Uncategorized

Thursday June 9th, 2011

Greetings and welcome!

Now that is what I call a change in the weather. Yesterday it was in the mid-90s and the day before it was 97. Today I am cold in long pants because as of noon it is 57 degrees. I am going to pounce on that in a little while when I get done here and tackle some long overdue outside work.

Yesterday I had a hard time believing that the atmosphere was going to equalize a 30+ degree temperature drop without any drama. It was a windy day yesterday, but I still expected storms. They came and came in force, but not around here. The southern part of WI had a memorable night though.

We did get some strong winds out of it but not much for damage. I had a tree down in the driveway this morning, but it was going down at some point anyway. In my 40 mile round trip to Amberg this morning on a computer call I only saw a couple of branches and trees down, and most were ready to go anyway.

In my case I had to be somewhere, so I made a couple of cuts on the tree, dragged it out of the way, and headed out. I will be back with the saw and the truck later when I go outside to tackle that, the lawn, and all sorts of cleaning and fixing. It sure beats doing it when it is sunny and 85 or 90, so I am going to pounce on the opportunity and put my regular work aside for a little while.

There is an  update on events for this weekend. I am not sure how it got by me, but this is the weekend of the tick races at Fisher’s Camp. Yes you heard right, wood tick races. There will also be toilet seat horseshoes and a meat and VIP raffle. From their Facebook page..

(Saturday June 11th) Woodtick races start at 1pm along with toilet seat horseshoes!! $5 a person for woodtick with 100%payout $10 team for horseshoe with 100% payout meat raffle starts at 4pm with our 2nd VIP drawing for a cabin for the weeken or $100 tattoo…. for more info call 715-757-2207

That just has to be fun, and the meat raffles are pretty popular too.

The weekend forecast is about the same. There is a minor chance of showers now extending into Saturday, but the two 6 hour frames with a chance show a total maximum possible of 2/10ths of an inch. I ain’t skert.

The Friday/Friday night storm looks like it has some strength to it, but the forecasts still have it mostly staying in the southern half of the state, a lot like yesterday’s storm.

Otherwise expect a cloudy day in the mid-60s Saturday and a nicer day in the upper 60s Sunday. Overnight lows could go into the mid-40s.

Keith B posted that we could see some northern lights tonight. The sun has been a little more active lately, and tonight is expected to have displays possible low on the horizon as far south as Des Moines, IA. The clouds will be a problem for a lot of us, but if the sky clears a little we have a chance at seeing some aurora.

It is pretty cool that with the Internet age and all of the new solar observation instruments and the ham radio operators watching we can actually get forecasts on the northern lights now.

A little OT.. I have been drooling over solid state computer hard drives for about a year now. Kevin the snowmobiling friend said to just do it, it was his best upgrade ever.

Finally I got one while upgrading the movie editing computer for the Hi Def helmet cams and camcorders. It was a little bit of a pain to install because I need to run XP, but yowza what a difference. My computer is so fast.

You really do want one.  This is not only great at home, it puts an end to the sluggish laptops.Those always suffer from slow hard drives, and this will wake it right up. What an amazing difference, even from my 15K rpm SCSI 320 drives.

I got my 115 gig version for ~$170, but you can get 40-60BG drives suitable for most people for about $100. Call Ray the Computer Guy, that’s me.

Well I am off to get some lunch and dive into a whole season of outside work since it is so cool out.

Have a good weekend and thank you for visiting.

RJB

Tick races… I wonder if they have little tick trainers and Nike endorsements..

Wednesday June 8th, 2011

Greetings and welcome!

It is another hot one today. Yesterday we hit 97 and today looks like about 90.  The fun part is, tomorrow we will be lucky to hit 65.

It is classic WI weather as a big storm system brings warm humid air in advance of it and cold dry air behind it. What I am not seeing is a big line of thunderstorms to bring the change. I’d certainly expect it as the atmosphere equalizes the 30 degree difference in air masses. Maybe it will come later.

There is another storm possible for Friday. It looks like it has some strength to it, but it will mostly likely stay north and south of us. There is a chance of some of the lighter stuff catching us Friday and Friday night.

Once that is done we are in for a very nice weekend. Saturday looks like there willbe some leftover clouds and highs in the mid-60s. Sunday looks like a bluebird day with partly cloudy skies and low 70s.

Last weekend was a good one for weather, and I even jumped into the river a few times to cool off. Saturday night brought clear skies and even a touch of the northern lights. I was going to post an alert on the aurora, but it turned out weaker than expected.

The plant and animal kingdoms are flourishing this week. The forests are filling in pretty solidly now. The maples had a great year for helicopters with the wet spring, and the bounty has started to fall. Deer should be having fawns about now. The ticks and mosquitoes are present and abundant in places.

The wildlife sighting of the week came last night when I spotted two different bears in about 2 miles by Thunder Mountain Ranch. The first one was pretty normal sized, the second was just a little guy.

We have some good events this weekend..

June 11- Crooked Lake Sportsman’s Club-CL/Mountain Lions Club Town Rummage Sale 8am – 2pm

June 11th- Dogleg Open Golf Outing Fundraiser for MS

Black Bear Trail Golf Course Suring, WI

Benefits the Wisconsin Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.
Cost per person is $70, which includes 18 holes with a cart, prizes, and dinner.
Scramble format – Food and beverages will be available on the course.
For more information or for an entry form, please contact
Dylan at 414-627-9177 or Black Bear Trail at 920-842-4653.

June 11-19 -28th Annual Porterfield Country Music Festival
Details at countrymusicfestival.com

Sunday June 12th-Oconto County Breakfast on the Farm at the Engebretzen Bothers Farm in Gillett

Serving from 8 am to 1 pm – Celebrating June Dairy Month
Fun Family Activities including Petting Zoo, Pony Rides, live music

I believe that there is also a motorcycle ride this weekend out of the I Don’t Know Bar in Middle Inlet. I will see if I can track that down.

Special thanks go out to Tim and Ron, both snowmobilers who did nice things for me last weekend. I sure do appreciate it, thank you.

The whitewater rivers are running pretty close to normal this week. That is somewhat amazing considering that we haven’t had meaningful rain in two weeks. The wet spring and fall are paying off. I saw yesterday that there were people tubing down the Peshtigo by Kosir’s, and I thought that was just a heck of an idea as I drove by in my black no AC truck in 97 degree temperatures.

Gas prices have not moderated, and remain well above what they should be. Normally the spread between the NYMEX price and the pump price is 65-75 cents. We are getting gouged regionally for ~30 cents a gallon above that. The NYMEX price today is $2.99, and the pump price is $3.99, with my no E premium 93 up to $4.25.

I wonder how that feels spanking every gallon of gas in 5 states an extra 30 cents a gallon. That has to be pretty sweet on payday. For the rest of us around here the pain continues as we take the double hit of high prices and a major loss of income due to tourism suffering so badly. The area is taking a hard hit from it and things are pretty dark for a lot of places.

If there is a good side to that it would be reduced fishing pressure. I like it when I’m the only one on the lake.

Well I am going to bobber on out of here and get back to work. Have a good week and thank you for visiting!

RJB

Friday June 3rd, 2011

The weekend is here, and it’s going to be a great one. Let’s start it off Todd Style..

Get out the fishing poles, the sunscreen, and all of the stuff that you would enjoy on a great weekend and jump in. We have one line of showers and maybe storms coming early tonight, then we are looking at a mostly bluebird weekend. Saturday should clear out and get into the low 80s, and Sunday looks nice and in the mid 70s.

It is free fishing weekend this weekend. You don’t have to get a fishing license to go and hook ‘dem lunkers.  The solunar tables are somewhat favorable, Wednesday was a new moon, and yesterday and today are peak days. Saturday and Sunday aren’t far from it.

Saturday the 4th is also Marinette County Parks free admission day. You can go and check out the waterfalls, beaches, and parks without paying the $2 entry sticker fee.

June 4th- Nicolet Plastics Fun Run
Nicolet Plastics and the Pirates of the Northwoods Parrot Head Club are sponsoring a 4 1/2 mile walk-run around Maiden Lake – This is a family friendly “fun run” or walk, with a kids run afterwards. – Several area fire departments and ambulance services, including Mountain, are the beneficiaries of this fundraiser.

The whitewater rafting at Kosir’s is still a great option. The Peshtigo River is at about a +3″, still a little above normal for today. The Menominee River is running over 2,000cfs, and the rivers are warming up in time for some tubing and sit on top kayaking on the flowage.

The chuckle of the day comes from the NWS, who seems to be having problems with their web site. I was doing my research for today’s update and ran into this. Expecting a bluebird weekend, I had a WT.. moment. It is still there as of 1pm.

I have a lot of respect for the Green Bay NWS folks, but today I’m not following their lead.. Thanks for the Friday chuckle.

Have a good weekend and thank you for visiting!

RJB

Wednesday June 1st, 2011

Greetings and welcome!

It was a great Memorial Day weekend last weekend. It rained Friday night for a little while, including a jammin’ little downpour to start it off. Fortunately that was it for the weekend for rain. We ended up having overcast days but very comfortable weather all weekend.

Not everyone was so lucky. I remember checking the radar Saturday morning and seeing areas not too far away getting pounded with rain.

It seemed a little mellower than the average Memorial Day weekend for crowds, but there were a lot of people around having a  lot of fun. It looked like the Post 66 Picnic at the Silver Cliff picnic grounds was well attended, and we had a lot of people take to the rivers with Kosir’s. I saw the rescue squad go by less than usual, and hopefully that meant a safer weekend for people too.

Gas prices likely held some people back. Locally it was $3.87 for regular. When I was in Townsend/Lakewood/Carter yesterday regular was $3.99. My favorite/best mileage gas, Shell 93 no ethanol, was at a painful $4.40 a gallon. I paid $4.09 for it Friday at a different station, and I’m going that way today, so I only put in $10 to get me there.

Gas prices should see some downward pressure. The NYMEX price is about a dime off of recent lows, and still $0.40 below it’s peak on May 1. The regional prices remain a little above market price plus the normal spread, and hopefully that will drop prices a little now that the holidays have passed.

I saw a lot less ATVs than usual last weekend. I saw that the DNR was out one day and the trail patrol another, but there were only a few trucks at the trail heads. I’d look to the combination of the weather forecast and gas prices for reduced numbers of riders.

Spring is unfolding in it’s full glory now. The trees and understory of the forests are really filling in. There are trees and plants blooming everywhere.  The ferns are starting to fill in now too.

Saturday morning it was kind of misty in the trees and really pretty. Chris commented on how there were as many shades of green emerging as there are colors in the fall.

The wet spring has brought a lot of bounty. The new growth on the ends of the pine and spruce trees is way above what it has been in years past. The maples are heavy with helicopters ready to drop. The trees that are in bloom are really full. Unfortunately it also looks like a bumper crop of poison ivy, so pay attention for that. The gators were present but not bad.

We have had some big weather changes in the last 24 hours. Yesterday was hot and humid, and then the cold front came through. That brought very strong winds and a sharp drop in temperatures and humidity.

We are under a strong wind advisory today with the NWS expecting gusts as high as 40 or 50mph. Right now Athelstane Weather is showing 20-30mph winds and a peak gust of 41 at midnight. It is not as windy now as it was overnight.

As far as damage it has been limited to a few dead branches from what I can tell. The power went out around midnight briefly, and again about 5am. The 5am outage lasted just long enough for me to go get the extension cord for the generator out of the shed and the power came back on. WPS line crews will no doubt have a full day today as the wind drops dead branches and trees.

The cold front brought a big change in temperatures. Yesterday I was sweating, tonight we could see patchy frost and lows in the mid-30s and I’ll be starting the wood burner.

One of my tasks today is to work on lawn mowers. The grass is officially way out of hand and it needs attention.  Unfortunately, so do the lawn mowers..

It looks like we have a nice weekend ahead. After 70s today and mid-60s tomorrow a warm front is expected to lift north Friday with some showers and storms, and leave us with a nice weekend in the upper 70s and low 80s.

We have a lot of events this weekend.  First of all this is Free Fishing Weekend. You can go and drown a worm without getting a license the 4th and 5th. The 4th is also Marinette County Parks free admission day. You can go and check out the waterfalls, beaches, and parks without paying the $2 entry sticker fee.

June 4th- Nicolet Plastics Fun Run
Nicolet Plastics and the Pirates of the Northwoods Parrot Head Club are sponsoring a 4 1/2 mile walk-run around Maiden Lake – This is a family friendly “fun run” or walk, with a kids run afterwards. – Several area fire departments and ambulance services, including Mountain, are the beneficiaries of this fundraiser.

I also saw a poster for an MS motorcycle ride this weekend, but can’t track it down on the net.

The rafting and paddling this weekend should be good. The rivers are still running a little above normal even though we haven’t had much rain. The Peshtigo is at a fun level where it isn’t too big or too rocky, and it seems to be holding steady. The rivers are warming up and tubing and kayaking on the flowage are fun things to do at Kosir’s now too.

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

RJB