Summer Youth Baseball

Three days a week my wife and I are busy, thank you. We both have prior invites that keep us committeed pretty much throughout the summer.
No, it's not black tie or even casual business attire. All you need is comfortable clothes-shorts, T-shirts and sandals are in vogue-a lawn chair and a good pair of lungs to cheer with.
We are hooked on our 12-year-old grandson Joshua Checkal's baseball games. Of course, once basketball seasons hits, we follow that too.
The games are fun, exciting, and in his case, his team-players and coaches-have been together for a long time.
Now we get to kind of reap the rewards and see these kids grow. They not only are bigger, but quicker, more accurate with throws and hit the ball harder and longer.
Josh is throwing smoke when he pitches. His control can use some work but for the most part he's right on.
That comes from the numerous catching and pitching camps he's been in 0ver the winter thanks to his dad. He's enrolled in about every baseball clinic around.
In fact, he just finished up a stint in one of Clarkston's Dan Fife basketball camps. He like both sports.
We do too. Give us someone to cheer for. In fact, we pretty much know the team so we get involved.
Beats whatever show the pros are putting forth. At least our guys try and they do appreciate a little recognition and a trip for ice cream after a win.

Seasons come and go quickly too

Monday's posting had to do with how fast time flies. Today's mail brought catalogues full of hunting gear.
We are just getting into some good fishing when retailers are already bringing out the heavy clothing, shotguns and rifles, bows and stands, all the ingredients needed for hunting.
Just like Christmas being advertised months early, our sporting seasons seem to have followed this trend.
I guess it's a marketing thing. A need to get what is new out before the season arrives. Bottom line though, it's all about making the dollar.
Any day now I should receive promo releases on ice fishing equipment, what is new and what to buy for the coming season.
Do retailers think rods, guns, shanties, and other equipment wear out after a year's use? You would think so the way promotions go.
All in all though, it's fun to get these things and look them over. Some equipment are for dreamers like myself.
After all, you can shoot only one gun at a time. Happy browsing.

Time flies

I could never figure out when persons older than me used to say, "The older you get, the faster time goes." Or, "Slow down and enjoy life. It's gone before you realize it."
I'm finding these words get truer with every year I add on. But still, I hurry through days, weeks, and even months, often looking a long way ahead.
For instance, I just got off the phone with my daughter residing in England who is expecting her first child this October. I wondered if she, the baby, and husband were going to up for the Olympics in 2012 in London. After asking I thought that is a long way off. No need to worry about that just yet.
But here I am looking forward to the arrival of a new grandchild in October, being in England, and spending time with her and my son-in-law.
Just weeks prior I was looking forward to September and kayak fishing for salmon. That went out the window when my wife decided to attend her class reunion in California over the time I would be gone.
The same is true with the Nov. 15 firearms opener. I had been invited to deer camp in the U.P. and was already looking forward to that trip. That also got cancelled due to the new arrival.
That's the way it goes sometimes. Our plans get nixed for others that take priority. It's good in a way as it keeps us grounded and more or less reeled in.
By the way, thanks to all who took the time to email or otherwise write in about my fishing buddy Bill Baker. He passed within a couple days of my seeing him.
His response when I shook his hand and said I would be seeing him again proved prophetic. "No you won't," he said.
On a hot day, the honor guard took over for a military funeral at the Great Lakes Veterans Memorial Cemetery. It was a most fitting goodbye to someone who loved his country and devoted part of his life to serving it. He'll be missed.

Weather, and what to make of it!

Sometime this coming winter, we'll look back on these hot days and wish we had a few. But for now, the weather maps are colored mostly red indicating super hot temps.
The last I heard, the long-range forecast is for continued hot weather on into September. As far as I'm concerned, the hot weather can go away then and let the cooler weather in that leads to hunting season, bucks thinking about the rut, and those fall colors we like to see.
Remember, when it gets this hot with equally high humidity, the formula for quick, sometimes severe thunderstorms is a definite consideration.
That means staying close to the radio or other news source, especially if you are on the water. Boaters and anglers need to keep a weather eye as they say. These storms usually show themselves late in the afternoon or early evening.
The good thing about them is that they move fast. The bad thing though is they can be very dangerous and destructive.
Stay safe and stay tuned!

Copper Country means no traffic jams

During my visit to the Keweena Penninsula, I was given a guided tour by Laurium based outdoor writer Jim Juntilla.
He's sort of a transplant having lived all his teenage life in Laurium before heading downstate and college at Wayne State's school of mortuary science. His dad was an undertaker so it may have been assumed young Jim would follow in his dad's footsteps.
That didn't last too long. Young Jim was wooed into the advertising biz where he made a career out of doing public relations work and writing some of those catchy ads. When he retired he wanted to live in one place, back in his hometown.
Along with his name and contact info on his business cards, Juntilla includes "the northern most outdoor writer and photographer in Michigan. To date he's had no arguments or challenges.
Back to traffic or rather, a lack of it. "Wow, we've got a traffic jam. What was that, four cars that turned left at this intersection," Juntilla quipped while driving me around.
Roads are paved, two-lane throughout the peninsula with very little vehicle traffic. But if you're driving say on highway 41, kind of the main drag through the area watch out for both deer and bear.
"We've got more deer around here than people," Juntilla said. He wasn't kidding either. We did see deer but no bear.
However, not long into our tour, he took me to a spot not far off the road to show me an active bear den.
Then we were off to see more streams most of which he called good brook trout spots if you did some bushwhacking to get back in away from the highway.
Maybe, Oakland County with all of it's lakes resembled the Keweenaw years back. Take traffic, freeways, and a building boom, and you are left with two lane roads, plenty of woods and a lower population density.
If that is true, it had to be a long time ago. Checked out my story about the Keweenaw in Thursday's Oakland Press sports section.

Fishing, pasties, and large cinnamon rolls

Everything in the western U.P. is large. From the largeness of Lake Superior to the large cinnamon rolls bakeries and restaurant's feature.
In Laurium you can't beat Toni's Pasty Shop for great baked goods, pasties, and wonderful, home style food.
Once you appetite is satisfied, head out to any number of small streams for a day of brook trout fishing.
Don't let looks deceive you. Many of these look like a trickle, but spend a little time bushwhacking and you will most often come up with a nice moving creek, narrow and covered with brush. That's where the brookies are likely to be hiding.
You might take a day off from water activities and hit one of the many museums in the area, or tour a mine shaft. Tour directors provide coats as the temperature rapidly cools when you go underground.
With miles of sandy beaches to choose from, pick a spot, take a picnic and good book and spend the day listening to the wave action, while having the entire beach practically to yourself.
If you must, buy a jar of thimbleberry jam. A small jar averages about $8 and are available in grocery stores, mom and pop stores or roadside stands.
Traffic, or the lack of it is no problem. This is one place where you can truly slow down and smell the roses.

Keweenaw and more

LAURIUM-This small village is right next door to Calumet in the Keweenaw Peninsula, about a nine-hour drive from Oakland County.
Whoever coined the phrase, "so many lakes and not enough time," should have included rivers. On my drive here, I passed or crossed water of all kinds; lakes, ponds, creeks, rivers, and of course, Great Lakes.
I'm always struck by the beauty of the Upper Peninsula and the wildness that the area seems to emit.
Heading north and west on highway 28 then eventually, highway 41, reminded me of bird hunting in this area several years ago.
That's because I saw so many lakes with no one on them. I vowed then to come back and fish as many as I could. Of course, I have never gotten to do it-too many other irons in the fire.
But passing Baraga State Park made me think of that vow. The park is located practically on the water; one of Lake Superior's many bays. It's actually on the opposite side of the road from the lake.
My thought has been to make the park my home base then head out from there to as many of the other small lakes and streams around it.
Whether you fish or not makes no difference. Kayaks, especially sea kayaks outnumber power boats in this reason. This is a great area for paddle sports.
It also works well for hiking, biking, sightseeing, or hanging around the many museums. As for me, I'm off to Lac La Belle ( French for Lake of the Bell's), for some kayak fishing.