2010

Tuesday July 6th, 2010

Greetings and welcome!

That was quite a holiday weekend. The weather stayed pretty good until Monday afternoon, Tommy Greywolf and the Dark Horse Band were great, and there were a lot of people around having a good time.

I really filled up the weekend, so I am still kind of sorting through all of it and organizing for the week, and I am not ready with a regular update just yet. Look for that tomorrow.

Thanks!

RJB

Holiday weekend FRIDAYYYY!!!!!!!

Ok so who else is pumped up that is the Friday of a holiday weekend? Golly I’m like a 6 year old on his third Red Bull.

Let’s start with weather. The high pressure that gave us bluebird weather all week is moving to the east. That will give us southern or southwest winds, and a warm weekend. We can expect the heat and humidity to be increasing as the weekend progresses toward Sunday.

Sunday, or second Saturday as we call it, looks ok to start. The HPC has us rain free until noon, and then from noon to 6pm we are bordering the 0.01-0.1 and 0.1-0.25″ bands for possible rainfall.

After 6pm Sunday it looks wet. The storm that will be coming for Sunday night and Monday has some energy and moisture from the tropical storm that went through the Gulf of Mexico, so it could bring heavy rains.

So, we will start out the weekend today in the low to mid 80s. Saturday looks like mid to upper 80s, and Sunday looks like more upper 80s or maybe a 90.

That is a pretty nice forecast for a holiday weekend, and if Sunday’s rain holds off another half of a day it would be even better.

Second Saturday? Yep, that is what we call it. A lot of people have Monday off with the holiday, so Sunday is like a second Saturday. Second Saturdays are usually pretty fun with people giving it their last yee-ha and partying like it is 1999.

The people coming to Kosir’s to raft will have fun this weekend. The Peshtigo River is still almost double it’s median flow for today, running 452cfs up from the normal 250. It is falling and will keep on falling, but it should stay plenty fun for the weekend.

The Menominee River is still running strong too, with the low of 1,000cfs and peaking on either side of 2,000 the last two days.

Either one of those rivers is better than usual for this weekend, so go rafting if that is what does it for you.

Also at Kosir’s this weekend is some exceptionally good live music. The DarkHorse Band is coming, and bringing special guest Tommy Greywolf on violin/fiddle. The Darkhorse guys are great on their own merits, playing country that even I like.

Tommy Greywolf is just amazing. He has played with Brooks & Dunn, on the AMA awards, Leno, Letterman, with guys from Kansas, Poco, and Loggins & Messina, and so many other people.

Go to his web site and check out his video. He is really an extreme talent, and the ladies are more than just a little bit partial to him as well. Beyond all of that, he is a genuinely nice guy. I have met and seen him a 3 or 4 times, and he is a huge talent and a great guy.

I have played music for a long time. I listen to and play stuff like Steely Dan, Yes, old Genesis, Kansas, Pink Floyd, Jeff Beck, and guys like Junior Brown and Andrew Winton. Tommy G could sit in with any of those greats, plus all of the country greats too. I know good music.  Come see what I am ranting about. Saturday night, July 3rd, Rapids Resort.

Added to the last minute event list is live music at the Curve in Sunday night.

Who is up for a sunset? Click & win a 1024 wide version for the desktop..

I think that is about it for the last minute updates.  Have a fun weekend, be safe, and thank you for visiting!

RJB

Wednesday June 30th, 2010

Greetings and welcome!

Wow what a week it has been. More work came in in the last three days than the last three months. I apologize for missing yesterday’s report and being late on this one. You know you are late when you are three hours late for being a day late.

Anyway, the big news last time that we visited was the incredible turnaround on the drought for the whitewater rivers. Seven or eight inches of rain in a month will do that, even in a D-3 bordering on D-4 drought.

The Peshtigo River has peaked, but is not falling very hard. The last that I saw we were still running a glorious +9″, down from the peak of +12 Sunday night. The river should still be great for the weekend. It will still go down more, but it will be well into the fun zone for water levels.

The next question on people’s minds is the weather forecast for the holiday weekend. That too still looks great. I checked the various sources, and the next chance for rain comes Sunday night on the GFS, and that doesn’t look like much. The NWS has rain chances at 30% for Sunday and 50% for Sunday night.

The next item up for discussion was the news that someone was shot while riding on their boat where the Peshtigo goes into High Falls Flowage. According to news reports, a 60 year old man from Union Grove caught a .22 in the shoulder as he boated by.

The Marinette County Sheriff’s Department responded in force, sealing the area, checking over 150 cabins, talking to people, and taking license plate numbers. They have not followed up with any info other than to say that they believe that it was an accident. With tourism being our #1 or #2 industry around here they did respond in force and detail.

I tend to agree that it was an accident. Chances are someone was popping a chippy and didn’t pay attention to what was behind it. The chipmunks are thick this year.

The next news item is that it got cold last night. The TV weather guy entered the possibility of frost last night, but Athelstane Weather only marked a low of 40. Chris said that there was a big fog bank over the pond this morning, and I can sure attest to the fact that it got cold.

News item #4 is the Wisconsin statewide smoking ban. As of Monday there is not supposed to be any smoking in WI bars, restaurants, and workplaces. I have some very strong opinions on that, but I am not going to share them because it would start a huge fight. We are all friends here, and that is going to stay above politics. Let us settle out of court saying that it is a very emotionally invested issue on both sides.

Personally I have been trying out the E-cigs, which are personal vaporizers. The nicotine is in a water based solution and it is turned into steam, which you inhale. It has a lot of appeal between a lot cheaper cost, supposedly much healthier than smoking, and you can do it in a bar or even on an airplane.

So far the e-cigs have brought mixed results. The disposable one that I got from the Carter Casino ($14) worked, but had meager vapor production and horrible Chinese propylene glycol (anti-freeze) based juice. A little research found a better vaporizer, but the juice was still that horrible stuff. Within two days I had lung problems and quit them.

Today I got my last hope for the e-cigs, some premium vegetable based juice from Johnson Creek, WI. So far the flavor is good, and the lungs are happier. Will this be the answer to a 33 year addiction that I absolutely loathe but haven’t been able to beat, and the smoking ban?  We will see in the long term.

The last item on my outline is some events for the weekend..

In addition to Chris’s list..

Mountain is having an Independance day celebration at the community center Saturday & Sunday (3rd & 4th) with the foreworks Saturday night. There is also a softball tournament, breakfast, and bands Saturday afternoon and night.

The Crooked Lake Sportsman’s Club is having their annual picnic on Saturday July 3rd with food and drink, raffles and games, and music by a feller named Whitey.

The annual 4th of July boat parade on Townsend Flowage is on Saturday July 3rd this year. Due to the Eurasian Milfoil, they are starting at a new spot.

Crivitz is having a lot of events with their 4th of July celebration this year, starting with a softball tournament on Friday night. Saturday there are some events, and Sunday is the parade and fireworks. Here is a link.

Wausaukee is also having a celebration and parade this weekend. Click here for details.

One last thought, if weekend cabin owners haven’t cut the grass lately don’t be surprised to see a little bit has grown. It has been a wet month.

That is about it from here for now. I will return in a day or two with any new information.

Have a good week and thank you for visiting!

RJB

Monday June 28th, 2010

What a truly amazing recovery for the Peshtigo River. It was so low that the rafting season looked almost hopeless in late May, and here we are in late June with outstanding whitewater a full 18″ higher.

It continued to rise today, and is very close to breaking the magical 800cfs +12″ barrier. It will peak and be falling this week, but likely will still be in good shape for the weekend. It will probably peak tonight or tomorrow.

The weather this week looks nice. There is an area of high pressure that will influence our weather, keeping the rian somewhere else, and us pleasant and in the mid-70s.

Friday through Sunday the back of the high pressure will bring warmer more humid air, and temps in the 80s. Sunday ( the 4th) there is a 40% chance of rain according to the NWS. The GFS has us in the 0.01-0.1″ band per 6 hours from Sunday noon on into Monday. That isn’t much rain. The week following the 4th looks very wet again, starting Monday.

We have a lot of events coming up this weekend and next weekend. I will try to sort them all out and get them listed tomorrow. I really filled up the weekend and am taking a little break today.

Have a good Monday and thank you for visiting!

RJB