April 2012 to Sept 2012

Friday September 7, 2012 2:25 p.m.
Its a rainy day here at lake margrethe and I have been home a while after the second day in
a row at frederic with no internet which makes it pretty hard for me to work. The other good
thing about being home is that I have to be in town by 3 for a closing on the second lake house
that I have sold this summer. Actually I wrote both offers for both lake houses the same day but
this one took a month longer to close than the other one. No matter where you live if you are thinking
of buying or selling a lake or river property make sure you learn about the FEMA exemptions for
flood insurance. It has been a roller coaster and unless you are paying cash for a place that should
be one of the first things you do is get that part handled. So nothing else to exciting but I was
saddened to hear of the passing of Bob Flowers who you may recall I wrote about last winter and he
wanted to get up to Frederic on last time for a last ride before cancer took its toll on him. unfortunately he never did make it up. I did get to talk to him a few times on the phone and I know he sure would have loved to get that ride in. I am sure we are all involved with friends and family who have had cancer which brings me to the next part of this post. I am going to paste the story below this along with a link to the facebook site….

If you’re reading this you’re most likely a snowmobiler or person that loves Grayling, and if you’ve been to Grayling you’ve most certainly frequented Spike’s Keg O Nails. Well, if this rings a bell then we need your help with something that’s crucially important.

Kelly & Arron Millikin are co-owners of Spikes and back in 2010 Kelly was diagnosed with adrenal cancer.
Then in 2012 Arron was diagnosed with brain cancer. They’re both in their 30’s, have two great kids – Bailey 12 & David 8 and they’ve been through the mill – surgery, chemotherapy and radiation to fight this terrible disease.

So we’d like to offer you two options to help us help them out a bit:

Come join us this Saturday September the 8th from 4-8PM at Hanson Hills for a really great pulled pork dinner. $5 per person or $20 for the family. There will also be a silent & live auction with some really great items to be had

OR

If you’re not going to be in town please drop a check in the mail, make it payable to Kelly & Arron Millikin and send it to Citizens Bank, 305 Michigan Ave, Grayling, MI 49738.

We hope to see you on Saturday; we’re going to have a great evening of food & fun while helping our friends.

Arron & Kelly are personal friends of mine and no one should have to go thru what they are going thru let along their children, anything you can do to help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Pete

sorry cant get the link to work right, but you can search facebook for it or look on my sledheads facebook page….

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Friday August 31, 2012 10:45 a.m.

Wow only 3 more short months and it will be time to ride again…..I saw an almanac report
that said we are going to get blasted this winter. I believe this is going to be my 16th season
in here and if this one doesnt produce snow this place is going be used for something that will
really make some money,,,,maybe a topless joint…..I would rather see heavy snow this year and
not have to think about that. One thing I would like to bring up is to remind everyone out there
driving to “LOOK TWICE & SAVE A LIFE”, there are motorcycles everywhere and in most every
accident a driver turns in front of one and the driver of the car says they didnt see the bike
coming. It happened right here in frederic a couple weeks ago right in front of the gas station
by the frederic inn. The rider of the motorcycle was a frederic firefighter and he hit the car
when it turned in front of him and he was doing 45 mph…He is going to survive but his life has
changed forever and he wont be able to carry on as before. I just wanted to put a reminder out there, I saw the same thing happen down in ormond beach one year when I had the girls with
me and the 2 people that died in that accident had rented a Harley in Daytona and had flown from London to have fun there but instead went home in a box. I will never forget seeing the bike down
in the road and the 2 people covered by yellow plastic and seeing the guys cowboy
boots sticking out from under the sheet. On a brighter note I had a pleasant surprise here in the
shop a week or so ago by 3 ladies from Kalamazoo who stopped in to see me on their rode trip to
whitefish point and then up to copper harbor. I had met 2 of them down atthe Oak Grove in Irons last
deer season and the other one was one of my classmates from the really old days.
It was nice to see them and I am glad they actually caught me here. We are off on a camping trip to
Jellystone Park which is a whole 5 miles from my house this weekend and I am heading
down to the cabin tommorow to go canoeing with the grand rapids gang on the pine river for the
day…..So I hope everyone has a fun and safe Labor Day weekend. Thanks for checking in. Pete

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Sunday afternoon August 19, 2012 2 :20 p.m.
Coming at you from Popanos Pizza in Interlochen where I finally got logged on….heading for the
beach when we leave here….

Sunday August 19, 2012 8:00 a.m.
I am typing this in my camper here at Platte River Campground about 6 miles west of Honor, no wireless here so I will upload this when I get somewhere that has it. We are planning on going to Interlochen today to check that out. Cathy,Haley, the Beagle and I arrived here thursday night at just about dark. This was a tough spot to get the camper backed into in the dark but we made it only to be greeted by the beagle throwing up a huge pile of water on the carpet as we were first getting in here….so we got that mess cleaned up and continued to get set up only to be greeted by a second wave from the stupid beagle. I dont know how she drank so much water but we renamed her Taquamenon for the falls because thats what she reminded us of…..that was a nice way to get things started here. The weather has been great and prettty much just hanging out. Friday we rode bikes down to lake michigan and then off to the Cherry Bowl Drive In for 2 movies on friday night, Diary of a Wimpy Kid and The Bourne Legacy. It was fun at the drive in and we ate to much popcorn and ice cream along with pizza. Yesterday it was a tubing trip down the platte river and then Haley and I went fishing catching the normal sized fish for me, 2 to 3 inchers but it was fun.

So thats a catch up for this week but I am going to go back to sturgis last wednesday where I was off to Hulett Wyoming for the day for a one day motorcycle gathering up there. Hulett is a pretty cool little western town and it was a nice one hundred degrees there that day. I got my share of sun there and visited with and met alot of nice people and checked out the town. There were alot of atvs riding thru town along with people on horses. After the bikes cleared town I headed out to Devils Tower about 9 miles west of town, on the way out there I came across an interesting Real Estate office called Crazy Woman Realty…..but on to Devils Tower which is a rock formation 850 feet tall, quite a sight to see. Then back on to Sturgis for the night. In Sturgis my friend Denny owns 2 building right on Main street in the middle of all the action so its a great location to be at. I stayed with him in his 5th wheel set up outside one of the buildings. Thursday was just things as usual around town but then I was off to the Full Throttle for a couple hours and then off to the Buffalo Chip for the Lynrd Skynard & Sugurland Concert which was a great night of entertainment and weather. Denny had brought my bicycle out there in the truck for me so I was out and about town which is the easiest way to get around with all the traffic and motorcycles there. One thing I found pretty interesting there is that they license ATVs with plates on them just like cars so you can ride them everywhere but the highway, Roger who is Dennys right hand man out there gave me a ride out to the Full Throttle on his and then on Friday night he got me set up with his son in law Jamie who had an extra atv, and all 3 of us went for a great 30 mile ride up into the black hills outside of town, my favorite part being when we turned onto the trail and it said Archery Hunting Only,,,,that makes me want to get right back there with my bow. We were up and down the hills and valleys in some very scenic spots, I posted a bunch of the pics on my personal facebook page, not sure if I can link them to the sledheads page, we saw quite a few deer and had one river crossing where the current started pushing me downstream and I was wondering if I was going to go for a swim but I made it. There were some majestic views from up there where they took me….as we were up there in the hills it rained all around sturgis but somehow we made it thru all of it with out getting rained on…That ride was definelty a huge highlight of my trip,,,Thanks Roger & Jamie……so that night after we got back I was off to the Full Throttle again for a night of fun and a trip on the zip line. I talked to one of the guys on the crew that was there filming for the show and he said they have about 100 people working there on different film crews and production and directors….that was interesting watching them……then it was time to go back downtown and saturday morning came and time to head back home….My flight was supposed to leave 3 hours before Melissas but she ended up getting on my same flight in rapid city. When got to minneapolis my flight ended up with 3 delays and was going to be 3 hours after hers, a nice lady from Kalamazoo ended up giving me her seat so I could be on the same flight with Melissa which was awfully nice of her and we made it back to GR at the same time….. So that made a great week out west, Melissa got to work alot of hours and made way more money that she would have in grayling and I, well had a pretty good time……we spent the night in Rockford at Dennys house and then were off in the morning to Big Rapids to get her moved into her dorm. She had to be there 2 weeks before all the other students because she is a resident advisor this year…..Moving her stuff in was not as much fun as the 5 days before. We had the trailer packed and loaded so we could get it all in one trip…..So enough rambling for now, the girls are finally starting to wake up and its time to get this day rolling. Thanks for checking in. Pete

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Monday August 13, 2012 11:30 a.m.
Back here to Frederic and real life again. I cant believe I didnt get on here with more updates
while I was in Sturgis. Now I need to play catch up here and be ready to head out again thursday
for a 5 day camping trip….so I am alive and well and in one piece after an incrdilbe time out
west. I will write more later in the week..Thanks for checking in. Pete

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Tuesday Night August 7, 2012 10:00 p.m. sturgis time,
Got here last night about 6 and have been having a blast ever since, been working around Dennys store
here but this morning Melissa and I headed off for a quick tour of the area starting out at the Buffalo
Chip, then on to the Full Throttle and the National Black Hills Cemetary, and on to Mount Rushmore. Then
later on I met up with Big John Morin who has a cabin in Grayling and rode his Harley out here but in
the winter rides into Frederic on his sled, after he left Matt Melling who is another great sledheads
customer stopped by and we were off to One Eyed Jacks to discuss life. It was great to see both of those
guys. In the morning about 5 I am off for Hulett Wyoming where I will be taking a load of shirts up there
to be sold there. I am not sure how long I will be there but it should be interesting. Thanks for checking in. Pete

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Sunday August 5, 2012 9:15 a.m.
Good Morning from the Traverse City State Park. We got here friday afternoon and its been
a perfect weekend, time on the beach which I have wanted to do for many years here and finally
got to do it, bike riding on the tart path, and the TC film festival….Cathy is cooking yummy
smelling bacon, Haley is laying in bed still and the Beagle is staring at the bacon pan cooking
on the stove. I have the laptop here and have perfect wifi compliments of the Quality Inn next
door to the park. I rode my bike back here in the dark last night from downtown where I had met
the girls at for a nice dinner of guess what? Coneys at the House of Dogs downtown. I watched
a little of the movie showing on the giant blow up outdoor screen in the open space and then rode
off back to the park. I am leaving the camper here in TC at my friends shop because in 2 weeks we
are coming back to the National Forest Campground at the Platte River just outside of sleeping bear
dunes. Heading off to Sturgis tommorow at 4 and leaving out of GR, if anyone wants a live view of
main street you can call me on skype at pete.kocefas and I will give you a look it. I will have the
I pad with me so that makes it pretty easy. The hardest thing is catching me when I have it on unless
you call me first, you can just call the sledheads number which will ring on cell then I can let you
know if I can do it right then. Remember its 2 hours behind time there. I already know that I have to
go to Hulett Wyoming on wednesday. So that should be intersting. Thanks for checking in. Pete

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Thursday August 2, 2012 7:15 a.m.
So here I set with a light rain falling at Lake Margrethe, thinking that it is now less than 4
months till the trails open. So will we have snow this year or are the winter sports slowly
coming to an end? I am now daydreaming or early morning dreaming if you will about heading off
to Sturgis. I just checked out the webcam across the street from my friend Dennys building there
and it is all quiet there, but they are 2 hours behind. Today is pretty much the first day
of selling there with 11 more days to go. Melissa flew out there yesterday and is going to
work for Denny in his store. That should be a real eye opener for her but she wanted to do it
and I do feel comfortable about her being there with Denny. I fly out there on monday so I will
be doing updates and video from there. Here is a link to the webcam across the street from
Dennys on Main street and from there you can click to 3 other cameras. The streets do not get
closed off to bikes only until saturday.
href=”http://www.sturgismotorcyclerally.com/webcams/mainstreet.php”>Main Street Sturgis Webcam
Nothing else to exciting around Frederic besides last week Ed my nieghbor and I went up to the
air to ground range where we listened to howitzer shells whistleing overhead and then blowing up
about a mile from us. That was certainly interesting and then the A 10s were flying in doing their
blasts of 50 cal machine gun fire right out in front of us. We were there about an hour and that is
really something to see. The other interesting thing we have done in the past couple of weeks is
we went to the roller derby over in Kalkaska…..first time ever going to one and it was fun to
watch, I know Haley really got a kick out of it too…not quite WWE but still fun. So off for my
thursday morning real estate meeting and speaking of that…I sold a lakefront Lake Margrethe house
last week so that is really exciting for me along with the new owners being excited too…..Thanks
for checking in. Pete

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Wednesday July 25, 2012 9:30 a.m.
Its a cool morning finally here in frederic and we have some big rain heading our way. I even
brought the beagle with me for the first time in about a month because its been so hot that
she just doesnt do well in the heat. So I guess a couple more weeks have flown by, we had a
great weekend at Burt Lake and did a little tubing down the sturgeon river. The worst part
of that camping trip is that it was pretty hot and the a/c on our camper decided to die on us so
we made it thru with a fan instead. Since then I had the RV Doctor over and he fixed it so we
can be cool on the next trip. Nothing new or exciting around frederic but this is the big week
for grayling with our canoe marathon this weekend and the big parade saturday afternoon. I have
been busy doing shirts for all the big events so thats been nice. I have 2 different lake front
houses sold on lake margrethe right now so thats good for the real estate business too…but I
shouldnt count my money yet as neither one of the deals is closed yet. So thats about all I can
think of for now. It seems the time flies by so fast before I get an update on. Even though I
think of doing it I just dont seem to sit down and “get r done”…Stay tuned in for my summer
trip to Sturgis for the motorcycle rally, I am sure I will be doing some updating from their
along with some pics or video….sad part is that my favorite little video camera that I have
used for years seems to have died on me too so I need to get a new one. I made alot of videos
with that little guy……So Thanks for checking in. Pete

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Friday July 13, 2012 11:20 a.m.
Its an unusual morning here in frederic because I just had 2 different sets of people in here
at the same time which just doesnt happen in the summer. Jim Wolfe and Lloyd Guiliani stopped
in to see the place and have never been here before. Jim is from Bradford Pa and hopes to do
more riding around here this coming winter. I think thats just like most of us. Jim lives
in the middle of the Allegheny National Forest and has lots of trails around him there. So
it was nice visiting with them guys. The other guy that was in ordered a carport so its a
busy day here for me. Actually I have the camper hooked on my truck and am heading out to
Burt Lake State Park in a few hours and the girls are coming up later today. So we are
hoping for a nice weekend up there. A guy called me yesterday to report a mountain man
encounter out in the forest. He was driving down a trail road and there stood the mountain man
who of course wanted a ride to civilization. He filled the driver with stories and told him how
he had been moved out of frederic. He is still wearing the camo jacket and hat even in this heat.
Its funny how I get these reports from people and his lifestyle is certainly a tough one but
he seems to like it and survive some how…..Thanks for checking in. Pete

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Saturday July 7, 2012 7:00 a.m.
Its a little cloudy out this morning at Lake Margrethe and its still been a scorcher all week long. Finally last night I went to put my pontoon in the lake and had it started at home before I put it in and then wouldnt you know it the starter was messing up after I got it in the water, so I loaded it back up and I need to look at the problem…this is the first time in the 20 years I have had that boat that it hasnt been in the water way earlier than this. I usually like to be the first one in and the last one out. With going camping all the time there just hasnt been time…..the lake is like bath water right now. So this morning is the big parade in downtown frederic and I am off to pull my sledheads trailer in the parade. Scheer Motors in Grayling was nice enought to let me borrow a new truck to pull my trailer with seeing that my truck is so rough I didnt want to have it in the parade…so if you need a new GM truck go see Brad at Scheer Motors. Tonight is the laser light show in frederic in the park for the second year and that is something to see from what I understand. I wont be able to be there as I will be at a different party where my coney cart will be serving up coneys by my daughter Haley and Melissa is cooking on the big grill there. The beagle has been laying pretty low all week with all this heat.

So thanks for checking in and please be safe in all you do. Its been about 2 weeks now since a very bad atv accident here in grayling with 2 young high school girls in it. Your life can change in an instant. There will be a benefit dinner this coming wednesday night at the Grayling Middle School for the girls and their families so if anyone can make it to that its for a very worthy cause. The atv that was involved belonged to a guy that rents from me and just last month I asked him what the deal was on it because it was always setting at the house. He asked me if I wanted it and I said no. In looking back on it had I said yes those girls wouldnt have been on it. Shoulda, coulda, woulda, never works but it does make you think.

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Wednesday July 4, 2012 5:00 p.m.

Happy Birthday America and Happy 4th of July to all on a hot steamy day here at Lake Margrethe. For the first time in over 20 years I do not have my pontoon in yet and today would be the day to have it in. It seems with the camping we have been doing I just havent had time to do it but I think I am getting close to it now. Last weekend in St Ignace at the car show was fun and after that was over I headed on over to Curtis to see my friend Larry Crouch who is also known as two fingers and a thumb. He has a small campground over there and I have always wanted to stay there. I had a nice visit with him and then got up monday morning and headed towards home where I stopped off at Burt Lake to visit with some friends that were camped there. It funny last night we were channel flipping and came across a show called haunted hiway where they were looking for a mysterious creature in the woods known as the hairy guy, they couldnt seem to locate him but I had to laugh and say that I know exactly where he is and I can go to him with out all those fancy infra red cameras. Cathy said she was at work yesterday and saw the mountain man walking thru their parking lot complete with his camo hat and jacket on along with his big walking stick on a 90 plus degree day…..So thats about it for now. Frederic funfest this saturday in downtown frederic and parade at 9 too…..Thanks for checking in. Pete

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Friday June 29, 2012 9:20 pm

Coming at you from straights state park in st ignace. Got here a few hours ago for the car show. Haley, Cathy and the beagle came up along with haleys friend becca. Gonna help my chubby friend the sticker king sell decals tomorrow. Parade was great tonight. Nice night out.

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Wednesday June 27, 2012 7:50 a.m.
Its a sunny morning in Grayling and the weather has been great. About a week ago I got a note
from some readers that said miraculosly ( dont think I spelled that right) the web cam is up
and online again so that is nice to see. The mountain man after almost 6 months camped out in
my back parking lot is gone……about a week ago I had some complaints from nieghbors and got
to hear a tape recording of him howling and barking like a dog along with clanking bottles together
about 2 in the morning, I told him when I brought him here that when it was time for him to go
he had to go….he tried for a few days to get someone to move him but of course I finally had
to do it because nobody showed to help him out. I took him to a secluded place in the woods where
he wanted to be and he can howl all he wants out there and I dont think he will bother anyone there.
Of course he had got in to a little booze that night but thats the last thing I need out there…..
He certainly is a different character and having him around was an experience, if only it was still
the fur trading days of the 1830s and he was in wyoming……One other story I forgot to tell about
when we picked Melissa up from the airport was I figured we were going to go out to a nice dinner but
what she wanted the most when she got off the plane was Taco Bell….We all thought that was pretty
funny. Thanks for checking in. Pete

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Monday June 18, 2012 7:30 a.m.
Its dark here at Lake Margrethe this morning and I imagine its going to rain soon which we
could use a little more of that. Yesterday morning I woke up early and it was raining and I
thought it would be a good time to go light a big brush pile I had at my property which I figured
would take right off…..so much for that, it took me a few times to get it started as the wood
was wetter than I figured,,,but finally it did get roaring and I got that out of the way. We did
get down to the grand rapids airport to pick Melissa back up from her Germany trip. Its been fun
looking at her pictures and hearing of her travels. Saturday night the Back to the Bricks car tour
from Flint made a stop in grayling downtown with about 100 nice cars. Part of the events going on was
a shuttle bus to the old Fred Bear home where I was the tour guide. That was fun talking to people.
Yesterday after my fire ordeal we did a family bicycle ride around the nieghborhood and then we
loaded up the bikes and went to gaylord and rode the trails at aspen park which was a very nice
trail system we had never been to before so that was something new for us. One other thing I want
to do this summer is catch a fish on a fly rod, which I tried last night on the river downtown, fish
rising all around me but I never did get one,,,I guess I have to try again. Thanks for checking in. Pete

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Thursday June 7, 2012 8:30 a.m.
Its a sunny morning here in grayling at the c/21 office and I am doing my first ever update
from my i pad. The keyboard is a little tight for my chubby fingers but i am managing.
The beagle and I camped out at the camper last night for a great night sleep at my property.
Melissa is in Oslo still but we have to go down to GR on sunday night to pick her up. Other
than that nothing exciting in the past week or so. Thanks for checking in. Pete

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Friday June 1, 2012 1:00 p.m.
Well here we are with only 6 months till the trails open…..we can only hope the snow chants
work and that we will have a real winter for a change. Melissa is still in Germany and I talked
to her on skype yesterday for about 20 minutes. For those of you about my age can you imagine
as kids how cool it would have been to have a video phone let alone skype where you can talk
anywhere in the world and then do it on an i pad to boot. I walked around here with her on the
i pad and gave her the video tour of frederic and she even got to meet the mountain man who
was working on a welding project for me in the back room. She has been to Franfurt, Munich,
Vienna, and is now in herzogengrath till sunday when she takes off for Oslo Norway. I wish
I was seeing the world but her doing it is the next best thing. So thats about it for now, so
thanks for checking in. Pete

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Thursday May 31, 2012 9:25 a.m.
Its sunny and cool here in downtown Frederic this morning, cant believe its been 2 weeks since
I was on, I was going to try to update last week but couldnt get online, I was at sixth grade
camp with Haley last tuesday thru friday up near Leland and couldnt get decent service up
there. What a blast sixth grade camp is but for an old guy like me its quite a work out with
no spare time they have you moving all the time, ropes course, rock wall, pond study, pyramid
point hike, Dunes study, zipline, team building and lots of walking and not to mention they
feed you really well. What a beautiful area up there. When we got home friday afternoon Cathy
had the camper ready to go and we were off to the KOA in gaylord for the weekend. That first
night back from sixth grade camp I slept 12 hours and Haley slept 14…..but I would do it all
over again. Nothing exciting around frederic but I did get an atv and went out for a ride
yesterday, boy the woods look different in the spring then on the sled in the winter.
I felt bad this year is the first time in years that I havent made it to the memorial day
service at the cemetary in grayling. That annual event has always meant alot to me and about
the time it was going on on memorial day morning there was a flyover the campgrounds we were
at a pretty low altitude by an A 10. The blast from that certainly got everyones attention.
Thanks for checking in. Pete

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Thursday May 17, 2012 2:00 p.m.
About a half hour ago I had an update all typed up and ready to upload when something happened
and I lost it all….darn I hate that when it happens…..so its a nice day in frederic, been
pretty quiet around town. We spent the weekend camping at keystone landing east of grayling
on the ausable where it was a picture perfect weekend. I did 3 seperate float trips down
the rive in my canoe trying to hook some trout by the only jerk on my line was by the one
holding the rod…We got Melissa off last week on her trip where she flew into Frankfort
and then onto Munich, I have a video clip posted on my sledheads facebook site where
you can see that where she was visiting the nuswhenstien castle. I like that Germany stuff
it reminds me of Coney dogs,,,,flying into Frankfort and then to Vienna, it makes me hungry.
I got my new copy of the new book Coney Detroit and have been enjoying reading that. I have
been to alot of the places in there but it looks like I have alot to see yet. I am taking my
coney cart out to Camp Grayling this weekend for an event that the grayling chamber puts
on that is called Men who Cook…and you guessed it I am making coneys…..so thats about it
for today. Thanks for chekcing in. Pete

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Friday May 11, 2012 6:40 a.m.
Its a big morning here at home as we are all up and getting ready, Haley is off to school
and Cathy and I are taking Melissa to the airport in Grand Rapids to head off on her
study abroad trip to Germany with Ferris. She is pretty excited and she is ready to head out
on her big adventure. Nothing exciting has happened around town in the past week and I did
sell alot of stuff at my sledheads yard sale last weekend but there is still alot left.
Last night I ate some tasty beaver. That was my first time eating it and I have to say I
was a little leary of it at first. Every year Clarence and Eddie Papendick put on their
annual beaver dinner and I have been wanting to go for years but either forget or get there
to late. There were about 50 people there and if you didnt know it was beaver you would have
thought it was the best beef stew you ever had. Tender as can be. Clarence is an old timer who
has been trapping a long time. He was telling stories last night of the wild game dinners that
he would attend in grayling with the late great Fred Bear and that Fred would always have some
different kind of wild game, and one time it was walrus which he said was pretty darn tough. There
was still some stew left when I was leaving so I got a to go container for the mountain man. I am
sure he will like that. A couple days ago I had a possum in the back of my truck and left the tail
gate open all day long to try to coax him out. I drove all over that day and he stayed back there
for over 12 hours. I even tried to give him to the mountain man for lunch but he still wouldnt
come out. Finally after it got dark I went and checked and he decided to hop out of the truck.
So thats about it for now. Gotta get dressed and head for GR…Thanks for checking in. Pete

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Saturday May 5, 2012 10:00 a.m.
Its sunny and cool here in downtown frederic this morning and I have to start out the day
by wishing Happy 9th Birthday to Ellie the Diabetic and going blind Beagle…..we sang her
happy birthday morning and she went crazy opening her presents we wrapped up for her….it
seems that her sight is better some days then others but there is nothing wrong with her nose.
We have been out scouting for mushrooms 3 times this week and while we found some there hasnt
been any great finds. Yesterday and today I am having a yard sale here at the shop as I have
been cleaning house. I have way to much junk and what ever doesnt sell here I am going to
donate to the grayling rotary for their annual yard sale…I dont know why I am such a
hoarder but it feels good to have gone thru most everything and get it a bit more organized.
People kept coming in yesterday asking if I was going out of business……Melissa came home
from finishing her first year at Ferris yesterday so its nice to have her back with us but
only for a short time as she leaves for her study abroad trip to Germany next friday and we
have to take her to the airport in Grand Rapids. This is where I have to say a big THANK YOU
to all of you that donated to her trip as it really helped her out but it also really helped
me out too…so THANKS AGAIN…. Last week when I was down at Ferris I went thru their new
museum of Racist Memorabilia….It was very interesting and eye opening to the way things
used to be. It is in the lower level of the Ferris Library and you would be surprised at the
things that have been around over the years that you will remember. So now we are into our
first week of May so only a little less than 7 months till the trails open up. Thanks for checking
in. Pete

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Sunday April 29, 2012 8:25 a.m.
Its a nice cool sunny morning here at Lake Margrethe and we are just finishing breakfast and getting ready to head out for another day of mushroom picking. Hopefully we will do as well as we did last week. Nothing to exciting to report from this past week except that I had a call from Art Vogel on tuesday and he said my site said it was suspended….I had Rebecca check into it and it was something at the server….I knew it couldnt be the bill wasnt paid cause that doesnt happen till fall…anyways thanks for cluing me in on that Art. On tuesday I went down to Ferris to move Melissa’s stuff out of her dorm room into storage as her first year at colllege is almost over and she will be back home with us next friday, but only for a week till she leaves on her Germany trip. I ended up spending the night down there with her sleeping on the floor in her dorm room…..luckily we had a piece of memory foam which made it pretty comfy for a floor. We have just put 2 memory foam pads on our camper mattresses and I highly recommed that stuff….I also made a new video on the Big Rapids trip which is right here.

Coney Islands of Northern Michigan

Also from my update on friday night off my new ipad I have to say a little about that, we had an office contest at c/21 between the 8 of us that are in there and it was called PEP, (prodoctivity enhancement process) and it was an 8 week online class and it was to help us find new business. I was out knocking on doors all over town and did it more than anyone and made more contacts which left me at the top of the list at the end. Haley was so excited over this whole thing making sure I was out there working towards the end result. She was actually shaking when we went into the office and it was presented to me. We got into the car and she was in disbelief saying I cant believe we have an ipad……so it was pretty fun to see her excitement over this whole ordeal. I say that I didnt win that thing, I earned it because I surely had alot of work into it. Gotta head for the mushroom patch..
Thanks for checking in. Pete

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Friday nite April 27 2012 7:30pm
Coming at you tonight on my new I pad that I got yesterday from our c/21 office contest. I say that I didn’t win it, I earned it by knocking on a lot of doors. I just wanted to try an update on this . Will do more off the big computer later. Thanks for checking in. Pete

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Monday April 23,2012 10:15 a.m.
DARN,DARN,DARN, why cant we get blasted with snow the way the eastern new york and the
east is supposed to get. We miss out on all the fun. So in the mean time the weather
is cool in frederic, we spent the weekend at McIntyres Landing Campground on Lake Margrethe
and we were the only campers there for the 3 nights we were there….nice and peaceful with
a beautiful sunrise each morning. Sunday we spent out looking for morels and came up with
about 120 of them. Also I want to send a Happy Birthday shout out to my HM buddy Rob Kelly
who hits 59 today and is going to go out and celebrate by trying to find some mushrooms
himself. Thanks for checking in. Pete

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Noon Friday,
Just heard the Mackinaw Bridge is closed due to falling ice……

Friday April 20, 2012 10:34 A.M.
Exactly one year ago today I was out riding in great snow. Sadly it didnt happen again this year but
if only it would have been colder overnight we would have a foot of snow now. Its been raining hard all
night and still is now. There are spots north towards the bridge from here that did get some snow last
night and some spots in the u.p. So just to make us all wish I am reposting my video that I did last
April 20 here.
A nice April 20, 2011 sled ride
We are taking the camper across the lake today for the weekend to the state campground. I dont figure
it will be to hard to get a lakefront spot. We were going to go to piegon river and camp and look for
mushrooms but Haley has a soccer game tommorow so that blew that theory. Also please look to the top
of this page and go to my link there as I am still way short of my 1000 likes that I want to get to on
my century 21 facebook page……Thanks for checking in. Pete

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Wednesday April 18, 2012 3:50 p.m.
YEE HAH!! No more Rolling, Rolling, Rolling….A HUGE THANK YOU goes out to Chris Baird for his
techno solving abilites and to Rebecca my webmaster for applying them…..The bad part about this
is the fact that since the 13th when things really started rolling is that every refresh put
another hit on the counter and I am up by a whole years worth of hits, over 250,00 more hits
in that short time frame. I was so looking forward for the 2 millionth hit which would have
come up next season…oh well just have to regroup from here…..Now I need to get that webcam
thing handled. If the camera is working for you , you will see the mountain man has set up
his stump in the back and has been back there practicing throwing his tomahawk and his ax….I
am looking to find him a bigger stump. I have taken a few throws with the hawk but havent got
to stick it in the stump yet. Also in the past few weeks I think the diabeties is taking its
toll on the beagle as her sight is failing rapidly. She doesnt see food when I hold it in front
of her and I have to move fast to keep my fingers…Her health seems fast but her sight has
gone fast. Thanks for checking in and I will repost the trail conditons from the start of this
season here shortly so you can look back a year or so to see how it was. April 20 last year
was the big storm when I got to go for a ride, if we dont get a storm this friday I will repost
my video from last April 20 just to make us all wish……Thanks for checking in. Pete

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Saturday Morning April 14, 2012
I have removed all the past updates to try to get zoomed in on what is making
this thing refresh all the time…..in the meantime I will post all reports
from here on the Sledheads facebook page.

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