NorthernDestinations.com

Thursday 8/14/1014

Greetings and welcome!

We have continued to enjoy normal or cooler than normal weather in August. When I think of July and August and I think of hot weather. The sun is still plenty warm, but it has remained reasonable with daytime temperatures in the 70s and 80s. So far we haven’t had any real stretches of 90+ weather or humidity.

It has been very common to go outside in the morning to a heavy dew. It almost feels like September or October in the morning, especially with overnight lows in the low and mid-40s.

We were getting a little dry here for a while, but we had a good rain Monday night. A storm stalled to our east, and Monday night an area of rain camped over us for pretty much the whole night. It was just one blob that kept getting reinforced. The end result around here was between an inch and an inch and a half of rain.

The nice weather will continue, though we have a 50% chance of rain for Saturday. Highs in the upper 70s or low 80s are in store for Friday and Saturday, and mid-70s and sunny for Sunday.

Here are some upcoming events..

Aug. 16
The Hidden Bear Trail ATV Club fundraiser
Animal’s Bear Trail Inn, Mountain – noon to 6pm
Raffles, food & beverages – All proceeds from this event will go toward maintaining current ATV trails/routes and creating new ATV trails/routes in the townships of Doty, Riverview and Lakewood in Oconto County

Aug. 14 – 17
Oconto County Fair – Zippel Park, Gillett
Demolitionderbies, horse, truck and tractor pulls, animal judging, exhibits, bands, family entertainment and carnival.

August 21 – 24
Marinette County Fair – County Fair Grounds, Wausaukee
Demoliton derbies, horse, truck and tractor pulls, animal judging, exhibits, bands, family entertainment and carnival

August 30
Red Arrow Annual Corn Roast and ATV Parade – Valley Inn, Townsend
ATV Parade at 10:30 am from Townsend Shell to Valley Inn – Meat Raffles, Food & Refreshments
Hosted by the Red Arrow Snowmobile & ATV Club – Proceeds go to trail maintenance

August 30
Amberg 34th Annual Fireman’s Picnic & Parade
Parade at 11am to Fireman’s Park, Water Fights, Demonstrations, Children’s Games
Food & Refreshments, Live Music, Raffles, Horseshoes

August 30
Crooked Lake Fire Department Breakfast.

August 30
Annual Corn Roast & Family Fun Day – Townsend Town Hall
starts at 11 AM – Children’s Games, Music, Food & Drink, Raffles & Prizes
Sponsored by the Townsend Flowage Assoc.Riverview Fire Department Annual Corn Roast and Picnic, 9am.

Aug. 31, 2014
Lakewood Firefighter’s 29th Annual Picnic

As I started to get ready to do firewood again last week, I stopped at the entrance to the wood shed when I saw this overhead.

I wasn’t all that surprised, it is an annual thing. Last year it was the back steps, the year before it was the work shed and the air conditioner.

I went outside Tuesday night and blasted it with a can of cheapskate store wasp and hornet spray into the front, and another half a can soaking the side that I could get to. Imagine my surprise when I went outside tonight to work and it was as busy of a nest as ever. I think that I need better bee freeze.

The top wildlife sighting recently happened Sunday in the Nicolet Forest near Lakewood. I was driving along when a hawk jumped up out of the ditch carrying a snake. I slammed on the brakes and probably just grazed the tail of the snake. As I watched the hawk fly away with his dinner, I am thinking now there is something that you don’t see every day.

Well, time to get back to work. Have a good weekend and thank you for visiting!

RJB

Friday August 8th, 2014

Greetings and welcome!

it has been anther busy week so I don’t have much of an update.

The weekend weather looks really nice, and we have some events too.

August 9
37th Annual Silver Cliff Fire & Rescue Aux. Picnic – Silver Cliff Memorial Picnic Grounds
Parade at 10 AM – Picnic from 11 am – 6 pm  – Food & Drink, Games & Raffles, Fun for the whole family

Aug. 9
Amberg Community Assoc. annual Duck Run at Mosquito Park
Starts at 11am

Friday 8-1-2014

Greetings and welcome!

August already! Golly where did summer go?  The good news is that we have 5 Saturdays in August. The bad news is that we have 5 Saturdays left before September, and this is one of them.

We have had kind of an unusual summer for weather, and the recent past is no exception. It has been cool, and so far we have only had one 90 degree day to my knowledge. We have been under the influence of an upper level low pressure system up by James Bay. As it pinwheels counter clockwise, it keeps the cool air from the north coming along with the occasional disturbance that brings a line of showers or storms. It sure beats 90 and humid.

The nice weather looks like it will continue into the weekend, along with a daily chance at a line of storms that can happen on any summer afternoon. Look for highs in the upper 70s and lows in the mid-50s.

We have events this weekend. First up is the Bear Point Sno-Cruisers float trip. That is this Saturday. They get together early and by about 10 they figure out shuttles upstream. People float down the Menominee River and enjoy the day, eventually landing at Bear Point for more fun and friends.

Here are more-

Family Fun Day and corn Roast at Townsend Town Hall Saturday 11-6. Food, refreshments,, raffles, and kid’s sawdust pile.

Laona Community Soup at Silver Lake Beach Saturday noon-5

Annual Corn Roast at the Schoolhouse Bar in Mountain. DJ 1-6, live music 6-?

Lakewood Arts and Crafts Show at Lakewood Town Hall Saturday 9-3

Have a good weekend and thank you for visiting!

RJB

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Thursday July 17th, 2014

Greetings and welcome!

It is a big weekend for events with hog wrestling at the Caldron Falls Bar and Weinerfest in Lakewood, both coming up Saturday, and it looks like a great weekend for weather.

First up is Hog Wrestling at the Caldron Falls Bar. That is an annual event for thousands of people. The whole thing turns into a massive outdoor event with the hog wrestling of course, food and drink, music, vendors, and a couple of thousand people out to have a good time.

It is a massive event and a pretty wild time.

As always I will warn you to bring your designated driver too. The law enforcement community usually pretty active throughout the area this weekend. According to the Sheriff’s Dept web site the OWI Task Force will be working the Town of Stephenson this weekend.

In years past several of the Twin Bridge area private campgrounds have run shuttle buses, allowing people to have a good time and a safe ride home. Check with your spot to see if they can arrange something. There is also the safe ride home program (ask the bartender), and there is a taxi out of Middle Inlet that will likely be working in the area. Have fun, but be safe about it.

The other event that I know of is Weinerfest in Lakewood. Here is a copy n paste from Lakewood’s web site..

4th Annual Wienerfest North
Date: July 26, 2014
Time: 12:00 pm
Location: Lakewood Pavilion

4th Annual Wienerfest North 11 A.M. – 7 P.M. Lakewood Pavilion. All Profits benefiting Troops & Veterans. Honor Guard presenting colors at Noon. Meat raffles Noon – 4:00 P.M. Happy Schnapps Combo 4:00 P.M. – 7:00 P.M. Miller Team providing contests for the Adults. Food & Beverages. Try some of Meatski’s famous wieners. Entertainment for the kids. Please come rain or shine and help support our Troops & Veterans! http://www.thebeachclubwi.com/ – See more at: http://www.lakewoodwisconsin.org/town-of-lakewood/events/2014-07/4th-annual-wienerfest-north-2014-07-26

Everyone knows about the Happy Schnapps Combo, right? Its the second week of deer camp and all the boys are here..

That should be a good time too, and if it is a benefit for our military men and women, it is that much better.

The weather looks nice for the weekend. The first chance of rain showing up in the official forecast is for about Tuesday. The NWS is looking for mostly sunny days with highs around 80.

I am going to be a little less optimistic and say be ready for a stray shower or storm. There isn’t anything organized in the way of storms, but we will have some moderately humid air and sunny days that could build up a passing shower or storm. It’s summer, that happens.

Today the clouds were trying to build, but the tops could only reach so high before they reached stable air. It looked like they were pushing against a glass ceiling or something the way that the tops spread. It was an interesting demonstration of a capped atmosphere limiting storm formation.

In the past week I have seen a lot of young critters. You saw the bear cubs picture last week. I spared a pair of fawns in the road by expecting them to pop out of the bushes. I saw something in the road about a mile up and I was already on the brakes when it happened.There have been lots of turkeys with a cloud of young following along, and yesterday a mallard family crossed an intersection in kind of an unusual place. There was a baby skunk along the road on the way home from work a few days last week too.

I didn’t have time for an update last week, so you missed the bear story. The cub picture was about one of probably 15 that I took. It was about a half hour after sunset and the camera wasn’t up to the job in the dark, so that was the best of them.

Anyway, I spotted the cubs playing in the ditch along the road and I stopped a ways away to give them plenty of room to cross. They kind of played their way across the road and went through the fence.

Naturally Momma wasn’t far behind. She was about a 400 pounder, a big bear, but not a giant. She ambled over to the fence, climbed up the fence post, and proceeded to balance all four paws on the fence post. She reached over and grabbed a tree close to the fence and swung over onto it and climbed down. It was really something seeing her balance like that.

I was having fits that my camera couldn’t focus in the darkness. It was my $35 E-Bay camera that I use for for the snowmobile and car (no big loss if it gets lost or wrecked). I sure wish that I had my nice Nikon DSLR, it would have been an amazing set of pictures.

Well it is time to wrap it up again. Have a great weekend and thank you for visiting!

RJB