Yep, Phoenix is almost as far out as you can get.... 20 miles more and you'll hit Copper Harbor which is on the tip of the Keweenaw Penninsula! I've had a lot of problem with cell phone coverage in the Keweenaw. I had T-Mobile when I moved here and have since switched to Alltel (which supposedly covers this area, along with AT&T). Alltel doesn't give me any better coverage than T-Mobile did. I'm find in Houghton, Hancock, Calumet, and Laurium. I don't get coverage in Lake Lindon, Dollar Bay, or anywhere down that side of the penninsula. NOBODY gets coverage in Copper Harbor that I know of. Other places are hit and miss. Oddly, I have three bars at the cabin site, but I figured that out when I found a cell phone tower up on a hill only a mile or so from there. I don't think there are any towers out towards the harbor. I don't know why! How many towers could it take to cover one small penninsula anyway??? I do hear that AT&T gets coverage in some of the towns that Alltel doesn't, but no one told me that until after I signed up on a two year contract with Alltel :-( The camp really isn't so far 'out there' unless you call the whole penninsula out there :-) It's less than a mile to the town of Eagle River, which I admit, is pretty darn small. But that means less than a mile from Lake Superior and a beautiful public beach too! Then a mile the other way takes you to Pheonix. There hasn't been a settlement or cabin on our spot before, although there are a couple of houses along the highway that we turn off of to get into our camp. And we are bordered all around by Superior Timber (or whatever that logging outfit is called). That means no neighboring camps. And yes, I've heard of clearings before, although back where I'm from (Nebraska originally and the Rochester Minnesota area recently) it's pretty much all 'clear' and only spots of timber. It did take some getting used to here.... almost all wooded timberland, but it is just so beautiful! Thanks for the wishes for the long dry fall. We'll take you up on those! And yes, I've got a keeper this time. I explained this to my daughter just the other day and I'll share it with you too. Except for the fact that I moved further away from my daughter and son-in-law (Tulsa OK) and away from my son and daughter-in-law (Rochester MN), I feel like I've come home. Part of it is Gary and my step-daughter Emi, part of it is this house here in Laurium, and part of it is the Keweenaw. It's different then the farm country I grew up in back in NE, but it is home. Hopefully, you understand what I mean. It's inside of me and hard to explain. What I've just said is the best explanation I can give. Here's a link for Laurium (the town where I live): Laurium link And below is one for Eagle River: Here is a link that might be useful: Eagle River - camp is about a mile from here

as a person who has had almost any type rug you can think of, ill break it down for you.. sisals and jutes might be nice at first but over time, and within a couple years or so, the fibers tend to break down because of how rough or "scratchy" they are. i had some good quality ones before in my old beach house and they ended up frayed. this was not even used that much, no pets or kids at the time they can run expensive sometimes , sometimes you luck out and find an ok one but typically they are not cozy or soft on the feet. ive spilled my share of everything on them and after a while you see the stains if you think about it, they are somewhat plain and fit with every decor but their downsides in comfort, cleaning, maintenance and quality is par none to an authenthic good quality persian the oriental/persian rugs ive had all lasted for decades, they are inconspicous to dirt, stains, (because there are so many colors and patterns that you cant ever tell if someone spilled wine or spaghetti,) and despite being made of wool and tightly woven , they are actually soft , cozy or at worst, bearable to your feet as for decor, i used to stay away from persians because i thought theyre more classic , traditional or not modern enough for me, but it really is true when they say it fits with almost any decor. they are meant to be an added value to the room or subtle "star"to the room i think their price is worth it in the end because they havent ever let me down in terms of quality, color vibrancy, feel/touch and design. oh and dont let me.get into shags. i really like them but theyre like jute/sisal in that they look nice at first for a few years but then they collect so much hidden dust and grime and look faded after heavy traffic use you dont want to see my shag rugs now lol or my old sisal for that matter theres a reason persian rugs are timeless and ageless

Kittykat, you are singing my song. Everybody preaches "buy local". We go to the market, and seldom buy anything. The last time we went, cauliflower was $3/head. A tiny little basket of new potatoes were $2. Watermelon was $4. AND we could buy bananas and mangoes. Uhhhh, we don't grow mangoes and bananas in Ontario!! We promptly left the market and went to our local grocery store and bought cauliflower for $1.50, a 10 LB bag of potatoes for $3, and a watermelon for $2.97. All grown in Ontario. Bananas are 57cents/lb. (no they aren't grown local, LOL) Another beef has been Ontario garlic. Garlic is easy to grow yet none of the stores carry local garlic. The farmers market does at $3/head. Even though the stores only carry Chinese garlic, and I don't like buying chinese garlic, I can buy a sleeve of 5 heads for 49 cents on sale. When the money is coming out of my pocket, I like value. I will support the local economy where it's warranted, but I will not pay a premium.

" I just wish induction stoves were not so expensive" You have a lot of company on that point. But speaking of expensive, it seems to me that "fast" gas stoves are getting up there in price, too, if you are talking about the "speed-to-boil" kind of fast. The other kind of fast is "speed-to-adjust" which is how quickly a change in settings takes effect. Full boil to dead still and back again, that kind of thing. Induction more than holds it own in that department. Seems to me that speed to boil with a boosted 3700 watt burner versus a 25,000 btu burner on, say, Blue Star stove, you are looking at $3500-plus pro-style gas stove compared to which a $1500 Frigidaire slide-in suddenly does not seem so expensive. Less expensively, you might be comparing that 3700 induction burner on boost to a 12,000 btu GE stove burner, induction is going to be a whole lot faster, as others have pointed out above. Got a two-year-old who wants her pasta right now? The induction range is going to blow the doors off the GE in that speed department.