2017

Wednesday 4-5-2017

Greetings and welcome!

Spring is making progress, especially after a couple of nice days. In my travels I am seeing some small lakes that are now ice free, but two miles down the road the next lake will still have a lid on it.

Caldron Falls at Landing 11 was opening a lot in the narrow river areas Monday and I would expect that you could get a boat in by now. Boat landing #2 on High Falls still held ice Monday. A drive over the X bridge over High Falls had the fast moving areas by the bridge open but ice still covering the big lake.

Another sign of spring is that the frogs in my pond started getting noisy yesterday. This evening it was really loud. Vreep.

The driveway and some side roads are firming up nicely, or at least they were before last night’s rain. Like the lake ice, it is a process of varied speeds. There are sheltered areas that still hold snow and ice or are muddy, and the frost coming out of the ground there is going to take a while. The sunny spot in my driveway and several gravel roads that I traveled Monday were firm.

I will be avoiding some of my favorite forest road shortcuts ( or long cuts..) until at least next week. A trip down one last Wednesday turned into an adventure when the mud started getting a little too deep and I had to turn around. I did get home without a strap, but it was quite a ride. At that point I will leave the more sheltered forest roads alone for a week or two.

Along that same line ATV trails are thawing out, but sheltered areas still hold snow and ice. It will be a while before they firm up, especially in deep woods areas and north of Benson Lake Rd where they seem to get just a little more winter than we do here in Silver Cliff. While we are progressing nicely, we have a ways to go before trails can open.

We are seeing a return of a lot of birds now. Robins are back as are several other species. The sandhill cranes were making quite a ruckus back by the lake last Sunday morning.

So far the insect world remains dormant. In my limited time outside I did not have any encounters at all. One friend reported the first ticks on his dog.

The whitewater rafting season is upon us and the Peshtigo River is flowing good and is open for boating. Right now it is running at a +12” @ 816cfs, a very fun level. The slope of the gauge shows that it is on the rise. With 65 degree weather possible this weekend it will be a good weekend to hit the river.

That is about it for this morning’s update. Have a good week and thank you for visiting!

RJB

Friday 3-31-17

Greetings and welcome!

I have another event to add for this weekend. This is a meat raffle and basket raffle for the United Special Sportsman Alliance. They are “..an all volunteer 501(c)(3) non-profit wish granting charity that specializes in sending critically ill and disabled youth and disabled veterans on a free outdoor adventure of their dreams! ”

The Thunder Mountain Valley Inn is having a meat raffle and basket raffle Saturday afternoon to support this charity. It sounded like a good cause, so I donated a Work-Sport-Adventure headlamp & flashlight bundle as one of the many prizes. It sounds like it will be a big event, and a good time for a good cause.

Here is a poster, click it to make it bigger.

Have a good weekend!

RJB

Thursday March 30, 2017

Greetings and welcome back!

We have a lot to talk about today after not updating for a few months.

First up- Mud Season. It is that time of year where the frost comes out of the ground and leaves a muddy mess. It is common to see cars parked at the end of the driveway as people don’t want to put huge ruts into their driveway.That is also why the ATV trails close for a month.

In my case I have had a car parked at the end of the driveway for about a month. Every time the frost comes out of the ground and the driveway firms up, it freezes again and the whole cycle starts over. This week it is getting better on the sunny sandy stretch, but shaded areas that held snow till the very end are deep mud now.

I saw a driveway the other day that was just dirt under some pines. The ruts had to be 8″ deep. He must have had a pretty nice truck to get in and out of there.

The frost coming out of the ground also signals that it is rafting season. Our friends at Kosir’s Rapid Rafts are ready to go for this weekend. The Ice Breaker Special is that you can raft the morning and go again on the afternoon trip for free. The river is open and at about +10″ and on the rise. It will be a fun opening weekend on the river.

Over the winter the Rapids Resort was sold and is in the transition process. Barb and Todd from the Highline Bar in Middle Inlet bought it. Many of you will know Barb, she grew up just down the road from Rapids when her parents Irv & Vaughn owned Rustic Inn. The transition should be complete in a few weeks. There will be familiar faces there, and some new ones too.

This weekend is the 8th Annual Indoor Mini-Golf Tournament. Participating bars set up a different mini-golf hole at each bar, and participants travel from bar to bar and complete their games. Here is a poster on it. Click it to make it bigger.

On the personal side.. Over the winter I have been working hard on the flashlight business and I will be ready to go when people start returning to the area. I have new products, new packaging, and what I think is a pretty good line of products.Right now you can get my flashlights and lanterns at the Country Mart in Athelstane, Curve Inn Resort, and at the Red Pine BP here in Silver Cliff. That list will grow considerably as summer gets closer.

One thing that I haven’t finished is a big rebuild of the Work-Sport-Adventure web site. There is a new design, a store, and a lot of good information in the works. Once the chaos of going back to working for myself subsides a little I want to get the new web site up to snuff before the focus turns to tax day.

I have a big hole in my wallet from figuring out what works and doesn’t work for the flashlight business. I have been doing a lot of testing, and I have a box of items that are nice, but I declined to carry them. I also have a lot of outright failures that are not even a consideration. The goal is a very low failure rate because I stand behind what I sell.

Last week I left my job of 3 1/2 years at Carquest in Wausaukee. I liked the work and loved the people but it was a dead end as far as pay and benefits go. I put in my 2 weeks notice and last Saturday was my last day. I always said that if I quit I’d have 6 weeks of work to catch up on with my web sites and computer repairs. I may have underestimated that a bit. This week has been pure chaos.

When I am not working on the flashlight business I have been fixing computers & laptops, working on web sites, doing networking/wifi stuff, and fixing dash clusters for GM and Ford cars and trucks*. That was just this week so far.

*(The dash clusters are meticulous work, but I am very good at them and I stock motors and bulbs for them.)

Anyway, I had better run along now I have a couple of sales calls to make this afternoon. Have a good weekend and thank you for visiting!

RJB