June 2017

Thursday 6-29-17

Greetings and welcome!
The big four day holiday weekend is only one day away. I don’t have any events to add yet, or for that matter much to add to the forecast.

Right now the weather for the weekend looks pretty decent. There are minor rain chances Fri-Sun, but nothing organized. What I am seeing is typical summer afternoon heating instability type storms. There are no organized lines of storms, low pressure areas, or anything like that.

I made it pretty clear that I don’t have a lot of faith in holiday weekend forecasts. There is an old saying about fool me once, shame on you, fool me 973 times, shame on me. So the plan is to go for it on weekend activities, but be ready if a storm brews up.

As previously mentioned, I have a little work on my plate. Last night about sunset I hit a boiling point and went for a ride in the woods. The new Nikon again amazed when it pulled off this picture in near darkness. It has a night landscape mode that takes about 5 pictures and processes them into one. I like it! It isn’t any good for moving stuff like wildlife at dusk, but it does a fine landscape.

My ride was not uneventful. The tally was 9 deer, a bear, and a big owl that was within about 10 feet of the car. There were a lot of white moths, and quite a few of the really big ones like the Cecropia. The humidity from the rain made a lot of mist and eventually fog, and that was pretty in its own way. It was a good way to unwind a little.

Speaking of moths, for the past few weeks I have not been using my motion activated flood light out front. It was turning on almost constantly from the bats. The bugs would be by the light, the bats would swoop in to eat them and on goes the light. The same thing happens a lot with the motion activated security cameras. I still don’t have an answer without declaring war on the insect world.

People going whitewater rafting this weekend are in for a real treat. The Peshtigo River remains at record levels, and is running at about a +14 right now. It has never been this high on this date in the 19 years of records.

A +14″ is an ideal level because you can take a 2 person raft or go for it in a one person funyak. The best part is that all of those rocks that usually hang you up at this time of year are under a foot of water, and are now fun splashy mini-rapids. Rafting this weekend is highly recommended.

I will be at Kosir’s taking pictures, and at Rapids Resort between trips selling them, and I will have my flashlights & lanterns for sale too. Stop by and say hello if you are in the neighborhood.

There is the clock hounding me again, so I am going to wander off to the next task. Have a good weekend and thank you for visiting!
RJB

Tuesday 6-27-2017

Greetings and welcome!

I have gathered up all of the events that I could find for the big July 4th weekend. There might be more out of Pound or Coleman. I am out of time at the moment, but I will see what I can find.

Right now the weekend looks mostly good for weather.What I am seeing on the GFS is a chance for rain nightly from Fri-Sun nights. The way that I am reading it there isn’t an organized storm, but rather a somewhat unstable atmosphere that could brew up afternoon/evening storms from daytime heating. (..Pretty typical in summer around here) I sure wouldn’t cancel weekend plans, but being ready for rain at any given time would be a good set of choices.

Now.. The NWS is on my (Poop) list after last weekend, and are pretty low on credibility for a holiday weekend forecast. Last Friday late afternoon there was only a minor chance of an afternoon storm from daytime heating and instability for Saturday evening. Saturday morning I wake up and there is a 70% chance of rain Saturday and Sunday, and 60% Saturday night.

And rain it did… we had occasional showers  like the one in the picture both days and the night too. Like I said on Facebook, just be glad that they aren’t managing your retirement account.

I am underwater with work this week and it is not going well. The phone is ringing with more, and I am all about making hay while the sun shines. My updates might not be on time, but there will be a late week update with my latest guess at the weather and any new events.

Here is the list that I gathered up. It isn’t in any particular order, other than the timing of when I came across the events. Gillette, Crivitz, and Crandon have too much going on to list here, and you should click through the link.

It is time for me to get back to work. I will return soon. Have a good weekend and thank you for visiting!

RJB

Fri June 30th– Caldron Falls Bar & Grill- 1 yr Anniversary Bash, Free Pig roast, Band, and Fireworks. From 8pm to midnight

Tuesday July 4th

Townsend (link)–

Fireworks at dusk at the Townsend Ball Park.

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Mon & Tue July 3 & 4

Gillette- (Link)- Way too much going on to list here. Click the link. Car show, truck/tractor/horse pulls, way more.

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Wausaukee Saturday July 1st, 2017- 5K walk/run, parade, music, festivities, fireworks. See poster.

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Mountain, WI

Fireworks on the Pond
Date: June 30, 2017

Location: Everbreeze Resort-Mountain, WI

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Saturday July 1st Mountain, WI big celebration-

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Crivitz Tuesday July 4th– (Link)Big celebration parade at 11am, fireworks at dusk, music, flea market, more

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Crooked Lake- Sat July 1st– Crooked Lake Sportsman’s Club Annual Picnic- 11am to 7pm- Raffles, trout pond and money pit for kids,  food & drink

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Goodman Saturday July 1st– Fireworks 9:30pmGoodman Township Park

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Forest Co & Crandon-(Link)

June 30- July 2 at Crandon raceway- big celebration, carnival fireworks, music-see link.

Sat July 1– Crandon Parade, celebration, fireworks, see link.

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Crivitz Ski Cats (Link) Saturday July 1st– 3:00 Food and Fun, 6:00 pm show, FIREWORKS at dusk!

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Twin Bridge Ski Team (Link) Saturday July 1st– Water ski show, fireworks at dusk

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Friday 6-23-17

Greetings and welcome!

It looks like it is full speed ahead for the weekend. The forecast is still for nice days with only a minor chance for rain later Saturday. The Peshtigo is at about a +16, one of my favorite levels for playing in the whitewater.

The only event that I have so far is the Marinette Co Breakfast on the farm. Here is a link.

Thursday 6-22-2017

Greetings and welcome!

It has been a really crazy week so I only have one update this week.

Saturday was a nice day once the overnight rain cleared out. The whitewater rafting was outstanding and people were loving it.

Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday it rained off and on as small cloudbursts were interspersed with blue skies and sun. It was hard to do anything because you would get started and the skies would open up with a heavy downpour.

It was common to see a rainbow in conditions like that and people were seeing a lot of them. Sunday evening I drove by Waubee Lake and saw the most perfect, super bright, lake-wide rainbow. I was in a huge hurry and couldn’t stop to enjoy it, but the quick look was a blessing in itself. Later I saw another rainbow north of Townsend, though not as brilliant.

The rain is expected to continue Thursday and Friday as a small system moves through. At the moment it looks like the heaviest rain will be just south of us, but a 50-100 mile shift in the storm path could mean the difference between 3/4” and 3” of expected rainfall.

Friday looks nice once the rain clears out in the morning. Saturday there is a 30% chance of rain, but the idea now is that it would be an afternoon storm that brews up from the heat of the day, not anything organized. Sunday looks nice.

The storm Thursday will bring in a cold front, meaning a very comfortable weekend with cool temperatures and fairly low humidity. Friday’s high temp is forecast at 74, Saturday and Sunday 68. Look for low temperatures around 50.

It will be another epic weekend on the river for whitewater rafting. Right now the river is still running at spring levels, an amazing +23”. Normally we would be at about a +4 or +6” level this weekend on a good year.

The storm Thursday holds the key to how weekend rafting goes. If it stays south and the river drops enough, people might be able to take 2-4 person rafts and funyaks. If we get even a little more rain we will be back up to the spring rafts with 4-6+ people.

Whatever the case, the abnormally wet year has the whitewater rafting outstanding. The rivers are way above normal and trips are a blast.

I was shooting the breeze with another long time river veteran last weekend. I told him that as full as the watershed is even if it completely stopped raining we would have good water levels the rest of the year, and any rain would spike it. Neither of us had ever seen a year like this. I guess it was a good year to return to doing rafting pictures!

Last weekend I spotted the first monarch butterflies of the year. It took me about 10 minutes to get this picture but it was worth it.

I have not had a chance to gather up events for this weekend. I have been seeing a lot of events for next weekend and I am on that. I did see a flyer that the Bear Point Yacht Club will be doing tube floats down the Menominee River east of Wausaukee every weekend in July.

The 4th of July is on a Tuesday this year, making Saturday the 1st the focus of events. I will gather details, but I know of events in Wausaukee, Crivitz, Crooked Lake, Mountain, and usually Townsend has fireworks too. I have seen a flyer for the Twin Bridge Water Ski Team having a big show and fireworks.

Right now I am just completely overwhelmed with work. That is good because the end of the quarter is here, and the bills are rolling in too. It’s time for me to dive back in. Have a good weekend and thank you for visiting!

RJB