Greetings and welcome!
It has been a hot stretch. Yesterday a lot of places in the state topped the 100 degree mark. From what I saw, we didn’t, but we did see about 96º. Today is a little nicer, so far peaking out at about 88.
It cracks me up when the heat advisory line is across the middle of Marinette County, and the line lands about 1.5 miles south of here. What, it isn’t hot here too? Boy did I luck out missing that by a mile and a half..
The forecast for this week and weekend sounds a little nicer. Tomorrow there is a 70% chance of showers and thunderstorms, but the high temp between 73 and 78 has my attention. The rest of the week brings a chance of rain daily(40-60%), along with temperatures in the mid and upper 70s.
The weekend looks nice with temps around 80, and a chance of rain Sunday afternoon.
The rain for Wednesday looks like it could get heavy, though the models are showing the heaviest rainfall well to the north of here. The HPC has tomorrow’s rainfall forecast to be in the 3/4-1″ range around here, and more north in the UP. The 5 day QPF for our neighborhood has us in the 1.25-1.5″ band, and close to the 1.5-1.75″ band. I am not seeing it as quite that heavy, but that is the forecast.
Last week brought a huge law enforcement presence to our area with last Monday’s drug bust. They kept us in the dark for a few days, but details are emerging. It turns out that some people had a patch of land in Middle Inlet and another in Athelstane, and they were doing some dope growing. The news said that it was one of the biggest busts in the state, with 13,222 plants. So far they have five people in custody,and they are seeking two more. The perps are looking at 10 years to life in prison and enormous fines.
Also in the news, they did catch the guy that stabbed the two girls downstate. Apparently someone called him in, and he was arrested on Hwy X near High Falls Flowage last Thursday.
Last week a gas pipeline broke downstate in Jackson, WI. They picked up on the leak pretty quickly, but it shut down the pipeline for almost a week. As it turns out, that is one of the key pipelines that brings gas to the terminals in Green Bay that feed our area.
The gasoline suppliers were running trucks out of Madison and Milwaukee to keep the pumps flowing. They did a good job, I am not aware of anyone running out, but the price jumped from about $3.44 to $3.69. I haven’t been past the gas station yet today, but as of yesterday the price didn’t drop with the pipeline being back on line.
There were posters at the grocery store that said that the postponed Townsend 4th of July fireworks show was going to be this Saturday. Beyond that, here is Chris’ event calendar..
| July 28 | Dan & Tim’s Riverview Crivitz |
3rd Annual Ride for Rescue Fundraiser for the Crivitz Rescue Squad Registration starts at 10am – Ride leaves at 11:30am SHARP Click here for details & registration form |
| July 28-29 | Rustic Inn Silver Cliff |
6th Annual Rustic Fest Featuring Dark Horse Saturday – 7 to 11 pm Sunday – 2 to 6 pm |
This weeks’ wildlife sightings were pretty minimal because it has been a busy week with work. I did see a bear. I missed a deer in the truck because I anticipated a second one running across the road behind the first one that darted out. I hit the brakes and missed the first one and stayed on them expecting a second. Wait for it…3, 2, 1- yup a second deer.
I forgot to mention last week that I saw a really nice buck in velvet down by the ranch. He was medium large bodied and had some really nice headgear.
I have high hopes that the recent heat wave knocked down the tick population. They don’t like heat, not just from my Bic lighter when I find one on me, but the 90+ degree weather kind too. Unlike the mosquitoes, they have been common this year.
I will find out in the next day or two when I take a walk back to the creek to check the berry patch back there, check the well house for hornet’s nests, and get a little quiet time in my secret place where the big pine log across the creek makes a great seat.
Speaking of hornet’s nests, it has been a good summer for them. There are several big nests here on my land that I know about, and I am expecting to find a few more.
Two of them are close to the ground, one is in the usual spot by the shed. There was one at a friend’s house in the fender of a truck, and one under an outdoor bar. They have been active and aggressive with the hot weather, and the nests are low to the ground and easy to disturb. Watch under picnic tables, decks, stairs, car fenders, snowmobile or tractor hoods, and other semi-sheltered spots.
The answer is right around the corner with the cooler weather. The upper 50s and low 60s at night will make them a little less aggressive.
You can kill them in the daytime, but the ones that were out collecting will come home and be mad. They hang around the area for a few days and stay in a bad mood. I always get the nests at night when they are all inside, and the colder the night the better. The cool temps make them more lethargic. I use the bee freeze that shoots about 30′ and I have a can in each hand going full blast as soon as the stream will reach the nest and I don’t stop until it is well drenched and none are emerging.
I am not fond of them since the shed incident a few years ago. I was out working in my shed on a hot day. I was aware of a cantaloupe sized hornet’s nest up in the corner by the door, and I had plans for it for that night. I am working away when a huge cloud of hornets comes in and raids the nest by the door. It was all out air combat for over an hour with the air in my 12×16 shed completely full of hornets attacking each other. I was crouched down hiding behind the tractor, trapped in there since the action was centered around the door. It was cool to watch, but I was not happy guy. Now I am a fan of ASAP eradication.
About the only other news that I have is that I ran into a lot of cheap laptops last week. Locals looking for one, give me a call. I am getting nice off-lease business lap top computers silly cheap. I will have less than 300 into mine with a new battery and a premium solid state drive.
Speaking of that, I am having some communication issues. Last week I broke my phone and lost all of my numbers and the ability to answer the 2190 number. I am using the old 2624 number for now until I get my new phone.
I am also having problems with my Cybrzn e-mail address. They let enough spammers use cybrzn.com that most ISPs reject their mail as spam, so I can’t mail out. Now I am getting notices that people e-mailing me are getting bounced back. Use Ray a-t northerndestinations.
That’s news.. Have a good week and thank you for visiting!
RJB