Tuesday July 31, 2012

Greetings and welcome!

My apologies that I never got back for a late week update. I am glad that I did the quick version done, mostly only missing events. Some days fill themselves up.

The Peshtigo River rose sharply from the late week rains and went from about -5 to almost +6″. It was in record high territory for the weekend in the 14 year record. People had a great time, and there were epic flips, pop ups, saves and swims. The river is still running nice and should continue to do so this week. Next weekend depends on rainfall this week.

The weather over the weekend was fantastic with nice days in the 80s and comfortable nights.

There was a line of storms that came through Monday afternoon with some dramatic clouds and intense storm cells. It didn’t rain here at all, but the radar shows that it stormed pretty good just to our north, and a line from there to Wausaukee saw 0.4-1.0″ of rain. It was probably a pretty intense storm because it wasn’t a long duration event.

We are probably lucky that the storm didn’t get started a little farther to the west and pick up more steam before it got here. We had  CAPEs  in the 2,000j/kg range, a moderately unstable atmosphere. The storm was pretty narrow in scope around here, but went on to be severe over Door County and a few counties south of there along the lake. The news showed golf ball sized hail and several places reported hail of 2″-2.5″.

This week should bring more 80s, with a chance of rain about mid-week as a storm comes into the area and fades out over us. There is a storm possible for the weekend, but at the moment it is only showing us getting a little Saturday afternoon and night. That one will need watching for changes and a better look as it gets closer.

The gators are back.  After enjoying a mostly mosquito free summer, I found a nest of them last week near a lake, and they were plentiful and hungry. I heard a few people over the weekend that offered similar experiences.  It’s been a nice summer without them, but they are bouncing back in some places.

The good news is that the ticks are gone. I walked back to the creek tonight in waist and chest high weeds and didn’t have a single one.

I walked back and checked on the berry crop because a few black raspberry bushes up by the house had ripe fruit. I didn’t find much for a crop, they were mostly first year canes without fruit. The same went for up by the house. There were a few bushes with some fruit, and more coming when the immature ones ripen. There was one red raspberry bush on the west end with a little fruit, but I am not sure if it was past prime or just ravaged by chippies .

My theory on the whole non-crop is that the heavy snow in March trampled a bunch of the mature canes. Mine were pretty beaten down when the snow melted. That left mostly first year growth and not much of a crop. Your results may vary, it was a pretty narrow survey of three patches.

Thousands of hornets died at sunset last night as I went on my Bee-Freeze raid. I am sure that the nest in the shed went away, that got a good soaking with them all home. The big nest on the west lot line is a different story. That one started as a typical large hive, but it got blown apart by the exhaust on the lawn mower and fell down. They recovered by building a nest on the ground almost 2′ across where the old one fell. The weeds kind of blocked that one, and it was a huge nest, so it might need another visit.

As mentioned before, they are nesting low to the ground this year. The one in the shed is the highest nest that I have seen. Others have been under picnic tables, in truck fenders, and right on the ground.

My method on this is to get them at night when they are all home and not as active. It keeps from having angry stragglers hanging out around the nest for a few days after, and might save a sting or two during the eradication.

We have a lot of events coming up this weekend and next weekend, then there aren’t many until Labor Day. This weekend is a big car show at Curve Inn. Usually there are over 100 cars, and they raffle a bunch of stuff off, this year including about 2 grand in Craftsman tools. There is cook out food and live music too.

Also at the Curve on August 11th is a good regional band No Schtick. I saw them a few months ago as was quite impressed. The 11th also brings the Silver Cliff Picnic and Parade and the Crooked Lake Lion’s Day.

Here is Chris’ list for the next two weekends..

Mike asked about ATVs on Town of Stephenson roads. A month or so ago the town board voted to open all town roads to ATVs. They dropped the speed limit on Parkway, Newton Lake, and Caldron Falls Rd to make the situation safer. The roads need to be signed as ATV routes before they are opened.

Last week the town crews were out, and Parkway Rd was signed as an ATV route from the Silver Cliff town line to Hwy X. The speed limit from the Silver Cliff town line to Twin Bridge Park was dropped to 35, and it is 25 from the Park to X.

While you can get all of the way north to the Silver Cliff town line, the access ends there. Some land owners north of the line feel pretty strongly about not having ATVs on the road, and the town and clubs are honoring that.

I don’t know the progress on signing the rest of the town roads. Parkway has been done down to X as of last week, and Caldron Falls Rd and Ranch Rd has been an ATV route for a few summers now.

One last item, a little OT stuff. Broadway Bob, the founder and owner of Great Lakes Dragaway in Union Grove for 50 years passed away last week at age 83. He will be missed by many. I spent a lot of time down there in my younger days, and met a lot of good people there. RIP Broadway Bob.

That about wraps it up for today. Have a good week and thank you for visiting!

RJB

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