NorthernDestinations.com

Thursday April 15th, 2010

Greetings and welcome!

It is a cloudy and warm day with 15-25mph winds. Checking in with Athelstane weather I see that they have us at the high of the day with 77.4 degrees. The NWS is showing 75 in Iron Mountain and the Accuweather is only showing 72. It did just snow 3-5″ a week ago, and now it is pushing 80.

There was a line of showers that came through last night at about 2:30 with about 20 minues of moderate rain. There is more on the radar between here and Rhinelander as a cold front approaches.

That passing cold front should replace our above normal temps with more seasonal temps and clear weather for the rest of the week and the weekend. Our normal hi/lo today is 52/29. Yesterday we were at 73 and 40, and today you can add a few degrees.

Friday looks windy like today as the front moves away. Saturday should calm down a little with the winds and bring sunny weather with low to mid-50s. Sunday looks nice and a few degrees warmer.

Not much time has passed since our last visit, so I don’t have a lot to report. Yesterday the big excitement was a yard clean up followed by a trip to the dump. A full truck and almost full trailer cost something like $13 to leave it at the landfill. I was very happy to get rid of all of that junk, and there is another load coming as soon as I can spend a little time on it.

The push right  now is to clean up anything that will be overgrown once the ferns and berries start coming in. It is a lot easier to clean that up now.

The snow last week and the occasional rain this week have started greening up the land. The grass is coming in nicely, and more and more trees are starting to bud up. I saw a mullen yesterday that was well along and as big as a dandelion.

Messing around in the yard yesterday I encountered a few gnats, but they were not bad. I did collect my first two wood ticks that stuck, including the first belly button tick of the year. Considering where I was working it isn’t even a little surprising. In June that would be a nest of them.

It was a little unusual to have ticks on April 14th, but the El Nino bringing an abnormally warm and dry year have a lot of stuff in the great outdoors ahead of their time.

My guess is that we are close to two weeks ahead, and will have an unusually green start to May. Some years it doesn’t green up until early or mid-May. My famous beech forest picture with the emerging leaves from 8 or 9 years ago was taken the weekend before Memorial Day.

In the tech department I have updated the Ubuntu page with the latest. Yes I still like it.

Also of interest, in the process of getting ready to sell the helmet cam I snapped together a few clips of rafting action from it to put out on U-Tube. It turned out pretty cool for an hour project. I ran out of time yesterday, but once I get it uploaded I will link to it.

That is about it from here. Have a good weekend and thank you for visiting!

RJB

Tuesday April 13th, 2010

Greetings and welcome!

It is a chilly cloudy day in the high 40s. The little bit of rain that came last night could visit us again late this afternoon with another brief round of showers.

Yesterday and last night’s rain was mostly a radar event. The radar showed it raining for a good bit of the day, but it never made it to the ground. A few hours after sunset it picked up into a mist, and overnight got going enough to get the ground wet.

Once we get through today’s cool and damp weather we are into a nice day for tomorrow. It should clear up and get up to around 70, a nice change from today’s 47.

Thursday another line of showers threatens to bring us a little rain and a temperature drop from the 70s to the mid-50s for Friday and the weekend. That Thursday line of showers should be it for the week and weekend, replaced by mostly clear weather.

The rain has helped a little. It has served us to keep fire danger reduced and to at least give emerging greenery at least something to drink.

Based on what I have seen we have a pretty significant rainfall deficit. As you saw, my pond is pretty low, and area lakes and rivers are too. It isn’t someting that will go away in the short term, at least not with sub 1″ per week rainfall.

Talking about it over the weekend, I suggested that we would need a protracted stormy pattern, a cut off low pressure system that sits over us for a week, or maybe a tropical depression or hurricane remnant to soak us. It is nice that we are seeing a shower here and there, and encouraging that the storms are actually getting close to here. It is still a ten dollar payment on a million dollar loan. It took a couple of drought summers and low snow winters to get here, I don’t expect it to heal overnight, and certainly not at a half inch a week.

On the other side of it, my El Nino (ENSO) research last night found that the El Nino is expected to return to neutral conditions any time now. The actual time frame was between March and June. It is in decline, but not gone yet. In theory with the passing of the El Nino we will see more storms come this way and a chance at more normal rainfall. By my observation, the transition out of an El Nino can be a stormy period. All is not lost.

Some of the forecast models had us going into a La Nina phase later this year. As one forecaster pointed out, it is a little early for that. At this time of year the ENSO models are at their lowest skill due to the time frame looking ahead nine months. It wouldn’t surprise me though.

Spring continues to spring, but there is a little lull in the action. The grass is greener and is growing actively from the recent showers. There is a willow down by the pond starting with emerging leaves. Both a tick and mosquito were spotted, though neither one got blood or was common. Some insects by the river started emerging. Tom turkeys were again easy to spot the past few days.

Here are some pictures..

There is not much on the event calendar. The only thing that I have is an NRA banquet this week. After that it is pretty quiet until May.

There was an interesting e-mail today from the County. It looks like ATV trails WILL open early this year, and the SUTV/UTV program is moving forward. Here is the press release..

————-

From: John Scott, Forestry and Parks Administrator
Subject: ATV Trail Re-opening
The Marinette County ATV Trails will re-open April 23, 2010. The
trails have been closed for spring breakup and because of downed
trees/branches.
Marinette County is participating in a Pilot Program that will allow
Utility Terrain Vehicles (UTV’s) to use all designated all-terrain
vehicle trails and routes in Marinette County. This Pilot Program
will end on June 30, 2012.
UTV riders must register their Utility Terrain Vehicle at any
Department of Natural Resources Service Center to be allowed on the
Marinette County ATV trail system.

—————-

So.. a week from Saturday the trails open. That is unusual. As long as I have been reporting them it is usually the first weekend in May. I did notice that the trails by my house had been groomed last week.

Well as usual the clock is ahead of the list of stuff to do, so it it is time for me to scamper off and get to work. Have a good week and thank you for visiting!

RJB

Thursday April 8th, 2010

Greetings and welcome!

3pm Update

It did indeed snow last night. I cleared between 2-3 inches off of the car this morning, and people as little as 10 miles southeast reported 4-5. When I was in Lakewood and Townsend it was an inch or a little more. Here are some pictures from 7am..

The snow did add up on roads and it was indeed slippery this morning. The snow did not last long and there are only random patches of it left on grassy areas. Most of those will be gone before the sunset and mid-20s overnight can save them. I am sure that there will be some slippery spots when the temp drops into the 20s with wet roads tonight.

There has to be some novelty to wearing long johns and a jacket today knowing that in a few days I will be riding in the boat at 65-70 degrees and looking for shorts. It does give some verification to the standard up north car wardrobe; a spare set of shorts, long pants, coat, and gloves, and you can skip the gloves in August. Maybe.

Overnight Update

Let’s start the day with a birthday shout out to my brother Robert. Happy B-day!

The weather guy goes whoda thunk it, yet again… The rain storm was a bit of a disappointment around here. It came out with totals about as predicted around here, while it rained much harder south of Hwy 64. We did get some, and so did the Peshtigo River Watershed, but it wasn’t as much as happened only 30 miles away.

The storm was moving south and east yesterday and I had it pretty much written off as over other than scattered stuff. Guess again Guitarzan.. it is snowing pretty good outside right now (12:30am). There is 1/2″ down, grassy areas are white and covering fast, and the radar says it might come for a few hours. Whoda thunk it? I will take all of the surprises like that we can get if it brings more precip. The pond is a little low this year, reflecting a dry winter and spring..

The water levels change quite a bit from year to year. Last year it was almost dry, a couple of years ago it was above the ring, and probably 6′ deeper.

Also a little strange, when I looked outside at the snow, the frogs in the pond were still sounding off. Hmm. Shouldn’t they be getting a little groggy if it is cold enough to snow?

Anyway, it was a cold and dreary few days since our last visit. It did not rain the whole time, it was more off and on waves and overcast days. Wednesday I had planned on getting a little firewood and exercise and was repelled by a windy and 40 something day. There was inside work to be done too, and with much nicer temps ahead, I made a management decision.

I did make it outside for a few spring pictures of the first green grass-new since the rain, the maple flowers, the first cherry buds, and the pond picture..

.

The other plant that I spotted budding was not a raspberry, I am not sure what it was. I will have to look again.

The rain did knock down the fire danger, and snow kinda does that too. It is now low, but high fire danger should return next week next week when temps go into the 60s and 70s. The rain and snow should boost river levels at least a little, and probably well timed for the weekend.

The weather today looks chilly again, with temps in the 40s and some pretty good winds. Friday finds it’s way up into the 50s, again with some breeziness. The weekend looks great, with partly cloudy and about 60 degree days. Beware sunset though, those same partly cloudy skies mean mid-30s at night.

Next week the nice weather forecast trend continues with some 70s expected early and mid week, followed by possibly a storm.

On the short list of stuff to play with outside is the boat. If it is going to be in the 60s and 70s, and the lakes are ice free, maybe it is time to get started on summer fun. Everything else seems 2-3 weeks ahead of normal, why not?

I am looking forward to the weekend with the nice weather. Also much anticipated its the flashback thing at Fisher’s Camp. Saturday they roll back the clock and Glen and Debbie, Mark & Sallie take over Fisher’s Camp for a day, and do things the way that they used to 4 or 5 years ago. It should mean a lot of old friends and a good time for sure. It is also a good chance to meet the new owners, who are nice folks and obviously have a sense of humor.

That is about it for now, more to follow. Have a good Thursday and thank you for visiting!

RJB

Tuesday April 6th, 2010

Greetings and welcome!

The weekend turned out pretty good for weather. We saw a little rain before Saturday morning and then it turned to a cloudy weekend in the 50s with a breeze. It was not bad for early April.

Monday was again cloudy and the wind had a little cold and damp  edge to it. You could feel that it was going to rain. It was raining on radar, but it was not reaching the ground. Finally it started as some wind driven mist or drizzle right before sunset. Since then we have seen a few waves of rain and a tenth of an inch or two of rain.

We have a weather system coming through the region that sports multiple low pressure areas, and should hopefully bring rain over the next three days. The QPF on the storm from the GFS and NAM are in the 0.75-1″, with the HPC coming in about 1/4 inch higher. Hopefully it gets very carried away.

As happens at this time of year, we have high fire danger. The rain will temporarily squelch that somewhat, but probably not for long. It has been a dry spring, and the rain will be welcomed. Until the new green growth comes in and we get some regular rain, the spring breeze and the dead vegetation will be a fire hazard.

There are signs of the great greening of the lands and forests. The maples are starting to get their red flowers, and Monday I saw some black raspberry bushes starting with some new growth.

Cleaning up the yard a little Monday I picked up or overturned stuff and encountered frost on/in the ground, and 10 feet away there was an ant hill already active, with ants scurrying around mad that I picked up that piece of bark. I am sure that I am not the only one with some spring cleaning to do, so here is a link to the MARCO  Marinette/Oconto County landfill.

It is getting a little noisier outside. Apparently we have a pair or flock of sandhill cranes nesting a ways back. They are squawking up a storm all day. They are the lead singers for the chorus of frogs coming from the pond. Supposedly the turkeys should be gobbling too. I have seen toms with a harem, but haven’t heard them sounding off.

Spring in Silver Cliff is a marvel if you take the time to look at it, and the show is about to really pick up.

There is a youth turkey hunt this weekend. Here is a link to the DNR page about it. The hunt gives youth hunters a chance to hunt a few days early. Also in DNR news, the DNR Spring Wildlife & Fisheries Proposed Rules Hearing and Annual Conservation Congress County Meeting is coming up Monday 4-12 in every county in the state. Again here is a link.

This weekend is a big deal at Fisher’s Camp…

Fishers Camp Flash Back
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Remember When…. 2001-2004
Glen and Deb will be running the bar and the kitchen.
Sallie and Mark will be bartending.
Come join us for a great time !

I also have an event listing for a Near North Trail Riders banquet, but will have to call for details in the am.

Last weekend was the opening weekend for rafting on the Peshtigo River with Kosir’s. As usual there were a few dozen hearty folks who took to the river, and had a great time doing it.  The water was low, but it was over 50 outside.  The hope is that the rain will get really carried away and bring the river way up for this weekend. Any will help.

Technohick Holler

The Ubuntu Linux testing has gone very well. There have been some lessons along the way, but I like it a lot. Most of my fleet of computers will not be running Windows this sumer. I am using it now.

It remains to be seen if I can professionally edit video on it, but I have high hopes. I have a new 15k rpm SCSI 320 drive on the way for a scratch drive for my current set up, and the plan is to try movie editing on that under Linux before it gets put into service on the Windows based editing system. I found a nice editing program, and if it is stable, I might not go back.

I also have an itch to upgrade my video camera, putting my helmet cam set up on the auction block. I want to go to a flash memory camcorder to make getting the video into the computer a file download of 3 minutes instead of a recording in real time for 30. It would save me a lot of production time, and people aren’t far behind me when I get back from the river. It is also a really nice camera with a great picture, so I am hot for it.

Being early in the season and late in the wallet, that means a little horse trading. I decided that my really nice Viosport H2O Adventure Cam helmet cam needs to go on E-Bay, complete with the Pelican Box, LANC remote, and Sony Mini-DV Camcorder to record it. Give me a shout if you are interested. The Viosport H2O Cam was a very nice piece of video gear (>$300), and this one has seen about 10 hours of use. The camera got replaced for the 08 season but the rest of it has been around.

That is about it from here. Have a good week and thank you for visiting!

RJB