Greetings and welcome!
My apologies that I haven’t been updating the past few weeks. No I didn’t fall off of the side of the planet or get carried away by mosquitoes. Work has been overwhelming lately, and life has been mostly about work or sleep. I haven’t gone fishing, had a campfire, or even finished cutting the grass yet this year, so it is pretty out of control. I usually avoid updating when I am cranky which is most of the time now. I figure if my friends want to hear some overtired old guy complain about work they probably know where to find that on their own.
We have been enjoying some pleasant weather lately. A lot of days have been beautiful and in the 70s. There was a warm one Tuesday when the bank clock in Wausaukee said 87 in the sun, but mostly it has been really nice out.
The great greening of the land has made huge progress since my last update. The understory of the forest has filled in, and the late spring variety of green shades has been spectacular. It all seems like it is a week or two behind normal this year. The ferns are up and growing, but they are not the waist deep bounty that they usually are by mid-June.
The usual assortment of bugs is present and accounted for. The wood ticks have been about normal, but the gators were late to the party this year. Those have been hit and miss. I have been to places with plentiful populations, and places that are normally bountiful with mosquitoes that I haven’t seen any. I am way behind in my Repel usage this summer, with most of it going below the knee to keep the ticks at bay.
From what I have seen the fishing has been good this year. I have seen a lot of friends with some great bass and panfish catches. Tourism has been waaaay way down this summer, so other than Memorial Day weekend, the lakes and landings have been fairly quiet. Not only is that more relaxing for the fishermen, the fish are less wary than in a busy year. I am hoping to get in on a little of that myself very soon.
We have been having a spectacular spring for whitewater rafting water levels. This weekend looks like the first time in 2013 that we will have normal flows on the whitewater rivers, until now it has been above normal all year.
We have had colder than normal water temperatures thanks to the late thaw. Now it is getting to be about time to get wet. A visit to the new beach at Boat Landing #9 is probably in order, and some tubing and sit on top kayaking with Kosir’s on Caldron Falls flowage sounds fun too. I did both the tubing and kayaking last year and had a great time.
New this year they have pontoon boat cruises on Caldron Falls. They have a really nice new 27′ pontoon boat that they take people out on. You can get something like 10 people on it, and they are up for stuff like wine and sunset cruises, general tours, and maybe even some fishing. I was supposed to go out a week ago Tuesday, but rain squelched our plan. I do expect to get out there soon and will definitely bring the camera along to catch all of the scenery and stuff like eagle pictures.
There are a couple of events coming up this weekend. The local paper has a car, truck and bike show in Lakewood at the Pavilion Grounds Saturday from about 9-4. The Cro9ked Lake/Mountain Lions Club is having a pancake and porkie breakfast Saturday from 8-11 at Mulligan’s Sports Bar on the south end of Lakewood. That is a benefit for the Christian Food Pantry in Townsend.
Saturday from 11-5 there is a fundraiser for the Forest Co ATV and LMT Trails snowmobile club at the Wabeno fairgrounds. There will be raffles, food and drink, and recreational equipment vendors on site. That is a benefit for trail maintenance and improvements.
This is also the weekend of the Porterfield Country Music Festival, a pretty big deal with some big name acts.
I am sure that there are more events for this weekend, but I haven’t been to town in a while, so I haven’t had a chance to scour posters.
The OWI Task Force has been hammering the Twin Bridge area most busy weekends this year. In the past they would put up a sign to increase awareness. Rumor has it that they are going to ditch the signs and just patrol the area on weekends all summer. You can still go there and go out and have fun, but make sure that you have your seat belt on, your vehicle in order, and if you plan to cocktail, use a designated driver or use the Safe Ride program to get home. Don’t feed the bears.
It looks like we have a nice weekend coming up. We are looking at 70s Saturday and 80s Sunday with only a minor chance of a passing shower. No complaints about that.
That is about it for today. Have a good weekend and thank you for visiting.
RJB