NorthernDestinations.com

Friday 3-31-17

Greetings and welcome!

I have another event to add for this weekend. This is a meat raffle and basket raffle for the United Special Sportsman Alliance. They are “..an all volunteer 501(c)(3) non-profit wish granting charity that specializes in sending critically ill and disabled youth and disabled veterans on a free outdoor adventure of their dreams! ”

The Thunder Mountain Valley Inn is having a meat raffle and basket raffle Saturday afternoon to support this charity. It sounded like a good cause, so I donated a Work-Sport-Adventure headlamp & flashlight bundle as one of the many prizes. It sounds like it will be a big event, and a good time for a good cause.

Here is a poster, click it to make it bigger.

Have a good weekend!

RJB

Thursday March 30, 2017

Greetings and welcome back!

We have a lot to talk about today after not updating for a few months.

First up- Mud Season. It is that time of year where the frost comes out of the ground and leaves a muddy mess. It is common to see cars parked at the end of the driveway as people don’t want to put huge ruts into their driveway.That is also why the ATV trails close for a month.

In my case I have had a car parked at the end of the driveway for about a month. Every time the frost comes out of the ground and the driveway firms up, it freezes again and the whole cycle starts over. This week it is getting better on the sunny sandy stretch, but shaded areas that held snow till the very end are deep mud now.

I saw a driveway the other day that was just dirt under some pines. The ruts had to be 8″ deep. He must have had a pretty nice truck to get in and out of there.

The frost coming out of the ground also signals that it is rafting season. Our friends at Kosir’s Rapid Rafts are ready to go for this weekend. The Ice Breaker Special is that you can raft the morning and go again on the afternoon trip for free. The river is open and at about +10″ and on the rise. It will be a fun opening weekend on the river.

Over the winter the Rapids Resort was sold and is in the transition process. Barb and Todd from the Highline Bar in Middle Inlet bought it. Many of you will know Barb, she grew up just down the road from Rapids when her parents Irv & Vaughn owned Rustic Inn. The transition should be complete in a few weeks. There will be familiar faces there, and some new ones too.

This weekend is the 8th Annual Indoor Mini-Golf Tournament. Participating bars set up a different mini-golf hole at each bar, and participants travel from bar to bar and complete their games. Here is a poster on it. Click it to make it bigger.

On the personal side.. Over the winter I have been working hard on the flashlight business and I will be ready to go when people start returning to the area. I have new products, new packaging, and what I think is a pretty good line of products.Right now you can get my flashlights and lanterns at the Country Mart in Athelstane, Curve Inn Resort, and at the Red Pine BP here in Silver Cliff. That list will grow considerably as summer gets closer.

One thing that I haven’t finished is a big rebuild of the Work-Sport-Adventure web site. There is a new design, a store, and a lot of good information in the works. Once the chaos of going back to working for myself subsides a little I want to get the new web site up to snuff before the focus turns to tax day.

I have a big hole in my wallet from figuring out what works and doesn’t work for the flashlight business. I have been doing a lot of testing, and I have a box of items that are nice, but I declined to carry them. I also have a lot of outright failures that are not even a consideration. The goal is a very low failure rate because I stand behind what I sell.

Last week I left my job of 3 1/2 years at Carquest in Wausaukee. I liked the work and loved the people but it was a dead end as far as pay and benefits go. I put in my 2 weeks notice and last Saturday was my last day. I always said that if I quit I’d have 6 weeks of work to catch up on with my web sites and computer repairs. I may have underestimated that a bit. This week has been pure chaos.

When I am not working on the flashlight business I have been fixing computers & laptops, working on web sites, doing networking/wifi stuff, and fixing dash clusters for GM and Ford cars and trucks*. That was just this week so far.

*(The dash clusters are meticulous work, but I am very good at them and I stock motors and bulbs for them.)

Anyway, I had better run along now I have a couple of sales calls to make this afternoon. Have a good weekend and thank you for visiting!

RJB

Monday November 21, 2016

Greetings and welcome!

It was an interesting opening weekend for gun deer season. The storm that made it interesting brought howling winds, cold temperatures, and enough snow to cover the steps and windshield, and some grassy areas Saturday morning. There were even a few snow covered areas on the road as I made my way to work Saturday morning.

The numbers of hunters were down a little due to the weather forecast, but there were still a lot of people around. Deer hunters are a tough bunch that frequently get challenged by the weather, and a lot of people stuck it out. Quite a few  people that I spoke with reported at least one or two bucks at their deer camp opening day.

The wind was crazy. Friday night I was throwing in firewood when a gust came through that had a roar like a jet. Both Friday night and Saturday night had some really strong gusts, and Saturday was windy all day. I can only guess but I would guess that we saw gusts at or over 45mph and sustained winds in the 20-30mph range Saturday. It was really something.

Wind presents a big challenge for hunters. Not only is staying warm a challenge, the deer don’t like it. The wind robs them of three of their senses. The 30+ mph wind roaring through the trees takes away a lot of their hearing. Likewise their usual scent abilities are blown away. Finally, their eyes are particularly attuned to spotting motion, and in a roaring wind everything is in motion, making them pretty nervous.

Thankfully the deer were hot n heavy in the rut, and more worried about mating than danger. The timing of that being a little late this year probably saved a lot of hunts.

The cold behind the storm is making winter seem pretty real. Last night we saw a low of 14 degrees, and Saturday night we had 16. We saw a high of 30 Sunday and could see 32 today. That is a sharp contrast from the mid-60s last week.

It is time to secure water systems. I can get away with some cold nights if the days are warm and sunny enough. With a cloudy day and high temperatures below freezing yesterday it was time to start the heater in the well house. When I went out last night at sunset it was still about 40 or 45 in the well house. It probably would have survived last night without damage, but at 14º, it would have been close.

The ground had a lot of moisture from our wet fall and it seemed to freeze up quickly. It was soft Friday and it was firm under my feet yesterday. I might have to run to the lake and see if there is any first ice yet. It should be any day now.

Looking forward there is some snow in the forecast for Wednesday. The model that I just looked at suggested that 3-6″ is a very real possibility. That tells me that it is time to wrap it up on this page and continue my updates over at the Big Snow Page. I am going to do just that now.

Have a good week and thank you for visiting!

RJB

Saturday 11-19-16 Opening Day Morning

Greetings and welcome!

6:45am-We got some snow overnight. I would call it about 3/4″ of slushy stuff. It was enough to leave a nice layer on the windshield, the steps, and a spotty covering on the grass.

The wind when I went out to start the car wasn’t that bad. There were some big gusts overnight though. The Green Bay weather this morning said that we could see 10-30mph winds with gusts of 40+.

Good luck, have fun, and be safe!

RJB