Browsing the Gallery tonight I stumbled on this masterpiece from Kathy Jennings, which seemed appropriate to include with the Eagle Harbor shots this week. Looks like a little inspiration for "The Birds". Pasty Central's new guest albums really have been an great addition to the website, giving many more incredible views of life in the U.P.

Sorry I have missed a few days this week. Popped back down to Washington for a visit with Tina. And Charlie, I promise I'll try to get the Wallpaper of the Week page caught up over the weekend.

Good morning to all back east, and from the west coast, as Alfred Hitchcock used to say, "Good E-vening"

seagulls=rats with wings

John K, I thought pigeons were rats with wings.

NEVER LOOK UP TO SEE A SEAGULL!!!:)

Beautiful!!...I hope I always live where I can see a seagull!!!....so far I always have. We use to call this a "seagull party". It only required some old bread, one little grandson and a dock at Bootjack.....it really was great fun when the family dog went nuts!!...

Just one more request. Our family is headed to Copper Harbor by Aug 16 and was wondering what is going on in the area. We are coming up to visit my mother who lives there in the summer. She is a teacher and has to go back to teaching so. Also we will be in Marquette ( our old stomping grounds) to see some friends that we have not seen in quite a while. Is there some thing going on there? I would love any suggestions that anybody has. Can't wait to smell the great air and feel the cooler temps.

"Rats, maybe, but here in the middle of corn fields, they remind me of cool refreshing breezes off The Lake! And the smell of "up north". :)

There is a new index for Gallery albums, listed by the photographers' first name: Guest Gallery Albums. We'll get a link put on the Gallery pages to make it more convenient to find a specific contributor. Thanks to everyone for the great pictures!

pigeons ARE rats with wings. those pictured above are called "WATER CHICKENS"
glad i could help

While I agree with "rats" and "water chickens", I have to compliment the photographer on a rather impressive photo.

Birdy birdy in the sky, dropped some whitewash in my eye. Am I mad? No, not I I'm only glad that cows can't fly!!!

I'm agreeing with R.J. - A flying cow chip could kill someone :^)

Yooper Joe!!

Mine. Mine. Mineminemineminemine. Mine. Mine. . . mine.

Hee!!

Seagulls are good scavengers. They get a bad rep.

Seagulls earn their bad rep by being such good scavengars. I've sat at Hancock Beach and seen them swoop down and steal anything shiny like a watch or glasses and haul them across the lake to the other side. Also have sat at the Houghton waterfront and had them swoop down and steal steak right off the hot grill. And I have been adorned with white wash on more than one occassion!

I once visited a restaurant that had an outdoor seating area. A lady was carrying a pizza to her table and a gull swooped down and helped itself to a slice. Scared the poor lady so badly that the pizza went flying and she ended up on the ground. They're bold, aren't they?

Hmm,

Mabye they ought to name it seagull harbor instead. :)

Hey, Gal in Kalamazoo!
Sounds like you watched "Finding Nemo".

wow, lucky I had my mouth open-i'd have gotten that right in the face!

Ms. Katie, IL, If you are near the Illinois River or the Mississippi we do have gulls out here in the corn. Down here the rats don't fly, they have four cloven hooves, white tails and can weigh 200 pounds. Our corn fed deer are among the most tasty and destructive in the world. A fine example ecology gone astray, with no preditors but humans and their cars the deer have prospered. We have alot of coyotes too, who might get fawns and decrepid adults but mostly they prey on rabits, fox, and anything domestic. There was a grey wolf shot two counties north of me, he had migrated from the UP or Minnesota - they haven't figured the DNA out enough to pinpoint the family but he was definitely a wolf. The wolf with some friends would have helped with the deer but the local humans would panic. Falcons, eagles, and hawks have helped limit the pigeon version of flying rats down here.
Anyone, how are the Keweenaw cougars doing? There were sightings last Fall but haven't heard anymore about them.

We just got home this afternoon from 2 wonderful weeks camping at McLain State Park and Twin Lakes State Park. It was absolutely gorgeous even though we did have some rain along the way. We did some hiking in the Porkies as well as visiting friends in the Houghton/Hancock area. Already looking forward to coming up in October for the Fall colors.

Junction City Oregon is having Scandinavian Festival this weekend. Started Thursday and runs through Sunday. Finnish day, Norwegian day, Iceland day, Swedish day. Fun food dances displays etc.

Paul in Il...yes I live 25 M. east of Mississippi R. I did read somewhere recently about that wolf. So sad that it was killed. Have read a lot about wolves. That's why the racoons etc. overrun peoples property. I have special concern for my cats when I let them out because of the coyotes we can hear in the woods across our road. The deer around here are thick esp. in fall when cornfields are picked. Can't remember what county the wolf was. I'm in Carroll Co. and Could easily see where that was possible. Like to hear more about Keweenaw cougers.

seeing those "gulls" reminds me when the eagle habor dump was still open. I wonder if any in the picture were around then. spent many nights watching the bears there too. I remember one of the bears that was missing his front right paw, all that was there was about two inches of bare bone, poor guy or girl. I did not get close enough to find out its gender

Does anyone remember going to watch the bears eat at a dump near Calumet? I am not sure of that location but I don't think we would have gone much further at that time of day. I just can't imagine my Mom allowing us to do that and actually going herself!!! Us kids thought it was so exciting!

dere was da coppa hahba dump where you could watch da bears from your car. Some troll even put his grandkid on one of da bears back for a ride, no kidding. Dey shut it down bout 13 years ago. After dat Copper Harbor had some hungry bears and lots of problems with bears for a while.

I remember going to the dump in Copper Harbor years ago. I remember a woman who had a bag of marshmallows in her hands. She was tossing them in close range to the bear one by one. The bear was standing up straight on its back legs and kept moving closer to the woman. Luckily she kept backing up and made it back into her car when the bag became empty. It's no wonder the dump was shut down. Some people treated the bears like pets.

Watching the dump bears was a time honored Copper Country tradition until the EPA ordered the dumps closed. Each town had a dump, Eagle River's was to the south of the cemetary, and a cast of ursine characters that became part of the community. Towards the end of Summer, several local residents would take it upon themselves to scare off the bears with firecrackers and any other means available. This was to protect the dump bears from the less than sportsmanlike "hunters" who were too lazy to actually hunt bears.
I saw this first hand about 20 years ago in September. It was opening day of bear season; we were leaving the cabin for home and stopped at the Eagle River dump to dump the last cabin refuse. There, in all their glory, was a whole extended family of "hunting" trolls (you could tell by the license plates). The adult males were perched up on the pick-up trucks (3 total)with rifles ready and the females and the offspring were lined up on folding chairs to watch the menfolk blow away any dumb dump bear that would be foolhardy enough to show up for a meal. What a wonderous display of "manhood". I have nothing against hunting - but go out and hunt so the beast has a chance!
The dumps were closed for environmental reasons, secondary benefits were preventing people like the woman in Cindy's story from winning the Darwin award and forcing the troll family to actually go out into the bush to shoot bears. Unfortunately, when the dumps were closed, there was a coincidental plague that struck the timbleberries (a virus or fungus brought in from outside). This put alot of pressure on the bears to find food and there were many cases of bears in town or around camps. It was feared the thimbleberries would be wiped out, but they have made enough of a recovery to provide both the bears and the humans.

We went to the Houghton dump to see bears back when it was located exactly where the hill on Sharon Avenue goes down toward Econo Foods. We also went to the Stanton Township dump and viewed the bears. We had smarter parents who kept us in the car. But everyone loved it. Other families were there, too!

Used to go to the Painesdale dump as a youngster
Shure was fun for a city punk. One time my cousin
tricked me to leave the car and there was a bear
about 10 yards behind the car. Lots of fun.
Agree that shooting them at dumps was a shame.
Give them a chance. Wonderful Harbor pics this week.

Phyllis/Texas, here are a few places to see what's going on in the Keweenaw:

http://www.keweenawnow.com/happenings/happenings.htm

http://www.calumettheatre.com/

http://www.copperharbor.org/

http://www.uptravel.com/CalendarOfEvents/Events.htm

http://www.rozsa.mtu.edu/

Phyllis/Texas, also check out the schedule that Daryl from Pasty.com keeps so nicely updated:

http://www.pasty.com/discuss/messages/527/527.html

Loved to go down to feed the gulls and watch them fly always amazed at how well they could see. Little Girls Point is still my favorite place to sit and relax,Bessemer Michigan

FLYING DREAMS
Seated by a gentle sea
With waving lips it talks to me,
As seagulls alight upon the sand
Eyeing the loaf that's in my hand.

They yearn the booty I control
To woo the antics I'd behold,
In answer to the bread I'd throw
They'd please me with a fantastic show

I remember how in years gone past
I came down here with bread to cast,
To see the beauty as they swoop
So gracefully the bread they'd scoop

Unknowing they made memories then,
And liven them now once again,
But thoughts Of dreams I sought to see,
I'm rueful now, they're not to be!
By Herbert Nikula
Bessemer