Located in a tourist trap this hotel is older then the rest and always has room for more. The other hotels have water parks, large televisions and updated rooms. This one has good rates and solid construction. Sleeping here guarantees a good rest without kids running up and down the halls.
The Stearns Motor Lodge in Ludington Michigan is just the place to get away when you need to.
Highland Cemetery in Ypsilanti Michigan was established in 1864. Some of the grave stones are older by 20 or more years laying flat on the ground down a hillside. These grave stones are from forgotten locations that were brought here just to have a place.
The neighborhood I grew up in had a large forest at the back where we used to play building forts and exploring, those were some of the best times. The woods have mostly been removed to make room for apartments. Highland Cemetery is at the far end so sometimes when we were particularly adventurous we would walk the mile or so into the forest to reach it. When we arrived we often played a game where we would see who could find the oldest grave stone.
Over the years I’ve attended services here of friends who were taken at an early age from violence. While I loved the forest behind the neighborhood and considered myself lucky to live there it was actually in a rough part of town with frequent gun play. I can count at least eight friends from back in the day who were shot to death, two of them are buried here. When crack cocaine hit our neighborhood in the 80’s is was a war zone.
Yesterday I visited one of the grave sites of a childhood friend. He was the little brother of one of my best friends back in the day. The kind of kid who always wanted to tag along but we didn’t want him around but if didn’t get to hang out with us he would tell his mom we were being mean which always resulted in his older brother having to come home. I can still hear his voice pleading to come in and play Nintendo with us. Mostly we let him hang out with us because we had to. Out of all those who are gone I think about Tyrone the most.
A friend of mine who moved south years ago is in town and we got together yesterday at Sidetracks in Depot Town. We talked about old times of course like old friend do. Part of our conversation was naming people who are gone. He moved south 20 years ago so some of the people I named he didn’t know were gone. Gun violence is still a problem in certain circles.
I know the longer you live the more people you lose but it’s an odd thing when you have known so many people leave this earth at a young age. Death is a part of life, man is born to die, but it’s something I hear the older generation talk about not people my age. Depending on where you grow up death can lose some of its shock and you just see it as a thing that you experience at some point.
Heading out today in cold snowy weather for two inspections my mind goes straight to days of sunshine and warm weather.
Photo taken at Little Sable Point on Lake Michigan.
Looks like someone didn’t get the memo. Perhaps there’s someone in the area who feeds this one during the cold months,
As a child Christmas was always a magical time for me. As with many kids I saw it as a time when all my efforts at being good throughout the year would pay off. The gifts I would receive were connected to my actions. Plus the fact that it was a time of winter break from school when you hung out with friends building snow forts and talking about what gift you hopped for. Things were simple.
Of course even as a child I was aware that the type and number of gifts were closely related to available funds. Even so I loved the idea of all things Christmas from the, music to the shows I would watch before bed like “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and the Island of Misfit Toys.” I had my favorites but that was the one looked forward to the most.
For many years I had a calendar I kept near my bed marking off each day of December in anticipation for the big day when Santa would bring me gifts. Eventually I started to put together that we didn’t have a chimney plus there were the kids in school who said it was a lie. In time, as we all do, I learned all about it but not before I enjoyed many years of the thought that he was in fact coming. I swear one year I really heard the bells on his sleigh on our roof, I was completely convinced. Years later I would dangle bells on the end of a broom stick and shake them outside of the kid’s bedroom window hoping they would feel the way I did.
My own kids, at least the first two, were raised differently than I was. They were taught at a young age that Santa was not real because I thought the truth was more important plus my intention was to teach them Jesus is the reason for the season. Thinking back I believe it’s possible to do both and I wish I had. My last two kids though were allowed to dream about the idea though only one actually believed it was true for a while at least.
Some of the magic of Christmas wears off as an adult. It can be hard to focus on the things we did as a kid because of work, money it takes to get gifts, shopping crowds and traffic. Sometimes Christmas can be a time of sadness for some people who have lost loved ones or who have had significant life changes. For them Christmas can become a time of year when you just wait for it to pass perhaps while forcing a smile.
The fact is life happens. Things change and those changes may not always agree with our plans on how things should be. These changes may seem unfair or like a curse even.
Even with the changes life brings there are choices to be made. I’m not saying this is the way it should be for everyone but for me I choose to face those changes with courage. I will accept that life happens and I will make a choice to be happy. The thing happening in my life this season will not be what defines how I face it in years to come. Actually yes it will because this year I will be happy and enjoy Christmas.
As my kids open their gifts I will think about their happiness and how fortunate I am.
When flying I always schedule a window seat. Being able to look out the window is like a road trip allowing me to see each state on the way to my destination. When you travel from Michigan to Arizona that covers a wide range or states.
Of course there’s no stopping on the way to take pictures or grab a bite to eat at the little dinner you find along the way. Things of course look different at 32-40 thousand feet up.
I’d like to take a road trip out west or even south to west and back up but that would take time. There’s the whole self employed thing that makes that hard to do plus kids and all.
This iPhone image was taken two years ago on my way to Arizona to visit a friend.
The sun was trying to shine between storm clouds on this cloudy day in September. One of the things I love about Lake Michigan is how clear the water is on a calm day but on a windy day it’s murky. I don’t particularly care for murky water so I stayed on the shore.
Sometimes I have good ideas. When I believe my idea is a good one I am quick to make it happen without delay or much thought. Rash decisions are almost never good, I know that but when I think I’ve hit upon something it’s hard to stop and think on it. I’ve been guilty of rash decisions over the years and have paid the price.
Over the past few months I’ve done that more than once. You would think I would learn.
Back in 2007 I started to homebrew beer as a hobby. The idea came from a guy I knew in the neighborhood who brewed beer and said it was fairly easy to do if I just read a couple recommended books. I took his advice, read the books and for the most part it was easy.
Brewing beer requires a lot of time and cleaning. The equipment has to be sanitized or else your beer could become infected and end up tasting like drinking sewage out of a dirty tennis shoe. If you enjoy beer it’s important to keep a batch ready for bottling or transferring to a keg. There’s about a 3-4 week process of conditioning the beer before you can drink it so I would brew a new batch every two to three months.
As business started to increase I had less time to brew beer so I started buying bottles again but being a picky beer drinker the beer I like tends to be on the expensive side. I found myself missing brewing my own but there was the time issue.
A couple of months ago I was at my favorite market looking for a new beer when I walked into the cooler and saw a stack of 5 gallon soda kegs. The light went on in my head and I thought if I purchased a keg or two I could solve the issue of spending so much on bottles and I could have my favorite beer/s on hand without all the bottles. I suck at taking bottles back and end up giving them away.
If I had taken a couple of minutes to think about the idea I would not have done it but it was too late, the idea was set and I was going to make it happen. I went to the front checkout, purchased a 5 gallon keg of Brown Ale and ordered another 5 gallon keg of Belgium Ale. Taking my treasure home thinking I have tricked the system I quickly tapped the keg and had a little glass with a smile. The carbonation lasted a little while.
The thing about keeping beer in a keg is it’s good until you introduce air. Once the air is introduced the beer will go flat in a matter days and it get’s funky too. By the time my first keg went flat I already had the second so I tapped that one. It lasted less than a week before it tasted like garbage. Just before writing this I pumped almost five gallons down the drain. A good beer really is a terrible thing to waste.
When I brew beer I connect Co2 to the keg which provides carbonation but also keeps the beer fresh because it does not require a pump system like you get when you rent a keg from a store. Using a pump system also introduces air into the keg so it gets funky in time. When kept cold and charged with Co2 it lasts as long as it takes for you to drink it.
This idea turned out to be a really bad one. The system beat me again.
Completing an inspection of a condo on Ford Lake in Ypsilanti Michigan I chatted with the buyer on the balcony for a bit. We talked about the lake and what a great view these units have. The condos are perfectly situated right on the lake and each unit has it’s own boat dock.
I’ve performed several inspections in this neighborhood and each time tell myself I should own one of these units.
The thing is this portion of the lake is quite busy in the summer months with boats, jet-skis and all manner of water sports. I’m more of a small quiet lake kind of guy.
Still the sunsets are always nice here.
I’m trying to appreciate nature even though I don’t like cold and snow. Still there’s beauty in this season I think or at least I keep telling myself that.
Yesterday after my last inspection I stopped at a nature preserve and took photos with my iPhone. While I tried to capture something all I could think about was how warm it was in my truck so I ran back to it.
The Mystery Meat 