Dreary Fall Day and A Delay

(Clicking on the pictures will open them larger in a new window.)

I am starting today's blog on a bright note by wishing our lovely daughter-in-law a Happy Belated Birthday. She officially joined our family on December 18, 2009 and she is a daughter to us.

Happy 29th Birthday, Nadine!

October 22, 2017

Today has been one of those dreary, rainy, fall days and considering the news we had this past Thursday it fit right into the mood I was in out in the Stinger "B" this afternoon. Tom is recuperating and doing well after his surgery and that is not an issue. Unfortunately, something else has come up that he needs to have taken care of and requires another surgery on November 13th. This one will have a three week recovery and he will not be able to drive during this time. (He could ride but I will not be driving the motor home.) That brings us into December as an escape date.  Looking ahead and giving it an extra week that means we will not be getting out of here until around the 13th of December. At that point the weather will become a large factor and we will be looking for a good window of about 4 days to get somewhat clear of the snow and ice. At this point we are still hopeful that everything will fall into place and we will spend the majority of the winter in the southwest. As the navigator I will plan a route and then as we get closer we will be watching weather reports and road reports. We will also be looking for campgrounds that are open year round once we are in Iowa. What we have decided we will not be doing, for now, is counting down the days; we will be concentrating on Tom getting back to 100%.

Instead of bringing stuff out to the motor home today I started bringing anything that could freeze back into the house. (I just checked and found out wine can freeze. Though it is okay to drink freezing can cause leakage around the cork which would leave air in. So that means I have another box to bring in...lol) Tomorrow we will be checking underneath for anything in spray cans so they can be brought in, also.

I went and purchased the anti-freeze we need last night and tomorrow Tom will begin the process of winterizing the Stinger "B", something we never thought we would have to do. We are both disappointed, at this moment, by this turn of events but it is what it is and we are trying to move forward. 

Taken this afternoon from inside the Stinger "B". 
I could hear the rain coming down as I started emptying out 
the cupboards of things that could freeze.

The grey sky through what is left
of the maple's yellow leaves in
our back yard.

I took this yesterday afternoon there was a nice breeze and
the ground is covered in this tree's leaves.
It was a beautiful fall day. We had a lovely blue sky
and it was in the low 60's most of the day.

The pictures below were taken on Wednesday, October 18, 2017. The sky turned a wonderful pink then orange then back to pink.

The last of the sun's light reflected on the Stinger "B"

The Sand Point Lighthouse here in Escanaba is beautifully lit up at night.

The lighthouse is open to the public from Memorial Day Weekend through Sept.1 (9-5 EST) and during the month of September (1-4 EST)

When this lighthouse was built in 1867 it was at the waters edge and warned the ships off Sand Point and the sand reef which reached out into Little Bay De Noc. The attached brick tower was topped by a cast iron lantern room which housed a fourth order Fresnel lens. The light, a fixed red signal, first shown on the night of May 13, 1868.

Escanaba was a busy harbor and many ships, first schooners and later steamers and whalebacks, carried iron ore out from the several ore docks, and lumber from sawmills. Passengers also arrived at Escanaba by boat from the south.

Nine keepers and their families lived in the Sand Point Lighthouse and kept the light burning in its tower and shining out over the Bay until 1939 when the United States Coast Guard took over all navigational lights in the country from the National Lighthouse Service. The harbor had been drastically changed at this time by dredging and filling and the sand point and reef hazard were now part of the park which left the lighthouse some distance from the water. The Coast Guard found it necessary to construct a crib light several hundred feet offshore. This crib light is still in use today, and may be seen from the windows of the old Sand Point Lighthouse. (I had previously posted pictures of the lighthouse and crib light in June Sand Point Lighthouse.)

Besides being open in the summer months the Delta County Historical Society hold a open house between Christmas and New Years each year.

"When one door of happiness closes, another opens,

but often we look so long at the closed door 

that we do not see the one that has been opened for us."

~Helen Keller

We are now trying to no longer look at the closed door and see the positive in our lives right now. Remembering that tomorrow is another day and no matter what happens as long as we get up in the morning and move forward it is a good day.

Thank you for stopping by and reading our blog today.

If you have time to leave a comment we would love to hear from you.