July 2022

Friday 7-29-2022

Greetings and welcome!

We had a little rain this week but it was not enough to be meaningful. At that point the fire danger remains very high, and the rivers and wetlands are very low.

My grass is mostly dead and brown now, and only drought hardy weeds are growing. I am also starting to see some of the ferns and other underbrush plants dying back a little like they would in fall. This is not well timed for the black raspberry production either.

There is a chance of more meaningful rain next week. It would take a lot to turn around our little dry spell though.

We are in for a warm and rain-free weekend. The forecast at the moment is for sunny skies and low to mid-80s for temperatures.

I don’t have much for events this weekend. There is a big deal off-road race down in Lena Saturday, and Friday the racers will be in town showing off cars, signing autographs, and selling swag. Here are the links.

https://www.ocontocounty.org/events/?i=thunder-on-main-dirt-city-duel-2022-07-29&d=2022-07&view=l

https://www.ocontocounty.org/events/?i=dirt-city-duel-off-road-races-2022-07-30&d=2022-07&view=l

On the personal side I finally got Starlink internet this week. I had been signed up with money down since March of last year. Apparently they opened up our area and a lot of people around here started receiving their kits. Mine took less than a week to get here and about 5 minutes to set up.

For the short term I just have it sitting in the clearest spot in the side yard and a cable coming in through the window. Considering my obstructions from trees it works incredibly well. My initial download speed was about 65Mb/sec and I have gone over 130Mb/sec in some of my testing. I am consistently getting over 60Mb/s, and can watch hi def TV or YouTube without interruption.

I had Hughesnet before and they were a flaming hot mess. Half the time it didn’t work at all, a lot of times it would load partial pages, and trying to watch a low resolution YouTube had it starting and stopping about every 5 seconds if I didn’t pre-load or buffer the video. I ran out of data in 10 days every month because it uses up it’s own data to phone home. Once I establish Starlink as reliable I will be pulling the plug on the Hughesnet. I’d tell you how I really feel about Hugesnet, but not only is it not family rated, it would make a coal miner’s bartender blush. Good riddance to a terrible company and their terrible dial-up speed internet service for $85 a month.

The next best option was Centurylink DSL, but they wouldn’t hook me up because I was on the wrong side of the road. My neighbor across the street has it but they said that my side of the street is on a different box and that the box is full. Having dealt with them at a business 200′ away from their main station in Wausaukee I am not sad that I missed out on that. Starlink is sooo much better that the wait was worth it.

That’s news from here. Have a good weekend and thank you for visiting!

RJB

Friday 7-22-2022-Updated

Greetings and welcome!

We have had a hot week. Early in the week we got up to 96 and sunny with some humidity. The past few days have gotten into the mid-80s.

In addition to being hot we are dry. The grass in the yard has gone dormant and is now brown and even a little slippery for the dog playing Frisbee. The rivers and wetlands are getting very low too.

Right now the best guess for the weekend weather is that the warm humid weather will be with us until about Saturday afternoon or Saturday evening. That is when a cold front will be coming through with some showers and thunderstorms. There is some potential for severe weather, along with some big rainfall amounts. What isn’t very clear is where or when it will hit.

Once the storm clears out Sunday morning we should have a nice day in the upper 70s.

When I was in Crivitz Wednesday gas was down to $4.19 a gallon. It is a welcome drop but it is still $2 too high.

The folks that take care of the Silver Cliff park are asking for volunteers this weekend to help get it into shape for the annual picnic/parade/fireworks on August 13th. Note that the fireworks are Friday night. The park was pretty much ground zero for the tornado that hit us last month. Volunteers with heavy equipment and loggers have been cleaning it up but it still needs wok.

From their FB post..

Silver Cliff Park needs your help. On Saturday July 23 and Sunday July 24 there is going to be a clean-up of the park. We are looking for volunteers with metal rakes, and pressure washers. The goal is to get the park ready for the parade and picnic on August 13.
There will be sign-up sheets at the park. Bottled water and Powerade/Gatorade will be provided. We are still working on lunches and will post here with information.
As usual bring work gloves and wear appropriate clothing for working with brush and debris.
For more information or if you have any questions please Kristin Gagne, Town Clerk, at 715-757-3163.

The start time is 8am, and I believe that they organized a lunch for volunteers.

Update- knew that I was missing an event. Here it is.

There is an ATV/UTV ride up in Dunbar Saturday with Team Motorsports. Here is a link.

The next event is the Lakewood 125th Anniversary Picnic. Here is a link.

I believe that the Marinette County Fair is the weekend after this one.

That is it for today. Have a good weekend and thank you for visiting!

RJB

 

Friday July 16, 2022

Greetings and welcome!
It looks like we are in for a pretty nice weekend this weekend. According to the NWS we only have a 20% chance of showers or storms after 1pm Saturday. Otherwise we are looking ah a high of 80 Saturday and 64 Sunday.

That is good because we have a jam packed weekend for events.

First up we have the WAM-fest in Wabeno Saturday. That is the Wabeno Art & Music Festival. Link

A little east of there is an ATV ride in Dunbar.

 

As we head south on 32 we come upon the Lakewood Mardi Gras. This is a big deal with a parade, midway, fried goodies, and music.

A little to the south and west we have the Doty Fireman’s Picnic. Link

To the east we have a huge Coleman’s Fireman’s picnic.

Farther east there is the Porterfield Cruisin Oldies weekend. Link

Closer to home The Rustic Inn is having live music Friday night, Saturday night, and Sunday afternoon. Friday and Sunday is the Cordell Winter Band. Saturday is Big Road Band. The music starts at 7pm Friday and Saturday night and at 2pm Sunday.

Fire danger is low today thanks to a little morning rain.

Gas prices have come down a little (Up like a rocket, down like a feather). In Crivitz Gas Buddy says that the going rate is $4.39. Here in Silver Cliff and farther north you can add about a nickle to that.

That’s about it for me today. Have a great weekend and thank you for visiting!

RJB