White Christmas dreams will come true in Michigan!

Posted on by farlane

I'm Dreaming Of A White Christmas!

I’m Dreaming Of A White Christmas!, photo by Spring Noel

mLive meteorologist Mark Torregrossa makes the question of whether we’ll have a white Christmas or not pretty simple, saying: “If you will be in Michigan this Christmas, your dream of a white Christmas will come true – wherever you are.” Read on for his detailed forecast.

Alert readers will note the first back-to-back owling in Michigan in Pictures history. What can I say? This shot of a barred owl is simply perfect!!

View Spring’s photo bigger and see more in her Birds of Prey slideshow.

More birds on Michigan in Pictures.

Let’s Do Lunch (Snowy Owl Style)

Posted on by farlane

Snowy Owl 1

Snowy Owl 1, Sherri & Dan

Dan Lockard captured a cool sequence last weekend of a snowy owl on the hunt. View his photo background big, watch the hunt (which doesn’t end well for Mr. Mouse) or check out his owls slideshow.

The Owl Pages entry for the Snowy Owl (Bubo scandiacus) says in part:

The Snowy Owl is a large diurnal white Owl with a rounded head, yellow eyes and black bill. The name “scandiacus” is a Latinised word referring to Scandinavia, as the Owl was first observed in the northern parts of Europe. Some other names for the Snowy Owl are Snow Owl, Arctic Owl, Great White Owl, Ghost Owl, Ermine Owl, Tundra Ghost, Ookpik, Scandinavian Nightbird, White Terror of the North, and Highland Tundra Owl.

…Most hunting is done in the “sit and wait” style. These Owls are highly diurnal, although they may hunt at night as well. Prey are captured on the ground, in the air, or snatched off the surface of water bodies. When taking snowshoe hares, a Snowy Owl will sink its talons into the back and backflap until the hare is exhausted. The Owl will then break its neck with its beak. Snowy Owls have been known to raid traplines for trapped animals and bait, and will learn to follow traplines regularly. They also snatch fish with their talons. Small prey up to small hares are swallowed whole, while larger prey are carried away and torn into large chunks. Small young are fed boneless and furless pieces. Large prey are carried of in the Owl’s talons, with prey like lemmings being carried in the beak.

…Snowy Owls produce large, rough-looking cylindrical pellets with numerous bones, feathers, and fur showing. They are usually expelled at traditional roosting sites and large numbers of pellets can be found in one spot. When large prey are eaten in small pieces with little roughage, pellets will not be produced.

Read on for much more about these winter visitors, who the DNR explain migrate to Michigan in wintertime and have been sighted as far south as Lansing. They add that because snowy owls see few if any humans in their Arctic home, they are not very timid and easier to observe than other owl species.

More Michigan owls on Michigan in Pictures!

Michigan Aviation Pioneer Augustus Herring: First in Flight?

Posted on by farlane

Augustus_Moore_Herring_flight

Augustus Moore Herring, (1867 — 1926) with his early glider (1894), via Wikimedia Commons

110 years ago on December 17, 1903, Orville & Wilbur Wright made aviation history with four flights of the Wright Flyer.

Seeking Michigan has a feature by Roger Rosentreter from Michigan History Magazine titled First in Flight? It tells the story of Augustus Herring, who followed his dream in St. Joseph and became one of this country’s aviation pioneers perhaps even pre-dating the Wright Brothers in powered flight:

Herring worked with other aviation pioneers, especially in experimenting with gliders. Finally, he put a gasoline-powered engine on a two-winged glider that had a wingspan of nineteen feet. The 2.5-horsepower engine (smaller than most of today’s lawnmower engines) gave the “pilot” power for about fifteen seconds In October 1898, Herring “flew” this contraption on the Lake Michigan beach at St. Joseph, Michigan. On a second flight, according to one eyewitness, the airplane stayed in the air for ten seconds and went seventy-three feet.

Herring had problems. His airplane was difficult to control, and he needed a lighter-weight engine to keep the plane flying longer, but none existed. Finally, the photographer who had been on the beach that day failed to capture Herring’s plane in the air. There was no visual proof that he had flown.

…Historians have mixed reviews for Herring. One labeled his work as “insignificant,” while another said, “one cannot deny that Herring flew or was very close to having flown.” As for Augustus Herring, he never claimed to be the first to fly. He knew his engine-powered glider was not a practical airplane. But he argued that his work proved that powered flight was “solvable.” That claim is undisputed.

You can read on and also learn more about Herring via Wikipedia and get the above pic background bigtacular right here.

Snowfall, with Color

Posted on by farlane

Snowfall With Color

Snowfall With Color, photo by Mark Oliver Photos

Mark took this in the Proud Lake Recreational Area near Milford last December. Check it out bigger and see more in his great Michigan slideshow.

More parks on Michigan in Pictures!

#michpics

Posted on by farlane
Good Morning Brockway

Good Morning Brockway, photo by Jiqing Fan

Today’s post might win the 2013 Incomprehensible Garbledegook Award…

Almost all of the photos on Michigan in Pictures are those added to the Absolute Michigan pool on the excellent photo sharing site Flickr, with occasional photo posted to the Michigan in Pictures Facebook mixed in. While that’s very convenient for me, there’s a whole  lot of great photos on Twitter and Instagram too.

If you’re interested in sharing your photos and aren’t into Flickr, please feel free to use the “michpics” hash tag: #michpics on Twitter and #michpics on Instagram. If your photo is in some other place, you can tweet it with that hash tag.

Thanks everyone for sharing and I hope you get a chance to enjoy some of Michigan’s beauty this weekend!

Jiqing Fan took some amazing photos this fall. View his shot from Brockaway Mountain on the Keweenaw Peninsula bigger and see more in his slideshow. Past features of Jiqing Fan on Michigan in Pictures.

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Early takeoff for the 2014 Michigan Ski Season

Posted on by farlane

Mulligans Hollow

Mulligans Hollow, photo by Kevin Ryan

Michigan’s ski resorts have enjoyed the best launch to the ski season in recent memory. The reason for this is simple: steady cold temperatures and lots of lots of “white gold.” mLive’s Weekend Snowmobile and Ski Report leads with a graphic showing 4-40 inches of snow on the ground across Michigan:

In the Upper Peninsula, the Lake Superior shoreline has over 10 inches of snow cover. The Keweenaw Peninsula mostly has over 20 inches of snow. The deepest snow cover in the Great Lakes is just east of Lake Superior in Canada. Satellite reports have the snow cover over 40 inches already. That area has seen heavy lake effect due to very cold air and a persistent west wind.

…Gaylord has had 17 inches more snow than normal, and most other cities are near normal to slightly above normal on seasonal snowfall. Traverse City, Sault Saint Marie, and Petoskey have already shoveled over 20 inches of snow. This time last year northern Michigan was well below normal on snowfall.

Read on for more including a graphic of snowfall this year, last year and average totals – Gaylord is almost 1/3 of the way to last year’s total!

Check background big and see more in Kevin’s skiing slideshow.

PS: In case you’re wondering, Mulligan’s Hollow where this photo was taken is located in Grand Haven and is 100% open already. If you follow that link you can see their webcam.

More skiing photos on Michigan in Pictures.

Earth Wind … and Snow

Posted on by farlane

Earth Wind and Snow

Earth Wind and Snow, photo by Beth

One of the lesser known bands of the 70s…

View Beth’s photo from the beach at Holland background bigtacular and see more in her Winter slideshow.

More winter wallpaper on Michigan in Pictures!

Swirling Soup

Posted on by farlane

amor_comida-Soup

Swirling Soup, photo by amor_comida

The photo above won the first photo contest on our new eatdrinkTC website. If you’re in the Traverse City area and enjoy snapping & sharing shots of food & drink, click that link for all the details on the current contest.

Michelle says that she heads to the farmers market every weekend to grab fresh veggies. On the weekend she took the winning photo, she was inspired by sunchokes (Jerusalem Artichokes), created two different soups (Sunchoke Potato and Jalapeno Kale & Spinach) and swirled them together to create this beautiful bowl of deliciousness. I’ve included the recipes below!

View her photo bigger and see many more on her Instagram.

Continue reading Swirling Soup

Keepsake: Pennsylvania Truss Bridge

Posted on by farlane

keepsake

keepsake, photo by Marty Hogan

Marty shared this photo and also some information about the CR510 Pennsylvania Truss Bridge in Marquette County from historicbridges.org:

This is one of the largest, most beautiful, and most significant truss spans in Michigan. Not only does this truss bridge display the Pennsylvania truss configuration, it appears that it may have actually come from the state of Pennsylvania. In 1919, the Michigan State Highway Department purchased the bridge which originally crossed the Allegheny River. Relocating and reusing truss bridges was not unusual in this period of history. An example notice indicating bridges for sale from 1921 is shown to the right. At this time, CR-510 was a state trunk line route and purchasing and relocating this bridge would have been an inexpensive alternative to building a new bridge from scratch. It was erected on the CR-510 location in 1921. The Michigan State Highway Department’s Biennial Report stated that the bridge was one of two toll bridges crossing the Allegheny River within 500 feet of each other and was being removed due to the redundancy. Unfortunately, the report did not state exactly where on the river this bridge came from. Since most of the Allegheny River is in Pennsylvania, it is assumed the bridge came from Pennsylvania, although the Allegheny River does dip into New York State for a short time. Depending on where on the Allegheny River it was originally located, it may have been part of a multi-span bridge.

Pennsylvania truss bridges are an uncommon truss type, and the nature of their design means that they are reserved for longer truss spans. However, even among pin-connected highway Pennsylvania truss spans, this bridge’s span still stands out as fairly long. It is the longest pin-connected highway truss span in Michigan. The truss type is extremely rare in Michigan, and so the bridge has additional significance in the context of Michigan. The bridge also retains excellent historic integrity with minimal alterations despite its long service and being located in two different states over its service life. The bridge has decorative details on its portal bracing, another feature that is rare among Michigan truss bridges.

Read on for more.

View Marty’s photo background bigtacular and see more including a long view of the bridge in his 2013 Winter Photo Trip slideshow.

More bridges on Michigan in Pictures.

An Hour of Code could be good for Michigan!

Posted on by farlane

Screen Head

Screen Head, photo by Chancellor Monnette

If there’s a front page of the internet, it’s probably Google. They manage to pack quite a lot into a spare layout. Today would have been computer science pioneer Grace Hopper’s 107th birthday, and in addition to a tribute doodle, Google is featuring a ridiculously star-packed video about An Hour of Code.

An Hour of Code is a project of Code.org, a non-profit dedicated to expanding participation in computer science education by making it available in more schools, and increasing participation by women and under-represented students of color. The state of Michigan has 13,484 open computing jobs (growing at 4.1x the state job growth average), 1,930 annual computer science graduates and just 78 schools teach computer science. You can get all the details on how you can help encourage schools to require more computer programming from code.org!

Check Chance’s photo our background big and see more in his Portrait slideshow.