Recent Blog Posts

Hello, friends and welcome back! It's that time of year again, early spring here in Northern Michigan. The weather is hit or miss these days. Some days it's up in the 50's and it's got me thinking of summer on the horizon. The next day it will be in the low 30's with snow flurries and waves crashing...
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Michigan comes alive in the spring. Trees and grass turn green, flowers bloom and the lakes sparkle blue in the sunshine. It’s a great time to take a Mitten State road trip. Here are some ideas for spring road trip destinations around the state. Comerica Park, Detroit Nothing says spring like base...
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Four Unique Ways to Display Petoskey Stones Around Your Home Have you ever wondered what you could do to your home to add some Northern Michigan pizzazz or even just how to uniquely display that collection of Petoskey Stones that you've been adding to for years? Well, if you have, then great! I hav...
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One of the top producers of flowers and fruit in the nation, Michigan’s landscape bursts with colorful, fragrant blossoms throughout spring and summer. We take pride in our horticultural contributions and celebrate them at festivals all around the state. You don't have to have a green thumb to enj...
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A Way to Refresh This Spring: Shower Therapy Tabs I don't know about you, but this constant change in climate from warm-and-sunny to cold-and-wet really does not play nicely with my sinuses/allergies. Often I walk into work dragging because I can barely breathe out of my nose. Like most, I have med...
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Hello, friends! Spring break is approaching quickly approaching here in Northern Michigan and some of you might be staying around the area this year. As I wrote in a previous post, here on the Grandpa Shorter's blog, we just did a big a big family vacation back in February so we are planning on...
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There are so many reasons to come to Michigan in the summer. We could go on and on about it, but we had to narrow it down. Here are 18 of the best reasons you should make Michigan your summer playground. 1. Beaches - The Great Lakes give Michigan 3,052 miles of coastline, the most freshwater coastl...
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10 Gift Ideas for Easter... or just to celebrate Spring! You may be too old to look for an Easter basket, but you're never to old to give one. This year Grandpa Shorter's wants to help you stuff your Easter baskets with gifts they'll truly enjoy! It was hard to come up with only ten items that cove...
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Hi everyone, and welcome back! Are you ready for spring? I know I am! Getting back from vacation with the entire family last week had my head spinning and I was struggling to get back into the swing of things. I'm not sure what was going on, I had a fever and chills the last few days of vacation b...
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It doesn’t matter if your ancestors didn’t wear kilts and dance the jig. On St. Patrick’s Day, we’re all Irish at heart! There are lots of places around Michigan to celebrate The Wearin’ O’ the Green. Here are just a few for 2016 Michigan St. Patrick's Day Celebrations: Boyne Falls Boyne...
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