Double rainbow in Chassell...

A rainy weekend with a really beautiful double rainbow!

Flat transom canoes

Good fortune shined upon me once again as a by chance conversation at the office led me to find this great flat transom canoe. I just returned with this great 'ole canoe!  Let the adventures begin!

An old design but very practical.

I've been searching for a canoe that I could outfit with a spray skirt and motorize to troll for my favorite trout on "no fuel" waterways and lakes... I think this might be the answer. 

The general idea of a spray skirt.  This one's from Classic Outdoors a Saskatoon, SK company.

Lots of room for camping and fishing gear for that fishing trip to some island or remote beach.  But not too heavy for two people to easily portage, and plenty of room for a weekend explore, just pop the spray skirt off and there's lots of space...  The spray skirt in my thinking is mostly for paddling around Lake Superior near river inlets.  Winds can come up and push waves high enough to breach the gunwales.  The skirt makes that more manageable... less cold and therefore more fun!

As it turns out Wisconsin has a lot of great places to do canoe camping. Here's a map of just a few sites...

Canoe camping sites

There are actually dozens more places to go in and around the big W. 

Any suggestions you folks have are always appreciated!  

Lee

Estivant Pines Hike

What a great weekend this was!  Hard to beat the great weather and the beautiful pines. I finally got a chance to make the Estivant Pines hike I've been planning for months now.   Here are a few pics of the pines, many of which are over 400 years old...  and some of the cool things you see along the way.

The Keweenaw Mountain Lodge was built in 1934-35 during the Great Depression - a wonderful throwback to a simpler time.  It has large exposed log beams and vaulted ceilings.

 The "KML" is on the way to the tip of the Keweenaw Peninsula where the Estivant Pines are located. I've been wanting to hike this area for months now, but weekends never seemed to work out.  But this weekend was special as really good friend joined me and off we went. 

Here's something you don't see too often... This is sort of a giant visual aid to show how much snow accumulates here each year.  That's accumulated snowfall, so as more snow comes down the snow beneath it compresses, sometimes melts or evaporates... so what is on the ground at any one time is rarely over 4 or 5 feet...

The arrow on the side tracks last years total snowfall in feet.

Here's a better shot of the plaque...

Think, copious amounts of snow... see my driveway post!

Needless to say this part of the peninsula gets a bit of snow.

Em hmm, lots of snow...

Copper Harbor is the nearest city to the Pines, here is a picture of the harbor from the Brockway Mountain Drive.

A beautiful day!

Here are some of the pines...

Two giants mere feet apart, together for hundreds of years...

A seedling around the year 1500...

This tree was standing and swaying in the wind when Leonardo da Vinci and Galileo Galilei were making history

One of the more unusual trees...

I will return to the pines to make one more sortie to set eyes on this...

We hiked right up to the swamp... it's not for the faint of heart!

When I get back to the pines and make this trek, I'll be sure to update the post.  We'll see if I can talk her into crossing the swamp and then the river!

Hope you all enjoyed the little hike through this great old woods. 

A fantastic day in a fantastic place with fantastic company

I recently had a chance to trek some falls with a wonderful fellow trekker, nothing could be better! We met a town's mayor, some super folks along the way and learned about a small town in Northern Wisconsin. We experienced the hospitality that comes from good folks who care a lot.

I hope you enjoy the early spring pictures of a truly beautiful experience. An old acquaintance would have said "Mildly Wild." Yup, thanks Dan for the inspiration, and may God rest your creative soul where the Light of thy Countenance visits you! 

water spray and the resulting beautiful ice designs slowly being pulled back to the water below...

I'm told... root beer.

I hope you enjoyed the pics, there are few things in life that are better than sharing the experience. 

Yawn, I had to see it...

7 sec exposure F5.6 iso 100  Goodnight!

Back Home

Well I escaped the O'Hare gravity pull and made it home a day late... but home!

What's wrong with this picture?

As you can see, 5 foot snow banks, my John Deere snow blower and a the new battery for the bike came in today...

THINK SUMMER all of you PLEASE!

As I post this the evening has that blue sort of tint to it and the snow is falling, the wood stove is radiating and it looks like it's going to be a nice evening to stay inside. 

Thanks to all my friends in Germany for all of your help during the last couple of weeks!  Lee

Some of the DME stuff

I've been meaning to get to this for a while, so for those whove asked, here you go.  Every now and then I get asked about DME make rates or engine friction stuff my colleagues and I worked on during the years.  Well here are some of those, let me know if your looking for a particular one. I probably have it, along with all kinds of torsional vibes excel sheets and fortran routines.  -Lee

DME with ASME...

DME with DOE...

Engine Friction Losses...

Torsional stuff for gensets...

I think I have some Chapter 26's around and the whole friction study.  Lost to me is the monotherm pistion stuff.  -Lee