Miscellaneous Shots

Today's update will include a few different things. First here are some shots I took yesterday when I hiked from Sable Lake to Lake Superior across the sand dunes with friends Renee and Dianna. As you can see, there is almost no snow in the dunes.






Samething on shore. There is very little ice hugging the shore. For those of you agate hunters who have been itching to come up -- the time is here.




Each year I try to come up with a new mineral art product or two. This year I am making hanging sun catchers in the shape of animals. Those I selected are fish, butterfly,bird, and tutle. Also pictured are some of my standard sun catchers. This year each sun catcher also comes with a high quality suction cup.







Finally, I received the "dummy" mock up of the book. It is the actual size and has the actual paper and bindry. The specifications for the book are:

 Size = 6 inches wide x 9 inches tall x ¾ inch thick
 Pages = 258
 Number of photographs and diagrams = 265
 The book’s text pages are printed on bright white, heavy gloss art paper coated with a protective press varnish.
 The cover is printed on a heavy artcard stock with gloss lamination and grain embossing to help the book to be “backpack” proof.
 The bindery is a new-technology sewn lay-flat binding that allows the book to stay open to a designated page when it is placed on a flat surface.
 The cover also has 3.5 inch flaps that fold to the inside. The flap inside the front cover contains a Quick Reference List of agate hunting tips.

Grand Marais Harbor Shots

This week I have been feeding my friend's cats while she is out of town. She lives on the south side of Grand Marais bay and has a telescope. I decided to try to put my camera up to the telescope's eye piece. The angles didn't exactly match up, but I was able to get this shot.


Here are some other photos I took from Wendy's house.




The quality of the last photo below is very poor since I took the shot as it was getting dark. It was very exciting as I finally saw the albino deer. I was over at Georgina Mixon's house and was just leaving when the albino deer was standing in the middle of the road. Georgina also saw the deer. We were able to watch it for a couple of minutes.

More Lake Superior Beach Phots

Yesterday it was the warmest day yet this early spring. Temperatures were near 60 degrees along the shore. I went down to First Creek to check the status of the melting ice. It has been one week since I was last down the beach and the amount of melting surprised me. The icebergs hugging shore have broken up and there is exposed rock almost everywhere. The ice that is left is around 40 percent less than it was last week.

These first two shots are of First Creek. The first is looking north where the creek is draining into Lake Superior under the ice. The second is looking south up creek. Although the creek's flow has slowed, notice how the creek, which previously had higher flows, carved a bank that is around four feet high.




The next shot shows how the icebergs dredge and collect rocks.



The next two shots were taken from the exposed beach next to the icebergs looking west and east. The first one below shows friend Kathleen and her dog Scout.




The last shot documents the last bit of ice melting off the end of a driftwood log. Where does the log end and the ice start?

Mouth of Sable (Second) Creek

Here are the rest of the pictures taken on Sunday night when Renee and I went down the steps at Sable Falls to the mouth of what we locals call Second Creek (Sable Creek). The river flow was very high and has broken through the icebergs to enter into Lake Superior. There were several sections of shore exposed with rocks showing. We had to "post hole" walk through some snow to get down to the beach, but it was worth it. It was a beautiful evening.

Sable Falls

I heard that the flows from snow melt "freed up" Sable Falls. So yesterday friend, Renee, and I decided to go and check it out. I don't know if the flow is at its peak, but it must be close. Here are a series of shots I took of the falls, icicles next to the falls, and sand-covered ice still "decorating" the river.

More Grand Sable Dunes and Lake Superior Photos

On Wednesday we had unexpected sunshine for one more day. Friend, Wendy,and I decided to take advantage of it and we headed up into the dunes once again. Here are some more Ghost Forest shots as well as lake shore shots. Notice how the floating pancake ice and icebergs have been scattered all over the lake due to the southwest winds.







The next two photos were taken from the same spot, five days apart. We had sunshine and daytime temperatures in the 40s and 50s all five of those days. You can see how the conditions resulted in a lot of snow melt over that period.




Snowshoeing through the forested sections of the dunes is a real challenge, especially in the wet and soupy snow. Wendy insisted taking a picture of me. The other shot was taken from the bluff of one of the forested sections.

More Winter Beach Sunset and Beach Fire Photos

Here are a few more photos taken the other night. Well before sunset I took this photo while standing next to Lake Superior looking east. You can see the ice encrusted light house at the end of the pier.



This next shot is one of Renee and Wendy agate hunting. There was absolutely no wind and, therefore, no waves. The visibility of the rocks in the water was amazing.



This is a close up shot of some of the rocks "dredged" up by the icebergs.



It is not for certain, but we may be the first to have a beach fire this year. We were going to have the fire at First Creek. However, we brought our own firewood which have been difficult to carry down the partially snow covered steps. We bailed and had the fire near the boardwalk.

Winter Sunset and Beach Fire

Yesterday was the warmest day this year. The temperatures reached into the mid-50s with no wind. Rather than snowshoe in the dunes, I decided to venture down the beach to get some exercise. I found the first patch of exposed rock on shore, although the patch was only around 100 feet long. It was so beautiful out that I went and got a couple of friends to join me. Renee, Wendy, and I went back down to the same spot. We each found a rock with some agate in it, but nothing to write home about. We stayed near the First Creek area and watched the sunset. Then we climbed back up the hill and drove down to the boardwalk, where we had the first beach fire of the year. After I was down the beach the first time, I went home to get some firewood, which we carried down past the boardwalk. What a beautiful evening.