The Mansfield News Journal has a great story about wintertime on South Bass/Put-in-Bay Island.  Ferry and air service to the island is very limited during the cold and frozen months.  Islanders have to stock up on all manner of goods during infrequent trips to “America.”  Excerpt and link:

There’s a bit of protocol a walker on South Bass Island should observe during the winter. When that rare car comes by, be sure to wave.

You probably know the driver, and he or she knows you. That’s because once the last visitors leave on the ferry or by airplane the first weekend after Thanksgiving, life on this island in Lake Erie drops into winter tempo. It becomes even quieter and more remote once the last ferry boats leave the dock at the end of December.

From that point on until the ice breaks up in mid- to late March, island life goes into hibernation.

Full story:

http://mansfieldnewsjournal.com/article/20081130/NEWS01/811300327/1002/rss01

I have mentioned in previous posts that I do not hunt.  But I have a deep appreciation for the hunting culture present in Michigan.  Hunters love the same land that hikers do.  So, I thought I’d share an excerpt and link to a hunting story that I found to be particularly touching.  Excerpt and link below:

I imagine it was probably somewhere around 50 years ago, that I probably started thinking and day dreaming about my grandfathers’ old rifle. It always sat in the corner of the old farm house, behind the swinging door between the kitchen and the dining room. It stood there with his 16ga and an old 22 rifle. That old rifle intrigued me and I always wanted to hear the story about the last time that it was fired. How that old rifle took the only bear that grandpa ever shot near Atlanta in 1938. The old bear skin rug lay on the floor in one of the upstairs bedrooms, and I guess that grandma had seen enough of it and decided that she wanted her parlor back.

Every gun in the old farm was loaded. It was the way we were brought up. But, the one thing I did know, that old rifle was never loaded. Every time I went to the farm, I’d always ask gramp if I could pick it up. He never refused to allow me to handle that old rifle. She was a heavy old gal. Made back in the day when steel was real. I could shoulder it, but not for long. That long barrel just seemed to weigh a ton.

It was probably just a couple more years and I figured it was time to ask to shoot that old rifle. No one that I had seen had ever shot that rifle. Not gramps or dad. I actually remember asking the first time to fire that rifle. I don’t think my question was a surprise to either my granddad or my dad but, I wasn’t ready for the answer that I got. I’d always been allowed to shoot any firearm that I wanted to shoot, but this time it was different. Grandpa said, with what appeared to be somewhat of a sad face, that they “don’t make shells for it anymore”. He said that he had to save the few remaining shells that he had for it. I wasn’t unhappy about not being able to shoot that old rifle, but was sad that they didn’t make ammunition for it anymore.

That old rifle stayed behind that swinging door until one of the saddest days of my life. Grandpa was gone. Grandma told my dad to gather all the guns up and take them home with him. It was a very sad time for all of us.

Click for the full story below:

http://www.michigan-sportsman.com/forum/showthread.php?t=262821

Several weeks ago, I blogged about ways to avoid blackouts of Detroit Lions games.

My first warning:  There is no excellent way to avoid blackouts.  The NFL wants to sell tickets.  So, the only guaranteed way to see the game within the 75-mile blackout area is to go to Ford Field.

This weekend, the Detroit Lions play the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.  Unfortunately, this game has very little interest beyond the cities involved.  This means that options for avoiding the blackout via a good television antenna are small.

For those attempting this option, the link below provides the broadcast coverage map for this Sunday’s (11/23) games:

http://www.the506.com/nflmaps/2008-12-FOX1.html

There is basically one over-the-air option for pulling in the game.  This is the Fox affiliate in Grand Rapids, Channel 17/WXMI.  I have never been able to pull this station in from Monroe.  But the FCC coverage map below suggests that viewers in Lansing or even Jackson might be able to watch the game via this route:

Absent a good outside antenna, the shift for viewing the game switches to the internet.  And before I go into details, I have to warn you that rebroadcast of games on the internet is most probably illegal.  So, the ethics of using this route have to be considered.

That said, several peer-to-peer sites have the technology necessary for viewers in areas outside the blackout areas to rebroadcast the game across the internet.  The quality of these rebroadcasts can be good or it can be marginal.  But often, these sites can provide a watchable game when no other option exists.

Given the cloak-and-dagger nature of these sites, there is no way in advance to know which site will have a feed.  So, one needs to check several.  Here are a few possible options:

www.justin.tv

http://www.myp2p.eu/

http://www.rojadirecta.org/

http://www.myp2pforum.eu/

Now, I suppose it is a bit crazy to go through so much trouble to watch a team that is 0-10.  But I kind of take a perverse pride in following a team that is so bad.  There is very little risk of disappointment.  I expect them to win every week, so if they game is remotely competitive, it gets quite exciting.  And there is always the possiblity that the Lions will go 0-16.  And you can say that you watched every last bit of it.

Cheers.

There is no telling what the Google alert system might turn up on a particular day.  Today, the search term “River Rouge” turned up a new poem from the blogger Zisirum about Zug Island.  I thought that it was pretty good.  Read it at the link below:

http://zisirum.blogspot.com/2008/11/zug-island-and-zug-island-revisited.html

The “Big Buck” pics are starting to roll into my Google reader from today’s miserable-weather deer opener.  This is not a hunting blog, but this particular link has some interesting pics of a middle school girl who took what looks to be a 12+ point buck during the youth hunt and a 10+ point buck today.  And the best part - the bucks were both taken in Hillsdale County.  Jackson, Hillsdale, Washtenaw and Lenawee Counties offer some of the best deer hunting habitat in the state.  Link:

http://www.michigan-sportsman.com/forum/showthread.php?t=261282

Beginning on Saturday, roughly 750,000 licensed deer hunters will begin a two week period in which 10 million man-days will be spent pursuing Michigan’s beloved white-tail deer.  Now, I am not a hunter.  My family didn’t hunt.  And walking through the woods has always been enough for me.  But I find a certain kinship with avid hunters.  They know the land and visit the same crazy spots that I also love to visit, so before everyone leaves for deer camp, I’d just like to wish everyone well.  I hope that you get the biggest buck of your life.

Good Luck Hunters!

One of the more fascinating aspects of living near a large body of water is looking at what washes up onshore.  A few years ago, I was walking along the Pacific Ocean with my sister at Olympic National Park near Seattle.  My eagle-eyed sister spotted a globe-shaped piece of glass washing ashore.  The floating sphere turned out to be a floatation device used by Japanese fishermen to hold up their nets.  God only knows how long it had been floating on the high seas.

Although slightly less romantic, beach glass washes up along the Lake Erie shore constantly.  It might begin as a piece of an old piece of dishware or bottle, but it ends up becoming an interestingly rounded bit of local ephemera.  An artist named Jodie in Pennsylvania has created a business by creating art jewelry from these pieces of Lake Erie beach glass.  I wonder if any local artists have tried to do this?

http://lakeeriebeachglass.blogspot.com/2008/11/lake-erie-brings-us-more-than-just.html

Note: The image above comes from Jodie’s site.  Be sure to click through and check out the pieces available for purchase.

A few days ago, I posted some pictures of a convoy of Lexus test vehicles that I photographed on N. Territorial Road in northern Washtenaw County.

A blog reader named Dan posted a few comments that gave some indication that they may be the new Lexus hybrids.  He even thought that I might have the first live photo of one of the models.  Pretty cool.  Here’s the link.

http://www.blogsmonroe.com/expatriate/2008/11/lexus-spy-photos/

I only had time to take six photos of the cars before they sped away.  And I was driving at the time, so I was in a serious state of multitasking.  Given that fact, I was happy to get three shots that I thought were useable for the blog.

But given the possibility that I may have actual newsworthy pics, I have decided to post my blurry shots as well.  All are unedited.

These shots include a fourth model that was not in the originally posted photos.