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The last day of the first month of the rest of my life... at least that's the way it seems, looking back on the past 8 years (and one month) of shaping this bit of cyberspace every day. Reminds me of what Dr. Clyde Narramore used to say: "The problem with life is, that it is so daily"

Not that the Pasty Cam has been a problem... Sure, it's a challenge to find the time to do all the technical things which creates someting new for browsers around the world every day. But I wouldn't trade the last 8 years for anything. Years of challenge for Still Waters, the Home for the Aged in Calumet where this website was born... years of change for our family, growing up and marrying off the kids (which is all chronicled in the Pasty Cam Archives)... years of transition for the human race: entering a new century, facing new threats and new opportunities. This 'daily glimpse of life in the U.P.' has provided a window on the events of our time, and a forum for interaction among those who share a connection with this region.

Looking at the picture above from 3/31/98 - I wonder if the man with the shovel is still among us? It would be a number of years before the Pasty Cam would introduce our end-of-the-month memorial, with a beautiful sunset in memory of those who had passed on. I notice in today's remembrance (3/31/06 Cam Notes) that Manila Gipp passed away this week at the age of 103, a notable lady who served her world with distinction as an RN. May we all have as long and meaningful a life.

I'm reminded of the immortal words of Yogi Berra who said, "Always go to other peoples' funerals. Otherwise, they won't come to yours."

Yesterday we promised a new feature in the navigation of the Pasty Cam Archives. On the main Pasty Cam page - where you see the links to years past - you may have noticed that the "Big Picture and Cam Notes" was not available in those early months... until now. Clicking on each day's picture in March of '98 will now take you to these current What'sUP narratives and forum pages, filling in the blanks for those early days. A link has also been added to the 'next week' as well as the previous. Moving forward, those early months will be updated with these shortcuts. Your feedback and suggestions on the features and functions of pasty.com are always welcome.

more tomorrow

Happy rainy Friday from the CC.

Morning!

Charlie,

It's always been obvious to me that the work
that the Pasty Cam staff does is a labor of
love. Thank you for all that you do and thank
you for these glimpses into the time when
Pasty Cam was just beginning.

It may sound a bit corny, but I'll bet it's true for
many of us--Pasty Cam starts many a day,
keeps the homesick going and provides a
connection to those who work in the still of the
night.

Charlie, I couldn't agree more with what Kosk had to say about how important Pasty Cam is to each and every one of us.
For me, Pasty Cam gives me a breath of fresh air, from my work...and reminds me that in this day and age, there are still some really wonderful people.
One of the hardest things I ever had to do, was move from Michigan...and through your wonderful website, home is never further away than a click of my mouse ;) Thank you.

Morning All.
Thank you to Charlie and all the Staff involved in bringing the UP to all of us displaced YOOPERS. You have provided a great learning experience and oh so many memories on a daily basis. I turn into a Grumpy Old Man when I don't get my daily dose of Pasty Cam. (just kidding) but it does seem like having that first cup of coffee in the morning, very gratifying.
Enjoy the day everyone.

I Vote with the majority!!

Thank you to all of you at Pasty Cam for making all of our days just that much brighter!

heartfelt thanks to all Pasty staff!

thanks also to all the wonderful people at Still Waters and all the care facilities in the Copper Country.

thanks to caregivers everywhere!

Morning! Be sure to "Spring" forward your clocks one hour friday nite or early saturday morning!

whoops! my clock is sprung...set those clocks sat. nite or early Sunday morning, is what I meant to say...I'm ready for the weekend, rest and relax!

Gee Bobbysgirl, I sorta like the saying, "spring forward your clocks"...it sorta has a ring to it, eh.
Here's everyone's chuckle for the day: I dropped hubby off at his semi this morning...and after he had taken off, I realized that he had left his fresh hot cup of Dunkin Donuts coffee in my truck. Knowing how important that first cup of coffee is, I had to take off after him. Several morning commuters got a chuckle out of the following scene: a Dunkin Donuts semi truck pulled over on the side of the road, and me handing him a cup of Dunkin Donuts coffee. Now how's that for service ;) All I can say, is that hubby had better enjoy that cup of coffee, all the way to the very last drop :)

Beverly,



From your friends,
Yooper and Sur5er

Sur5er, if you like the spring forward then you will like "fall" back your clocks! :) But bring on springtime first before the fall now! I enjoy your posts sur5er! your're a thinker!

Good Morning All!!
Love your story sur5er of the "Dunkin Donut" coffee.Son Dj.got me hooked on it when he was home last June. I sent him 2 bags when he was in Iraq. They didn't last the week! It is expensive but a real treat at times.
Thanks again for this Great website. Its the first place I land after my feet hit the floor.
Everyone have a Great weekend. Rain predicted here and we really need it..Woods are very DRY!

yes, the snow shoveler is still shoveling snow at sixth & pine in Calumet

Yooper, What great pics! I miss these when you're gone.
Kosk, What a way you have with words. I agree totally with what you said. I couldn't have said it better myself. Of course, you are a school teacher so probably have quite the way with words.
And Charlie I agree with Sur5er. I love this website. I've met some great people on this site and now I'd be lost without it. What a great job you guys do every day. Please don't ever stop. It gets a lot of us going in the morning and it keeps a lot of us going in the evening. Thank you so much.

I return to pasty cam several times each day.I enjoy the postings and the pictures of the UP.It never fails to cheer me up. I hope the site will be here for years to come .....
Sur5er,I would love to have seen you handing the cup of coffee to your husband...it must have been a real chuckle for passers by!

Coffee: We have that Star Bucks stuff that zings a mind into the next year. This morning, some of my students came in parading as "Red Bull" pitchers and left me a sugar free one. I'm wondering what that will do to this 50 something body...maybe I'd better wait til the weekend,eh.

In winter there is a deep clarity and silence in the U.P.
a country where most everyone lives next to nowhere. happy in their hardship...
where the air itself can seem frozen...
We now will be coming into April, the difference between the tax collector and a taxidermist becomes obvious (the taxidermist leaves the hide!)...
but truly spring is near!

Hi and good friday to all persons!


Few pictures from SUOMI;

http://www.kahlsved.com/suomi/index_suomi.html

Sur5er,
I just read an article this morning about how Indiana has now gone to DST. Welcome to the club:)

After mentioning the rigs flaring off gas the other day, I stuck a rather fuzzy( I think it was the North Sea-cold and foggy )shot of a flaring rig in my gallery. I think I underestimated the average flame these guys put out. This one looks to be about 140 ft long-same length as the ship tending the rig. It is unfortunate that on many rigs they still burn this off instead of recovering it, or re-injecting it for later recovery.

https://pasty.com/pcam/marc

Marc, It used to be that you could travel from one side of Indiana to the other, and travel through three time zones. The north west section, where we live, is on central time...with DST. The middle of Indiana is on eastern time...with DST. And then there was Angola...on eastern time....but refusing to have any part of DST.
And to make it even more interesting, I listen to Michigan radio stations...with of course, them giving the time an hour ahead of us ;)
Oh thanks for the pic of the flaming oil rig...now I see whatcha mean.

Yooper, Thanks for the pic for Beverly...I am sure it will make her day. You know, as under the weather as Beverly has been lately with her health, she always makes it a point to send me a funny or two during the evening, to keep me going on this paperwork :)

ILoveLucy2, Dang, I wish you would have said something about the Dunkin Coffee for your son.

Erica, If the fashion police would have seen me this morning, I think I would have been arrested...if not for the big fuzzy pink slippers alone :)

Usedtobeayooper: One...two...three...'we are family...' :)

Marc, thanks for the info on the oil rigs. I had been wondering if there wasn't some way to conserve the natural gas rather than burn it. You certainly give us all an education in little bits. I really appreciate your environmental philosphy.

Wondering if somebody could help me....

I'm looking for a picture posted a couple of years back. It was of a survey marker located at the mouth of Fanny Hoe creek. For the life of me, I can't seem to dig it up anywhere on the site.

Sounds like the good folks of Indiana let things get a little messy, time-wise, but thats nothing compared to what we do with time out here:

Out here at sea, we live on local time, keep track of our work in Zulu(based on the letter "Z" given to that time zone), or UTC (Coordinated Universal Time, based on the cesium-beam atomic clocks), which used to be GMT (Greenwich Mean Time, based on the location of the Greenwich Meridian and rotation of the Earth) and actually record our work in GPS time, which is offset by 14 seconds from the other two. Fortunately there is something like a less then a second difference between UTC and GMT, but it is still confusing. After all that, we post the old GMT all over ship, even though we don't technically use it.

Finally, for anyone able to follow all this and still keep and eye out for detail-the intitals UTC are out of order from "Coordinated Universal Time", because the United Nations recognize French as the official, international language and that is the order the intitials appear in French.
That ends today's completely useless triva on time.
Yes, I'm bored and have too much time on my hands today...

Yooper:

Great to see your graphics again.

Used to be a Yooper:

How kind!

Bev:

Hang tough! We're pulling for you.

Beverly, I'm sending you my warm wishes your way for your health concerns to improve! You know me as IndyPrincess, from John Dee's site

Marc, Sounds like you need a college degree just to figure out what time of day it is. Time to break out the sun dial ;)
Kosk, So the weekend has begun, eh :)

Sur5er,
I didn't even mention that we record part of our work in Julian time under the Julian calander :)


Matt,
I did keyword searches on the archives for survey, marker and fanny hoe. No luck and some of the Google sponsors showing up, based on key words, were a little disturbing, to boot.

Marc.......I understand that you are shooting marine seismic surveys imaging the Earth below the seafloor, hunting for oil and gas. Who might your employers be? Big oil, a wildcater, the Mexican or U.S. Government.Just very interested, thank you.......

Beverly,I am sorry to hear you are under the weather.I was wondering about you! Hugs are on the way from me to you:)

Sur5er,hmmm fuzzy pink slippers,hey!! That must have got a lot of peoples attention!

Liz B, I would definitely have it this weekend!

Sur5er,

Yes, the weekend is here. Much cleaning and
organizing to do. Our son comes home for a
two week leave tomorrow. Hooray!

Langoman,
Our customers are the oil companies; public, and state-owned in many countries, such as PEMEX in Mexico.

Good evening from Mishawaka, IN. Home of who knows what time and a toll road that is leased to who knows.

Start spring break this evening. I was so ready for it. Don't when I've ever been this ready. Not planning on doing anything major--well, maybe clean the house and catch up on some other things I have going. It will just be nice to not have to go to school. The kids were really squarlly this week.

Marc, So in other words, not only do you not know what time it is, but you don't know what day of the week it is ;) How does the day 'payday' translate in the Julian calander?

Charlotte, did Governor Daniels get the toll road bill passed? I had heard they were trying to get it passed through the House...and some representatives were working on the wording of the bill. Last time I checked, there was only one word in 'no'. Sigh. So that doesn't look good.

Fran, Oh yeah...bright pink and really fuzzy slippers...that sorta kinda went with my pink hoodie...but sorta clashed with my bright reddish purple sweats. Hubby must have felt bad for me, because when he came home today, he brought me a Vanilla Bean frozen something or other from Dunkin :)

Kosk, Hope you have a wonderful visit with you son, while he is home on leave :)

Hey Sur5er, What comes next? "I got all my sisters and me?" Anyway, I think that's what it is. And it does feel like family, doesn't it?
I love this site!

Sur5er, they held a meeting last week in South Bend, after the fact, and it was the same day they held a financial meeting about the toll road. I think we, the citizens, of Indiana are getting ripped. I hope the people of Michigan listen real good to the guy who's running for governor who says he's a business man. Heard the same thing for "my man Mitch" when he was running. He forget to tell us about the lease though. This guy in MI will be leasing The Bridge and maybe even Mackinac Island. Guess I should get off that line.

Usedtobeayooper, Yepper depper, you got that right :)

Charlotte, Oh let's not get started on ole Mitch ;) But what the heck, while we are on the subject. Senator Lugar contacted Mitch to let him know that the Indiana courts were issuing support orders to truck drivers, which superceded federal DOT laws. Mitch had one of the 'state attorneys' contact me.
During a heated verbal confrontation, I finally stated, "so what happens if one of these truck drivers that the state has court ordered to violate DOT laws, is involved in an accident/fatality. Surely you care about the danger you are putting other motorists!"
Mitch's mouthpiece's reply: "Well DOT doesn't know to check the support orders of truck drivers" (involved in accidents/fatalities). Chuckle chuckle. "If you contact the feds or the media about this, it won't do any of us any good."
Well DOT does know now :) ;) I call this Mitch's version of the exploding Pinto...you know, cheaper for people to be injured/killed than to fix the problem.

Thank you Yooper and Sur5er for the lovely card...Roses and Kittys...my favorite. I was never so surprised for everyone's thoughts wishing me well. Thank you Kosk, Fran and Princess.

Seismic Pirate: I always say "There is no time like the present."

Bev,
You are absolutely right!

I just wish I could get off this ship at the present time...

Kosk, Haven't been on the site long enough to know where your son is? He must be in the military. Where is he stationed? You have a great time when he comes home. I know I enjoy my son when he comes home from college for a bit.

Charlotte, Hopefully the people in Michigan are smart enough to figure that out. Maybe they should all come on this site eh? Well, maybe not the trolls, but the YOOPERS will be smart enough. lol:) Just kidding guys!

Usedtobea yooper--

He's stationed in Fort Lewis, Washington.
He's to be deployed to Iraq in June.

Gotta go now to pick him up at the airport.
Yeah!