We have been framing a deck overlooking the lake on this recently completed house.
We were able to get the footings done before it got too cold…
There hasn’t been a lot of snow yet this year so the outside work hasn’t been to difficult.
These last two photos were taken with my phone so they are not the greatest quality, still you can get a feel for the view from the deck high on this bluff overlooking the lake.
I think we will wait for some warmer weather for the decking. We are going to use Ipe decking and, with the hidden fastener system, it is recommended that it be glued down, and that would not make to much sense to do in the cold weather.
http://huismanwoodworking.com/
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In one of my trips to the cities lately, it occurred to me, (again), how little there is in the way of radio stations south of Hinkley or so. As you get closer to the larger metro areas, you expect to have more access to the arts and music, and, in general, you do, but when it comes to radio stations, for the last 30 years I have been coming and going to and from Northern Minnesota, and I have found the best radio to be not where you would expect it.
I think the last real good radio station in Minneapolis died out when I was about 15. They are still there, of course, KQRS, but it is not the same. I think they are “classic rock” now, whatever that means these days. I remember when I was a kid, they were what they called back then, an “album station”, meaning they played other songs on the albums instead of the one single that was made to be played on the pop stations, the 3.5 minute version.
I know radio is practically a thing of the past now days but I am one who still doesn’t have XM radio in the car and so I rely on my CDs and catching a wave when it is in range.
…so as you take off from Ely, you are on the fringe of what has long been, in my opinion, the best radio station in the world, KUMD out of Duluth. By the time I get to Babbitt, I can get this pretty clearly and it takes me all the way to about Hinkley. Now, it’s not always the music I want to hear all the time, there is a great variety, but for the most part there is a pretty good chance that I will be able to listen to something good, or at least interesting. Many times I am driving early in the morning and they have show after show of Undercurrents, which is just amazing.
Occasionally, as an alternative, between Duluth and Virginia, you have always been able to pick up KAXE out of Grand Rapids, MN. This is a station I grew to enjoy about 25 or 30 years ago, especially one summer I worked over in Effie and lived in a small one room log cabin in the woods. I wasn’t alone there, of course, there were lots of mice, but also this great radio station.
I lived near Ely for a time before that, in a small one room log cabin down by Johnson Lake. I had no electricity or running water there either, but I had a good car stereo and an extra battery that I would run it off of. I would switch the battery with the one in my truck every couple days so they would always be charged. I ran an antenna wire up high in the ceiling and was able to clearly pick up KAXE that way. On long winter evenings by the wood-stove with kerosene lamps, they kept me sane. Relatively.
Recently I was made aware that KAXE now has a translator in Ely at 103.9. It is nice to have them back in my life. …again, not always exactly what you want to hear, but at least there is a pretty good chance you will hear something interesting. And no commercials. And there is nothing like these small community radio stations to give you a sense of home. It’s like radio the way it was meant to be.
There is a good article here on radios and fringe listening… how to get by without the internet, as we all still need to do from time to time: http://kaxe.org/Nuts-Volts/reception-tips.aspx
Anyway, my occasional drives to the cities got me to thinking about radio…
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