Short-Term Rental Craziness
The past week turned into a bit of a blur as a result of six consecutive one-night stays in our Airbnb property. We met some really cool people from Minnesota, North Carolina, Oregon, New Jersey, New York, and Illinois, but we added a chaos factor when a power surge early in the week took out the control board in our LG washing machine. Thank goodness for having excellent neighbors and friends who bailed us out in our moment of need by allowing us to use their washing machines and dryers as the daily grind of linens and towels continued even though our washer did not. Pillowman Appliance here in Chassell is helping us with the repair, but unfortunately they were initially sent the wrong control board. Fortunately, we now have guests who are here for four nights so we have a momentary reprieve from taking our laundry on the road!
Our week started with a swim on Monday morning. We got a late start so I was only able to squeeze in an 1,800 yard swim. I needed to slip in some 100 repeats for time to get in the distance. After I grabbed an iced mocha at Camp Coffee in Houghton, I went back up to the SDC to pick up Julie from her water aerobics class. There at the SDC we met up with our friends Lucky and Nick who are originally from China, had been here in Houghton, but have settled British Columbia. We had not seen them since prior to Covid so it was great to see them again!
From the SDC, I headed over to the Chassell Township office to work with our Clerk Lynn Gierke on re-submitting our MDNR SPARK Grant proposal. As I have mentioned in previous postings, we had submitted a $495,000 proposal back in December of last year that addresses a number of important needs in Centennial Park. Some 462 proposals were submitted by local units of government from around the state. The Department of Natural Resources funded twenty one of those proposals ($14 million) which fell into tier one of the ten tiers into which the 462 proposals fell based on their scores from highest to lowest. Our proposal just missed being funded in round one as it was one of ten proposals in tier two. We had the opportunity, along with everyone else, to update our proposal. Important additions that we submitted were approved EGLE permits, an approved Houghton County Soil and Erosion permit, updated/refined site design drawings from U.P. Engineers and Architects, added sustainability features for a significant renovation activity included in the proposal, and significant additional letters of support pointing at the importance of the proposal from the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community, Michigan Technological University, the Chassell Farmers Market, and the Chassell Veterans of Foreign Wars Post and Auxiliary. $23 million is to be awarded in September and we are hopeful that we can retain our position as that amount of funding could award proposals down to tier four if scores did not change.
Tuesday was focused on the Team Peninsula and Chassell Lions Club meetings. With the 75th Strawberry Festival coming up on July 7th and 8th, the Lions Club meeting was particularly important for final coordination. The leadership of the club has been doing a great job preparing for this significant anniversary event!
I worked in a 1,950 yard swim on Wednesday along with a lawn cutting, a five-mile rail-trail run, and weed whacking/pulling from the historic trail boardwalk on Thursday. There was also a lot of follow up with Industrial Graphics on our three remaining signs which will be rail-mounted. They are waiting for them to come back from receiving their powder coating. Feighner is pre-assembling the township’s canoe/kayak launch, but they are still waiting on the delivery of a part. I am looking forward to both of these projects being wrapped up this coming week!
Friday, we had an excellent meeting regarding one of our development projects here in Chassell, but more on that at a later time!
Saturday was spent weed whacking the historic trail and we gave our neighbors and friends a break by heading up to Houghton to do the accumulated wash.
Sunday we headed up toward Eagle Harbor with our hiking group and hiked the Holy Transfiguration Monastic Park. Twenty-seven showed up for the hike, so it was quite a group. We had the benefit of some really great weather with no where near the Canadian wildfire smoke that we have seen recently.
You can check out my GoPro video from the hike on the Remote Workforce Keweenaw YouTube channel at this link:
Do you embrace winter and have the ability to work remotely? Consider locating in the Keweenaw where you will find ubiquitous natural beauty, no congestion, and lower crime! Visit Remote Workforce Keweenaw at https://remoteworkforcekeweenaw.com. Learn about those making the decision to locate here by following the Remote Workforce Keweenaw Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/RemoteWorkforceKeweenaw.