2012

Wednesday September 26th, 2012

Greetings and welcome!

The Fall colors have gotten very nice in the past few days. The red maples are really going off, and the other maples and beech trees are coming into their top show as well.

Last week the early maples were getting very nice toward the south end of High Falls Flowage and along Ranch Road. Last weekend when I went to Wabeno, C wasn’t quite ready with the show, but farther south the early maples were starting up. The past few days have brought on a really nice wave of color around here.

As far as the early maples that get so red and purple, they are coming into their peak. There is still a lot of green out there in areas with other species, so I don’t know if it is the overall peak, but the early show is here.

At the moment the weather forecast is for pretty nice weather right through the weekend. At that point we aren’t expecting any big winds or storms to take the leaves down and end the show early. It should be a good weekend for color.

I saw a really nice buck about 10 miles south of here last week. I was coming over a hill and had to hit the binders to miss him. He tried to run into the ditch, but there were steep hills on both sides. He ran back and forth about four times before he found the exit, so I got a good look at him while I waited for him to find a path. He was the biggest buck that I have seen in a few years, with a big strong body and headgear to match.

Firewood season is well under way here at my house. I did a couple of loads last week and was out again on Monday for a big wagon full of nice split oak.

Also on Monday I got a load of slab wood from a local saw mill that looks pretty nice. I’d guess that there are about 4 cords of mostly oak and maple to be cut and stacked. I use that for early and late season wood. The nice dead split oak that I go out and cut in the forest is for January wood.

Last week’s paper said that the zoning ordnance in the Town of Stephenson is dead for now. The board said that it would take a referendum or a special town meeting to enact it in view of all of the opposition.

I heard something about an opposition group meeting that was supposed to be a few days ago. I will work on tracking that down.

In the Town of Stephenson the voters can petition for a special meeting. The town gives notice and 2-3 weeks later there is the meeting. At that meeting the people can direct or prohibit the town board on issues as established by popular vote at the meeting, and it is binding. I am not sure if they are going in that direction, but it sounded like it a few weeks ago. I will try to follow up this week.

That’s news for this morning. Have a good week and thank you for visiting!

RJB

Friday September 21st, 2012

Greetings and welcome!

The early fall colors are getting very nice. There were a few scenes yesterday with the bright colors with big dark storm clouds in the background, that along with the rain, really displayed the colors dramatically. Some of the reds, yellow, and even purples are coming out now. It should be a nice show for the weekend.

We had some strange weather this week. There was a big low pressure area stalled up in Canada, and its counterclockwise circulation was spinning arms of cold and disturbed air into our region. Most nights were about 40, but one night actually got down to 25 in Lakewood.

As the cold air up in the atm0sphere was displaced by the air near the ground warming from the sun it caused a lot of convection and we saw some stormy weather. Most of it came in the daytime because of the convection, and it would clear out at night leaving is cold. I have been running the wood burner nightly.

Some of the storms brought good downpours, and one evening actually brought thunderstorms. There have been some gusty winds, but thankfully the Fall colors weren’t far enough along to get stripped too bad.

While the air was relatively cold, it still wasn’t quite cold enough to bring snow. It was close, but no cigar.

Here are events for the next two weekends..

My apologies for the late and brief update, I have been a busy guy this week. Have a good weekend and thank you for visiting!

RJB

Friday September 14th, 2012

Greetings and welcome!

A cold front came through Wednesday night with some rain. We didn’t have a lot here, but 10 miles south there were puddles.

The real story is the temperature drop behind the front. The TV said that Crivitz had an 18º 24 hour temperature drop, but some nearby areas had as much as 25-30 degrees.  The biggest one that I saw was out in Minnesota, a 24 hour drop of 34 degrees.

It is a chilly night tonight (wee hours Friday morning) with a current temp of 39 degrees. It was almost as cold last night. There are frost advisories out for a lot of Northern WI, with the far northwestern tip pretty likely to frost. The radar is showing a little rain to our west, so we will probably cloud up and not get much colder. Friday night could be the one with the NWS looking for clear skies and  33 to 38 for low temps.

We are expecting a nice weekend. Saturday’s cold morning is expected to give way to a sunny and 70 degree day. Saturday night will have a chill with clear skies, and the NWS prediction of mid-40s. Sunday brings another nice day with sun and mid-70s. The TV said that this was the last weekend of meteorological Summer.

This past week started firewood season in earnest for me. I already have a couple of truckloads under my belt and plans for more soon. I like firewood season, it gets me lots of outdoors time in fall and the exercise is a nice fringe benefit. The fact that it saves me a grand or two a year on LP is OK too.

This week it reminded me to watch for poison oak & ivy even in Fall. I didn’t get it bad and washed it off right away, but it was a reminder.

There was also the owl incident.. The first day I spotted a chippy in the woodshed scrambling between logs. The next day I went out and there was a little owl in there. I am guessing that it was one like this guy. It looked about the same.

.

Other critter sightings this week involved a lot of turkeys out along the roads and some deer. Thursday night I spotted a decent little 6 pointer down by Ranch & Parkway, along with another deer. I didn’t get a good look at the first one, so I am not sure if he was chasing a doe or not.

The fall colors are coming in pretty well. Some of the early maples are getting pretty nice, and there are more frequent splashes of color now. We are not at peak yet, but the show is starting.

Wisconsin’s archery deer hunting season opens this weekend along with the fall turkey season. It seems like the deer herd has stabilized a little, so hunters have a chance at seeing that buck. Turkeys have been as common as rocks along the roadside, hopefully this translates into a good season for turkey hunters.

Bear hunting season opened Sept 5th for no dogs, and last Wednesday with dogs. Goose is open, but duck season (wabbit season..) opens next Saturday.

Here is a list of seasons and dates.

Here are events for the next couple of weeks..

The “Enchanting Shops of Lakewood is having a Festi-Fall this Saturday with artists, music and wine tasting.

The Town of Stephenson Zoning Ordnance-

From what I understand the town board sent out a questionnaire a few years ago asking residents about future decisions for the town.  From this the town board commissioned the planning committee to look into a zoning ordnance. Their result was a far reaching 89 page basket of restrictions on everything from TV antennas and chickens to solar panels and home businesses.

So far they have had a planning commission meeting, and ordnance committee meeting and a town board meeting in the past three Wednesdays. All three were packed by unhappy people wanting them to stop their zoning plan. The planning committee forwarded it to the ordnance committee, who forwarded it to the board with the recommendation of a referendum. There were packed houses and nearly unanimous opposition at all meetings.

I am not really clear what the end result was in front of the full board this Wednesday, but they did not pass it or kill it outright. The options previously discussed were a referendum, another survey, or sending it back to the planning commission with instructions to address the public’s concerns.

The complaints were that in a referendum the non-resident property owners would have no voice in the matter. The survey idea was criticized for having leading questions the first time and unexpected results. The planning commission was not an acceptable option since they were all for it and didn’t listen to overwhelming opposition the first time.

There were a lot of unhappy people and they seem pretty well organized against the zoning. There were talks of recalling people and a special meeting.

From what I hear they are moving forward with a special town meeting. At a special town meeting the public decides the agenda and has a binding vote that would be tough to reverse. See section 2-2-4 (PDF).

The opposition is firm and well organized. They have enough support to petition for a special town meeting and they are heading that way. Once the petition/request is received the town has to give 15-20 days public notice, so the meeting won’t be this week. I will get the date posted as soon as I know.

More zoning-

The public will have a chance to comment on the new revisions to the shoreland zoning in Marinette County Monday at 7pm at Dunbar Town Hall, and Oct 2nd at Peshtigo Town Hall.

The zoning revisions are in response to a controversial DNR mandate known as NR115. It was proposed under our last governor and met with great opposition. They tabled it for a while while opposition died down, and it is back. Under the new Gov they delayed it two years to get more input and consider options.

There was a lot of controversy around Nr115. Some was opposition to considering gravel driveways impervious surfaces, that when combined with the house and outbuildings would make a lot of places non-compliant with their square footage requirements. There is a lot more to it with setbacks, height and vegetation restrictions, and a lot to consider. I am going to try to look at this a little more over the weekend since it directly affects me thanks to my creek and pond. In the meantime here is a link to the notice, and to the proposed changes in Marinette Co. (PDF)

One last item… There was an article in the paper that said that the DOT has no plans to take the 4 lane highway on 141 north of where it is, and don’t expect to for 30 years.

At one point there was discussion of a 4 lane highway that would go around Crivitz and be four lanes all of the way to Iron Mountain. Rather than that they have put in passing lanes north of Wausaukee, and will work on the road through that town. For the foreseeable future, the four lane highway on 141 will probably stop just south of Crivitz.

That is about a wrap for this update. Have a good weekend and thank you for visiting!

RJB

Wed September 12, 2012

Important Town of Stephenson town board meeting tonight.

This is the final vote on the 89 page zoning ordnance. So far the opposition to the zoning has been overwhelming, but the ordnance committee and planning commission pushed it ahead anyway. Tonight it goes in front of the town board for final approval. I would expect a packed house and some very unhappy people. The meeting starts at 7 at the town hall on X a couple of miles east of Popps.