The freighter Arthur M. Anderson is caught in ice near Conneaut, Ohio, on Feb. 19. Icebreaking vessels from the U.S. and Canadian coast guards worked to free the Anderson.
(Canadian Coast Guard photo via the U.S. Coast Guard)
The recent plight of a well-known lake freighter, and satellite images that show the Great Lakes once again almost entirely covered in ice, are causing worry in the Great Lakes shipping industry about the prospects of another difficult spring.
“Obviously it’s been another brutal winter,” said Glen Nekvasil, vice president of the Lake Carriers’ Association. “If it keeps going it will be a challenging resumption to navigation when we get going again in March.”
As of Friday, the Arthur M. Anderson was working in convoy toward its winter lay-up in Sturgeon Bay, Wis. — and its journey may be a harbinger of things to come.
Dancing With Fools 
Cold leaking out of the Arctic.
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100% clouds.
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Finally ready to go to the grocery store.
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A 20% snow flurry.
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I went to the grocery store, too. Spent over $180. 😦
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A bit under the weather today, busy changing addresses on line, chilly and cloudy here, I’m staying indoors and warm.
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Hope you’re feeling better by now and it’s not the flu.
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Waved to Megan, a concert pianist student and a friend of Alice, on my way into the Hillside Cafe just before another snow flurry.
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Still nice out there today. Had sunshine again, too. Tomorrow is Tuesday, will it hit 40°?
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Jill works at a physical therapy clinic on the other side of Lansing. It’s a long drive for her, she hates how much time the drive chews up of her days. Ever since she got that job she’s continued to look for a different job, one on this side of Lansing. No jobs.
It’s owned by one man, Bruce. He’s the PT and Jill and Charles are his two PTAs. Business booms, business doesn’t boom. Constant ups and downs. So, her boss told her today he’s cutting her Thursday, she works a half day on Thursdays. Plus he may cut every Thursday. She told him that wouldn’t work, her house payment takes one entire check. Bruce said he was sorry but if she wanted to look for a different job he would understand. She told him there aren’t any jobs!
This is a catastrophe in the making! She’s always taken care of herself, makes good money, but trying to find a job in her field in this area of the state is almost impossible. If she could find one on this side of town she would have already taken it.
Needlesstosay, she hates her boss. Loves her job, hates the boss. He’s a republican. He sometimes comments on articles in the Lansing State Journal and he’s pure repuke. You would have guessed that even if I didn’t mention it just by the way he’s treating her.
He’s doing that to her coworker, Charles, too, who has a family to support. *sigh* Why does it have to be so hard to earn a damn living!
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I am also a victim of a Pugger idiot in Management, sent me from 50K annual to zero ten months after I bought my house, unemployment helped for a while, got the job I have now to replace it and have not worked since Thanksgiving because of slow business. I told the new Pugger how to get more but he did not want to hear it.
We are all at the mercy of idiots with no escape except death.
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Depressing as hell, but you’re right. All of us are at someone’s mercy and it’s worse than ever. There used to be laws, or the power of unions to keep employers in check. Gone, or going away and here we are.
Pete works for the Red Cross. Union. I’m always worried about what he would do if the Red Cross won and booted his unions. I worry about that way more than Jill’s job, but look where the threat came from. HER job.
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I have a new FB friend. Met him on the “Return to Old Delray, Detroit” site I joined awhile back. Delray is the southwest edge of Detroit along the Detroit River where both Bob and I were born. Bob lived in Delray when he was a kid. My aunt and uncle and favorite cousins lived there so I was in Delray a lot when I was a kid.
The guy that friended me actually grew up on Home Street where my relatives lived. He knew them. I liked him on the Delray site, he seemed nice so I said yes to his requested friendship. Yes, I looked at his page first and oops, looked like a republican to me, but I said yes anyway.
Egads! He’s horrible! This affair isn’t going to last very long, that’s for sure. He’s thee worst. Everything he posts is from some right wing site. He said he was raised Catholic but gave it up and is now a Christian. You know what that means, a republican Christian? *sigh*
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Contradiction in terms.
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They are everywhere!
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A bit more snow. City sprayed beet juice just in case.
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The thumb of Michigan is famous for its beets. We get beet sugar from there. Home grown sugar! Our sugar doesn’t come from China, or California. Ha!
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Better ya, flu, no, Methotrexate did it I think, a once a week dose with big side effects. I take it for my RA, it helps but…
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RA?
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Rheumatoid Arthritis 😉
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Ah.
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That’s a horrible disease, worse than regular arthritis. My daughter thought she had it because of a finger that would mysteriously swell up and throb. That started up after she was forced to get a TB shot due to her career. That has gone away now, but if that was what rheumatoid is like and multiply the fingers, I feel for them.
There’s been a couple times Jill has said she thought her finger hurt a tad, like in the old days, and I cringe. Don’t want her to have what you have, Den.
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San Salvador, El Salvador – Police in the crosshairs:
“A surge of drug gang murders of police officers–seven of whom were killed in the first two weeks of the year–has prompted the government to tell police to shoot at will. Officers who feel they need to use their weapons “should do so without fearing consequences for their actions,” said acting President Oscar Ortiz. The police are skeptical that the new policy will protect them, El Faro newspaper reported, because in past years a green light for officers to use force has resulted in escalating reprisals and a soaring homicide rate. The police say they want to live in dedicated police neighborhoods, where they can protect one another. Some have taken to Facebook to urge their colleagues to form death squads.”
THE WEEK
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Sau Paulo – Sunning dry:
“Brazil’s largest city, with 11 million people, is running out of water. A long drought has drained the reservoirs around Sao Paulo, and deforestation has destroyed the wetlands that once replenished them. Brazil has the world’s largest freshwater reserves, but the rivers near the city are heavily polluted. Already, water taps in homes and businesses are dry for several days a week, and the reservoir system is forecast to become entirely depleted this year. In a secret recording leaked to Brazilian media, a top water utility official said people might have to be told to flee because there will be no water for basic hygiene or sanitation.”
THE WEEK
Coming to a area near you as the future unfolds if the rich don’t start thinking rationally and quit raping and pillaging the earth. In my opinion, it’s too late to save the earth, or us since no one is lifting a finger to turn things around.
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Jerusalem – Profligate Netanyahus:
“Israel’s first couple has spent exorbitant amounts of public funds on food, cleaning, and personal items, the state comptroller said this week. In a single year, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife, Sara, spent some $24,000 on takeout, even though they have a full time cook, as well as $280,000 on cleaning expenses for their three homes. The pair spent $68,000 over two years on hair, makeup, and “presentation.” Comptroller Joseph Shapira gave his report to the attorney general, saying the spending raises “suspicion of a criminal act.” The bombshell report comes just a month ahead of Israel’s elections, and Netanyahu’s Likud Party said it contained “no evidence of any criminal transgressions.” In recent weeks, the Israeli press has been awash in stories depicting Sara as greedy and unstable.”
THE WEEK
Business as usual for the well-healed in positions of power.
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Israeli Pugger
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