Drummond Island

 This past weekend, DD2 came to farmsit so that DH and I could go up to Drummond Island for the wedding of a friend.  Neither DH nor I had been there before.  If you don't know where Drummond Island is, it's on the eastern edge of the Upper Peninsula, out in Lake Huron near its north-most point at the St. Mary's River.  

Fun fact: for whatever reason, when the dividing line between Canada and Michigan was agreed upon, Michigan got Drummond Island and Canada got the other islands in the same area.  So if you look at a close up of the map, the international boundary line jogs up and around Drummond Island, then back down into Lake Huron.

Anyway, to get to Drummond Island from this little place here, first you need to drive about four hours north and go across the Mackinac Bridge.

Crossing the Mighty Mac.

Then you have to drive another hourish east, to the edge of the U.P. and wait for the hourly ferry that runs all people and vehicles across the St. Mary's River to Drummond Island.  Unless you have a private boat or a private plane, there is no other way to get there.

Here comes the ferry!

Neither DH nor I had been on a car ferry before, so that was a new and interesting experience. We drove across the metal bridge that is attached to the ferry (one on each end of the boat), then followed the directions from one of the deckhands on where to drive and park our vehicle (DH's work-issued small SUV).

Driving up the linkspan (ramp bridge) to get on the ferry.

Following the deckhand's directions on where to drive.

 Only the smaller/narrower vehicles fit through here.

We got in the front row!

We ended up in the front row, being the first vehicle of the 'smaller' size that was waiting in line.  Trucks with trailers and large vehicles made up the center row, with mid-sized vehicles and trucks without trailers being in the far right row on this trip.  In the picture above, you can see the linkspan in front of us, which was all that was between us and the open water.  The linkspan rather made me think of beavertail ramps on trailers, or ramps on horse trailers.

The river crossing was very smooth, and took a little over 10 minutes.  Then the linkspan was lowered, and the deckhands directed each row of vehicles when to exit. It was all easily and flawlessly done.

We had made it to the island! There aren't a whole lot of roads on the island, and only one that goes from the ferry dock to the town, so it was pretty easy to find our cabin that DH had reserved for the weekend.  It was kind of around the side of the island and closer to the top, but only maybe a 15 minute drive, if that.

Our home for the weekend.

View from our cabin.

We were situated right on the water, with a boat-launch maybe 100 yards away.  Other than some fishermen, there were no boats coming and going, so it was very quiet and peaceful.  With the exception of being woken up Sunday morning to the BLAM!  BLAM, BLAM, BLAM! of either duck or goose hunters at dawn.  But still, I would definitely go back and spend more time there.

Because the wedding we were there to attend wasn't until late afternoon, DH and I had planned to do a little hiking on Saturday morning.  DS2 had driven himself up after work on Friday, and stayed overnight with us.  He is a calibration engineer, and had brought a test vehicle with him, a pick-up truck that we used to drive the three of us on some of the ORV trails (the island has tons of ORV trails).  Because he had instrumentation taking data while he drove (ie. testing), and said instrumentation takes up a portion of the front passenger seat area, DH sat in the backseat and I got the dubious honor of being the navigator in the front passenger seat.  

Navigating required the use of a paper ORV map picked up at the restuarant where we ate breakfast that morning.  Most of the island does not have wi-fi or cell service.  I didn't get us lost, thank goodness!

One of the wider ORV trails.

We drove as far as we could in DS2's work truck; any further would have required a vehicle with an on-board winch because of all the water hazard features on the trail. A regular truck could go only so far, then you needed a vehicle that was specifcially outfitted for off-roading. In addition to a winch, an articulated suspension would be a good thing. for the parts with great unevenness of terrain (big rocks, foot-deep ruts, etc.) So we parked the truck off the side of the trail, and walked in the rest of the way to our destination: Marblehead.

Hiking down the ORV trail once we couldn't drive any further.

We made it to the top of Marblehead, and stood out on the edge for a bit, looking out into Lake Huron and over at Canada just across the water.

DS2 doing his typical thing: hike to the very edge of the precipice, then look down.

(I have similar pictures of him as a teenager in the Badlands in 2008.)

The height here was about 100 feet.

I can see Canada, eh!

Then, because, well, why not?  DS2 scouted around and found us a trail (hiking?  wildlife?) that picked its way down to the beach below.  And so we went scrambling down.

Part of the limestone formation that Marblehead is made of.

We made it safely down the beach, which was made not of sand, but of limestone shale that was loose and rounded from the waves.

Shale beach

After hanging out on the beach for a few minutes, we turned and climbed back up to where we'd started from.  Thankfully we hadn't wandered too far, because it was nearly impossible to see the trail from the shore.

Entrance to the trail we'd come down on.

It was great weather that day, in the sixties, with a blue sky and pretty much no wind.  Also, thanks to several weeks of cold nights, pretty much no bugs either!  I dawdled a bit on the way back up the trail taking pictures of what I could see.

The moss was so lush and bright.

Looking up the trail as we neared the top.

I also dawdled a bit as we followed (first, the wrong, then after backtracking, the correct) ORV trail to where we'd parked DS2's truck.

A very green praying mantis on the trail.

Frog hanging out in a water hazard.

In addition to the beautiful blue sky, several of the maple trees had turned colors, drawing my eye (and camera.)

The wedding itself was very nice.  The venue was on the water, with the ceremony held outside at water's edge, and the reception indoors in a rustic lodge type place (mostly because it's old, not because it was built to be faux rustic).  At the reception, guests were seated at tables that were named after places with special meaning to the bride and groom: The Keweenaw, Alaska, Mexico, Sturgeon River, etc.  We were assigned to the Sturgeon River table, as the bride has been going on our annual canoe/kayak and camping trip there for most of the last 10 years and the groom has been on several of the more recent years.  What was a neat touch was that the table markers had pictures at/from the location it was named after.  DS2 recognized several of the Sturgeon River pictures as those he had taken of the bride there through the years.

On Sunday morning, we were a bit worried about how long it would take us to get off the island, what with the ferry only holding a maximum of about 30 vehicles at a time, depending on size (trailers, etc).  In addition to wedding guests needing to go home, there were also weekend ORV-ers, fishermen, and a whole bunch of ladies from Wisconsin who had brough their horses (and trucks and horse trailers) over for a trail-riding and camping weekend.  

Thankfully, the ferry was running a special schedule that morning, which meant it pretty much ran continuously across the river, only stopping long enough to load and unload.  Still, we waited in line for a bit over an hour and were on the third ferry trip than ran after we got in line.  

I highly recommend checking out Drummond Island.  Just pay attention to the ferry schedule, and allow yourself lots of time to get home on Sunday in case you have to wait quite awhile for your turn to get on the ferry and off the island!

Books Read in 2026: September

 

The Mountains We Call Home by Kim Michele Richardson.  This novel was published earlier this year and is continuing the story of the main character from The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek (that I read several years ago). I first saw it in Meijer while grocery shopping, and, I kid you not, took a picture of it so I would remember to see if my library had it.  They did, and I borrowed it.  I'm so glad I did. It is heartwrenching.  Yet so, so good.  I highly recommend reading it.

Persuasion by Jane Austen.  Can you believe I've never read Jane Austen?  I feel like this book was slow and hard to get into, maybe because the writing style differs so much from 21st century writing?  But once I perserved to keep reading past all the descriptiveness of early 19th century English societal structure, etc., I was very much invested in finding out what would happen to the characters.

A Smoking Bun by Ellie Alexander.  Book 18 (? I think) of the Bakeshop Mystery series, I can't believe it's been about ten months since I read the last one. I used to have to space these out to limit myself to only 2-3 per year so I didn't blast through the series faster than the author was writing them.  But then, as I read the book, I can kind of understand why I didn't read it sooner.  I'm kind of falling out of love with this series.  Something about the writing seems to have changed.  I can't quite put my finger on it, but it doesn't keep me spellbound like the earlier ones did.

You Could Make This Place Beautiful by Maggie Smith.  I've seen this book mentioned a lot on the internet this year, and I finally decided to request it from the library.  I had such a hard time putting this book down.  Each 'chapter' is short; anywhere from 2-3 lines to a few pages, and they not only relate to each other, but, in my opinion, to a lot of women's experiences divorced or otherwise.  Plus, I love the cover art.  I can't tell you how many times I picked the book up and examined the cover details before opening it to read.  Pretty much each and every time I sat down to read!

The Unveiling of Polly Forrest by Charlotte Whitney.  Hmm.  I had previously read and enjoyed another book from this author, and so had sought out more from her.  This one just didn't speak to me as much.  Some of it was good, other parts I felt the writing was lacking.  It sort of gave off a self-published vibe, which in my definition means could have used more editing.  Not that I found any typos or grammatical errors, but that the story felt sort of unpolished and some of the descriptions of Michigan gardens/farms  and what was ripe when did not jive with my 30-some years of gardening in the same growing zone of Michigan as the book is set in.  So that threw me off a bit.  I did finish the book, although I'm not sure I'll look for more from this author.

Sewing Stuff Sept 22-28

You know, I've really missed making quilts.  After making five baby quilts in three years (Buck, Sixlet, Lucky and Octavia plus this one for a young relative's first baby), I took a break from sewing quilts.  I really didn't intend for it to be a break of over a year, but that's how it ended up being.  When I bought that quilt kit in 2025, before I was even done with Octavia's quilt, I really planned on having that be the next one on my to-sew list and having it done in the fall.  Life didn't turn out that way, though.

But now that I've gotten going on it, I can't imagine not making another quilt when I've gotten this one done.  I really enjoy putting the pieces together, kind of like a giant jigsaw puzzle, and seeing the whole picture come into creation.

Here's how the fourth week of National Sewing Month has gone for me:

 September 22, I sewed the five rows of the bottom left quadrant of the quilt together.  And then, I put the pieces for the rows of the bottom right quadrant in order and sewed two of the five rows.

September 23, I sewed the five rows of the bottom right quadrant, and then I sewed the rows into the big chunk that makes up that portion of the quilt.  This day I was able to spend more than 15 minutes in the sewing area as DS1 had called me that morning and asked me to pick Rascal up from school (he was running a fever and the school wanted him gone asap).  So my morning was spent not in the barn or training horses, but keeping an eye on a sick boy sleeping on my couch.

September 24, on this day I really could have just blown off my to-do list and worked for an hour or more on this quilt.  But I didn't.  I gave myself just five extra minutes and stuck to that twenty-minute time frame.  All four quadrants got sewn together into the center of the quilt top!  All that remains to do is cut the border strips and put them on, then the top will be done and ready for sandwiching and quilting.  I'm so excited about how quickly this project is coming together!

September 25, I cut the inner border fabric for the quilt.  Then I prepped some mending to take with me on our weekend trip, with the hopes that I could get some 'sewing' time in on Saturday.

September 26, nada sewing.  I knew, given the fact that this day had long been reserved for attending a wedding in a different part of the state, that I most likely wouldn't be able to do anything for National Sewing Month on this day, but I'd kinda hoped that maybe I could squeeze something in.  Hence the taking mending, needle, and thread along with me.

September 27, Likewise, nada sewing.  Honestly, it was kind of a hard day.  The long ride back wasn't relaxing or conducive to doing the mending I'd brought (something that needed concentration to do correctly), and then when we got home I needed to clean stalls before bringing horses in because my farm sitter had woken up sick and texted me that morning asking if I would be home early enough to do stalls because she wasn't sure she physically could.  Tomorrow is another day, right?

September 28, I sewed!  I got the inner border fabric strips sewn together and trimmed to the correct length for each of the four sides of the quilt top.  I pinned them together by length so that (tomorrow) I will instantly know which goes where--they are almost the same length but not quite--and can get them attached to the quilt top.

I also ironed the fabric that will be used for the outer borders.

This is getting so close to being a finished quilt top!  I am thinking I can get that accomplished before National Sewing Month ends.  

Not Funny, But It Kinda Was

This is DH's mount of his elk skull and antlers from when he went elk hunting in Colorado in 2023.  

He had, for a couple of years, tried to find an existing way (as in a kit or parts he could buy) to mount this (cut) skull rather than just sawing off the upper portion of it that holds the antlers. Part of the problem was the angle at which the skull had been cut, by the place he took the head to for cleaning and removal of brain tissue and spinal matter so that he could transport the skull back home across state lines. Cut how it was, it would not fit properly on the kits or hangers sold for mounting deer skulls.

Eventually, he engineered a way to do it on his own, involving resin epoxy, a small piece of wood cut to fit inside the tiny rounded cavity on the underside of the upper part of the skull, a screw, and a scrap board.  As you can see from the photo above, it worked, and the elk skull hangs on our wall.

In the photo below, you can see better just where on the wall it was installed.  To the right is the mule deer that DH shot in Colorado in 2022.  He mounted it similarly to the elk skull, a few weeks after trying out his mounting system.

So here's where the not funny, but it kinda was part comes in.

In that photo, you can see part of our television.  In this photo (please ignore the grandkid related toy and seating clutter), you can see the heights and location of everything.

When DH put his skulls with antlers on the wall last winter, I expressed concern about the antlers sticking out and being low enough someone might walk into them and poke an eye out.  Especially the elk antlers.  DH, as men do, pooh-poohed my concern, saying it was fine and they were high enough, and besides, no adults walk that close to the wall anyway.

Well. . . Can you tell where this story is going?

Recently, DH poked himself in the forehead with the lower tines of the elk antlers.  He was concentrating on why is the station playing the football game not coming in?!?, walked over to the tv, went to reach behind it to fiddle with the wiring and whacked his head into the elk antlers rather forcefully.  Hard enough to break the skin and draw blood.

I confess, even as I was momentarily afraid he had poked his eye out, I couldn't help laughing. In an uncontrollable and gut busting manner. Because, you know, I told him so. 

But of course I couldn't say that.  I properly expressed my concern for his well being, as well as examined and cleaned his head injury. Even if I did have spurts of giggles while doing so. 

This Week At This Little Place Here

 It's been a busy week.  A good week, but a busy one.  With the exception of Cowgirl, who is but isn't one of my grandkids (it's complicated), in the past week I have seen all of my grandkids at least once.  

On Saturday, DS1 and Octavia stopped by to pick up a backpack with diapers, wipes and extra clothes that had been accidentally left here the week before.  They also brought me tomatoes from their garden, amost a half-bushel worth.

DS2 and Lucky came out on Sunday afternoon and harvested grapes, then pressed them and took the resulting mash home to make into wine.  I forgot to take pictures.

Monday was a work day, which basically means my focus is on training horses in addition to daily barn chores.  But I also cut up and packaged for the freezer a whole lot of rhubarb that DS1 had brought me the week before.  Typically rhubarb is a much earlier in the summer thing around here, but his was still doing great and hadn't gotten woody, so he brought me literally an 18 gallon tote full of rhubarb.  If I remember right, I have enough in the freezer now for four pies, three or four crisps, and several batches of muffins or rhubarb bread.  Plus I made a rhubarb crisp for dessert that night.

Tuesday was a work day, but it was also decent weather and a home football game for Toad, so I brought horses in for the night a little early and DH and I went to watch his game.  He's played rec league for the last two years, but as a 7th grader this is his first year playing middle school football.  He's the shorter player in the middle of the photo.  I'm not great at recognizing all the positions, especially for 8-man like his school plays, but I think the coach had him playing safety that night. K3, Rascal, Tractor and Octavia were there watching their brother play.

Faline is on the elementary school cheer team, and they cheered for the game that night.  Here's a picture of her.  She's a first grader this year, so also one of the smaller kids on the team.  Buck and Sixlet were also there, mimicking the cheerleaders for the most part.

Wednesday I had to adjust my schedule a little bit, and ended up not getting any horses ridden that day.  Instead, I got a call about 8:30 a.m. asking if I could go pick Rascal up from school as he was running a fever of 101+.  

So, while he slept on my couch, I made and canned tomato sauce with the roma tomatoes DS1 had given me.

I also did a little extra sewing time, and after DS1 got off work (he works first shift) and picked up Rascal, I went and did my barn chores.  Meanwhile, DD1 called and asked if I could pick up Sixlet from daycare, as she had an afterschool meeting that afternoon plus had to take Faline to dance class as soon as her meeting ended (Faline and Buck were going to afterschool care during this meeting).  Honorary Son had come home from work early and was throwing up, so he wasn't going to be able to go pick up Sixlet as he normally does after work.

Well, I couldn't do it, due to my schedule all ready having been shifted around for tending Rascal--I wouldn't be able to get stalls cleaned before feeding time, but DH's afternoon was free of meetings during that needed timeframe, so he went and got Sixlet and brought him to this little place here until dinner time, then he took him home.  So we got to have Sixlet hang out with us for a bit, and he helped me look for cucumbers in the garden.

On Thursday, I pickled the cucumbers after working horses.  I think this is the latest in the year I've ever made pickles; for whatever reason my cucumber vines have stayed very healthy this year and are still producing albeit much slower than they were in early August.

Friday (today), I am not working horses.  DD2 is coming to farm sit, and DH and I are heading off to Drummond Island, where we will be attending the wedding of a friend of DS2who has become, through the years, almost like a daughter to us.  We are hoping to do a little sight-seeing and hiking while we are there.

Tack Room Shelves

 Every project at this little place here seems (to me) to take forever from planning to execution to completion.  Well, I'm happy to say we finally crossed another one off the list.  That project being part of the overall tack room build in my barn and (almost) the final part to be done: a shelf on each of the two long walls.

This is been in the build-plan forever, if you ask me.  Although I do have to admit it wasn't until DH decided we would have a 10' high ceiling (to make it easier by just extending the walls all the way to the rafters when we built the tack room) that I knew for sure there would be room on the walls for the type of shelves I was envisioning.  That being shelves that were at least 18" deep, preferrably 24", and could hold plastic totes of various things that weren't being used on a daily or weekly basis, such as various leather goods (bridles, reins, etc.) that didn't fit any of my current horses or training clients, as well as all the various size and weights of horse turnout blankets in the warm weather months when the horses don't need to wear them.

Since I'm not the head builder, only the grunt laborer when it comes to actually constructing stuff, I had to wait for the tack room shelves to become the top of DH's personal project list once the tack room was finally enclosed. Enclosing the tack room got done close to a year ago at this point.  But, near the end of August, DH indicated that he was about ready to work on the shelves, so we went and bought the needed lumber for them.

My task, before DH built the shelves, was to stain the lumber.  Because I want it to stay fresh-wood looking and not gray over time with age.  And because I find it much neater and easier to stain wood before it's built into something or installed on the walls.

The Saturday of Labor Day weekend, DH got to work on making them into shelves.  For the first shelf, he measured and cut to length the board that was to be the back of the shelf (about 16' long), and attached the end support boards to each end of that.

Then we carefully carried it through the doorway and into the tackroom.  Each of us got on a ladder, carrying the board up with us, and attached it to the long wall, as well as attaching the end boards to the short wall on each end. I should note that before this, we had measured and snapped a chalk line onto the wall so that the shelf would be installed not just at the right height but also level.

Next came the 'front' board for the shelf, which we screwed to the two end boards, then added three support boards spaced 4' apart running between the front and back 16' boards.  Once that was done, each of the five support boards (two ends plus three in the middle) got an angled brace attaching it to the wall.

I really like how the braces turned out; I had been afraid they would extend really far down the wall and look funky.  Originally DH had planned on putting them on a 45-degree angle, but I talked him into something smaller, like 32-degrees I think.  Put that miter saw to good use, LOL!

After that we used the table saw to rip a 4' x 8' sheet of half-inch plywood in half the long way, laid the two pieces into the frame we'd just made for the shelf, and our first shelf was complete! DH even put a few things on it that had previously been taking up floor space.  The shelf worked perfectly. And it looks good too!

After a short rest break, we did the second shelf (on the opposite wall) in the same manner.

Back and end boards.

Screwing in the support boards.

The second shelf, finished.

In the week or so since finishing the shelves, I filled them up pretty well with all my totes of horse stuff that have been stacked here and there (mostly in the only unoccupied-by-a-horse stall in the barn).  I'm happy to say that, while there is still room on the shelves (YAY! who wants shelves that don't hold everything they need to?), they are much fuller than DH thought they would be.  He had wanted to do just one shelf and I kept insisting I needed two shelves.

Standing by the door, looking north toward my saddles and bridles.

Standing by my saddles, looking south.

There's still room above each of the 'boarder' saddle racks for a tote belonging to that boarder.  And on the opposite wall, there's room for me to store the stall fans once they get taken down for the winter.

I think my tack room is officially finished now, and I can do the final organization of it.  Feels so good to have this task crossed off the project list.