The week that was

Oh, what a week! But now it's over. The skies are clearing. I can breath again. I even got caught up with most of the blog alerts I had to skip until now. Spent several hours on that last night.

What are the ingredients of a manic week? Let me count the ways.

1. Off-year election coverage plus candidate interviews nobody else wants to help with.

2. Meetings with coaches to prepare for all-U.P. football meetings

3. Routine meeting news coverage that didn't have a prayer of getting written up for this week's issue.

4. The day-long football meeting, which takes place about two hours from home. It's a day-long session/ordeal that I have to leave for at 6:30 a.m., and it just goes on and on and on. Of all the things I do on my job, I think that's the day I enjoy the very least. A long, tiring day.

Let's get this straight. Watching football is fun. Covering football is fun. Arguing about the merits of one player over another is terribly dull stuff.

5. A girls basketball game. Just one last week, fortunately.

6. A glimpse or two of the World Series. I got to see a few innings after my meetings and games.

7. Two football playoff games, one on Friday night and the other on Saturday afternoon.

8. Writing everything up. (Except for those meetings, which didn't have a prayer of getting in due to all the election preview stuff I wrote.)

9. It was even my turn to write the editorial. Just my lucky week, I guess.

On top of all that, we had a big storm moving in late in the week. They had forecast mainly wind--areas south and east of us got all the rain--and that's all we got. We only got about a half inch of snow Saturday morning; it melted during the day.

I visited my mom for a short time before the Friday game--it was about 15 miles from the nursing home. Got her some stuff she needed. Saturday's game was way up in the Keweenaw Peninsula, north of Houghton. Just windy, and no snow on the ground. I saw a few flakes while driving home. Left home Saturday at 9 a.m. and got back about 5:30.

Our teams went 1-1, losing Friday night (expected) and winning Saturday (expected, but it was a very close game). They advance to play on Friday, and that, I'm sure, will end their season. The other team is too good.

That means for the first time in three years, I don't have to worry about driving downstate for the football finals in Detroit--about a 520-mile trip each way. True, I get to see my son, but it's just such a rush-rush thing that there's no time for relaxing. He'll be up here over Christmas, anyway.

So one football team is left, and they should be done after this Friday. Girls basketball has two weeks to go. One team is bad and will be eliminated quickly. The other could win its district tournament, but it's a tough distric--they may not.

In short, life this week is less hectic and much less tense. There soon will be a short break before winter sports begin. What will I do then?

I don't know. Early last December, I made that long, long trip to Ontario to visit S for a couple days. She's back in Wisconsin now, of course, but she's with her husband again. I'd love to see her--even if just for dinner--but that probably won't happen. My other friend, K, is in Madison--haven't seen her since my wife and I visited to see those crazy cows last June.

I'm guessing right now that most likely I'll stay close to home. Maybe, if I get nice weather, I'll go on a photo trip--just go out and look for interesting photos. Haven't done that for a long time. Most of the photos I've posted recently were taken while on the way to some assignment or to see my mom.

Anyway, I'm still here. Life goes on.

One other update: My poor battered car should be fixed up early next week.

Godzilla crashes the birthday party

I have to be brief. This is the week from hell. Workwise, that is. Many things to do. Little time to do it. Plus, I have to be out of town for an all-day meeting Thursday. Not looking forward to it, but it's not an option ...

Anyway, I did take some time off over the weekend for my wife's birthday. She's 10 months younger than I am. So I figured some age-related birthday cards were appropriate.

But what to get? I was stumped until I saw this one. It features one of my favorite movie stars. A big guy in the movies. One who knows how to put his foot down.

So ... Here's the front of the card:



And when you open it up ...



Yes, she got a kick out of it.

We went off to get a birthday pizza with my son, and we had a good if quiet day. I've been wanting to take her for a real dinner (as in steak), but that has to wait until life gets less ridiculous.

I've got to run off to a school board meeting very soon, and dinner will be ready in minutes, so I'll stop here. This is the toughest week. Next week: not so bad. The week after: not bad at all! But this week ...

Wish me luck. I'll try to catch up on blog alerts once I get back--but will surely fall far behind again later in the week.

My snowy adventure

This little squirrel has been running around the circular drum in his cage just about full-time recently. There has been very little time to collect my thoughts and put some of them to paper. Or what passes for paper nowadays.

Let's see. The last time I wrote, I had just gotten back from a girls basketball game, during which somebody hit my car while it was parked along the street. On Friday morning, I went around for estimates: about $2,500. I've got comprehensive on my auto insurance policy, so it won't come out of pocket. Michigan is a "no-fault" state, anyway.

But it happened on Thursday night, and on Friday and Saturday, I had to cover two important football games out of town. With a major (and unusually early) snowstorm about to arrive. And with my car at less than peak condition. Oh well. I dressed very warm, got in the car and drove west.

The snow wasn't fallling too hard for the first half of the trip Friday. But then, as I got closer to Lake Superior, it got worse and heavier. But I got to town before sundown and immediately went to look at the football field. I arrived just as the crew was about to start clearing the gridiron with plows, with the snow blowing merrily all around ...



I went off to the Dairy Queen for some supper (seeing some fans who didn't believe I--or they--would make it). Then, back to the field. It was darker now, and here's what it looked like from where I parked ...

That's all snow in the air, folks.

The plows were still working ...


But there still were big piles of snow around the field ...

That's the visiting team's grandstand.

I went inside, and of all things, there was somebody cooking hamburgers outdoors, with several inches of snow on the top of his grill. Of course, this deserved a photo ...


And if you turned 90 degrees to your right, here is what you saw ...


Then the game started. It was snowing pretty hard during the first half ...


In the second half, the snow backed off for a while ...


The cheerleaders made it to the game. But more fans than this made the 100-mile trip--it was halftime, and some of them had gone off to visit
Burger Man and get some coffee.

Anyway, the girls were dressed for the occasion ...


The game ended, and our team suffered a rare loss. I did my interviews and then got in my car. After all, I had to get home so I could hit the road again Saturday morning.

But it was still snowing hard. There was very little traffic. That's a good thing and a bad thing. It was good in that I didn't have to worry about too many other drivers trying to cope (like I was) with their first snowy drive of winter. It's bad because not too many vehicles were on the road, laying tracks on the highway. And without tracks, the road is very hard to follow. All you folks in warmer climes don't know what you're missing.

I'm used to driving in conditions like this, having lived up here for so long, but it still makes my neck, shoulders and back stiff. It's quite a tense situation, you know? And I'm by myself. And it's a long, long, long trip home. And it's only October!!!!!!

Of course, no highway crews were out. In the 80-mile trip home, I did not see a single plow truck. Not even one. And I hasten to add that this is a drive through a very remote area, where cell phones are just dead weight in your pocket.

But I finally got home ... and the next morning, I had to hit the road again. David was coming with me, and we were going north, to the Copper Country.

Here's something else I wanted to tell you about the trip home. All the road signs were snowed over--snow was sticking to the surfaces, so they were impossible to read. If I hadn't been fairly familiar with the trip ... but I was.

Here is a traffic sign I saw on our trip north Saturday morning. Sure you can figure out what it is now, in daylight. But what if it had been in the middle of the night, with snow falling all around?


The snow had stopped by this time, and the only problem was slush on the road for a few miles. But the results of the storm were all around us. Here are a few snowy shots I took along the way ...



See the snow-covered autumn leaves?


That looks like a nice road to walk down.

This time no snow was falling, and the roads were clear. Remember those snowy football pictures I posted last time? Same two teams as before, but conditions were much different this time ...

In fact, the sun was out for most of the game. And our team won, which is always nice.

My little car survived both long trips without a problem. It's a good car. At least it's a good one for me.

So this is my first chance to tell you about it. Monday, after work, my wife wanted to watch a movie with me. Tuesday, we drove off to visit my mom. Tonight, I'm at home, watching the baseball playoffs. That's as ambitious as I want to get tonight.

Thursday, I've got girls basketball, but that's in town. Friday, I've got football, but it's in the neighboring town and the weather is supposed to behave.

After my adventure last Friday night (yes, Friday the 13th), I'll settle for that.

A surprise in the snow

Oh yes, winter's here, at least for the short term. Temperatures here yesterday were more in line with Christmas time--in the 20s. We didn't get that much snow--maybe an inch. It's been snowing lightly for some time, descending at about a 75 degree angle due to strong winds out of the west.

Other parts of the U.P. got it worse, and school was canceled in some places. A snow day on Oct. 12!!! They were supposed to have a cross country meet here, but that was called off. The cross-county girls basketball game Thursday night went ahead as scheduled.

So I went there (the roads were OK), covered the game, did the post-game interviews, and then it was time to head for home. I walked about 100 yards to the car, put my camera bag in the back seat and opened the front door to get my snow brush. But the door stuck--much harder to open than before. That was a surprise. Does it all of a sudden need oiling?

I started the car to warm it up and then went outside to brush the snow off the windows. The back, the side and then towards the front. But when I walked around to the front, I saw something amiss ...

The car had obviously been hit--part of the front bumper had been torn away.

I was just digging in my jacket pocket for my cell phone, when a truck pulled up. The driver was an off-duty city police officer who had seen the car that hit mine, and then pulled away. But he had written down the license plate number. He called the police and drove off.

A few minutes later, a police car pulled up--but he was the only officer on duty, and he had to settle a "domestic" call first. He said that someone had stopped at the Sheriff's Department, reporting he had hit a car near the high school. He promised to be back in a few minutes, so I sat in the car, listening to the radio, trying to pick up the score of the baseball playoff game. I also got my camera out and got a few pictures. And here they are.





Well, that explains the problem with the car's door.

As I sat and waited for an update on the game, a car pulled up in front of me, and the guy (late teens, early 20s) walked out and towards me. I rolled down the window. He said he is the guy who hit my car--he drove off because I wasn't around (probably still doing the interviews after the game). I looked at his car. It didn't seem damaged at all!

He said I should go to the Sheriff's Department (just a few blocks away) to finish the report. But the housing around the front tire was connected to the section of the bumper that had been torn loose. I clearly couldn't go anywhere with that flapping around, and I didn't have anything to cut it with.

I was still wrestling with that when the police car returned. First he took a big knife and cut the rubber/plastic housing out from behind the tire with a big knife (which he got while serving in Iraq). He then took my information, and I was free to go. He said he could issue the driver a ticket ... but noted that he'll be in enough hot water with his insurance company. I said don't bother. So I left, and I got back home about 9:50, about 40 minutes later than normal. The car seemed to handle all right during the drive.

So today's activities will include calling my insurance company and maybe driving up to get an estimate. Then, late this afternoon, I get in the car and drive off about 80 miles west into the snow country (and into the wind) to cover the football game that night. When I get home from that, it will be about midnight. Then, at about 9:30 Saturday morning, it's on the road again to the other game I have to cover. Also in an area getting hit by the storm. The snow should be mostly over by then, but it promises to be a very unpleasant day.

Here are some pictures from the game there two years ago. It was played in a cold rain that changed to a wet snow as the game went along. Yes, it was windy, too. But our loyal fans turned out and even took pictures of themselves ...


The stat girls were there. But despite the garbage bag covering their notes, the pages quickly turned to mush. BTW, that's rain on the camera lens ...


And I got some snowy shots of the action ...





Unfortunately, I lost two of the best pictures--put them on a CD-ROM that now seems to be unreadable. The first showed the field as the players were leaving after the game--taken close to the ground, it slowed that the grass was covered in slush. The other showed my car--also all covered with slush.

So that's what's in my future tonight and tomorrow. When I finally get home to stay on Saturday, I have to defrost and then write all weekend. Life is never dull.

I just hope they (the deer, the other drivers, Old Man Winter) leave my poor, bruised car alone. This is getting old.

Answers to questions without answers

Since many of you wrote in response to my last post, in which I wrote to my close friend, S, about the Amish school killings, you may want to read her reply, which follows. She makes several points that some of you made earlier.

I think the reason the Amish incident happened can be summed up in the words of this Amish woman: "Katie Weaver, from an Amish community in Michigan, came here to offer sympathy. 'We can tell people about Christ and actually show you in our walk that we forgive, not just say it, but in our walk of life,' she says." All religions tell us love and forgive. This message was given to all. Most talk the talk but don't walk the walk. People tend to pick and choose ... it only meant forgive these or those people. To do otherwise would be impossible, they say. This incident was used by the Divine to show us that we can live this way, loving unconditionally and forgiving all. The people this happened to felt God won because this man planned to sexually molest all those children, but police arrived before he could carry out his plan. Our time in a physical body is but a blink of an eye, but our lives are eternal. As an Essene, I also believe in reincarnation. We believe we are each given a 'birth vision' and choose which family we come into each lifetime. To each is designated a particular lifespan on earth. If one commits suicide, they must return to finish out that original timespan before continuing on. What better way to finish out a lifespan than as an Amish child, innocent, loved and free, in tune with the earth. These souls then showed us the power of love and forgiveness, thereby advancing and evolving. ALL things work together for good for those who love God.

I should explain that S is a member of the clergy in the Essene church. The Essenes are followers of a Gnostic faith, which had split from mainstream Christianity before the Council of Nicea in the 4th century AD. So they believe in the same Jesus--but in different ways and have different beliefs. Their Bible includes books that are not in the mainstream Christian canon. See this link to learn more about that.

As many of you also know, S is very dear to me, and I love her very much. Her words made me feel much better about what happened in Pennsylvania last week, and I wrote her last night to tell her thank you.

***
The big news up here this week is that autumn is going to be checking out for a while, and The Old Man is coming.

Yes, the fall color season is definitely over. It's raining here this morning, but it's supposed to change over to snow late this afternoon, and we're supposed to get several inches of it overnight. Areas closer to Lake Superior will be getting more. A lot more. Plus plenty of wind from out of the north. The storm will continue there through most of Thursday and maybe into Friday.

Guess where my football games are this weekend? They are both in the area that is supposed to get hit the hardest. One is near Ironwood on Friday night, and the other is near Houghton on Saturday afternoon. The roads will be plowed out by then, and the football fields will be cleared, but there likely will be at least a little snow in the air. And both fields could be very sloppy and muddy.

In other words, they are the perfect places to get some memorable photos in miserable weather. I'm already lining up my foul weather gear. My winter boots. Long johns. Heavy coat. Knit cap. Mitts. I'll try to be ready for anything.

Questions with no answers

I wrote to S on Saturday night. The usual stuff. What I did during the week. I included some of the fall color pictures I posted here a few days ago.

I also wrote this:

"I've been feeling very sad this week. It's because of the Amish children who were killed in Pennsylvania. I know they are already starting their new lives, and the Divine has something special for them, but it just seems so cruel that such a terrible thing happens to these people. And all they can do is forgive, with their hearts broken. Isn't it remarkable that these people actually live what their faith is? The media seems astounded that they are willing to forgive the gunmen who killed their daughters.

"Oh, I know there's plenty of evil in the world, and I try to pay it no mind--to do so, I think, gives the evil satisfaction, and I refuse to give them that happiness. I don't know. I just try to be good to others, to be kind. I guess I'm just feeling sad and confused about this episode. There is more than enough sadness in the world. But why these people? I'm having a hard time dealing with this. Can there be any good out of this tragedy?

"I think I'm tired. It's late. I've just been thinking about it a lot. It's like those reasons I gave up on organized religion. Because I can't understand why a good and loving God would let this happen."

Earlier today, they held the funeral for the gunmen who killed five Amish girls in their schoolhouse. There are five more who are injured, and one may not make it. Here is what the wire story said:

GEORGETOWN, Pa. - Dozens of Amish neighbors came out Saturday to mourn the quiet milkman who killed five of their young girls and wounded five more in a brief, unfathomable rampage. Charles Carl Roberts IV, 32, was buried in his wife's family plot behind a small Methodist church, a few miles from the one-room schoolhouse he stormed Monday ... About half of perhaps 75 mourners on hand were Amish. "It's the love, the forgiveness, the heartfelt forgiveness they have toward the family. I broke down and cried seeing it displayed," said Porter, [a fire department from Colorado who had come to Pennsylvania to offer what help he could]. He said Marie Roberts [the gunman's widow] was also touched. "She was absolutely deeply moved, by just the love shown," Porter said.

The story goes on the recount the incident, which took place last Monday. It talks about all the condolances that have been coming in from near and far and the money that has been raised--about $500,000 has been pledged--to help cover the medical costs of the five survivors.

Events like this ... well, I said it in the letter. Few things affect me as deeply as this.

Colors of an autumn day

As I wrote last time, we went for a drive on Sunday to look at the autumn leaves and to record the spectacle with my camera.

On Wednesday, I took a drive along the same road, on my way to the U.P. girls tennis finals. I also visited my mom, but that was a busier day than I planned. More on that later.

Not much to say about the pictures. Fall is a very colorful season up where I live, and Sunday was just about the peak of the 2006 color season. Plus, the sun was out, boosting the color intensity even more.

I remember a drive we took a number of years ago, when the leaves were so vividly colored, they seemed to be in day-glo paint. The oranges, the reds, the yellows were so incredibly colorful. Once upon a time, working for a college paper, I called the leaves "Trix-colored." As in the breakfast cereal--"raspberry red, lemon yellow and orange orange." The copy editor didn't get it. When it came into print, it appeared "tri-colored." WTF???

Anyway, prepare your eyeballs to be dazzled. Here are some of the sights we saw on Sunday afternoon:





How'd you like to take a ride down one of the dirt roads leading off the state highway?


We found an abandoned road through the woods and decided to take a hike ...


There were recent tire tracks and ruts in the dirt, but few pass this way ...


If you have never walked a path like this, this is what it looks like when you look down ...


But of all things, look what I found along the path ...


But the fall color season passes quickly. This year, even more so. Here is a group of trees that we saw on Sunday ...

And here is the same group (I think--same general area, anyway) on Wednesday ...


Here is the intersection by that dirt road on Sunday ...

... and on Wednesday ...


And here is the area where that abandoned road meets the state highway, just before we started our hike on Sunday ...

The same area when I drove past on Wednesday ...


It's a reminder that all things pass, and one day is always worth two tomorrows. All I can say is that I'm glad I made it a priority to take my wife on a color tour on Sunday. On Wednesday, the trill would have been gone ... along with most of the leaves.

* * *

On Wednesday, I covered the girls tennis tournament in Kingsford, and our girls won the U.P. championship. It's the 12th time they have won the U.P. title since 1991. Definitely our most successful high school sport.

Once the tournament was done and the trophy and medals were presented, I went off to visit my mom--her nursing home is only about 15 miles away. I had a couple things for her, and I thought I could visit for an hour and a half, then head for home and have supper and a relaxing evening at home.

But my mom had other ideas. She wanted to go for a drive and to see her house--specifically the trees in front, to see if the leaves had turned red. As it turns out, they hadn't--just gold. But then she saw her neighbor's house across the road and asked to go over there.

We drove over there, and I knocked at the door and found out they were home. I didn't know whether my mom would be able to go inside, with her frail condition and walker. But she wanted to. She slowly made her way across the grass, and then we helped her very slowly climb the steps. Inside, they had coffee and talked for a while about family and old times. They had a great time. Then we led her back down the stairs, across the grass and back into the car.

While they were talking, I thought of somewhere else she would like to go. We drove off the normal path, down another road a few miles and wound up at the township cemetery. I drove in a back entrance and up a narrow road to a back corner where her husband and her other son are buried. I rolled down the window, and she was able to visit from the car. It's a lovely area. There are woods nearby and farm fields behind the gravesite. Very rural area, atop a hill. I imagine the wildlife make regular visits, too.

It had been over a year since she was down there. She got sick last September, and I'm the only one who has been driving her around since then. She was very grateful that I took her there.

Then it was finally time to eat. We went to Hardees, but this time I ordered the food to go, and we ate in the car--she got her usual chicken sandwich and strawberry shake, with a few french fries. It had been a mild day and a pleasant evening, though it was already getting dark.

From there, the car headed back to the nursing home. We visited for a while, and then it was time for me to head home. The sun had already set, and the last traces of daylight were nearly all gone. No deer problems on the way home, fortunately. I got back home at about 9 p.m. About three hours later than I wanted. With the way work has been lately, I was really looking forward to a quiet, relaxing evening.

But it was all right. My mom had a happy day and did some things she wanted to do: See her neighbors. See the gravesite. Ate some chicken that has some taste. Got to see some fall colors. She was tired but happy when I left. So all was well.

Showing their true colors

You should be able to guess why I haven't written for a while. Work. Really, really busy all last weekend. And it's not going to get easier for a while. I have games to cover on both Friday night and Saturday afternoon for the next two weeks, which kind of shoots the weekend all to heck, since I need to have them all written up by Monday morning.

So I've been out of touch these last few days. I spent Saturday night with my wife--we watched a movie and then went upstairs for some serious snuggling. On Sunday, the Packers had the day off (they played--and lost--on Monday night). Besides, it was the first day in more than a week when the sun was out up here, and we both realized that the numbers days remaining to look at the fall colors was dwindling rapidly.

So we went for a little drive to admire all the color in the woods.

This is, of course, the loveliest part of the year up here. Fall is when the leaves show their true colors, especially the maples. But last week was dark and dank. My only last chance to get some leaf pictures last week was on Wednesday, when my wife and I went down to visit my mom and bring her some goodies she had asked for. I took some shots and sent them down to S when I wrote her over the weekend. She loved them--fall is her favorite season, too.

The sun played hide and seek that day, but on Sunday it was out in all its glory. After lunch. we found a road we like and got a few pictures along the way. I still have to work on the Sunday shots, so maybe you'll see them tomorrow night. (I had a game tonight.) But here are the earlier ones I sent to S.




Yes, the turkeys were strutting about, checking out the fall colors, too.

One of our reporters has been on vacation for the last week and a half, so that just means more stuff that the rest of us (the editor and I) have to do. Big staff, eh? I also had some special features I had to work on last week and an important game last Friday that needed a lot of coverage.

So it kept me hopping. Monday night, we watched the Packers lose. Tuesday, fortunately, was a lot slower, and I could finally catch up on all the blog alerts I didn't have time for over the last few days. I have a couple computer game-type distractions, too.

Anyway, I'm back, and I hope you enjoy the fall colors from the North Woods. More of the same in a day or two.