The [Big] Mackinac Bridge, that is. This has only become a “thing” in the last few years. I’m not sure why. I have been crossing that bridge since I was three years old and I don’t remember it closing for ice or anything much else until recent years.

Or is it just that with social media I get instant notifications about closures and so am more likely to hear about them? Back in the day when I first started going across the bridge (in my parents’ car), we had two of those old black dial telephones and our first (black and white) TV with one CBC channel. Oh, yeah, of course we had radio. Anyway, closing the bridge is inconvenient for people who frequently traverse the Straits of Mackinac/(w?) but so is the aftermath of ice falling off the top of the structure onto your vee-hickle and breaking your windshield (or worse).

The huge, sweeping white pine tree in the pic was wounded in the recent snow/ice storm in the yooperland. The tree is still standing but a big branch is down. I’m not sure if it’s the one you can see in the pic (upper right) or another one. This pic that I dredged up is taken from a bit of a different angle than the one Our Northern Correspondent posted on social media but I immediately knew which tree it was.

This tree has been a beach friend for life. It grows on the bank adjacent to the “pond” at the west end of the beach. I’m trying to remember if anyone ever climbed it. My brother and Kevin? Mike and Mac? (Jack and Don? Otto?) Or am I just manufacturing memories…

Meanwhile in the yooperland… People are still without power and Cloverland’s lucky-shuckyal line workers were looking forward to help from the northern lower last I looked. Somebody on facebook shared a pic of a county snowplow dwarfed by snow/ice-encased tree branches bending down over it. I took a screenshot of this pic so I could show it to MMCB₁ tomorrow morning at Barry’s but I don’t feel comfortable posting someone else’s shot without their permission and I dunno even *how* to get to the person who posted this. An epic storm by any description.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 1st, 2020 at 6:48 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.