January Snowboarding

We took a trip up to Hillman last weekend for some snowboarding and relaxation. The weather was warm (relatively speaking) and sunny, the lake was frozen (maybe the beer too), and the Jaque's breakfast was a gastronomic delight as per usual. There are no photos of said snowboarding, so you'll have to take my word for the fact that I shredded my face off and Emily got much better. Below are some non-snowboarding photos.

Carnivorous squirrel. Who knew?? A hawk nailed his noggin on our clean windows and dropped dead on the deck. In the mornings this black squirrel would be slurping the fleshy bits off the hawk's feathers. Again, who knew??
Foam dome. All the beer in the basement fridge would foam over like this when opened (much to my surprise the first couple times). I'm guessing the beer molecules got stir crazy from being cooped up too long and sprang forth at the first sign of daylight. I think this beer needs to drink a beer...
Sunday I took a walk around the lake, on the lake. This is one of my favorite places on the lake. It just has a really good vibe too it and was lit up beautifully that day. You can see that a lot of the snow has melted because of the warm temps, but the ice on the lake was still plenty thick.
My favorite subject adding a splash of color to an otherwise colorless landscape...something she truly excels at.

Dock Out 2009

October is here and soon snow may start falling in northern Michigan. That means it's time again to head up to Hillman to take the dock and boat lift out and put the boats to bed for the winter. My dad and I had a very enjoyable long weekend doing just that.

Fuel for the weekend. Courtesy of my mom who is the best cook I know and always makes sure we're well fed (It's amazing that I'm not 300 pounds). Her chili is one of my favorites and when you combine that with ritz and franks and cold beer, it's enough to make me eat myself sick...which I did.

Rice crispy treats for desert. Made by you know who. So simple, yet so perfect and delicious. I averaged about 10 a day over the weekend.

Bloody Mary's. It takes a lot of shit to make a bad ass cocktail (expletives added for effect).

Slug on fish head. The fish head was found on my boat cover. Most likely the fish was eaten and the head either dropped or excreted by a seagull. I thought it was kind of cool and set it on this old railroad tie to photograph the next day. The next day it was on the ground with this big slug suckin' on it...circle of life...

Deer Scull. This deer died by the lake last winter. Over the summer the birds and bugs and what not cleaned the bones completely. One thing I really noticed was how tiny the cranium was in comparison to the eye sockets and olfactory cavity. It's probably all that pea brain can do to process the input from it's nose and eyes.

Mystery scull. Maybe a fox, maybe a dog, maybe a chupacabra. Whatever it is seemed to have been shot in the head execution style as evidenced by the round hole in the scull. Found by my dad near the tile field.

Cloudy. This was about the best the sky looked all weekend. We were dodging rain drops trying to get the boats put away and sneaking in wakeboard sets...pretty much the story of the summer. For the last set of the summer we went out 50 yards from the lift, got rained on hard, back in to cover up and hide under the cedars, back out 15 minutes later for a few laps. Sure, we could have packed it in but, we had to wait out the rain just to stick it to crummy weather we had this summer.

Dock Stack. It should be noted that this stack is perfectly level in all 3 axes. Trademark of my dad, "the pile master", and enemy of holes everywhere. No, we're not trying to land the space shuttle on this thing. But, it's nice to know that you could.
Well done.

Shiny Nautique. All waxed up and ready for a long winters nap.

Last Weekend of Summer 2009

Last weekend of the summer 2009 up at Long Lake...of course.**Don't forget to click on the photos if you want to see them full size**

Foggy morning. On account of the clear skies and (relatively) warm water, the mornings looked like this as the sun rose above the tree line.

The fog burned off about an hour later yielding the conditions that wakeboarders dream about.

Glassy lake, clear skies...I love this time of year.

Pine trees and blue sky. This looks much better through polarized sunglasses. Actually, this looks pretty good as is.

Beer on head. Truly the wave of the future.

My favorite subject.

Long lake legend, Wild Bill Taylor in his classic '80 American Skier. I remember seeing this boat on the lift when I was a little kid thinking it was the keenest boat on the lake. Wait, did I just type "keenest"?? Is that even a word??

What's Up Dummies!?!?

What's up dummies!?!?! Inspired by my good friend Albert Bot and the rainy weather I decied to give this interweb business a shot.

Starting with Labor Day 2009 in Hillman, MI.

-Obligatory shot of my boat, "Denise". I have a million of these photos but she just looks so dandy geared up in the sunlight that I can't resist one more.

-Treasure from the past few trips. We spend a lot of time picking up junk from the bottom of the lake. The goal is to clean up and hopefully find something good...as seen at left. Obi-wan had nothing to do with it...

-Shadow fun. "Can you photograph shadows??"..."Duh....of course, you can..."

-Belle's Oberon. The label says something like "...with the color and scent of a summer afternoon...". I agree. Do yourself a favor and drink some.

- Mystery mushroom. I dare you to eat it...

-Seagulls on swim platform.

-Emily. My wife and inspiration for many things...like this photo...she thought this partial face next to the cabin would look good...I agree.

-S is for snake...dead snake...

-Crayfish in a can. About 1/3 cans we pull out of the lake has some sort of "passenger" inside. This guy was about 4" long and not too happy about losing his home. In situations like this I wonder if it is better for the crasyfish to keep his home or for the trash to be out of the lake...hmmm...