Journal

Surfer Watching on Lake Superior

There was a southwesterly wind that passed through our area this week. I love when the storms pass through because the waves on Lake Superior grow very larger and look spectacular when they crash into the sides of some rocky islands. Big waves also mean surfers are often spotted playing off of different beaches around the lake. Yesterday, we stopped to watch a group surfing at Stoney Point.

When we arrived, there were two guys coming out of the water with a thin layer of ice coating their dry suits. Their eyebrows sparkled with tiny ice bits and their faces were red from the cold. My husband thought this looked fun. I immediately felt the pain of the cold seep into my bones.

A few of people rode the waves standing. Only a handful rode the wave to its completion and coast into shore. I noticed the surfers would ride one wave in and get out to warm up before going back into the water. A few rode the waves by laying on their boards. I think this was a wise move to lower the chances of falling into the water, especially for newbies.

Here’s a YouTube video from one the surfers from the weekend.

I’ve surfed one time so far in my life and that was off the coast of Maui. I managed to stand up to ride waves as often as I fell. I loved the feel of catching the wave and riding it to shore. I imagine that feeling of coasting on the wave is what keeps the surfers on Lake Superior going out. It’s the only place in Minnesota you can surf and unfortunately, it can only be done in the winter, when the water is more tumultuous.

The waves I surfed were much smaller than what we watched on the lake on Saturday, but I’d rather start with small warm waves, in shallower water, where the worst that will happen when falling off the board is a few scrapes and cuts. Surfing Lake Superior takes a bit of a crazy mindset that I don’t wish to adopt, but completely understand. Maybe that’s part of the reason I don’t want to try it because I’d probably learn to endure the freezing cold and torture myself because of the love of riding the wave mixed with the strong dislike of being cold.

I enjoy watching the surfers, whether I’m up here in the frozen area of Northern Minnesota or on a warm sandy beach. The skill some surfers have is a pleasure to watch. I’m glad they’re willing to make the sacrifice to get the layer of ice on their bodies and icicles on their eyebrows and beards (if they have one) for the public’s entertainment.

On the writing front, I’m still writing my romance novel set along the North Shore. I’m hoping to have the draft finished by the end of the month.

I hope everyone stays warm.

A Peek at High School Robots

This week I made my computer geek happy. I went to the First Robotics Competition at the Duluth Events Convention Center to watch high school students compete with their robots. As someone who watched my vacuum robot with delight the first time I put it to work, I was excited to watch the robots in action.

The convention center was buzzing with excitement when I arrived. Teams from high schools all over Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, and North Dakota were competing to qualify for the national competition. The atmosphere reminded me of the handful of times I attended team sports games with all the people cheering for their teams. A few of the schools had cheerleaders and custom cheers to shout when their teams were in the arena. And, of course, many of the students who were in charge of controlling the robots or providing support were dressed in costumes that fit their team names.

The arena was divided in half so that there were two competitions going at once. I picked a seat as close as I could get (the nosebleed section) and tried to figure out what I was happening. To someone who wasn’t directly involved, the rounds looked like pandemonium, with six robots hurrying around the field collecting cones and cubes to drop on their designated side for about three minutes. When the final buzzer sounded, the scores were tallied, and the winner announced.

I later found the robot pit stop where students made repairs and waited for their turn in the arena. The robots stand around two-three feet tall. They are designed and made by the students to complete the required tasks of the competition. I didn’t get many pictures because the area was pretty crowded and I could tell there were troubleshooting discussions happening. I marveled at the different designs and toured the area with a grin on my face, thinking that if something like that had existed when I was in high school, I totally would’ve been on the team. I’m guessing I might’ve ended up in a robotics career because of the fun.

I found out that the competition has three teams create an alliance to complete different tasks for points against another alliance of three teams. If I understood correctly, the alliances were made that day so the individual teams hadn’t worked together before.

The robots have to move on their own for fifteen seconds and complete a task during that time. After the robots move on their own, someone takes over driving the robot to complete different tasks to gain points. The tasks basically involve moving cubes or cones to different locations on the team’s designated site. The harder the item (such as putting a cone on a post that requires the bot to extend an arm) the more points the team will get.

I was impressed with how fast and how well many of the robots moved. The variation in speed and drivability was because of the wheel sizes and weight of the robot. My favorite robot strategy that I saw was a robot that could pick up items and toss them. It was a low profile robot that could also move fast. The driver would grab the objects and toss them in the direction of their teammates so that the other bots could complete the tasks. That team won by fifty points using that strategy.

The different rounds involved a new set of robots, which the organization had a system perfected to quickly get the next set of robots into the area to compete, so there was very little downtime.

There were, of course, robots that didn’t respond to computer instructions, overshot their targets, or didn’t let the human control them and sat where ever they had lost computer connection. There were also a few that tipped over at the beginning of the round and turned into an obstacle for the other robots to steer around. A few robots lost connection with the controller when they struck another robot. I’m sure this was devastating to the students who had spent so much time fine tuning the robot to make sure everything was as perfect as possible.

I enjoyed watching the event particularly because of the possibilities for what robots in the future can do. If you love robots and/or have a high school student who loves robots, this is an event you’ll enjoy watching and, maybe, participating in. You can find out more information at: https://www.firstinspires.org/robotics/frc/game-and-season.

Writing Update

I have a few short story ideas percolating in my head that came as a result of watching the competition. I plan to write them when I finish my romance novel.

Have a great week.

A Beautiful Storm

A beautiful storm rolled through our area on Monday. I haven’t taken a compass outside with me to figure out what direction our front door faces. But what I’ve learned in the year that we’ve lived here is that when we are walking into the wind from our house, that means there are large waves on Lake Superior. On Monday, the waves were large enough that surfers were riding the waves between Two Harbors and Duluth.

Jake and I have a joke that the correct way home includes a drive down to the beach to make sure the lake is pretty. Once it has been confirmed, we head back to the house. The “correct” way home is technically fifteen minutes longer than going straight home, but we don’t care. We want to make sure we never take the beauty for granted and ignore it.

After we finished our workout on Monday, we drove down to the beach. Waves were crashing against the rocky shore, but from the parking lot, it didn’t look “impressive.” My perception was off because we’ve been down at the beach a few times where the beach was nearly engulfed by the waves crashing into the shore. So that morning the waves didn’t look like much.

I insisted we walk down to the beach just to “be sure” my opinion was accurate. The roar of the waves as they come in, the swish as the water pulled away, followed by the clinking of the pebbles as they got pulled back to the water, had us transfixed. We watched the water for thirty minutes before we had to go back home to work.

The wind grew stronger through the morning and I found myself staring out our window instead of typing. It reminded me of the times in school when I’d try to pay attention to my teachers, but I kept gazing out the windows, yearning to feel the warm sun and breathe fresh air.

Finally, I couldn’t quell my curiosity. I gave in and went down to the beach to see if it changed.

The waves had grown in size. The section of beach we stood on in the morning was constantly washed by the waves. I sat on an icy ledge made by rocks and water and watched the water for nearly an hour through a tiny opening of my hood. Many times I wished for ski goggles because the falling snow felt more like ice pellets striking my face. A few times a snow pellet struck my eyes hard enough it felt like it got poked. If it hadn’t been for my hands and toes getting so numb they hurt, I probably would’ve stayed out until the storm stopped.

I went down to the lake one last time before dark to discover that the lake had grown quiet and still. Other than the piles of shifted rocks, no one would know how strong the waves were. I’m fascinated by how fast the lake changes.

More storms are expected to pass through. I’m hoping that means there will be more waves smashing against the shore. Regardless of the size, I’ll make sure I walk along the beach if for no other reason than to verify that the lake is pretty.

Writing Update

In the meantime, while I wait for the winds to move the right way for more big waves, I’ll continue to write my current romance story while peeking out the window each time I pause to think.

Have a good week.

What I’m Working On – February 6, 2023

After so many days with below zero temps, this week feels like spring. I didn’t expect to adapt to the weather along the north shore so quickly, but I’m glad that twenty degrees Fahrenheit feels warm.

It’s a fairly quiet week for me this week. My plan is to keep writing my fantasy story. I have a few short stories to edit and send to markets.

My copy editor hit a delay, so the romance novel isn’t ready to go yet.

I hope everyone has a good week.

What I’m Working On – January 30, 2023

A cozy bonfire at the Finland checkpoint for the Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon.

The Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon started on Sunday and goes through Tuesday. The main race is a 300 mile long trek along Northern Minnesota. I believe a majority of it covers sections of the Superior Hiking Trail, but there is a section that goes up into the Boundary Waters area as well. The race ends in Grand Portage, MN. We’ve always wanted to see parts of it in person and since the checkpoints were nearby, we bundled up for the -14 below temps to cheer the teams on for part of the evening.

What I love about watching dogsled teams is how excited the sled dogs are to race. I’m sure the musher is excited too, but with their layers of winter gear, it’s hard to see their facial expressions. The dogs look eager and happy. Some of the younger ones are often tugging in anticipation.

At the checkpoint we visited, the dogs were quiet while pulling the sled along the darkened trail that wove through the woods. Each team had a headlight that we spotted a few minutes before they reached the checkpoint. Often, when the team reached the road, one dog would yip in protest when the sled stopped to wait for volunteers to guide them across the road to their designated spots at the checkpoint. It didn’t take long for a few others to follow. I posted a video of a team waiting to cross the road below.

The last time I saw a dogsled race it was a much shorter one in Menomonie, Wisconsin, nearly twenty years ago. The race went around a park so we could see the dog teams most of the race. A retired gentleman had a team of “old” Siberian huskies (dogs are often retired when they’re around seven-years-old) and took them around the course. When the musher got to the furthest point from the start line, his lead dog laid down and the rest of the team copied her. From where we stood, we watched the man gesture and coax, but his team refused to budge.

Another musher came to the man’s rescue with his dogsled. Apparently, old Siberian huskies need competition because as soon as the new team went by, the old team started to move (just not very quickly). The guy with the Siberian husky team laughed and joked about his dogs going his speed when they crossed the finish line.

The dogs that participate in the Beargrease Marathon are much younger and eager to run (and, yes, there are teams of Siberian huskies). I’ve monitored the progress of the mushers today and they’re making good time because of the firm snow caused by cold temps. I think we’re supposed to get up to two-degrees F today.

One day I might have to write a story about a dogsled team.

Speaking of writing… I submitted a short story last week. This week I plan to continue writing the fantasy story I started last week. It’s a fun story that has me curious about what’s going to happen. I’m expecting my romance novel to return from my copy editor this week. If all goes well, it’ll be up for sale by this weekend.

The other items on my writing list include writing some handouts for my upcoming drawing class, writing a short story for another market, and to add some posts to my art blog (ArtByBrandyW.com).

I hope everyone stays warm and has a great week.

What I’m Working on – January 23, 2023

Last week, it took me a little longer than usual to fall into my normal writing routine. I took a few days to take care of household items that were urgent and touched base with friends and family since we hadn’t talked to many of them since Christmas. I also plotted out my goals for the year in writing, personal, and business. It helped me gain some clarity on what to work on next and to prioritize a few things that I let slip (such as updating the look of my website).

There were also the “required” visits to the shores of Lake Superior to appreciate the huge ways. My favorite days around here are the ones where the wind is blowing toward shore. The water is magnificent. I’ve learned since moving here that the wind shifts direction. Some days when the wind blows toward Wisconsin (which is 30 miles away) I wonder how big the waves must be on their shores. One day, I may have to drive around the lake to see. Sadly, the drive is over one-hundred miles to find out.

For my writing, I tossed a short story that I started at the beginning of the week because the topic required too much research in a short time. Don’t get me wrong, I love to research, but it’s easy for me to chase a lot of rabbit trails about a topic, especially when it has to do with space exploration and new technology. The idea will be revisited at another time. My research will happen during my reading time so that I don’t use up my precious writing time chasing my curiosity.

I’m almost finished with a second short story that I’m writing for a market. I hope to have it done by Tuesday at the latest so I can have a few days to polish. There’s also my next fantasy novel that I started and will continue to write this week.

The drawing guide I’m writing is started. I have about three blog posts I plan to post this week on my art website about drawing, and finish the handout this week.

I hope everyone has a good week.