April 2020
Monday 4-27-2020
Greetings and welcome!
We have a rainy Monday going on today.
It was a really nice weekend with warm days in the 60’s. To the best of my recollection, they were the warmest two days of the spring so far.
I made the best of it by cleaning up the yard, working on power equipment and all sorts of outside stuff. It wasn’t all work, and late in the day Saturday we went for a little ride. a trip to Caldron Falls Flowage found a mostly deserted lake with only a couple of people at the boat landing.
After that we went for a ride in the Nicolet to see how the spring thaw was coming along. There were some pretty deep tracks in the mud that were recent, so some of the ride was cancelled. I was surprised by how much snow still remained in sheltered areas where the sun could not hit it. I guess that it makes sense since it has not been a warm spring.
That does not bode well for opening of ATV trails in the short term. The only good thing here is that there is not much frost in the ground under that snow, so once it warms up the ground should firm up pretty quickly.
I have seen a couple of posts about that. One was from the Dusty Trails club showing long stretches of the trail still under water. The other was from a different club saying that the USFS will not let them onto trails to do brushing, signs, and other trail prep work. I am not sure if that is COVID related or if it is just too wet. Whatever the case the ATV trails will remain closed for the short term.
The whitewater rafting is still closed too. It is a real tragedy too because river levels have been outstanding for the past month. The Peshtigo got as high as +37″. It remains over the 12″ mark today, and is on the rise. The rain this week will add to the flow. It just slays me that only private boaters like canoeists and kayakers can enjoy it.
The first wave of rain came last night and into today. It didn’t seem like a lot, but much of it came in the overnight hours when I was not paying attention. The USGS gauge by Kosir’s shows about 0.30″ of rain.
The next wave is expected late Tuesday through Wednesday afternoon. That one could bring a little more rain and maybe even a thunderstorm Tuesday night.
After that the forecast looks very nice through the weekend. We are looking at sunny and 58 Thursday, 65 Friday, 69 Saturday, and 63 Sunday. You can sign me up for a whole bunch of that.
The grass is green but not really growing yet. My sister downstate has dandelions already. We definitely aren’t there yet. There is not much for green yet in general and you can still see well into the woods. I have seen a few things sprouting in my travels and I expect the explosive greening of the land and forests to start any day now.
We lost a very good friend last week. When I first started coming to the area 30+ years ago I kept wondering who is this guy? He was in the newspaper just about every week as the contact for softball and all sorts of activities. I was thinking that the guy must be superman to keep up with all of that stuff. We went on to be friends and he helped me in many many ways. We lost a good man last week and my heart is heavy with the loss. Here is the stuff from FaceBook..
Hilbert R. “Slug” Radtke age 73, of Wausaukee, died unexpectedly from natural causes Saturday April 25, 2020. He was born in Marinette on October 19, 1946; son of the late Hilbert and Virginia (Mason) Radtke. Slug married Lyla Peters on February 14, 1976. He graduated from Wausaukee High School in 1964. Slug worked for Bolens Snowmobile Co. in the late 60’s until early 70’s in sales and promotions where he traveled the United States. Then he worked as a heavy equipment operator for many years. His picture appeared in National Geographic magazine. He belonged to the International Union of Operating Engineers for 50 years. He was very proud to be associated with companies in Wisconsin. Slug was the current Village of Wausaukee President for the past 8 years. He also was Village Trustee for 12 years, President of Marinette County Snowmobile Alliance, and President of Bear Point Sno-Crusiers Club. He was involved with many snowmobile clubs. Slug was known to speak of snowmobiling 365 days of the year. He joined the National Guard Reserves and was a life-time member of the Wausaukee American Legion.
Slug’s parents bought Bear Point in 1945 and Slug took over the bar in 1981; renaming it to Bear Point Yacht Club. He ran it until the present time. He loved his family bar and most importantly loved talking to many friends and customers. He was also well known for his $2 bills and people always knew where they came from. Slug also donated proudly to Pastor Fred’s Food Pantry. He was a wealth of knowledge; if you needed to know anything just ask him. He enjoyed traveling the US with his wife, Lyla. He was also known for driving Miss Daisy (his wife) to the casinos.
Slug is survived by his wife of 44 years, Lyla; three sons: Jeff (Robyn), Hilbert III, and Peter (Teresa Welty) Lund; granddaughter, Peyton; and special cousins: Susan (Larry) Hannah. He was preceded in death by his granddaughter, Isabel.
Due to the current public health restrictions, Slug’s family will have a private viewing with burial to follow in Evergreen Cemetery with Pastor Lin Wittmann providing a committal service.
Roubal Funeral Home of Wausaukee is assisting Slug’s family with arrangements.
I would expect that there will be a celebration of life of memorial of some sort once the virus stuff is over. I will be sure to keep you up to date.
That is about it for today. Have a good week and thank you for visiting!
RJB.
Saturday 4-18-20
Greetings and welcome!
Last Saturday I tried to update. I spent a lot of time talking about the upcoming storm and the heavy snow expected. I finished it up and posted and poof it was gone. I was pretty mad about it. Usually I have redundant auto-saves, but apparently not last Saturday.
As it turned out I was wrong about my main concern regarding the storm. I was worried about the snow clinging to branches and the wind taking them down like we had twice early in winter. It didn’t happen, it was just snow and wind.
At the GF’s house near Fisher’s Camp & Thornton’s it would be generous to call it 4-6. At my house in Silver Cliff there was closer to 8-9. The big winner was Spread Eagle with 15″.
The snow didn’t last long. Most of the ground is bare except where the sun can’t hit it. On the north side of my house there was probably an inch left late afternoon. The rest of the ground was bare.
Some years it is a question if the ice will be off of the lakes by the first weekend in May when people want to go fishing. That won’t be a problem this year. The lakes are wide open.
The frost is out of the ground in most areas and sunny spots are firming up a little. The first green grass is getting obvious in a lot of areas and the trees are budding. I figure it is about two weeks ago before things go green in a big way.
Dog owners have reported the first ticks. I haven’t had one yet.
I worked outside quite a bit today and was completely bug free. Usually about this time of year the gnats will come out in force. It was a windy day and that probably helped.
I spoke before about how this was going to be an outstanding spring whitewater season on the Peshtigo River. And so it was. The river peaked at about +37″, huge water. Now it has settled down to about a really fun +13″, and it seems happy there. It is tragic that the virus thing has the rafting shut down.
It is time to talk about seasonal campsites for Rvs and campers. We have some nice spots that you can set up camp and compared to other areas the site prices are a steal. Check into sites at Silver Cliff Camp just west of Kosir’s, Curve Inn Resort a little south of Hwy X by High Falls Flowage, Kosir’s has seasonal sites with water & electric, and Hilltop Resort has their mobile home park.
There is no word on the opening of the ATV trails yet. The ground has some firming up to do, and there is still snow up north in the woods. Give it a couple of weeks and conditions should improve a lot. For now some town roads are open to ATVs, and the county roads and all off-road ATV trails are not.
Everyone is hoping that we can get back to normal sooner than later with the virus lockdown. In the meantime we have been supporting our favorite bars and restaurants by getting some carry-out food. They appreciate the support and they get to see at least a little business during the shutdown.
That is about it for tonight. Have a good one and thank you for visiting!
RJB