2012

Tuesday September 4th, 2012

Greetings and welcome!

It was an interesting weekend. It started off with a full moon, which was a blue moon, the second full moon of the month. That won’t happen again until 2015. The moon was big and bright, and lit the landscape quite well when the moon was not obscured by clouds. There were a few clouds one night, and it gave the moon a kind of eerie look.

Saturday night brought the OWI task force to the Twin Bridge area, and they were working X and Parkway roads pretty hard.  I am not sure how many people that they got, but they did leave the bars and restaurants pretty empty on a holiday weekend.

People with land or home in the Town of Stephenson will want to go to the meetings the next two Wednesday nights. The town’s planning commission is trying to pass a comprehensive zoning ordinance that has people paying attention.

Last week there was a hearing on the zoning plan, and they moved it forward in spite of overwhelming audience opposition.  This week the Ordinance/Public Safety Committee meeting will discuss & review the zoning ordinance. Presumably the following Wed is the town board meeting.

A lot of people are very strongly against the zoning ordinance. Concerns voiced to me included thing like that it would make a lot of small businesses non-compliant because of an arbitrary line drawn on a map, and it nit picks things like permits for TV antennas and where you can store ice shanties. One hearing participant that I spoke with was very against ceding any private property rights to the town without a demonstrated need. The local business association is also against it.

Monday brought a mostly decent day. Late afternoon some storms started moving through to the north and south of us, a classic Silver Cliff Split.

Around dinner time the northern wave pivoted down and trained wave after wave of rain on the area. The USGS gauge on the Peshtigo River showed almost 3″ of rainfall. That wouldn’t surprise me, there were a lot of big puddles and the driveway hill took a beating.  The river rose from an un-runnable -5″ to a very fun zero. Unfortunately it was two days too late to have weekend people play in the swollen river.

Wildlife sightings over the weekend were mostly a couple of deer. There were several flocks of turkeys along the road on the way to Lakewood today, along with a couple of toms in a different spot. I’d guess the total at 30+. The turkeys seem to have had a good year.

Here is the events list for the next couple of weekends..

The Firelane grand opening will be a big event with a lot of people expected. They have a couple of big tents, so weather isn’t an issue. They also will have $2 cans and a bluegrass band.

The Country Fling at Parkway Inn features live music outdoors all afternoon and evening, also under tents. This year they are also planning a tribute to Augie Voss, a longtime friend around Parkway Inn.

That is news for today. Have a good week and thank you for visiting!

RJB

Tuesday August 28th, 2012

Greetings and welcome!

As you may have noticed, I have been a busy boy lately. The economy has been kicking my butt so I have taken on a lot of outside work recently.

The most obvious change since my last update is that the fall colors are starting. A couple of weeks ago I saw the first splash of color in a maple just south of Carter. Now it is pretty common to see a splash of color here and there, and plants like the ferns dying back.

My Fall color predictions have had a 100% fail rate, so I stopped doing that. It does seem like they are starting early if I am seeing color in mid-August.

The weather has generally been pretty pleasant for August. Most daytime highs have been below 85 or so, leaving it a lot cooler than my expectations. I recall only running the AC for a couple of hours in the last month.

One of my friends that plays in the water a lot mentioned that they thought that the flowages were actually starting to cool down a little between the cool nights and moderate daytime temps. We have had some cool nights, with a couple in the past two weeks getting into the low 40s. So far we haven’t had a widespread frost.

There have been a couple of notable wildlife sightings. One was a little buck in velvet right near the house. He was a fawn last year, so he wasn’t that big. He wasn’t that bright either, he didn’t want to move for the truck.

The other 1-1/2 year old buck that I saw was a few miles south of here. I got a good look at him too, and I think he might be a potential non-typical. He had some asymmetrical headgear, but I couldn’t tell if the abnormal side was branching or not.

There was also a stubborn skunk the other night. It wasn’t much bigger than a house cat, but it had a badger’s attitude. I e-stopped and left it plenty of room while I waited for him to get off of the road, but it seemed to want to come at the truck. About the time I was considering a retreat he turned back around and went about his business.  It ended well for both of us, but it was a new one on me.

We have some warmer weather coming up this week. We will see temps increase through the 80s and probably well into the 90s for Thursday and Friday. The atmosphere will be fairly stable, so there are only minor and scattered chances for rain.

The weekend looks nice for weather and the NWS has us for temps in the low 80s.

There are a couple of unknowns with the forecast. One is a front for later in the week. That looks like mostly a line of clouds as it passes, at least for now.

The other dynamic is TS/Hurricane Isaac. The GFS model has remnants of it getting as far north as southern WI by Saturday before it takes a hard right and goes east. Other models have it heading east much farther south. Considering that they missed the track of this one by a couple of states, that bears watching.

Here is the current event calendar for the next two weekends..

There will probably be updates this week as Chris and I find more events, check back either here or on her event calendar page at http://www.northerndestinations.com/calendarofevents.html

One event that isn’t on there is the grand opening of the Firelane Bar Saturday September 8th. They have new owners that bought it late summer, and the weekend after Labor Day is the grand opening party. They will have a couple of big tents set up, live bluegrass music from 3-7, a homemade brew, and $2 cans open to close.  They are expecting it to be a big event.

Sunday of Labor Day weekend (Sept 2) the band Reset to Zero will be playing at the Curve Inn.
That is about it for today. Have a good week and thank you for visiting!

RJB

Wednesday August 15th, 2012

Greetings and welcome!

Other than a little rain yesterday we have been enjoying some really pleasant weather. It is so nice to be able to enjoy the outdoors without temperature extremes. Upper 70s and low 80s is just fine with me in mid-august.

We have a cold front heading our way tonight and tomorrow that is expected to bring some rain followed by cooler temperatures later this week. The rain could get heavy. The HPC is looking for a general 0.5-0.75″, but the rains could be torrential in thunderstorms and add up to more in some areas.

After the rain we are looking at high 60s for Friday and low 70s for the weekend.  Overnight lows are expected to be in the mid-40s Friday night and around 50 for Saturday night. That will vary somewhat with the cloud cover. Friday night could get cold enough to have the first widespread frost based on the cold air aloft, but the NWS thinks that the cloud cover will keep us a little warmer.

There is a minor chance for some rain over the weekend, but it is expected to be pretty hit and miss at best. The GFS is showing a little for late Saturday and Saturday night, but it is showing as very minor. With the cold air aloft daytime heating could stir up a shower or two, but it is about impossible to say when or where. I wouldn’t worry about it too much.

Last Saturday brought a lot of people seeing shooting stars. The Perseid Meteor Shower peaked Saturday and the sky was clear enough to see it. A lot of people commented that it was a great show.

I was up on the Menominee River taking pictures of the Kosir’s Rafting trips up there. The scenery on the Menominee is spectacular, as is the rafting.

I saw signs over the weekend that they were going to make the Piers Gorge Scenic Area into a Michigan State Park. Apparently they did. There is a new outhouse by the one parking area. You also need a recreation passport to go there now. For us out of staters, it is $8 a day or $29 a year.  That seems a little steep, what is this Six Flags?

Here are some weekend events..

I got a paper that Chris hasn’t seen yet, so there are a few more..

The VFW Post in LAona is having a corn boil Saturday at Silver Lake Beach from noon on. Look for food, kid’s games, raffles and drawings.

The Valley Inn by Townsend is having a fundraiser Saturday for the Townsend/Wabeno Police Canine Unit. They will have music, food, and raffles, along with pig wrestling and a horseshoe tournament.

In the critters and bugs report.. My time outside this week found me not only with comfortable temps, but also a mostly bug free work day. No complaints here. Along the roads I have seen 4 or 5 flocks of turkeys with a hen or two and a bunch  of mid-sized young following along. That would suggest that they had a pretty good year.

Beyond that I don’t have a lot to report. I have been working a lot lately and haven’t had the chance to get out and about like I normally would.

Have a good week and thank you for visiting!

RJB

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Thursday August 9th, 2012

Greetings and welcome!

It has been a nice week without the 90 degree and humid temperatures of the recent past. The days have been pretty comfortable and the nights great for sleeping. I don’t recall which night it was, maybe Sunday-Monday, but the TV said that points north of here actually had low temps in the low 40s.

We had a few rain showers yesterday and more today. That will bring in more comfortable air for the weekend. Friday’s high is expected to be in the low 70s, and by Monday the high temp goes up to the upper 70s. There is no rain expected after today until about next Tuesday. I always think of sweltering heat and dog days in August, but our normal high/low temperatures are 78/53 for today.

There are a few events for this weekend. The headliner is the Silver Cliff VFD Auxiliary picnic and parade. The parade starts at 10 by Boat Landing 11 Rd & C and takes C east to the park by C & I ( Parkway north), and the picnic starts at 11.

Not on Chris’ list is  the No Schtick Band playing Saturday night at Curve Inn. They are a very good regional band that has played there before, and I found them impressive.

Here is the list for the next two weekends.

Tragedy has struck the whitewater community twice in the last week or so. A man lost his life rafting the Wolf River through the dells on the Menominee Indian Reservation last week. Apparently that spawned a petition for required use of helmets and life jackets, as well as regular trips with a guide on the river with people.

Tuesday a man lost his life rafting the Menominee River after falling out of a raft and getting pinned by the current.  Even with swift water trained guides and rescuers attempting rescue he did not make it. Neither tragedy was at Kosir’s, but we are all family on the river, and everyone feels the grief. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families.

That is news for now. Have a good weekend and thank you for visiting!

RJB