2015

Tuesday October 13th, 2015

Greetings and welcome!
I guess that last weekend was the early peak for fall colors. The patchwork hillsides were coming into color and the early maples were at their full glory.

As happens a lot of years, the peak was confirmed when Mother Nature brought in a big wind storm and stripped the early changing leaves. The source of the wind was a big cold front and associated strong area of low pressure. Our temperatures were in the low 70s Sunday and Monday, and behind the cold front we are looking at mid-50s today.

Anyway the cold front came with a lot of wind Sunday and Monday and had winds in the 30-45mph range. Just as the fall colors were getting really spectacular, the wind storm stripped the early color trees of their leaves. I have seen this before.

We still have a very nice late season color show in progress. The mid and late season trees are coming into color and did not give up their leaves to the big wind. A late afternoon ride to Antigo found quite a few places with spectacular fall color even though the rainy dreary afternoon really muted the colors.

It is still a really nice fall color show, but thanks to the 35-45+mph winds, the early maples are now bare.

I took a couple of days off this week to try to catch up on my fall chores. Yesterday was a good day.. 12 hours, $275 in materials, and three blisters, including both thumbs. I got three projects crossed off of the list including two major ones. Three down, 18 to go.

I would expect that the late fall colors will still be around this weekend. Be ready for some cold weather though. We have a cold front coming in late week that will send our high temperatures into the mid to upper 40s or possibly low 50s for the weekend. Look for low temperatures in the upper 20s.

Well I am off to tackle a couple of more thisng on the list. Have a good Tuesday and thank you for visiting!

RJB

Friday October 9th, 2015

Greetings and welcome!
The leaves are really getting nice now. The maples that get a deep red are in their full glory, as are the yellow and orange maples. The paper birch are yellow as well. The sumac are full red, and some underbrush is changing too.

Depending on where you are it can range from a sea of spectacular maples, to not much color change with a bright splash here and there. The hillsides don’t have that patchwork of color quite yet, but will soon.

The ride home from Wausaukee had a varied show with some nice splashes of color from the maples. The ride to Lakewood was very scenic with a lot of full glory maples being contrasted by the darker pines.

Is it the peak? I would say that the early males are at peak, but there is a lot of color to come from other trees. It has been a little bit of a strange year for the fall colors, so I really don’t know when the rest of the show will peak. Tomorrow? Next weekend?

It looks like we have a nice weekend for weather ahead with temperatures in the 60s and maybe low to mid-70s Sunday.

We have an El Nino winter coming, and we are actually in El Nino conditions now, and have been since spring. The El Nino looks like a strong one, not quite as strong as 97-98, but not far from it.

The long term forecast has a significant chance of above normal temperatures and below normal precipitation. That is a pretty standard forecast for a medium to strong El Nino.

I am not quite convinced that it will be an easy winter. I am still making a lot of firewood, moving forward with insulation projects, and working on readying the plow truck just like it was going to be a really bad winter, because it just might happen.

Time for me to head off to other things. Have a good weekend and thank you for visiting!

RJB

Wednesday 9/30/15

Greetings and welcome!

It is a chilly one outside tonight. Right now Athelstane Weather is showing 31.8ºF and I would be surprised  if it didn’t drop a little more by morning. It is about the normal time of year for the first hard frost or freeze.

We had been enjoying really pleasant weather in the 70s for the past week or so. That ended with a cold front and some rain, and now we are looking at pleasant more seasonal weather in the 60s for the next week or so. There is no obvious chance of rain for at least a week.

The fall colors are quite apparent now, and this should be a good weekend for viewing them. Chris commented on how fast that they changed late last week and into last weekend. The maples and paper birch are starting to show some color, and everywhere you look there is something changing.

We are not at peak yet, but it is coming. I saw a picture on the front page of the Iron Mountain Daily News that showed a spectacular maple forest in its full glory. That should be here soon.

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

RJB

Friday night 9/25/15

Greetings and welcome!

My apologies for the brevity of last night’s post. I really wanted to get the information out, and it was late.

Tonight I have an event to add, and an official update on the 141 construction.

The added event is The Crivitz Fall Harvestfest Craft Show at the Crivitz High School Sturday the 26th. http://www.crivitz.com/event.php?details=218

Item two is the 141 detours in and south of Crivitz. When I was there today it was not the Peshtigo River Bridge being replaced, it is the Left Foot Creek Bridge about 2 miles south.

Also being closed is the railroad crossing right by the Citgo in Crivitz. When I looked today they had the rail bed excavated back in both directions and they were ready to rip up the road crossing.

You can get around both obstacles with a little navigating.

When I was in town today I got a picture of a run off copy of the official take on the construction. Between the copy of a copy of a copy and my $8 TracFone, it isn’t very good, but clicking it and making it full size will help.

The weekend weather looks great, get out there and enjoy it while you can. Have a good weekend and thank you for visiting!

RJB