Summer has really gotten on my nerves and I wish we could just rewind to Memorial Day weekend and give it another go. I’ve spared you my most-recent weather whining and instead grumbled to myself, or to other Summer 2018 malcontents, who similarly whined about their hot, humid or rainy weather woes.
I wanted to write a post on Labor Day about a longtime bucket list item of mine, doing the five-mile walk across the Mackinac Bridge, but a succession of storms on Monday had me shutting down my computer repeatedly, so I finally just gave up, unplugged and went to bed. I’ll hold that thought ‘til Labor Day 2019 if you don’t mind.
But I’ve been here … just not writing about my morning trips. Heck, I figured you didn’t want to hear about how I am lurking in the frozen food aisles, amongst the Klondike bars and the Totino’s pizza rolls. Once in a while, I’d sidle past the canned peas or creep around the Halloween candy just to keep the trek fresh and interesting.
While the grocery store has provided an outlet to escape the oppressive heat and humidity, this morning I decided to return to Council Point Park … it was only 68 degrees, and I was more than ready for a meet-and-greet with the furry darlings, and besides, I have to monitor whether the baby snapping turtles have emerged from their nest yet – according to my calculations, it should happen this week.
But a trip to the Park didn’t happen AGAIN. I was laden down with peanuts, and to err on the side of caution, carrying my big umbrella. I only made it to the end of the driveway when the rain started. I turned and stomped back into the house, foiled again by Mother Nature.
So … what do I do?
Perhaps I could write an editorial to The New York Times to air my grievances? We know the power of the press works for some people.
I doubt there is a customer service number for Mother Nature. I can’t ask Siri, but Google could certainly help me out … Google knows everything.
The all-wise-and-wonderful Google provided me 586,000,000 results … these are names of companies or products. (P.S. – Hey Mother Nature, you’d better check on these folks that they are not using your name without permission.)
Alas, Mother Nature has no toll-free number or an e-mail address, not even a “contact me” page. She wants to dodge the snide remarks or criticisms … she is a smart cookie isn’t she? But occasionally, there might be some praise, unless that goes solely to the weather folks?
So instead, I took out my aggressions on the keyboard, pounding those keys as I zipped off this post. I mustn’t press down too hard on the keys because the letters, numbers and characters are already wearing off in some places.
We’ll try again tomorrow, and in the meantime, I’ll just trot off to work … that doesn’t require waiting on the bus in inclement weather, no umbrellas turned inside out or a snow-encrusted face when I walk in the door. It won’t even be a bad hair day. Nope, these days it simply means clicking open another tab and sitting here in my bunny slippers.
Linda Schaub
WALKIN', WRITIN', WIT & WHIMSY 
So glad I met you at Heritage Park and got your card, then signed up! You are my kind of writer…great to read uplifting things about our downriver area! Keep on trekking! Thanks, Gerry
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Hi Gerry – sorry your comment went to SPAM for some reason, but I have retrieved it. I decided to print up some cards because I often walk at different parks and while taking pictures, will began chitchatting with people and I’d mention the blog. The name of my blog is so long, and my handwriting isn’t so great, so I decided printing up cards was the way to go. I’m glad you are enjoying the blog and I hope to keep on trekking … thankfully this weather is finally going to take a turn for the better (or so they say) and we’ll have cooler, less humid days – I’m all for that! Walking in the grocery store is functional, but not as beautiful as walking in a natural setting.
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You are not alone. I’ve been retired 7 years and I don’t remember a worse summer. I was looking forward to doing so much outdoors and nada. No hikes, not even a pool day. Most activities were rained out so I stopped planning. Today is the last (hopefully) of a scorching heat wave with more moderate temps tomorrow. When I got up this morning, the humidity was so high the windows were fogged. Boogers.
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I am like you Kate – so disappointed in this Summer. Last year I had whole-house insulation put in my small house on June 9th. I cannot begin to tell you the mess they made here, mostly downstairs in my finished basement and in the garage It was a mixture of cellulose and foam and I spent a month of weekends cleaning up afterward. I would walk, and come home and go right downstairs.
During that time period I had a major plumbing issue in the basement and they jackhammered the laundry room floor to open the drain. I cleaned up that mess and they took off some tiles, so I repainted the entire area and put down a few rugs to make it look better. In October I had a bigger issue in the laundry room and they had to tear open the drain under the sink. I had twice the mess and had to repaint as they scraped up the entire area. So my Fall was trashed as well and finally I finished the second paint and clean job in late November. I vowed I would spend this Summer doing things that I enjoyed and walking my socks off – like you, I made plans and the weather made them fall through. I have one more event I have scheduled and I’m not scheduling anything else in 2018. The other nature-type items at various parks … if they happen, they happen, but no money is involved until the day of the event. I was so irritated this morning, I had to sit down and zip off that post.
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Really interesting post, thanks for sharing:)
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Thank you, I am glad you enjoyed it.
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Your chose humor rather than a super-rant. Thank you! I’ll bet lots of us would have agreed with all your complaints, but it was more fun to giggle.
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I’m glad you liked it Anne – yes, I decided it was too late in the week to do a Tuesday Musings post, but I would use humor anyway. You know that I have whined long and hard about this Summer weather – hopefully we’ve turned a corner and it will be cool and without humidity tomorrow, like they have promised. Hope the nice weather sticks around longer than two days this time. 🙂
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Linda, – deep breath- but I know what you feel when the weather is so poor it stops you doing things that promote well-being. We have had the best summer in the UK for years following the worst winter for years. Fingers Crossed for an improvement in your weather.
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Thank you Andy – yes, this time I did a rather impromptu post based on my anger over still another thwarted attempt at a walk. I was gung ho to go and this has to be the fifth occasion I have looked outside before getting all ready to go, only to get outside and it starts to rain. I know your Winter was horrid and you don’t usually get those killer Winters with all the snow and cold. We had a bad Winter last year (62 inches of snow that lingered into early April) but we are having an El Nino Winter this year – that is what they say anyway. I’d like that. We have nice weather coming in tomorrow and Saturday, Sunday is iffy as of now.
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The summer was too oppressively hot, too sultry. Now that i am older and retired, the heat affects me more. I’ll have to learn to take more water with me and drink a lot more; i think we are in for a lot of super-hot summers in the future. Lots of rain here and the river log cleanup has ground to a halt. 🙂
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This weather really hit me hard too Tom. I have toughed it out for walking in the past Summers, but I think we only dealt with the real oppressive hot and humid weather in August, and never weeks and weeks of it with only an occasional cool day in between. And the rain – ugh!! I think you are right that this is the new norm – the “Heat Dome” they are calling it. I’m no fan of it.
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I just hope that a lot of the innocent creatures will be able to deal with it. There are, unfortunately, tons of ignorant people out there who are denying what scientists have been saying, and — i wish i didn’t have to say this — things are going to get a lot worse (environmentally) relatively quickly.
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Oh I believe you Tom and I am sorry all this instability in the environment had to happen while we are here to endure it … we can put the A/C on, or have a tall, cool drink, but the animals are out there dealing with the relentless heat on an everyday basis. Today I saw someone’s hose draining out backyard pool water into the street. The birds were going crazy to get to that stream of water, despite all the rain we’ve got, it is not fresh water. The Creek where I walk, the water is murky and has algae bloom. We had the thick algae bloom a few years ago – they were discovering dead mallards every day by the water where they tried to drink it. Just terrible.
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This summer has been such a challenge for so many people. It was hotter earlier (we usually get our hot weather in late August and September) and for longer, but not too bad. I have to admit some envy for the rain you received. We desperately need it here. Typical… too much one place, not enough somewhere else.
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Yes, I read that from other’s blog posts – it seems so many people are dealing with the heat, humidity and rain – and not just an occasional day of it, endless days of it. Tomorrow is the first whole day in one week that we will not have rain, plus it will be cooler. I hope the cool weather is here for good – we get a day or two of nice weather, then back to the oppressive heat again. Is California officially back in a drought again? The rain would surely help for the forest fires – they never mention them on the news anymore, it is just the other ugly stories that fill the airwaves these days. At least Burt Reynolds’ death broke up the usual breaking news drama that unfolds every day.
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Miss Linda……………………yes I agree.I’d like a redo of the summer too please………………………I think it flew by………………………..I’ve already seen a tree losing its leaves and it made me stand and grieve for a few minutes…………………………….
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I think this Summer was nothing special from the beginning to now. They say Memorial Day kicks off the Summer Season – we had hot and humid weather and rain. I remember and it’s been downhill since then. It was actually chilly this morning walking and no sun. I have seen some red and yellow leaves already and they say peak color in the UP and further north will be much earlier this year. I just hope that El Nino Winter they are promising us is not all talk!
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I have started to force myself out in the rain if I have planned going on a hike.
It rains so much here in Bergen that I would never go out otherwise 😛
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Interesting that you say that Sindre, as a fellow blogger who is an avid runner said the same thing about Vancouver Island where she lives. She told me that if she didn’t just run in the rain, she’d never get out because it rains 200+ days a year there and she goes on a run daily. I should just deal with it as well – I always tell myself that for years I took the bus and had to deal with the elements to get to and from work, so not it is not necessary, so I forego a walk. We’ve had a lot of torrential rain events this Summer. You don’t get that all the time … a gentle rain is one thing, but this is what they call a “gulley washer”.
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We have them beat 🙂
Bergen is the rainiest city on Earth, it rains around 240 days per year.
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I had no idea. That is a lot of rain – no wonder you say you go out anyway. That was AJ’s statement as well … she says “I live in a tropical rain forest, I have no choice.” Now if you told me you were the snowiest city on Earth, I would not have been surprised, but rainiest – wow!
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We often get rain when the rest of Norway gets snow :p
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That’s strange isn’t it? I was going by the pictures you had posted of a family vacation when you were young – I thought it was close to Bergen, but I could be wrong. We had a very dreary and drizzly day. I had reserved a tour of a lighthouse and they open the lighthouse up once a year, the second Sunday in September, and you can take a tour. Thought it would be fun and take some photos and write about it. The lighthouse is 40 feet tall, but you can see down the Detroit River and to Canada. My reservation was for noon – started to pour before 11:00. It was a drive to get there and dire predictions for blustery and a cold rain (it only got to 58 degrees F … 14C) so I did not go. I figured you’d not see much out the windows of the lighthouse in the rain … maybe next year.
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There is something about a lot of mountains near the sea that causes the air-pressure to be pushed up to cause rain, or something like that.
Finse is pretty close by train, but also far up in the mountains, so there is snow there almost all year round.
Next year, you should go anyway.
I think a lighthouse can look very cool with rain whipping along the coast in the background.
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I was in Austria in May and we went up the mountains, the further we traveled up, the colder it was getting. It was very scenic, but it had been a very warm day at ground level. I just Googled as I remembered the name of the mountain, without looking at my photo album which is just scanned in, but not in order, and it was Grossglockner in Austria. Beautiful and scenic – you like to hike, here is a trip for you on your nice long vacation time you are lucky to get: https://www.grossglockner.at/gg/en/grossglockner/thegrossglockner
I’m going to go the island and look at that lighthouse and then book a tour again next year … I’ll try again, and yes the lighthouse with rain pelting against it would be very cool. I also wanted to go to the alpaca farm nearby which I thought would be fun to do. I am about to head out on a walk and bundling up – it is very cold here this morning …58F (14C) but a real feel a few degrees colder … and blustery. I may turn on the heat. Crazy weather – a week ago it was oppressive, it was so hot.
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That looks like a lovely trip, something to consider at some point 🙂
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I think you would like it Sindre since you like hiking and outdoors – we were in the car and I have pics along the way as we went up the mountain. I needed a coat by the time we reached the top due to all the snow.
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If I stayed indoors during our rain events I’d be staying in all the time.I dress for the rain & go ride out to the beach.No such thing as bad weather,only bad clothing.
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I think I need to change my attitude on the rain – for the warmer months anyway, because if you get a late October rain and blustery and cold, it is not nice to go out on a walk. But I have missed many days of walking and now five or six events due to rain – those events did NOT get rained out – I didn’t want to walk in the rain. I do have the gear as I took the bus for about 35 years so I’ve got the rain gear and the cold weather gear as well. I actually don’t mind walking in the cold, even the snow if it is not a blizzard or freezing rain. I just doing like driving in it, but I do have the warm clothes for being out in the cold.
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you have rain gear thats breathable? Not the rubber stuff but like Gortex?
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No, I have Gortex short coats with hoods, and I had a pair of vinyl rain boots, not great for walking any great distance, but they literally rotted away from not using them. They just fell apart in the box I kept them in. I have some very lightweight full-length coats with hoods which I used to keep one at work all the time, one at home and one in my tote bag when I took the bus, plus a couple of collapsible golf umbrellas. I have to change my attitude and several other people have said the same thing to me – I just think my attitude stems from years of taking the bus and having no choice but to stand there in the rain. I have been in rain so strong that I was soaking wet when I got to work. I always kept an extra set of clothes at work for when that happened – it happened a few times over the years – sometimes when the rain comes sideways and the bus doesn’t come at all!
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your wearing all your rain gear & still getting soaked? Something wrong there! I rarely am wet & I go riding & walking out in hard rains all the time.Best time for a walk! Clears the mind & air!
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Yes, if it is a pelting rain or a sideways rain. My friend Evelyn sent me a Barbour waxed knee-length coat that belonged to her mother to walk in in the rain. She, like you, said “why can’t you walk in the rain?” Her mother had died and not used the coat in a few years as she lost a lot of weight and didn’t get out much. I had never heard of the brand Barbour, but apparently it is prized for its ability to repel water and hunters/sportsmen use it. It does not have a hood and I asked Evelyn if she thought I should order a hood (Orvis I think had them) and Evelyn said she never used hers, just pin up my hair and use an umbrella and go out!! Evelyn had her own Barbour jacket and has had it for years and you have to oil it to keep it pliable and water resistant. Evelyn’s mother was petite and I am not (5 ‘ 9″ tall) but it fit pretty well and if I’m walking, I’m not wearing anything that will be damaged by rain. I really don’t care what I look like when I’m walking … I just like to be comfortable. (This morning I didn’t think it was cold enough for long sleeves or a coat, so I wore three tee-shirts layered over one another (different sizes) … it might have looked strange, but I was not too hot and not too cold). Anyway, this coat is a dark green, looks like army green and it is quite heavy and has a corduroy collar, so it would be more appropriate for Spring and Fall when it cools down a little. Maybe I have to just go out in the rain and get over my issue with coming home soaking wet. The car is an issue getting wet as well – I have the trickle charger on it 24/7/365 … I can’t put the gizmo on the car if the car is wet … hard to dry down the car in a pouring rain… I pull half into the garage and with no room to move around, try to dry the front half of the car – then pull in the rest of the way with zero room to move then and try to dry off the back of the car to put the gizmo on. One hour later, two soaking wet chamois cloths, a whole roll of papertowels later, it can be plugged in. It is a whole routine, which I am afraid to leave off the trickle charger as it now works so well – before I went through three batteries in two years, even though I run it every day.
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why do you need to plug your cars battery in every time? Is your car an electric? You need a bigger garage or arrange the one you have more efficiently?
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No, it is a regular car. I don’t drive my car enough and even though I’ve driven it more this year taking longer trips to parks, it does not get run enough and going to these parks which are far away is good because it is a long run and at 55 mph which I can’t get in the city. But the mechanics suggested I get the trickle charger to keep the battery charged 100% of the time after three batteries in two years and none of the batteries had issues … it was lack of driving and they worried the electrical system would fail. I trust the mechanics at this place and they told me they all have hot rods, boats or classic cars which they have hooked to a trickle charger all year around and only unplug them to use them in the good weather. I’d have more room if I had no yard equipment and yard ornaments, shelves and cupboards in there – it is a very small garage and not an especially big car (Buick LaCrosse) but it takes up most of the space.
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I’ve never heard of anyone having to plug their car in when it’s warm out.Going through 3 batteries points to something going on there? Your electrical system sounds wonky? If you were to leave it for many months,maybe?
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My internet went out about 1 1/2 hours ago – very strange as no outage, no cables unplugged. I rebooted it and it took a long time to come back. A few years ago, I took the remote fob off my keychain for the over the Winter. This was so I would not trip the car trunk accidentally – it is very sensitive and I had tripped it before but noticed it. I did not use the remote all Winter. I went out to start the car after the trickle charger was in installed (October 2015) and the car was dead. So I called the shop to send over the small guy to use the portable battery charger. First, before he crawled to the back of the garage he asked me for the remote. I said it was in the house – he says “don’t you use it to open the car?” I said “I took it off for the Winter as I don’t drive much in the Winter.” He clicked the remote and the car came back to life, full power – he did not have to give it any juice and I said “should I get a new battery – it has a problem AGAIN even though it is April and no more cold weather?” He told me to click the remote every day, either from inside the house or from my key chain. He said the car’s electrical sytem went to sleep and he awakened it. He told me to take the car for a spin and it would be fine. Now if that isn’t wonky, I don’t know what is. I am trying to decide whether to call and ask the manager if he thinks I need a new battery since it is three years old – and knock on wood, no issues as I leave it plugged in all the time except when I am out with it. I have to get an oil change soon and they can check the battery for me or I can stop down there – they are honest and won’t sell me a battery unless I need one.
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awakening the electrical system? How odd?
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And you know what Wayne … I have told that story to a few people who look at me like I made the story up. I trust Engine Tech … I’d rather go to them to a dealership. They could have charged me for the battery boost, then told me I needed a new battery. Instead Leo told me to pull out of the garage and then he showed me on his gauge that I had full battery power. It was the electrical system that had a glitch. But he told me to take it on a good run, maybe 10 miles or more, before I put it back into the garage. The look on my face when the car came to life … the lights all lit up, the inside … everything lit up. Leo turned to me and said “you know I didn’t want to climb back there unless I had to!” When I had my Buick Regal, the last five years I owned it, it had multiple electrical issues … it would stop in the middle of the street while I drove it. I was afraid to drive it – it cut out without any rhyme or reason. I had that car in and out of the shop and it would never happen to them. I gave them permission to drive the car around town, if they took it out on the street, ran and got their lunch … finally one day it failed and they got the “code” and they figured out what happened and they could correct it and it never happened again. They were ecstatic because it bugged each of the mechanics there because they could not figure out the problem and the car was not safe to drive. The manager worked at a dealership for years and most of the guys there were older so they had seen alot of car issues in their day. I finally got rid of the Regal (sold it to Engine Tech), and it was 21 years old, and age was not the issue at all – it was in perfect shape, not a mark on it and only 64,000 miles, because every time I drove it into the garage, the next morning it was dead – Leo had to come give it a battery boost. That car was the same size as this one. I had it at the shop, they had it on the hoist – no luck. Then on the day I bought this car (we had a car salesman drive to our house, to return to the dealership to buy a car) one of the mechanics walked past the car in the shop and the brake lights went on. They figured out it was the brake lights going on, after I put it away and it drained the battery. I didn’t want to take any more chances on it, and had already bought the new car. I told my mom, we could keep the new car and the Regal – she said “are you crazy?”
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I’m glad I got rid of my car.Tofino is small,so getting around with a bike is far easier! Where you are everything is designed with cars in mind.Hell Detroit is motor city USA! You need start looking around for a place you can retire to.I’m sure it’ll take years.You could move to back to Canada.
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Because Detroit is the motor city they don’t make it easy to get around by bus either – my grandmother lived in Toronto for decades, as did my aunt, and they never had a car, nor learned to drive – this is because you could get around by streetcar, bus, subway – no issues at all. Plus there was the “go train” from Toronto to the suburbs. Everything is about cars here – I am still a Canadian citizen, so I would not see a problem moving back – I really should renew my passport because I let it lapse in the 90s.
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