Greetings and welcome!
It has been a crazy week this week. That happens between trying to make a living and get outside chores done before winter.
The gnats were unbelievable this week. I was outside making firewood and was under attack. I ended up wearing ear plugs and close fitting safety glasses to keep them at bay. They finally were a little better when it cooled off after the mid-week rain. Much to my delight they should be done after tonight when we get a hard frost and temps in the low 30s. That will be our first frost, and a lot of people will be happy when it kills off a lot of bugs.
The fall colors are strange this year. Some of the earliest stuff has come and gone, but there is a lot on display. Still I am surprised at how much green remains out there, in my travels anyway. I have been to Wausaukee and Crooked Lake this week. I have found that it varies a lot from area to area, so don’t look at that as an area-wide report.
I saw a graphic on the morning news that showed us before peak, but across the Forest Co line they were rated near peak. It has been such an abnormal year for temperature and moisture that I think that it affected the colors too. I am not sure what to expect, but my guess is that with October two days away they should be really going off soon.
I had an interesting conversation with some beekeepers this week. They are expecting a tough winter. They said that the hives have already kicked out the drones, which is earlier than normal. They also said that the proplolis in the hives was way more than normal. That is a glue like substance that they use to seal cracks and protect the hive. According to the old school folks a heavy propolus in the hives means batten down the hatches for winter.
That is just one more sign that I have been seeing that it is a very unusual year. Another sign is that the river is still high. I checked a little while ago and the Peshtigo is still running at about a +6″. Normally it would be about a -2 or -3 today.
I took pictures on the river last Saturday, something that I have never done. Unfortunately last Friday we had a very strong storm that stripped any vulnerable fall colors from the trees. The river still had some color and the people had a blast in the unusually high water.
That storm was not in the forecast, but it wasn’t a big surprise because it was super humid and almost 90 degrees out. When I went to Wabeno Fri night there were actually a couple of trees down and the road was littered with pine needles and branches. We saw a lot less action here, but the big ugly clouds had a lot of lightning & thunder, and were intense enough that I was outside looking at the clouds for rotation.
This morning I looked at a longer term forecast model and cold weather is about 10-14 days away. The GFS is showing a pretty big storm coming through the area about Oct 11, and behind it a pretty big cold wave. According to the upper level temperatures it will be cold enough to snow anywhere in WI if there was moisture there, and a couple of days behind it will be below normal too.
I recall the year that I made the photo van to take out onto lakes and do pictures at snowmobile races. I was outside painting it late into the night on Oct 9th, because to was going to get cold and snow on the 10th. It did snow, and we had 6″ that day. It did not go over 50 degrees after that. All indications are that we are in for an early start and maybe a tough winter.
There are a couple of events this weekend. Here we are..
Toys for Joy Ride @ Prospect Lodge Sat.
Crivitz Harvest Festival and Craft Show- Crivitz High School 8:30-2pm Sat.
Have a good weekend and thank you for visiting!
RJB