Tuesday 10-10-17
Greetings and welcome!
Last Saturday’s storm was a dandy. It rained all day and the wind blew too. It was a pretty miserable day. The first wave of rain alone had to bring us close to an inch. It really poured Friday night, and it kept it up Saturday morning and into the afternoon. Th4e USGS gauge by Kosir’s says that we had a little over an inch. I guarantee that we had that by noon.
It is common for us to get a big storm like that just in time to strip the trees of leaves at the peak of the fall colors. We did lose some leaves Saturday, but thankfully the color was late this year and a lot of it hung on. When I went to Lakewood yesterday it was a very pretty ride down Hwy F.
Right now the TV is predicting another weekend like we just had with the big storm, lots of rain and the wind and so on. This morning they are still on that forecast, but my latest GFS forecast model shows Saturday as being ok and Sunday being the washout.
The Peshtigo River still has not hit zero this year, and is running at +9″ after the storm. Normally I would expect it to be between 0 and -2″ at this time of year.
I am a little surprised and a little concerned that we are still having September weather as far as temperatures go. The past week has been about 10 degrees above normal, and this week will be warmer than normal too.
Today is the anniversary of the photo van paint job about 15 years ago. I was still out painting it at 10:30 at night because we were going to get 6″ of snow the next day (and we did..) and it never went above 50 for the rest of the year. It is a reminder of how fast that pendulum can swing back.
Right now our normal high temperature should be in the low 60s. According to Ray’s rule of variability, a 10 degree departure from averages is very common, and a 20 degree departure is not unusual. That tells me that on a cold stretch we could be seeing highs in the low or mid-40s.
That is all very motivational for my outside work. I am about 1/2 way through firewood, and I have been hammering away at other outside jobs with enthusiasm. This also comes in the context of days getting much shorter. We lose about 90 minutes of daylight in October. The end of the month has the sunrise at 7:29 and sunset at 5:42.
The past few weeks have brought a mouse invasion to the house. It isn’t abnormal to have that about this time of year. I have been the grim reaper for them though. I use the T-Rex spring traps and big sticky traps. The sticky traps are for the ones too smart to hit the spring traps, and for around their typical entrance points. The best bait for the spring traps is not peanut butter or the pro stuff (Provolk), even though both work. My secret is a handful of roasted and salted sunflower seeds. Apparently those are irresistible, and any new guests are dispatched quickly. Hot tip..
This Saturday is the Crooked Lake Sportsman’s Club Octoberfest. Here is a copy n paste..
Oct. 14
Crooked Lake 8th Annual Oktoberfest
Starts 11:00am at the Crooked Lake Community Center. Outdoor Craft Market, Free Pumpkin Decorating for the kids, Free Hayrides, Minnow Races for Young and Old, Beer Graden, Music by Local Favorite, Whitey! Pig Roast dinner served from 1:00 – 5:00pm, Raffles all day long! Visit website for details
I am sure that there is one more event, but I just woke up and it eludes me at the moment.
Well the sun is coming up and there are 19 things on my to-do list for today, so I had best run along. I will see if I can stop back with some pictures later in the week. Have a good week and thank you for visiting!
RJB
