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