8-7-2024
Friday July 12th, 2024
Greetings and welcome!
I am still healing up from surgery and not getting out much, so it will be a quick update.
First up we have a hot weekend coming up. The forecast is for about 90ºF, but with near tropical humidity.
We have lots of ways to get wet. There are beaches on the flowages and near most of the waterfalls. There is tubing and whitewater rafting. If all of that fails the cabins at Silver Cliff Camp have A/C.
This weekend is the Athelstane VFD picnic and parade.
That’s news. Have a great weekend and thank you for visiting!
RJB
July 2, 2024
Greetings and welcome!!
I don’t know very much today. I have been having some medical issues and had significant surgery late May. I have spent the past month mostly homebound working on recovering, but I will share what little that I do know.
The big deal right now are the gypsy moths. They are insanely thick, and they are all over everything. We are having a major, major outbreak of them. Even areas that I sprayed a month ago were covered with them. Trees are actively being stripped and the furry little worms have no mercy.
Most oak trees in the area are totally stripped clean. The ones here that I sprayed aren’t far behind.
Because of my medical issues it took a while to get out and re-spray for them. Our fitful weather has not helped, it seems to rain every other day with strong winds on the days in between. When I did spray my trees had been attacked but still had at least half of their crown left. I sprayed around the base of the trees and up the trunks as high as I could reach with the sprayer. Once I sprayed there were dead gypsy moth caterpillars everywhere.
I am wondering where DNR has been with this gypsy moth outbreak. The northwoods is being stripped of leaves by a non-native invasive species and there is no substantial action being taken.
Right now it looks like the rain has knocked them down, but it is far too late. All of the oaks have been stripped to sticks.
The grass needs cutting again. With all of the rain it has been growing like crazy.
There are tons of wildflowers and flowering trees and bushes right now. This week the big player is the white daisy. It is a great time of year for a ride around wild areas with a camera.
The deer have been having fawns, and it it not out of the question to see one of those absolutely adorable wobbly legged fawns.
People are seeing just tons of bears, and many of them have 3-4 cubs. Keep an eye on your birdfeeders, food, and garbage.
We have had a lot of rain this summer. The whitewater rafting is veryy good right now. The Peshtigo is running at +6”, a great level for 4th of July. There will be some mud on the ATV trails, and trout streams are swollen.
Here is what I have so far for 4th of July celebrations-
It looks like Wausaukee is celebrating on the 6th. https://fourth-july.com/event/independence-day-celebration-eid4a7e2u8voi
Crivitz is on the 4th- https://www.facebook.com/events/736589758557874/
Townsend is on the 4th- https://local.aarp.org/event/townsend-annual-4th-of-july-celebration-parade-2024-07-04-townsend-wi.html
Mountain is having fireworks on the 6th- https://www.ocontocounty.org/events/
That’s it for today. Have a good weekend and thank you for visiting!!
RJB
PS- Here is more July 4th stuff..
Thursday 5-23-2024
Greetings and welcome!
I have a few updates and yesterday’s post is below.
First they are having a flea market and live music at the Firelane Bar Saturdays starting this weekend. The flea markets start at 10am and the live music is from 2-6. They have some pretty good bands lined up.
There is also a flea market/vendor’s market at the Crivitz Museum on Saturday. The museum is a block west of McDonalds across from the high school. This is a big fundraiser for the museum.
I saw a few post where deer fawns are being born. Keep your eyes peeled for the new little ones!!
Wednesday’s Update-
Greetings and welcome!
We had a big storm roll through here last night. There were weird clouds, torrential rains, gusty winds and a lot of lightning. The power even went out for almost 40,000 people including many around here. There was no damage that I saw other than some stuff blowing around.
One thing that it did do was bring a lot of rain. Radar estimates are between 1.5-2+ inches. Trails will not be dusty this weekend.
The whitewater rafting will be outstanding this weekend. The Peshtigo River already shot up to about a +12”, an exceptional level for Memorial Day weekend. I would expect it to be over +16 for the weekend, possibly even into the high teens.
The great greening of the land is almost complete. You can’t see into the understory of the woods anymore, and most trees have a pretty full crown. The grass definitely needs cutting. Some of my taller areas have already gone to seed.
The greening of the trees is not lost on the gypsy moths. The tiny caterpillars are everywhere. It is going to be a really bad year for them if you don’t take action.
We have a couple of events this weekend. There is a brat stand at the Super Valu store and the Polaris dealer in Lakewood Saturday afternoon benefiting veterans. There is live music at The Rustic Saturday night. Sunday there is a memorial service and family picnic at the Silver Cliff picnic grounds.
Both Northwoods Bar and the Caldron Falls Bar open today with new owners. The golf course in Lakewood across the street from McCaslin golf course looks like it is more of a mini-golf course than a pitch and putt as I called it in my last update. That should be fun for a lot of people.
The weather for the weekend looks hit and miss. There is rain coming for Friday afternoon and evening, a nice day Saturday, and then rain is possible again Sunday night into Monday. Generally it looks like a pretty nice weekend overall.
That’s it from here. I am off to see if the lawn mower will start.
Have a good weekend and thank you for visiting!
RJB