When Gales of November Come Early
Karen is right as usual 🙂 About the date, I mean. Sorry about that but anyway, my twisted little brain does have a method to its madness. Tomorrow will be November 10th again. It’s been 32 years since my brother listened to the Arthur Anderson call in vain for the Edmund Fitzgerald. It’s been 32 years since Duke and Radical Betty watched their two-story windows sway in the gale. And it’s been 32 years since I made Grinch and our friend Marc walk the beach with me late on a Thanksgiving weekend night. It was just too spooky down there, even though we knew that no bodies would float up on our beach. Superior, they say, never gives up her dead.
This November 10th, the lake is like glass. And guess what? There’s been so much rain up here lately that Lake Superior is now only something like 12 inches below the average level. I got that from The Commander, so it may not be totally accurate :twisted:. The water is still pretty low but the sand islands are gone and the streams are all running in full force. Apparently the sky is not falling after all. I was a skeptic throughout the whole thing. All the talk about erosion (or whatever) in the St. Clair River causing the upper lakes to drain. Or was it an effect of global warming? The low lake levels were disturbing but the explanations just didn’t wash. I’m old enough to remember back in the 60s when the lower lakes were way below average levels. They recovered and later (was it the 80s or the 90s) people were whining and crying about how high the lake levels were. I’m not an expert on this stuff. I don’t even read that much about it. But to some extent, cycles are cycles. Things go up and things go down.
Ah well. I had something profound to say. I think. But I’ve lost my train of thought, so I guess I’m done. The GG and The Commander are talking and some TV news show is running in the background. Franhattans are on tap (I don’t *think* she made ’em backwards). Hiking with the NCT folks tomorrow! G’night! Oh! Click here or on the pic for beach shots.
November 9th, 2007 at 8:09 pm
….. hate to break it to you, but today is the 9th…. but I love the post!!!
November 9th, 2007 at 8:52 pm
Well you are up at the Souix and we are about as far south as we can get here in Key West. Offshore races going on here – a lot of drinking going on here in Margaritaville too. Keep warm! Saw some snow at HL yesterday on the web cam Sure looks like a beautiful day up there. Take care. Kathy
November 10th, 2007 at 5:28 pm
Were here overlooking the Fitzgerald. It went down due North of us. The lake is eerily calm. Possible light rain and fog scheduled for later tonight. We are going to have our usual bonfire, though no one else appears to be on the beach from Point to Park. There was a big storm here since we’ve last been here that flattened most of the beach from Point to Park. Gonna have to close the place up this weekend though.
November 10th, 2007 at 5:29 pm
I love the pictures and am jealous of your opportunities to see the beach at so many more seasons.
Then I got to the last picture. WTF! Can you describe where that is, more precisely? I’m assuming it’s on the Cedar Point side, not the Birch Point side. Is it close to where the road access to the beach, i.e., where we usually turn around when walking the beach, or is further up the side, or actually around the first little point. Sneaky bastards!
November 10th, 2007 at 6:55 pm
It is on the Cedar Point side about halfway between the end of the beach and that first point or bend or whatever you want to call it. I’m unhappy about it, of course, but I am cautiously optimistic that they won’t be terrible neighbors. On Sunday morning, I walked down there with Ernie and Alfred — off leash — and a couple of men came out onto the beach with coffee cups and the dogs were out of control, so I ran down there to corral them. I apologized *profusely* but the guys were really friendly about it. When I wished them a *better* morning (i.e., sans dogs) they said it was already a good day. It is excruciatingly hard for me to see building going on over there but I feel we have no choice but to be friendly. At least it isn’t Walmart or big condominiums.
November 10th, 2007 at 11:02 pm
yeah, I’d wondered about that big “WTF” picture, too…. and hoped and hoped and hoped it was NOT on our beach.
😥