Fireworks Festival

Chris Van Assche, from Hazel Park, unloads his cart of glowing toys to check inventory towards the end of the night on Thursday at Veteran's Park in Bay City. Thursday kicked off the Bay City Fireworks Festival that will last until Saturday night. Each night concludes with a fireworks display starting a little after 10 PM, with the largest display on Saturday night.

Pretend I never left

Ok, I thought I liked the other blog format, but now I'm not sure. Half the time the photos wouldn't load and what can I say, I like big pictures and on the other blog that wasn't a possibility. I think I'm back here for now. Sorry for the hassle (once again) :) Plus I like any comments or feedback I get and there wasn't a comment section on the other blog.

This is from an essay I started the other night and will go through the summer because I got tired of sitting around at night after work. I call it Midland Summer Night's Dream.

Mr. Stark

Got to hang with Rodney Stark and his daughter today while they were working in his wood shop. He's 82 and along with building his current home, he built 7 other homes that he and his wife lived in and 150 other homes around the country. Really cool guy.

This is in Midland?

I went back to Benny's Biker Rally on Saturday night, except this time I had a beer in hand. Ryan Wood, Nathan Morgan and I went to see Dr. Duke Tumatoe and brought our cameras just for fun.

The Gladdest Little Fair in Michigan...

Or at least until the economy hit a sour note.

Jade Durbin, 12, takes a break in her stable from decorating the outside to match this year's Rock n' Roll theme Saturday afternoon before the start of this week's Gladwin County Fair. She has been a member of the Farm Central 4-H group in Gladwin for the past four years participating in events each year including the Gladwin County Fair. This year, she is a novice rider working with a Pony of America at the fair for the first time. Due to the decline of Michigan's economy and the State of Michigan's deletion of premium funding to all fairs, the Gladwin County Fair board has removed premiums for this year including monetary awards for events like the 4-H showings. Durbin currently owns a western style saddle, but has been saving the money she has earned from awards to one day purchase a barrel racing style saddle. This year's harness races have also been canceled.

a feature hunting day

Ron Brabon sweeps off the entry rugs to the Buckeye Town Hall while preparing the hall for a party on Saturday. Brabon's father, Fred Brabon, was a carpenter and helped build the hall, completed on June 6, 1938 for the cost of $11,800, Brabon said. After being raised on a small farm about a half-mile down the road, Brabon spent 34 years in the machine shop at Dow Chemical Company, retiring 9 years ago. Five years ago, he began caring for the building as the hall coordinator, keeping up with maintenance and renting the building for anything from small gatherings to weddings. "Feels good to be the guy doing the maintenance on it," he said. "Our family has had hundreds of weddings, open houses and events." Recently, the hall's roof and clock were replaced. When the clock was taken down, Brabon said he counted 42 bullet holes that had been shot through the clock. "I can't completely restore it because the gears are shot up," he said with a smile. After the clock was taken down, he brought it to his garage where he has been working to restore it for the historical society.

Interesting Day...

a lot on the mind.


With the bike's flying by at 90-100 mph and after seeing a lot of "extreme crashes" videos, I was a little spooked each time they came around turn 1.

Can you guess the mood of the day?