NorthernDestinations.com

Thursday 10/22/15

Greetings and welcome!

Today’s travels took me to Lakewood at sunset and to points beyond. The fall colors are a lot thinner that way than they were last week. There are still a few nice ones, but it is starting to get pretty thin.

The deer were easy to find on the way back. Quite a few were along the roads after dark.

Since yesterday’s post several people have commented on the plentiful lady beetles this year. I noticed on the way in tonight that there were quite a few dead ones on the front door sill and that is the north side of the house. Maybe they did have a good year, just not here. Try that bug spray, the stuff works good.

The forecast has changed considerably for Saturday. The NAM and GFS forecast models are now showing a more protracted storm, and rain all day until about sunset.

It was supposed to clear out between 6 and 10am, but the latest models are showing a little secondary energy that will bring more rain for the afternoon. The NAM forecast model is showing 0.75-1″ by sunset Saturday.

You just never know how it will unfold. The outlook could change dramatically in the next day. It did yesterday..

The rule around here is be ready for anything, but don’t change your plans until you actually see it rain, snow, blow, go 30 below. I have seen too many weekends where people cancelled plans based on a forecast, and due to an errant forecast they missed a great weekend. Will this be one of them? I don’t know.

Have a good weekend and thank you for visiting!

RJB

10/21/15

Greetings and welcome!

Most of the fall color show has come and gone, but not all of it. The tamarack are coming into color. Some aren’t quite there yet, but a patch a half mile down the road will be in its full glory.

I am not sure if they are a maple or a beech, but some sort of tree like that is coming into color with big beautiful crowns of orange and yellow dotting the landscape. There is a spot looking to the west of 141 just south of Wausaukee that is really nice. I will have to figure out what species that they are, so far I have only seen them at 55 driving by.

Some seasonal attractions.. Driving by I saw that there is a haunted house on Moonshine Hill Rd just west of 141. I have no idea what it is about, I just saw a sign. Sounds fun though..

There has been a corn maze on Nejedlo Rd & 141 just south of Wausaukee for years. They are open again this year, and they have pumpkins too.

The weekend looks decent enough. There is a storm expected to blow through Friday night, and the forecast model that I checked showed it clearing out in time to leave us most of Saturday and Sunday in nice seasonal weather. I am expecting highs in the low to mid 50s and overnight lows in the upper 30s to mid-40s.

At this time of year it seems like almost every nice day comes with some wind. I’d expect that wind this weekend, especially with the parting storm. Likewise, if the skies are clear Saturday night it could turn into a cold night. Maybe we should change that low of 38 and make that a little flexible. Depending on cloud cover we could shave 8 or 10 degrees.

We have had some good hard freezes ( and a little snow too..) so the insect world has been rid of mosquitoes and ticks for the most part. The biggest pests right now are gnats and lady beetles. It has been pretty wind for gnats, so they haven’t been much of an issue.

As far as the Asian lady beetles, some friends have encountered the usual warm fall day swarms. I have seen only a few, but a lot of carcases. I had some ants earlier this year and I got some of this insecticide . It killed everything, apparently including the lady beetles. I think I have seen maybe 5 bugs in the last two months. At that point I might not be the best judge of the lady beetle activity this fall.

One last note, I have been working on the Big Snow Page quite a bit lately. It has a new home on a faster server, a new look, and some serious security protocols. It won’t be long before I start my updates over there and put this blog into hibernation.

Time for me to move on. Have a good weekend and thank you for visiting!

RJB

Friday October 16th,2015

Greetings and welcome!

The fall colors progressed some more this week and we are all of the way late season now. We had wind daily, and yesterday’s cold front brought some 40-50mph gusts. That stripped any vulnerable leaves from the trees.

That cold front also brought the first snow flakes of the season. Yesterday afternoon the wind really kicked up and brought some big dark clouds. Pretty soon it was a downpour, but it also had some chunky snow in it. That would be the first of the season for me. There was a dusting on the picnic table again this morning.

We have an event for this weekend, a booyah party with a meat raffle, ATV trail ride, volleyball and horseshoes.

This weekend looks like a cold one. The NWS has us for only a high of 42 today, 48 Saturday, and 52 Sunday. Tonight and Saturday night are forecast at about 25.

Have a good weekend and thank you for visiting!

RJB

Tuesday October 13th, 2015

Greetings and welcome!
I guess that last weekend was the early peak for fall colors. The patchwork hillsides were coming into color and the early maples were at their full glory.

As happens a lot of years, the peak was confirmed when Mother Nature brought in a big wind storm and stripped the early changing leaves. The source of the wind was a big cold front and associated strong area of low pressure. Our temperatures were in the low 70s Sunday and Monday, and behind the cold front we are looking at mid-50s today.

Anyway the cold front came with a lot of wind Sunday and Monday and had winds in the 30-45mph range. Just as the fall colors were getting really spectacular, the wind storm stripped the early color trees of their leaves. I have seen this before.

We still have a very nice late season color show in progress. The mid and late season trees are coming into color and did not give up their leaves to the big wind. A late afternoon ride to Antigo found quite a few places with spectacular fall color even though the rainy dreary afternoon really muted the colors.

It is still a really nice fall color show, but thanks to the 35-45+mph winds, the early maples are now bare.

I took a couple of days off this week to try to catch up on my fall chores. Yesterday was a good day.. 12 hours, $275 in materials, and three blisters, including both thumbs. I got three projects crossed off of the list including two major ones. Three down, 18 to go.

I would expect that the late fall colors will still be around this weekend. Be ready for some cold weather though. We have a cold front coming in late week that will send our high temperatures into the mid to upper 40s or possibly low 50s for the weekend. Look for low temperatures in the upper 20s.

Well I am off to tackle a couple of more thisng on the list. Have a good Tuesday and thank you for visiting!

RJB