Talk of Steelhead When stiffness first leaves the ground and the sky decides on rain instead of snow, the season is official. Some change in the water temperature, too subtle for a human finger to detect, reaches into chilly river flows then and beckons to the rainbow trout. Far down in the waters of Lakes Michigan and Huron and the rest, the great steelhead sense instead of see the arriving change. They stir and move to the first sources of the difference, the river mouths, and then put their blue-gray noses into the current and swim. Upstream, we know by the declining snow that they will soon arrive. We check our waders for holes; we put a drop of oil on a vital point in a reel, look at our rods and check our lines for frays. We know the great trout are on their way. And then the first cold voices of the toads speak out from half thawed ponds. Like wild sentinels, they tune to each degree of warmth, reporting on the promise that it brings. Nearby the optimistic red-winged blackbirds use a different tone and tongue to tell of nesting territories opening from the clutch of icy hands. Unconcerned with trout, they none the less cry out conditions of their arrival. And then one day we heed the signs of toads and redwinged blackbirds, and rivers swollen with the melted snow. We rise on a black cold dawn that makes us doubt the truth of yesterday. With stinging fingers that we wrap around a second cup of coffee before we go, we load the truck. But we drive the miles to the special place, reassured by the heater’s warmth and energy that comes with being fully awake. We park and turn off the lights and notice the first gray of morning. We notice too that a chilly mist hangs a threat over the river and surrounding swamp. Awkward in stiff waders, dangling net and lengthy rod, we start. The path takes us where slush and mud play tug-owar with our feet and willow limbs deliver stinging slaps across our faces. Predawn walks in icy swamps are forgotten in off seasons. A quarter mile from where we’d parked, our thoughts are interrupted by an explosive splash. Deer, we wonder? But it was a swirling sound and just one, not like the bound of an animal in the water. Steelhead! In the growing light of the morning we see that we are near the swift water of the river, where it gurgles over
gravel runs and where the beds of spawning trout will be. We strain our eyes to see. Suddenly two great vee waves can be seen lifting the water’s surface. One wave settles near an overhanging shore bush while the other curves toward mid-river. A fishtail breaks the surface and a third and smaller vee hurries back downstream. The cold of the morning is forgotten. The tired legs revive and the pupils of the eyes pinpoint to take in every detail of the river, then quickly shift to focus on the shirt pocket arsenal of flies and other lures. The rainbows have indeed arrived. The season has begun. The talk of toads and blackbirds was not misunderstood.
Crosaires wins 2012 Best Small Business Award from Michigan Small Business & Technology Development Center Twelve companies from around the state of Michigan have been selected to receive the Michigan Small Business & Technology Development Center’s (MI-SBTDC) Best Small Business Award. These companies were chosen from over 13,000 small businesses that the MI-SBTDC provided with confidential counseling and training in 2012. The Best Small Business award recipients were identified based on their success in creating jobs, increasing sales, improving their business strategy and their involvement with the MISBTDC. These recipients will be honored at the Michigan Celebrates Small Business awards ceremony on May 2, 2013. “The Best Small Business Award provides the MISBTDC network with an opportunity to acknowledge exceptional small businesses that we’ve worked with the previous year,” says Carol Lopucki, State Director of the MI-SBTDC. “We are excited to celebrate their successes.” After working nearly 20 years in the assisted living care industry, Todd Walter knew that there was an alternative way to provide effective eldercare besides the institutionalstyle facilities people commonly resorted to. For many years he carried the idea of creating a “home” not “home-like” environment, where all emphasis was placed on the elders. This led him to develop Crosaires (Gaelic for ‘Crossroads’), a 2,800 square-foot home for aging adults in Williamston. Before beginning his business, Walter attended the MISBTDC’s 10-week FastTrac New Venture program. After completing the course, he met regularly with MISBTDC consultant Tom Donaldson to work on business planning and financing. Hard work, personal commitment and having a strong vision helped Walter open the doors of Crosaires to its first resident on April 4, 2012. The home is currently full and operates with a staff of eight employees. Because of the positive feedback and success of Crosaires, Walter plans to expand his current home to create room for additional residents. For more information about Crosaires visit www.crosaires.com.