This Iced Tea Is Lacking In Pickle Juice. Kosher Pickle Juice.

IT was a balmy day on Mackinac today, as it has been all weekend. At some point this afternoon the mercury reached a blistering 51 degrees down on Biddle point. After the recent storms, the lake level has begun its yearly fall retreat. While the snowmobile may be ready for another winter of ice crossing, it will not be legal to operate until the 15th of November and hopefully weather conditions won't allow that to happen well into December. I like my bike.
This photo was taken on the 2nd or 3rd of November, 2009. All closed up, drained down, put to sleep while the minor internal surgery begins.

A very interesting paper craft mask of a man's own up-scaled head.

Twitter is handy for something, I'm sure, but what it is I still have yet to figure out. At least it can help me know what time it is in London.

Who would have thought that the Dodge Viper logo looks like Daffy Duck when turned upside down.

As if a photo of Salvador Dali walking his anteater out from a Paris subway tunnel wasn't fabulous enough, it can be viewed in a blog that specializes in all things anteater.

Just finished watching Australia on the Showtime. Still don't know how two guys that drive cattle in the Outback for a living can just up a steal a schooner and sail in the ocean to an island to rescue children bombed by the Japanese. At night. I call Bull Shit.

Here is a fun project an interesting artist has created. He draws six images that tell the story of famous movie and you get to guess what that movie is. I only managed about half of them.

Things I Enjoy Seeing On Mackinac

I see things while I am out and about living and working on Mackinac Island that would, I guess, require a lot of time spent in the mall if I were to live anywhere else.
Take these anecdotes for examples of these observations.

Last week I saw a couple with their post college age daughter waiting for the next boat off of the island. I was easily about to ascertain that two of them were mother and daughter due to their similarities. These congruences were-

Identical bobbed light brown hair.
Daughter looked like younger version of mom.
Both wore tank tops.
Both wore capri pants.
Both wore white running shoes.
Both shared an identical build.
My mind wandered, thinking of the dad and the possibilities of confusion when telling his wife that he thought she was sexy. (Shudder...)

The family of six (kids aged 4-13), all of whom wore Transitions lenses in their glasses.

The family who wore wife beaters. Ok. Mom was in a tank top. There was in this family an anomaly. The son who wore a comic book t-shirt that clearly broadcast to me, " I'm not with them."

The little girl screaming that she DIDN'T want ice cream.

In years past I have been blessed to see-
A little boy wet himself because his mother was too distracted by bicycle rental rates than her cross-legged son.
Kids having so much fun playing in Marquette Park that one of them vomited, looked down at the mess, shrugged, and continued with the amusing melee.
Seeing at least one pregnant lady a day for an entire summer. The weirdest day was 5 preggos and two pregnant sisters- might have been twins in twins.

I like living here.

Vintage Aircraft Visits Mackinac Island

The Saturday of Labor Day weekend 2009 Mackinac Island was treated by a visit from a WWII era DC-3. It flew in from the east after flying a lap or two around the Mackinac Bridge and was available for tours shortly after landing at the Mackinac Island Airport.

Chicago and Bayview Yacht Races

Now that it is Tuesday, July 28th this season's yacht races are drawing to a close. There seemed to be a fairly large turnout as far as boats are concerned and although the weather has not cooperated 100%, the jovial crowds don't seem to mind. As long as the music is good, the liquor flows, and the ladies are wild, the
sailors don't seem to mind.

The Donuts Must Be Fried

The weather above the 45th parallel in Michigan has been a bit warm. Just warm enough to melt down the hard packed snow on the roads of Mackinac Island and with some judicious plowing the State Park boys and Mr. Horn have allowed for bikers to ride with caution.
The ice around the island has seen better days, but is still relatively intact, and has its good and bad days. Today the island was hammered with a rather stiff east wind and blew a bunch of pack ice back into the open water that had formed around the lighthouses.
On St. Patrick's day Mr. Bynoe organized a broom hockey game on Windermere point with two teams with three person rotations and a few spectators.

This Just Doesn't Pass Mustard

Here are some various photos taken on Mackinac Island this last week.
They include a very premature robin in a tree, shots of the Iroquois Hotel from the ice and the Bernida under wraps on the Arnold coal dock. Have a click, have a look.





































This shot is of down town Mackinac Island MI on an average Friday when the ice is safe enough for visitors to cross on their snowmobiles. I stopped counting sleds at 65.

Tentacles- I Do Not Want Them In A Sandwich

I went over to St. Ignace last week and bought gasoline. This usually isn't a very good beginning to a story, but this day I crossed the ice and filled up the sled with gas. I've never pulled a snowmobile to a gas pump anywhere other than the island, so this was indeed a photo opportunity that was hard to pass up. I have made a few trips over the ice before, but this winter the conditions are really nice and make the trip quite stress free. The idea of a 'trail' is unnecessary since the ice, at least for now, is in remarkable condition and is smooth and thick all the way over. Just point and shoot.
The second image is taken from the parking lot of the Mackinac Grille and shows one of the many jumping off points. Many tourists are coming over to the island via the three and a half mile ice bridge and it shows when you look at the parking lot that was behind me at the time I took the photo. The lot was filled with trucks and snowmobile trailers. The snow and ice has been quite good this year and the visitors like to stop by the island bars and have a beer and a bite to eat. It is funny for me being an Ohio boy seeing a train of sleds, sometimes ten to twenty long, stopping to take photos in front of the Iroquois. What a cold hobby. Fun though. I'll just stick to commuting on one.

Exclusive! Live Nude Cats!

Some folks on four wheelers decided to stop by the island (or at least very close to) today. While it is not rare to see 4-wheelers on the ice, it is a bit of an event to see them in the harbor and scooting along the shore. Meanwhile, a bald eagle was enjoying his lunch out on the ice just off of the Iroquois break wall and did not seem to mind the visitors motoring on by just twenty or thirty yards away. I was watching the eagle eat through the binoculars and was noticing the prey's head bop around a bit as though it was not quite finished off yet. The eagle was not moving in any fashion that would indicate that he was the source of the movement. I was disappointed that the eagle looks like a chicken in the included photo, but it could have been worse, considering that I took it using a camera phone shot through the right side of a pair of binoculars. Cool stuff.

Blogging With Gestures Is Ineffective

Mackinac Island has been rather cold lately, while it is not alone with chilly temperatures, it may be alone in the 'view at work' category. The boss and I caught these sun dogs a few mornings ago and hoped that the phone would suffice for sun dog archiving. It seemed to do the job alright. It sunk in a few days later that this was the first time that I has observed this phenomenon. Pretty cool.
While the sun was making dogs it was also making ice. The cold days and nights has produced some nice ice between St. Ignace and Mackinac Island. It may be 8 inches thick already. Quite a few people are making trips over to the Driftwood for a change in bar scenery.

I bought a can of Campbell's Hearty Chili the other day from Doud's. I chose 'Roadhouse' flavor and was rather disappointed that Patrick Swayze and Sam Elliot did not punch me in the face when I opened the can. Screw the can of peanuts snake, can of Roadhouse fists would kick your ass! POW!

Anti-Freeze Flavored Chocolate Is Not Good For Dogs.

This morning, it was not as cold as I had expected it would be. It was about 10f at 8 o'clock and slowly worked its way down to 5f. The shoreline had quite a few visitors as well. I counted 20 swans, six otters, and a golden eagle. All at once. Later in the afternoon, the boss was surprised by the little guy on the left. He wandered around looking and sniffing. None of this is normal. Six swans? OK. Two or three otters? OK. A golden eagle? Nope. Make it a bald eagle and it would be normal. A fox downtown? No way!
Oh yeah- I took a ride around to British Landing to check out the wind damage to the ice and an owl flew over my head. Damned strange for one day.

I learned how ducks can swim around in cold water today. I'll be damned. I think I will have surgeons rearrange my veins and arteries in a way similar to a duck's.

Thanks to superdonal from b3ta for this commercial for people. Used people for furniture that want to redecorate.


This guy isn't racist or anything, but...

Fun inventions from the post WWII golden age of having to much time on one's hand since the wife was busy in the kitchen raising the kids, cooking, and being attractive.

Fun rug designs.

MONKEYS ON BICYCLES!!!!! FOR THE WIN!!!!


Dare devils wearing contraptions called wing suits. This is what I would be inclined to call base jumping gone insane. The coolest part shows a guy flying next to a cliff side road. The worst part is the littering. Can you spot the littering litter bugs boys and girls?

Icky clouds.

Did you know that there was an activity called 'barrel parking'? Did you know that you could have Koreans battling Japanese for barrel parking supremacy?