Ice on rocks with Upper Harbor ore dock in background. You can see a house at the left. I've always loved it and wished I lived there, but I'll bet it's scary when the waves get big!

As much as I love living in the UP, sometimes it can be a bit challenging in the winter months.  Storms blow through on a regular basis, dumping loads of snow.  The latest, a couple of weeks ago, was a doozy even by UP standards, with high winds and big waves for days on end, along with lake effect snow that just wouldn’t stop for nearly a week.

But then the sun comes out, and you get a few mild days so you can get out and go for a walk.  And then you find out again why you live here.

The Big Lake magically changes from a sullen gray to a sparkling blue.  The sun glints off thousands of ice crystals in the snow.  Bare tree branches are silhouetted against an incredibly blue sky.

Here are some pictures I took the other day when I was out walking on the beach.  If you want to make them bigger, just click on them.  Click a second time to make them bigger yet.

Trees covered with ice at Picnic Rocks. The last storm brought huge waves with it. If you enlarge the picture, you can see the lighthouse at the end of the Upper Harbor breakwater in the background, and the White Rocks to the right of it.

Tree branch encased in ice at Picnic Rocks

Ice on rocks at McCarty Cove. I think the waves may have been breaking over these rocks during the last storm.

Sandbar leading to rocks at McCarty Cove. It looks like a pathway to an ice castle! This wll probably wash away in the next storm. The beach is always changing.

Snow angels clearing our driveway!

Not the kind of snow angels you were expecting, huh?  But these folks are truly angels.  I think they’re from a program from the developmentally disabled.  The leader of the group, Glen, (with the shovel), takes the group out to clear out driveways and sidewalks for people in town here.  He doesn’t like us to pay him either, although I would do it happily!

There was a HUGE drift across the end of our driveway.  The lady running the snowblower had her work cut out for her, but she got it cleared out in a few minutes.  It was such a blessing for me, because it would have taken me hours of hard work to open it up with a shovel.  And I can’t handle a snowblower like that anymore.

They showed up right after lunch, so we shared some hot bean soup and freshly-baked corn muffins with them.  Glen and his helper sure appreciated it, but not as much as I appreciated my snow angels!

Rag weaving on my rigid heddle loom

I though I would try rag weaving on my rigid heddle loom.  This is one of those things that seemed like a great idea at the time.

First, I tried putting stripes on the warp.  This seemed like it should be a simple thing, but it took FIVE hours to put a three-and-a-half yard warp on this poor little loom.  And then, because I wanted to keep the stripe pattern intact, the threads are twisted behind the heddle.  It’s kind of a pain, but it doesn’t seem to be affecting the tension at all, which is hard to believe.

I wanted to try weaving some tote bags.  Because I had cut my fabric into half-inch strips, I didnt’ really want to sew those thin strips together, so I tried gluing them.  I’m here to tell you not to do that.  I used a glue stick, which was messier than you would have thought.  Then, when it dried, it made a hard place at the join.  Sigh.

I wove off my first bag, and struggled with that hard spot in nearly every row.  Then I found out that it can pop apart very easily.  I’ll probably be keeping this bag, because I’m worried that the ends will work out eventually, causing it to fall apart. Plus those hard spots caused the weaving to be uneven.  Not my best work, and certainly not something I would want to sell!

My second attempt, shown above, is working out better.  I decided to just bite it and sew the strips together.  Once I got going, it’s not so bad.  It’s keeping me out of trouble while the great storm rages on outside.  But I don’t plan to do this on a regular basis!

Rag weaving casualty

This old hair pick is a weaving casualty.  I’ve managed to break off almost half the teeth beating in each row of rags!

If it’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that rag weaving on a rigid heddle loom is possible.  But like many things in life, just because it’s possible doesn’t mean you should do it! I think I’ll just weave scarves and shawls on this loom in the future.  We’ll both be happier!

Snowed in! This is the end of the driveway where we got plowed in.

Guess the Upper Peninsula is going to live up to its reputation for snow this year.  Last week it snowed for three days nonstop, and it looks like we’re getting it again this weekend.  The wind’s been howling for two days, and isn’t supposed to stop til sometime tomorrow.  Sigh.  And winter’s just getting started!

I shot this from the livingroom window since I wasn’t about to go out into the wind outside.  That pile of snow between our truck and the street is part drift and mostly snow from the city plow.  This compacts into a solid mass that’s about four feet wide, and fifteen feet long.  I’m really glad we’ve got someone lined up for snow removal this winter, because this Granny isn’t up to that kind of hard work anymore!

Andrew has been doing some work on my loom for me.  He noticed that the eye hooks on the bottom part of the harnesses have pulled out or broken off repeatedly over the years.  You can see the holes in the bottom of this harness:

Holes where eye hook has pulled out of bottom of harness

Some of the holes even have part of the eye hook stuck in them where they broke off in the past.  Of course, my husband’s analytical mind went right to work on the problem…

Here’s a picture of the Union 36 Loom from my copy of the Rag Rug Handbook by Janet Meany:

Union Loom from Rag Rug Handbook by Janet Meany

It’s a bit blurry since I took a picture of it instead of scanning it.  But you can see how the treadles are attached to the harnesses at an angle.  Andrew took one look at this picture and immediately knew why the eye hooks either broke off or pulled out.

He said that because the treadles are pulling at an angle, instead of straight down,  it puts strain on the neck of the eye hook, which eventually causes it to break off.  It also pulls the eyehook to one side, which loosens it in the wood, until it pulls out.

Andrew came up with the idea of making two metal brackets on the bottom of the harnesses and using an s-hook to attach the chain between the harnesses and the treadles.  He said it will hold better because it will be attached in two places, not just one!

Repairing split wood in the beater upright

He’s also repairing the uprights on the beater.  They’re attached with hinges, and over the years, the screws caused the wood to split.  You can see how big the screw holes are.  He’s going to glue some 1/4″ dowel into the holes and redrill them so new screws will fit better.

Can you tell it’s wonderful to be married to a carpenter?  He used to work construction, so he knows how to do all this stuff that’s totally beyond me.

Molly keeping an eye on things.

To finish things off today, here’s a picture of Molly.  No matter where I go in the house, she’s right there to supervise.  Sh’e not much for being cuddled, but she’s a great little companion!

Gotta love the Upper Peninsula!  100% chance of snow tonight, tomorrow, tomorrow night, and Saturday, with 12 to 20 inches expected, all told.  Oof-da!  (And I’m not even Norwegian!)  We managed to miss the last big storm the Weather Service forecast, but I don’t think we’ll miss this one.  Just looked at the radar, and the tell-tale bands of lake-effect snow are already showing up.  Oooh, it just started to snow!  And it’s really coming down…

I know what I’ll be doing tomorrow! 

But between the shoveling and snow blowing, I’ll be finishing up Sarah’s quilt.  I only have one border left to quilt, and then I can square it up and bind it.  Yay!  I’ve enjoyed working on it, but I’m ready for my next project.

Why do they always get an itch whenever I want to take a picture?

When I stuck my head out the door to get the mail a few minutes ago, I saw one of our many squirrels in the big oak tree by our driveway.  That’s the neighbor’s house in the background.  Mr. (or is it Ms?) Squirrel was sitting in the tree eating an acorn and looking cute, but by the time I managed to snap his picture, he’d put his head down to scratch his ear or something.  Drat!

The cat does it to me all the time, too.  Animals must see me coming when I have a camera!

It was cold on the porch, but I tried again.  This time he’s sitting on the ground,  having his snack.  Better shot!  I do like the telephoto button on my camera.  Otherwise, all you’d see would be a little gray dot against a big tree!