Leaving for vacation soon:
 

The time is here... We are going upNorth to our summer retreat in the boreal forest of the UP of Michigan.

For the new members, this is a small family owned island with no electricity, no running water (pump in the kitchen), small generator for lights sometimes, tools, and recharging electronics. The house is nice though, but it can get cold some nights.

I have some photos in my profile album for anyone who is curious.

This year we have new iPhones which are our first smart phones. Previously Sprint was the only carrier up there, but last summer something happened to the roaming towers and we lost coverage for most of our vacation. It seems AT &T became the main carrier so since our son's iPhone 4S worked well, we sprang for an upgrade to that. We can use a free wifi in town, at the laundromat area, so when we do clothes, I can log on for a short time with our old laptop. (sometimes that means MS updates, which then can consume time.) Going to the laundromat is about a 4 hr deal, eats most of the day up and can only be done in good weather, since we boat in. This year the water levels are really down..the lowest in 100 yrs! So rough water is hard for us to navigate the huge rocks that are everywhere. I am a bit worried about this.

The upside is the air is very clean, and restorative, and we enjoy the nature and ambiance of a different lifestyle! ;) Now that I am mostly recovered from my health scare with that drug reaction, I am hoping to get back into some art work this summer.

We will be leaving July 22 thru 26th or so..depending on hubby's job and the weather. We don't like arriving up there in the rain, so we will postpone, if rain is likely. With Weather.com, it is pretty accurate in this regard these days. We will return in 4-5 wks depending. Early if problems, later if things go well.

So I won't be responding everyday anymore. We will try out our new phones, but I am not really great on that little qwerty pad, and use a stylus in fact on it. I have carpal tunnel still in my hands, to some extent as well. We will just have to see how it goes.;)

For important questions, you can PM me. I will read PMs first when we have the chance to log on. Posting links will be tricky on the phone, since there are no extra "windows" on that venue.
I might have to use hubby's phone at the same time to do searches. We don't have large data monthly...but there should be enough for some internet use. We will use the iPhone mostly for weather checking or emergency purchasing needs.

Enjoy your vacation.

We too just upgraded to iphones. And, at 1 AM, while we were sleeping, we got a weather alert. We both woke up startled, looking for the source of the alarm. Soon we discovered our iphones had a text message with news of the flood warning that was issued. Took a while to settle back down.

Have a safe and restful time.

Have a good one!

A good friend of mine's family owns an island in Canada. It's a little paradise, and I have passed on several invitations to go up there because of the PN. :rolleyes:

Can't really use that as an excuse anymore ;) so I'll probably take the long flight up there this year or the next. :cool:

Enjoy!

We are very close to Canada.

Is your friend's island near Manatoulin? There are small islands in that area too. We are in the same N.Lake Huron area, but not
in Canada.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manitoulin_Island

Have a great time. You will be missed but look forward to your return. Everyone deserves a break so ENJOY it. Thanks for letting us know. See you when you return.

Ahh...MrsD it sounds like a slice of heaven! I pray many blessings, health, peace and joy for you on your get away. Enjoy all the details of every moment.

Have a great time!

Have a great vacation! its good to get away once in a while. enjoy it.

Have fun--
 

--and try not to adopt too much wildlife or too many strays while you're there. :D

Yes, do have a wonderful vacation, a safe trip to your island and return, and get your batteries all re-charged for the coming year. We'll miss you in your absence, but look forward to your occasional messages when you're at the laundrymat!

have a nice vacation Mrs.D.

I too, love the outdoors rusty north. The family have a couple of log cabins in the mountains, just like you discribed.

Have a good trip. How long is it to drive from your home?
Synnove

It takes between 6-8 hrs. Door to door would include the boat trip and a ferry trip.

The trip up is very stressful. At least when returning, we are returning home, and that is easier. We take alot of "stuff" up with us, books, art supplies, stocks of cat food, food for us. I have my plants also. I plan living out of the cooler until hubby gets the propane gas frig going in the shed. So we take some food with us.

Coming back is much lighter.

It does sound perfectly lovely. Hope that you have excellent weather and a wonderful time with good health for all of you. Enjoy working on your art projects! I know I need to spend less time reading and more time on my needlework, hopefully time away from the computer will translate into creativity!
Have a safe trip!
Susanne

Mrs.D,

Have a safe and enjoyable vacation. Your property is surely a place where you can enjoy just doing nothing, except the things you enjoyed most. I hope your vacation this year will be smooth and hassle free.

Mary

Mrs. D,

Have a safe, wonderful, and relaxing trip. You deserve it! I hope you will share some of your artwork when you return.

Good health wishes to you and hubby.

hopeful

I had my friend on the phone (well, Skype) for an hour but still forgot to ask. :rolleyes: I do know that it's about a 1.5 hour drive from Toronto, and then you take a boat (d'oh!).

So I guess it's not that far off. :o

Our Frig died last night... we are having this horrible heat...
and it was a bit wonkey for the last 2 mos or so. It is 25+yrs so
not worth it to fix. Hoping to get a new one at Home Depot this morning and fast delivery so it won't impact our leaving date!
We need a smaller frig, and sometimes those are hard to find!
Wish us luck! ;)

It is so stressful because we don't have central A/C --only a portable in the bedroom. So we are so hot and sticky and exhausted anyway. Hubby took a personal day today, so we can both work on this. Luckily I have food rather slimmed down anyway because of the trip, but we will lose some of the freezer stuff. I'll cook up the last chicken and we'll live on that. The bottom is marginal, so we are getting ice for our cooler and see how things go.

The new energy saving frigs are supposed to be nice... time for us to get one today!

We too had to replace our fridge that fit nicely into a small space. Even though we found some that fit into the hight and width dimensions, it was the depth that drove our final decision. Most fridges came out too far into the kitchen. So be sure to check the depth also. We have a small house and so many of the new appliances are being built for larger homes. Even our washer and dryer were a problem. We end up having to get European brands which costs more but when comes down to shutting a door or not having obstacles in your path, I'll invest the extra.

Hope you find one to fit.

Oh, Marlene! We found several with the 3 dimensions we needed. Our problem was getting into the house thru the door, and also the height. We found many nice ones at Home Depot surprisingly that fit our small specs. But all the bottom freezer ones were out of stock and we can't wait til Aug for delivery.
I settled on a nice GE.. that was only $599. (top freezer).
All the others were double that price at least.

We have a GAS frig that runs on propane upNorth. It was hard to find a new one of those too, and then get it shipped and shlepped to our island. It was made in Sweden! Seems many people in Sweden have cabins in the wilderness and run off propane. It was about $1000 total delivered too... and smaller than this one even. But it really was a necessity up there, as our old one was built in 1935 and just would not keep cold anymore. Those propane ones run on ammonia, and eventually it leaks out I guess? We have a trailer 1/2 frig in the house...but it is really small and hard to live with and also OLD...early 1960's.

Glad you found one. Yeah, appliances are costly. And they just don't make them like they used to. Even if you get a high end one, they don't hold up any better. I know more people who have had to major repairs on their high end appliances in the first 2 -3 years. The product life-cycle seems to be getting shorter. We've become a "throw-away" culture.

Interesting about the propane fridge.

Have a good vacation.

As a Canadian (but living in the US) I have to mention that I spent 20 years in the Toronto area. And there are about 1.2 gazillion lakes within 1.5 hours of Toronto.

Our family cottage is on an island too....love it.

Enjoy your time at your lake in MI...that is gorgeous land. :cool:

Exactly! There! ;)

Nah, I finally asked, and it's about 3 hours east of TO. I hope to go there next year, and visit some other friends in NY as well. Will be my first time in the US/Canada.

I hope that's ENE of Toronto; due east would put you in the middle of L. Ontario! :eek: (:D)

Doc

We are leaving this morning. Target return is just after Labor Day.

Have a nice August, and I wish you all a comfortable month.

Take care!

Bless you! Have a safe trip!
Susanne

turns out im going on a road trip myself, new jersey, pennsylvannia,maryland, west virginia, virginia, north carolina, south carolina, georgia and florida. on the way back i am going to be so tempted to make that left turn on interstate 10 and head west.

Enjoy your vacation.
Take care too!

:D we will be here when you get back:D

Have a safe trip echoes. Where in Florida is your destination. We might bump into each other :)

sarasota fla. i'll be the one walking gingerly....ha

Have a great time in Florida. And all the other places on the road trip, too.

We will miss you but hope you have a great August. See you here in September.

Hey MrsD...
 

Keep an eye out for THIS... ;)

Incredible & Crazy Sky in Upper Michigan

Doc

We do have lots of clouds this year. I saw the ones you
mention on CNN too.
I think I'll try some art work and or photos of some this year!

It has been quite cold so far . We stuck a thermometer in
the water 2 days ago and it read 56 degrees!! Yikes!