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ICE BREAKER MACKINAW MAKES JUST ONE SHIPPING LANE IN LAKE SUPERIOR THIS YEAR BECAUSE OF THE SLOW ECONOMY., originally uploaded by Don Campbell Models.
ICE BREAKER MACKINAW – With the Soo Locks opening up one week from today , I thought this picture was appropriate for today.
The 240 foot , 3,500 ton Ice Breaker Mackinaw won’t be working quite as hard as last spring. With many of the steel mills now shut down or working at 50% , there is no real rush for iron ore. Many great lakes vessels that would normally be getting ready to go are sitting idle at the docks. Several of them will not be used at all this year . Even coal demand is down as hundreds of factories around the Great Lakes have completely closed. So just one shipping lane is being opened up this week from the Soo Locks to Duluth , Minn. across Lake Superior. Maximum ice thickness is not as bad as last year at just 30 inches in the thickest spots. But surprisingly 70% of Lake Superior did freeze over and that is rare. Last year several freighters were damaged in the thick ice early in the season. But this year many shipping companies are not taking any chances and waiting for a couple extra weeks knowing a slow season awaits them.
70 DEGREES IN GAYLORD YESTERDAY – Still no sign of grass under all the snow in Gaylord , but the 8 foot by 40 foot snowbank in my front yard is now only 6 feet tall , oh yea !! We know when we can start to see out the window again to the road , spring is close. ha,ha.
JOHN DEERE WAX JOB- Yesterday it was so nice I just had to take a hour or so and wax my John Deere Tractor. It still shines like new , (:>).
Wax my Truck- After supper I waxed 1/3 of my truck and later today I will wax the next part of it . My old truck still shines like new and it is a 1996 . It really pays to take care of things in Northern Michigan .
COUNTING CALORIES – Home-ade biscuits – Deb made a dozen biscuits to go with some stew she made yesterday and we went nuts and ate every biscuit!! , ha,ha. But we counted all the calories and today is a new day and we have no regrets. (:>).
BERLIET TRUCK ENGINE – Today I am working on the engine for the truck model.
HAVE A GREAT WED. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
