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Happy New Year! I do not know how long into the new year it is appropriate to say that. Perhaps It is okay for a few weeks or so, but maybe not for the first week in April.

You know it is the new year because there are so many indoor shows taking place. I mean the boat, fishing, RV and cottage shows.  These shows provide a great escape in the middle of a Michigan winter and remind us that warm weather is coming!

Here is a list of some of the shows brought to my attention. If you know of others let me know the details.

Enjoy the show!

January 8-11: Ultimate Fishing Show, Detroit, Rock Financial Showplace

January 15-18: Camper, Travel and RV Show, Grand Rapids, De Vos Place 

January 16-18: Lansing Boat Show, Lansing, Lansing Center

January 23-25: Huntin’ Time Expo West, Grand Rapids, Delta Plex

January 30-February 1: Traditonal Bowhunters Expo, Kalamazoo, Kalamazoo County Fairgrounds

February 13-15: Michigan Deer and Turkey Spectacular, Lansing, Lansing Center

February 14-22: Detroit Boat Show, Detroit, Cobo Center

February 18-22: Grand Rapids Boat Show, Grand Rapids, De Vos Place

February 19-22: RV Expo, Grand Rapids, Delta Plex

February 20-22: Mid Michigan Boat Show, Saginaw, Saginaw Valley State University

February 26-March 1: Cottage and Lakefront Living Show, Detroit, Rock Financial Showplace

February 26-March 1: Outdoorama, Detroit, Rock Financial Showplace

February 27-March 1: Petoskey Boat Show, Petoskey, North Central Michigan College

March 6-8: Flint River Valley Steelheader’s Sport Boat and Fishing Show,  Birch Run, Birch Run Expo Center

March 7:  Quiet Water (paddlesports) Symposium, East lansing, Michigan State University Pavilion for Livestock and Agriculture Education

March 7-8: The Midwest Fly Fishing Expo, Warren, Macomb Community College

March 12-15: Spring Boat Expo, Novi, Rock Financial Showplace

March 12-15: Lansing Boat and Fishing Show, Lansing, Lansing Center

March 19-22: Ultimate Sport and RV Show, Grand Rapids, De Vos Place

March 27-29: Cottage and lakefront Living, Grand Rapids, De Vos Place

April 17-19:  Traverse City Boat Show, Traverse City, Howe Arena

We’re barely into winter and already I’m looking ahead to storm season 2009. That may seem strange, but for me it’s only natural. I’m a storm chaser—an identity I take pride in because of the intense passion and personal investment it reflects—and my obsession with severe weather by no means goes into hibernation when the snows fly. Rather, it seems to increase. I dream of cloud turrets muscling up through the springtime troposphere, flattening at the tops into the anvils of belligerent cumulonimbi. I long for the feel of moist air pumping in all the way from the Gulf of Mexico, and of warm southeast winds spiraling into deep low-pressure systems moving in from the west. Believe me, the kind of itch I’ve got keeps me scratching all year long.

That’s not entirely impractical, either. Last year, my first storm chase was on January 7. A month later, on February 5, my chase partner and I were back on the road. Both events turned out to be significant tornado outbreaks which reached surprisingly far north. They just weren’t Michigan events.

Michigan most certainly has its share of violent weather, though, and it can come at times when you feel sure that the thunderstorm machine has shut down for the year. Still, most of our big weather occurs from April through June, and then again, more conservatively, around late September through October. Those are the times when moisture, large temperature contrasts with height, jet stream support, and wind shear are likeliest to come together in the finely tuned combination necessary for derechoes, supercells, and tornadoes.

During those times, even if we’re not getting severe weather, every once in a while we can get something pretty strange.

One day in the middle of June last year, sitting in my living room recliner, I happened to glance out the sliding glass door to my balcony and did a double-take. Snaking sideways off of a low deck of clouds half a mile away was a perfectly formed shear funnel. There it was—long, sinuous, a beautiful example of what can happen when exactly the right conditions preside. A product of wind shear and condensation near the level of the cloud base, the funnel presented no danger. Not that I’d have wanted to run into it while parasailing, but it lacked the stuff necessary to become a tornado. Its fascination didn’t diminish, though, nor did its aesthetic appeal. You just don’t see one of these babies every day, and this one was a beauty.

The funnel must have existed for a while before I noticed it, and it persisted for a good five minutes or so after—plenty of time for me to grab my camera and snap a few photos. The two images here are the best of the lot. Why am I sharing them with you now, in the middle of the winter? To be frank, because I wanted a break from snow-and-ice photos. Because I thought that you, too, might appreciate something a little different, and shear funnels surely are that. And because I thought you and I could both use a reminder that warmer months lie ahead. They may not be rounding the corner quite yet, but they’re not all that far down the road.

Michigan is not “Big Sky Country” like the American West, but the view here still includes up as well as down. When the snow cover finally melts under the rays of a warmer sun, keep your eyes on the sky as well as the burgeoning countryside. The atmosphere is a landscape in its own right, and sometimes the scenery will surprise you.

It is finally here, New Year’s Day 2009.

I always like a new year. It is like opening a new chapter in the book called life. There will be new opportunities, new adventures, new people to meet, new places to visit, new foods to try, new books to read and new photos to snap.

Yes, we will be taking some of the old “baggage’ from 2008 with us. The economy does not change because we turn the calendar, but I choose to be optimistic.

A new year is not the only time to look ahead with expectation. Each morning we wake up to a new day with its opportunities. So, in 2009, let’s look at each day as gift and take advantage of every opportunity.

On behalf of Waterlandliving, I want to wish you a very Happy New Year!

Today we bid farewell to 2008. For many people living in Michigan, and throughout the United States, it has been a difficult year. Hard working people lost jobs, homes went into foreclosure and retirement funds dwindled.

If 2008 were to be summarized in a short phase, many probably would say, “It was all about the economy.”  And, as I reflect on 2008, I have decided it was not all about the economy.

Yes, we all have been effected in one way or another by the Michigan economy.  But, it was also a year filled with laughter with family and friends, both new and old.

It was a year of beautiful sunrises and sunsets.

It was a year of new adventures and opportunities.  It was a year of seeing things we haven’t seen before and learning things we didn’t know before.

It was one more mile in the journey of life. 

And, It was a year I learned to appreciate even more the beautiful world we live in!

It happens a couple of times a year.

The storm comes thru and the power is off.

This time it lasted for about fortyeight hours.

It is always the same scenerio. We quickly search the house for flashlights and candles, only to find flashlights and dead batteries or that do not work at all. And, somehow, all candles have disappereared.

We all have seen and ignored the lists of how to be prepared for such an occasion.

If you need a reminder, here is a helpful one: Outage Preparation

Today, I am throwing out all of our flashlights that do not work.

Wishing you and your family a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Today is Christmas Eve. I always enjoy Christmas Eve Day. Most of the parties and dinners are over with and now it is time to relax and enjoy family and friends.  And I am thankful I am not among those doing their last minute shopping at the mall.

Christmas Eve Day is the day that starts off the time around Christmas and New Year’s Day when things seem to slow down a bit and I have an excuse to eat some of those goodies that I would normally avoid, after all, it is the holidays!

Last night we took the time to do something we had not done in many years. We went to look at Christmas lights.  Of course, I went with purpose, to take pictures of Christmas trees. And, when I found there was no such thing as the perfect tree, I decided to have some fun with the camera.

Clear Lake located along M20 at the second big curve as you travel east from Big Rapids. This Michigan Lake located in Colfax Township, central Mecosta County. Clear Lake is a respectful one hundred thirty acres with reported depths of thirty feet.

On the northeast corner of Clear Lake, you may enjoy a round of golf at the Meceola Country Club. This lakefront eighteen hole course, located on 150^th Avenue, offers a very picturesque atmosphere on a very playable course. You will also find great burgers here.

 The DNR maintains a boat launch on the southern side of the lake with plenty of parking, restrooms, and a hard surface launch. The last time I was at the Clear Lake launch, four deer, who were not in a mood to have their picture taken, crossed my path.  But, sometimes, it is good to just take time and enjoy God’s creation and his creatures.

Directions to Clear Lake launch       Clear Lake Map

I expected to have hit the grouse woods by now with my old, twelve gage Winchester. Today, with the cutoff date for grouse season just a couple weeks away and the holidays at hand, I suspect that’s not going to happen. It’s okay, though. I’ve discovered a new form of hunting, and with the partridge cycle at its low, this kind shows much more promise. Armed with my Canon EOS 400 camera, I’ve been returning from the fields with my game bag full. And what’s particularly nice is, there’s no limit on photographs.

Better yet, outdoor photography season runs year round—and, to my surprise and delight, I’m finding that winter in Michigan brims with subjects. Everywhere I turn, I see images waiting to be captured, hidden amid the trees, nestled in snowy meadows, drifting through the sky, parading across hillsides.

The landscape has stories to tell, hinterland dramas recorded in the Braille of rabbit tracks in the snow, the cuneiform of tangled roots at the base of a fallen tree, and the ghostly expression of an old, weather-worn stump where woodpeckers have been chiseling away.

You don’t have to look far in the wintry countryside for photos that practically compose themselves. The pictures are there, waiting for you. All you have to do is pull aside, get out of your car, and look around. There, in that roadside swamp—see how the slanting sun dapples the tumbled, frozen terrain? The swamp is a jigsaw puzzle of snow and ice, light and shadow. Can you put it together with your lens?

Farther down the road, you park by a nature preserve and head down the trail. The rabbits have been busy here, weaving crisscross trails over the snow. Other creatures have left their signature footprints as well—whitetail deer, raccoons, various birds, perhaps even a red fox. The forest floor is a vast white page spread beneath the trees, written like a diary with the winter activities of wild animals.

Forging onward, you head up a small rise, then back down, emerging out of the woods into open marshland and the light of the waning day. On the other side of the snowy flats, dark, wooded hills rise into shadow, set against a patchwork canvas of sky and cloud. But here on the trail, the sunlight searches out hidden corners and conspires with the snow to turn commonplace objects into strange and wonderful art. That trailside bench up ahead, for instance, is nothing you’d want to sit on right now, but it’s magical to simply look at.

Back in early November, as the leaves of autumn faded and fell away, I wondered, in that dreary interlude before the first snowfall, what opportunities the coming winter would hold for someone like me who doesn’t ski or snowmobile. Now I know. As with the rest of the seasons, winter in Michigan possesses its unique brand of grace and grandeur. This is the time of year for crackling log fires, mugs of robust, black stout, and good books. But it’s also the time to layer up, head outdoors, savor the ice cream air, and enjoy the confectionary artistry of the northwoods in the winter.

Well, it is not even officially winter yet, but I am already missing the Michigan summer season.  Winter officially begins on December 21; spring will be here soon on March 21. 100 days from today.  The countdown begins.

Although, I do not enjoy the cold, I am looking forward to interesting winter photo opportunities that only a Michigan winter can provide.