No Joke . . .

I got a personalized note from the Michigan DNR.

See Below...(-:

You see...now, get comfortable, this will likely end up being very wordy...I'll wait...

Ok...

(-:

All Set?

So...this year, pre-coronavirus...I planned to head up to the house my folks have in the Keweenaw Peninsula for Spring Break with William & Livia. Ok...I'll wait again while you finish all your, "don't get too sunburned jokes..." So..yeah...I was going to head up there since to be practical with the budget I didn't have to pay for a place to stay (thanks mom and dad!) and I could take the dog. Plus, we have loads of stuff up there we like to do, like swim in the Tech pool and skate at their ice arena, go out to eat. Plus, there's still snow up there and that would be novel for us at this time of year because we usually don't have lots down here, and we certainly don't this year.

Then...the coronavirus arrived.

 Stay at home orders were given.

Travel bans were enacted.

But...I had an empty home to stay in for my stay at home order...up north

And, the MI DNR said we could go to the state parks to take walks.

The state park I wanted to walk in then was McLain State Park.

https://www.michigan.org/property/mclain-state-park

Super close to our empty, stay-at-home, up north house.

What's the prob?

Well...here's one of the prob's sent my way by dear ol' dad.

Five foot snow banks from a season of snowfall, impacted like concrete.

No where to park, said dad.

Spring road rules are enacted, can't drive heavy plows and stuff now, said dad.

Now...listen up kids...it is stunning to me how even 49 year old "kids" of parents instinctively do not want to listen to their parents. Utterly stunning I'd say. First thing upon being sent pictures of the snow...

 Here's another, just for good measure.

First thing I did after hearing it wasn't doable from dad was...

text my friend with other up north connections than my dad and asked who she knows that can make this doable.

OY!

Children...just listen to your parents already!

Wow!

So...yeah...she found a guy, he said he knew someone with a front loader that could do it.

Dad called again asking if I had a jackhammer for the snow banks if I was still planning to head up.

I debated.

Dad called again having read the Mining Gazette...some people are talking about trying to close the bridge.

I debated some more.

Then, the ****** wrote me a note...

There it is...they went and changed their language for the park visitation rules.

Trust me, I'd been busy finding verbal loopholes to justify the trip for two weeks with my State Parks travel allowance...never once did they ever say anything about "extensive travel should be minimal," I'm a rule-follower, that would have quashed everything way back when. This past weekend was the first time that language appeared...

just.

for.

me.

😂

So...

We didn't take off to one of the last counties in the state with no yellow/orange/red or purple shading on the state's coronavirus infection map as of yesterday. And, honestly, I would have felt horrible if we got up there, traipsing around the state park as per the old rules...and then ended up being the people who brought to virus to possibly the last place with 0 cases of corona...that would not have been cool...but trust me...after hearing the bridge could possibly close, my mind simply said...there's always the Wisconsin way home!

Kids!!

Post script: Very strange thing, my "personal note" above has disappeared twice from this blog. I used to have a title above it, where you see asterisks now that said the name of my state abbreviated and the three letters capitalized here: Dog Nature Ramblings...I'll leave it asterisks for a while and see if it disappears again...then I'll put my original moniker there and see what happens. Just having some long hours at home fun, oy!