles. Afterwards it was a perfect beach day.  This post’s title is courtesy of Carl and Ashlan, who are on a country music binge.  Today’s header was not Photoshopped.

Cabin Daze

Dan and Annie had to leave and return to Saint Louis so we posed for the family portrait on the steps. Fran did the honors. We had to do this by eight twenty in the morning because Bubs had to get to water exercise. This worked out well enough, Dan and Annie got an early launch.

Afterwards Anne, Dave and I drove into town. Anne and I joined Bubs and Harry at the launder mat, while Dave enjoyed coffee at the internet café. Afterwards Anne, Dave and I went to Clyde’s for lunch. We ate at the counter and thus enjoyed our lunches without having to share them with any of our avian friends.

The previous day Dan, Annie and Dave went up to Whitefish Point. I’ve included some photos that they took there. The three pictures of each of them with the moose are obviously staged, but look like they were having fun.