Is It Really Flip-Flop Weather?

Sure, everyone wants spring to come, but lets take a little time to look at the facts. THERE'S STILL A TON OF SNOW OUT THERE! This is what I see when I look out my window. Not flip-flop weather in my book. Sure, we've had a few days of warmer temperatures, but in addition to a ton of snow, there's even more MUD!



Now, I've spotted some flip-flops already this week. Maybe in warmer climates, that's fine, but in BIG SNOW COUNTRY, I think it's best to wait a bit. . .

Undiscovered Treasure

Where else can you have roaring waterfalls, pristine lakes, abundant wildlife, great skiing, snowboarding, snowmobiling, golf, and just about anything else you might want to do outdoors? The Upper Peninsula of Michigan is one of the world's undiscovered treasures. The population is low here and most of our inhabitants don't even take advantage of our beauteous landmarks.

The other day, my kids and I went for a trek to one of our area's five major waterfalls. With our area's over 200 inches of snowfall during our significant winter, when it starts to melt in the spring, the waterfalls are spectacular! We decided to check out Rainbow Falls on this journey because my kids are 7 and 3 and the hike is the shortest. We wore our puddle boots because even though not all the snow had melted, the mud was more prevalent. The force and power of the water is just amazing and you can hear it even before you get near it. It is even a little scary being on the observation deck and being so close to it. I kept the children near. The walk is only a half a mile, but half of it is down wooden steps. And of course it isn't too bad until you have to go back up them. There seems to be more steps on the way up. My three-year-old wanted me to carry him, but we had a pre-trek agreement that that was not going to happen. We made it back to the van and my three-year-old asked, "Can we come back here again?"

"Of course we can."

Oh I forgot to mention, as we were getting in the van, we saw a gaggle of geese flying back from their winter retreat.

Muddin' in the Minivan

I've got a really long dirt (and mud) driveway. Almost a quarter of a mile long. And I love to drive really fast down it. Now that the snow is melting, there is a really big mudpuddle down at the bottom of it. I love to drive as fast as I can through it and see how high I can get the mud puddle to spray. It's probably not good for the van, but it sure is fun. The other day I sprayed the mud up over the roof of the van. It was really cool! The kids are always really impressed. My husband. . . shhhh . . .doesn't know. And he certainly can't tell by all the mud that's on the van. Or the mud that is sprayed like twenty feet up the trees on the side of the driveway.

Craft Show Crappiness

Slogging through the mud to set up and pouring rain, what could be better for a craft show? Oh yeah. . . twenty other jewelry sellers and several of them selling really cheap stuff, and let me tell you, most of the people in my area like really cheap stuff. Not all of them. Some appreciate quality handmade sterling and gemstone jewelry, but a lot of them like $5 earrings. Whatever. My faithful customers showed up and I'm grateful for them. I shouldn't feel too bad. The poor lady next to me took in $29 and the table was $25. Ouch! I tested out my new display and it worked really well and I can hide behind it if I want to and totally avoid people I don't like. I made some new contacts, handed out my business cards, and talked about my website. The bad news is, about half the people I talked to don't even have computers. (Our craft show crowd is an older crowd.) I also debuted a new necklace design that everybody loved. (But nobody bought.) :(

April Brings. . .

Snow! And more snow! And the forecast calls for more snow! This week is my spring break and it is very cold and snowy. Here in "Big Snow Country" in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, April is a month of extremes. The temperatures in April could have an 80 degree difference. One day, it could be -20 and the next day it could be 60. Not unheard of. We could get twenty inches of snow, or six inches of rain. The problem arises when the rain falls before the snow melts. Then we get flash floods. One year, the town down the way became an island because of the floods and they released the kids from school to go fill sandbags. Because of the aforementioned, April also brings mud. Not your run-of-the-mill-mud either. Filled-with-organic-matter, fecund, stinky mud. We just built a house last year and we don't have a yard yet, so we will have 23 acres of mud when the snow melts. Yipeeee! And it looks like a moat is forming down near the bottom of our driveway. I'm not sure "moat" is what we were shooting for when we put the culvert in. So, when April is over, we have mosquito-filled May to look forward to.