Last night we had a severe storm hit this part of the U.P. (Upper Peninsula for non-Michiganders (and, yes, it’s Michigander NOT Michiganians – Michiganian is a new term that’s just shown up in the past few year years).

Yesterday was incredibly hot for this part of the country. It was in the mid-90’s with humidity as only Michigan can produce it. During the day we picked a few berries but most of the time we hunkered down inside in front of a fan since it was at least five degrees cooler inside than out. It was miserable. Late afternoon we headed to town in part because the truck was comfortably air conditioned. The Moose Club where we went for a fish dinner last night didn’t have A.C. (as is often the case up here), so we suffered through a hot dinner. When we got back home a major thunderstorm warning was out for the county. We got the edge of it and quite a bit of rain.

Today it’s much more comfortable.

We went to the beach to see if we could find a sandy area suitable for swimming. A few years back it was picture perfect here with a hard packed sand area that extended about 100 feet from the tree line. It was the best for swimming and enjoying the water that you could imagine. But the past six or seven years, with a drop in the Great Lakes levels, we’ve seen a major change. The beach is now weed infested and the edge of the water is mucky where some black alge stuff washes in. If we were here more often, we could probably clear away an area for swimming, but it’s hard physical work, and since we’re headed home Wednesday it hardly seems worth it. John is going to chop and mow some of the weeds this afternoon so we don’t lose any more ground, but it’s depressing.

Al Gore’s global warming predictions suggest that there’ll be a major melt that will raise water levels in the Great Lakes but we have seen the water table drop and it’s doubtful that in our life-time we’ll have the pretty beach we had ten years ago.

Even though tempertures are comfortable today, it’s muggy. Guess I’ll go read a book, or let the woodticks gnaw on me. Seems only right.