Thursday July 2nd, 2009

Greetings and welcome!

I am getting a head start on the weekend report today because with the 4th being on Saturday, some of you are getting a head start too.

Item number one.. The weather. The weather for the weekend is shaping up to be spectacular. We will be in between two weather systems in cool Canadian high pressure. While we might see a few clouds off and on from the active weather areas, it mostly looks like we are in for bluebird days.

The forecast for Friday and Saturday are easy. They should be mostly sunny with highs in the upper 70s. Sunday adds a few degrees but continues the trend of nice weather. The nights will be cool and comfortable for sleeping. Look for low 50s for overnight temps. At that point you might want to bring a light coat for the fireworks show. It might not be obvious in the afternoon when it is 78 and sunny, but will be appreciated later.

The weather this week has been a polar opposite of last week. Last week we had mid-90s and heavy humidity. This week we have had a couple of days that struggled to get above 60. We did see one meaningful bit of rain on Tuesday. It was a nice drink for the great outdoors, but not much more. While we have had a lesson in how fickle the weather can be, it looks like it will settle down a little just in time for the holiday weekend.

The event calendar is posted below, but here are the fireworks shows that I know of..

Lake Noquebay-Crivitz Ski Cats 4th of July Celebration
Food & Fun Starts at 3:30 PM - Ski Show at 6:30 PM - Fireworks at Dusk

High Falls Flowage-Boat Landing #3-Twin Bridge Ski Team 4th of July Celebration
Food & Refreshments - Ski Show at 6:30 PM - Fireworks at Dusk

You can also see fireworks in Crivitz, Mountain, Lake Hilbert, and Wausaukee

I want to bring your attention to the Dockside 4th of July party because my old friend Ron Kendricks will be playing there. He is a very talented country music entertainer, and he often brings along some very talented friends.

The new listings that I have are the Wausaukee 4th of July celebration and that there is music and fireworks at DeSmidt's Golf course near Crivitz.

Tom the DJ will be doing his thing at the Rapids Resort this weekend. That always turns into a fun time.

The only thing left on my outline is following up on my little political rant. Congressman Kagen did get back to me with a canned response. I will deal with that and some of the other things that came up elsewhere. Once I figure that out, I will let you know where it is. In the meantime, there is some light reading to be done. Link 1, Link 2, Link 3

Along that same line, here is a list of TEA parties in WI for the 4th.

I will be eventually setting up a different place to deal with my efforts toward American prosperity. In the meantime, thank you to the people that did comment!

That is it for today. Have a great weekend and thank you for visiting!

RJB

Tuesday June 30th, 2009

Greetings and welcome!

We have a much different week in weather this week than we did last week. Last week we actually hit 95, the humidity was pushing dew points past 70 degrees, and even though it was like living in hot water, it never rained.

This week is much nicer. Looking around, I see that as of 1pm today, Iron Mountain NWS is showing 61 degrees and the dew point is a very comfortable 49 degrees. Our friends at Athelstane Weather are showing a temp of 66 and a dew point of 46. With heavy cloud cover it is on the cool side unless you are active.

We are in a weather scenario that happens a few times a year. A low pressure system gets cut off in the eastern Great Lakes, and it sits there and spins wave after wave of unsettled weather past us. Usually we get one about mid-May, but here it is in late June.

This has been going on since the weekend, and it isn't letting up just yet. The system has moved far enough east to start picking up moisture from the Atlantic Ocean, and unlike the occasional sprinkles of yesterday, there might actually be meaningful rain headed our way tonight. There is a chance of rain until Thursday with that system.

The system will continue to influence our weather after that, and will bring cool weather right through the weekend. The storm does wander east, but not too far. It's counter clockwise rotation will continue to bring mild Canadian air down from the north. As a result, Thursday-Sunday look pretty nice, with mostly clear weather and highs in the upper 70s.

There is a minor chance that there could be a shower over the weekend, and an outside chance that the storm could back up a little and bring cloudy weather. My maps and model plots are not showing that, there is one very minor spot of rain possible Saturday according to the GFS and NAM.

The bottom line? Unless something significantly changes, the weather late week and over the weekend should be very nice.

The warm weather last week did awaken the insect world. The gnat was about the most troublesome, and they were hit n miss. The gators got bad right before the rain over the weekend, but I was otherwise unbothered by them. I did have 3 new paper wasp nests appear in the work shed, which in memory of last year's air battle, were promptly nuked. I did see a couple of giant horseflies, one of which was promptly dispatched. Inside the house there has been a wave of fast black spiders and big black ants. The bug bombs go off tomorrow.

The aerial battle that I spoke of happened last fall when my pet paper wasp nest inside the blue room was attacked by an invading nest. I found myself inside a 16x16 shed with hundreds of angry wasps doing an air battle all around me, and most importantly, between me and the exit. For 20+ minutes I hid down by the tractor watching it all. I was amazed at the absolutely epic battle, but not really happy about my situation. Sunset brought out the bee freeze, and both nests perished. NO more pet wasps in my shed.

The critter sightings this week were pretty standard fare. Chippies, bear, deer, birds. The robins that built a nest in the woodshed are not happy about it being so close to the picnic table and fire pit, but they have figured out that we are not a threat. The babies are getting big, and it is hard for them to hide under the rim of the nest when I come outside.

This Saturday is the 4th of July, and there are a lot of events happening all around the region. Chris has been doing a great job of scanning the papers for events, and so I have copy n pasted her list below.

DATE	PLACE	EVENT
July 3, 2009	Goodman Fire Station	VFD Annual Benefit Dance 7 - 11 PM - Food & Refreshments
July 4, 2009	Lake Hilbert Park	Lake Hilbert Fun Fest 11am - 7pm - Food & Refreshments, Games & Prizes, Fireworks
July 3	Townsend Flowage	Boat Parade begins at Dusk - PLEASE NOTE THE FOLLOWING CHANGE - Parade will begin at the mouth of the Flowage due to eurasian milfoil in the brook
July 4, 2009	Dock Side Bar & Grill	4th of July Party Pig Roast - Afternoon Karaoke - Evening Entertainment by Ron Kendricks
July 4, 2009	Crivitz	4th of July Parade Line-up at 9am - Parade at 11am - Picnic to follow
July 4, 2009	Townsend Fire Garage	Annual Fire Dept. 4th of July Celebration Festivities start at 10am - Parade at Noon Food & Refreshments, Live Music, raffles, silent auction
July 4, 2009	Lake Noquebay County Park	Crivitz Ski Cats 4th of July Celebration Food & Fun Starts at 3:30 PM - Ski Show at 6:30 PM - Fireworks at Dusk
July 4, 2009	High Falls Flowage Stephenson Town Park	Twin Bridge Ski Team 4th of July Celebration Food & Refreshments - Ski Show at 6:30 PM - Fireworks at Dusk
July 4, 2009	Eagle Creek Pub Silver Cliff	Mike's Birthday Bash Come Celebrate Mike's 50th birthday Live music, pig roast and free 1/2 barrel of beer - Everyone Welcome
July 4-5, 2009	Mountain	15th Annual Fireworks Celebration Holiday Celebration with Breakfast both days, life music, sports tournaments, raffles Come join us in support of the Mountain Fire Dept. Auxiliary

The rest of this gets a little political, and somewhat off topic. It is stuff that needs to be said though, so either hold your nose and read up, or have a nice week and thank you for visiting.

I try to be very apolitical here, politics is not the mission. Unfortunately, there is some stuff going on that you need to know about. Since Ed McMahon, Farah, and Mike Jackson all died last week, the news was flooded by their stuff. On Friday the three networks covered those deaths for a full hour and collectively spent three minutes on what I am about to introduce you to. They do not want you to know about this.

Two significant things happened late last week. The first and more minor of the two deals with the EPA moving toward the finding that CO2 represents an endangerment to man and environment. Once they set up a finding of endangerment, they can set up a regulatory framework and regulate energy usage throughout our economy. That would be bad, m'kay?

Even though the result will have a dramatic impact on every aspect of our life, they are trying to ram through a finding of endangerment, leaving internal analysts only a week to submit their findings. So last week, an EPA analyst came back with a paper that supported a finding of no endangerment, and was promptly rejected. The higher powers had decided to move forward with a finding of endangerment regardless of the facts or science, and his paper was not considered.

I have been researching global warming and climate avidly for almost 5 years. I would like for you guys to read the rejected report, there is a lot of good stuff in there. Here is a link. (PDF)

That is some of the better stuff that I have seen come out of the EPA.

This one is the one that set me off...

Last Friday the brainiac democrats in congress passed the largest, most intrusive bill that has ever been passed. It would represent the largest tax increase in world history, cost over 2.5 million jobs per year, and eventually cost 9.4 trillion dollars per year (our present GDP is 14 trillion and falling). What am I talking about? That would be the Cap N Trade bill, also know as the Waxman-Markey American Clean Energy and Security Act.

The bill as presented was about 1,200 pages. On Friday at 3am, they dropped in an extra 300 page amendment 15 hours before they passed this. Unlike my dullard congressman Steve Kagan, I actually read most of the bill. I read 700 pages of it Friday, and then the 300 page amendment too. I am shocked and appalled, and will come right out and call this an attack on American prosperity and America itself.

The bill is super intrusive in places that you couldn't imagine. For one, it starts a national building code, forces municipalities to hire multiple compliance officers, and puts in draconian energy efficiency regulations.

Want to sell your house? I hope you have a few bucks laying around. Before you can, you will have to bring it up to code. That means new doors, windows, insulation, a white roof, and 'smart' appliances. You will have to have an electrician come and set up a charging plug for future electric cars to plug into. If you want to remodel, it will pretty much be the same scenario, no building permit without the fed ticket and full compliance and an inspection.

Then there is the issue of electric bills doubling due to the really horrendous regulations put on the electrical producers. Most electric companies will probably go belly up. There will also be a provision that you will need new 'smart' appliances, and an annual reduction in electricity use, or life will get very expensive.

You probably won't want to get a refrigerator though, it will cost as much as a house. You see, it costs (if memory serves me) $29 per ton of CO2. Refrigerants are listed under a schedule that gives them multipliers. The multipliers on refrigerants range from 1,430x to 14,800. How much for refrigeration or air conditioning? Think at least four zeros.

My favorite part of the bill is the part about having a hydro dam be considered "qualifying" as renewable energy under the bill. It ought to work goooooood... Here is the paragraph..

‘‘(iii) the hydroelectric project installed on the dam is operated so that the water surface elevation at any given location and time that would have occurred in
the absence of the hydroelectric project is maintained, subject to any license or exemption requirements that require changes in water surface elevation for the purpose of improving the environmental quality of the affected waterway.

That pretty much spells the end of any hydro dams.

Gas is expected to almost double in price, natural gas and LP will go way up, but all will be rationed by carbon credits. You can drive a lot, but it will be a cold winter. That same high energy cost, rationing, and regulation will drive any energy intensive industries out of the country. Likewise fleet based companies will be suffocated by regulation.

Those carbon credits will be set up in a market and derivatives market that is ripe for fraud and political manipulation. Enron was pushing for stuff like this before they went down. This is a wet dream of corruption for politicians and people in power, as demonstrated by the congress exempting or giving free carbon credits to industries in order to buy their congressman's vote.

I can go on and on, but I think that I have made my point. This is a blatant attack on American prosperity by people that think that we have too big of a population (they are called eugenists, but usually hide behind a green label). It will have NO measurable effect on the climate.

Since they have already crippled tourism and our local economy, I guess I am going to have a little time on my hands. That won't fare well for politicians that voted for this. I will do everything in my power to see anyone of any party that votes for this thrown out of office in 2010 or 2012.

I am all for making our presence here on the planet a clean and sustainable one. Generally that should be done through innovation, efficiency, and market based competition. It is my position that a prosperous country has more resources to throw at things like environmentalism.

This does not do that. What this does is guarantee that America will become a third world country. Energy is the very source of our prosperity. It is what separates us from the 1800s when we rode horses and died at 35, with half of the women dying in childbirth.

What we have here is not an environmental bill. It is a bill that will bring widespread hardship and cripple our country for no obvious gain. The people that proposed this and voted for it should be tried for treason and beaten as eugenists.

How's that for the "Occasional political rant" DMOZ?

Text of original bill:
http://www.eenews.net/public/25/11457/features/documents/2009/06/23/document_daily_03.pdf

Amendment Text:
http://www.rules.house.gov/111/SpecialRules/hr2998/waxman1_hr2998_111.pdf

Final roll call vote link- http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2009/roll477.xml

Footnote- What is this doing here?

My existence here is directly linked to energy prices and American prosperity. Tourism is not an essential, it is a function of disposable income. This bill would make it prohibitive for almost anyone to prosper enough to engage in tourism. Beyond that, would affect rural areas the most. I also have an obligation as your friend of 11 years to give you a heads up when you are about to be smacked.

Likewise as a member of the alternative media I have an obligation to fill in the gaps when the state run media fails us. I am not comfortable about talking politics here, and absolutely loathe both political parties. This isn't about politics, it is about American prosperity and standing against the people who are attacking it. I apologize if it is distasteful, but it is very important. If you are mad about it or want to say thanks, e-mail me directly at webmakers@northerndestinations.com

Have a good week and thank you for visiting!

RJB

Friday June 26th, 2009

Greetings and welcome!

It was a hot and sticky week this week. We did get well into the 90s and the humidity brought dew points up into the 70s. We never did see any rain here, though a few spots in the region saw isolated showers and storms.

That heat and humidity is now behind us.Today we have a very nice day with plenty of sun and temps about 80. I am going to pounce on that and get some grass cut in a minute.

The weekend weather looks better than it sounds. We should be in the upper 70s or low 80s both days. There will be a cold front swinging through the state on Saturday afternoon.

That will bring a chance of showers and T-storms Saturday afternoon and into Saturday night. It looks short lived. As with so many storms, my models and maps are showing this one heavier to the north and south. Here we are in the 0.1-0.25" QPF range, with the outlier being at 0.47". It should clear up overnight and leave a nice day Sunday.

The dynamics of the front are such that it could turn into some decent rain or storms. In this area we are frequently shielded by drier more stable air, and that will likely serve us by limiting rain over the weekend. There is still a chance though.

Here is the weekend event list for this weekend as posted Tuesday..

Benefit for Richard Jobelius ( Jabber's brother) Sun June 28th From 12-4 at The Stadium View Bar in Green Bay. There will be raffles, music, and a silent auction. Richard is suffering from multiple cancers including his lungs, brain, and heart. For information contact Firelane Bar.

Lions Club Annual Picnic & Parade in Niagara
Starts Friday at 4pm and Saturday at 1pm - Parade at 2pm
Food & Beverages, Live Music, Raffles

Pound VFD picnic- tractor pulls, truck pulls, fireworks

Saturday- 7th Annual Bear Point Yacht Club Fishing Tournament

Saturday- Dock Side Bar & Grill Inner tube Races on the Peshtigo River

Saturday and Sunday-Lakes Country Sports Show at Northern Lights Casino in Carter

Sunday-Marinette County Breakfast on the Farm in Pound 8am to 1pm

This doesn't really qualify as an event, but it should interest people.. The Lakewood Zoo has a new baby lion, and you can go and pet her and get a picture taken with her. That's pretty cool.

I am pleased to report that Lulu the basset hound did find her way home.

Well, it is a nice day outside, and I am off to go and get some work done. Have a good weekend and thank you for visiting!

RJB

Tuesday June 23rd, 2009

Greetings and welcome!

Sunday morning brought the summer solstice, and summer is officially here. It feels like it too. We have a hot and humid week ahead, and it isn't wasting any time getting started. I just checked out back, and the thermometer is showing a reading of 88ºF as of noon. The NWS is reporting a dew point of 69, and the sun is out. That all adds up to a hot sticky day.

The week ahead has a little hot and humid air in the forecast, and a couple of chances for some storms. For the most part we are looking at highs around 88-90, with sun and humidity right through Friday.

There is a chance of some storms Wednesday, but the models have several opinions on how that will play out. The NAM is showing us probable for some rain and storms, the GFS is pushing that precip down to the far southwestern corner of the state. I am leaning toward the GFS for a couple of reasons. One is that recent storms have tracked downstate rather than up here. The other one is that we could use a little rain. How's that go.. the probablity of an occurrence is the inverse of its desirability?

So a hot sticky week ahead..

The weekend forecast looks interesting. We are looking at low to mid-80s for temps, and there is a line of storms that might briefly get us wet. As shown now, we would be in for nice days with the exception of a T-storm late Saturday afternoon. The exact timing of that storm is in question, my models show it after 3pm Saturday and the NWS has it coming as early as Friday night into Saturday AM. Whatever the case, it looks short lived, clearing our area in about 6 hours. I am not sure about the amount of precip or the timing, so we will have to watch that evolve a little as the week progresses.

I thought we were going to get some rain yesterday afternoon, but no. When we were at McCaslin Mountain Campground, the sky was getting very dark and a good downpour was almost certain. It never came, at least not here. The radar showed it raining, but it never got to ground level. There was a bigger blob of storms immediately south of here, maybe it rained there.

With the coming of summer, there is a lot going on. The woods are starting to fill in with ferns and the understory brush. The wildflowers are getting numerous, and Chris posted a couple of new wildflower backgrounds to the main page. The insect world is certainly present. The top sighting there was last night when there was a huge cecropia moth came up by the light a few times. Those are always cool, and this one was huge.

Ways to cool off are a hot topic this week, and summer brings a lot of those. Personally I am fond of hitting the beach and siting about shoulders deep in the lake in a lawn chair. There is also whitewater rafting and river tubing with Kosir's, and of course, hitting one of the specialty ice cream shops. There is even a guy that rents jet skis. If all else fails, a nice air conditioned tavern or restaurant will bring some refuge.

Summer brings a lot of good events, and this weekend is a prime example.

Benefit for Richard Jobelius ( Jabber's brother) Sun June 28th From 12-4 at The Stadium View Bar in Green Bay. There will be raffles, music, and a silent auction. Richard is suffering from multiple cancers including his lungs, brain, and heart. For information contact Firelane Bar.

Lions Club Annual Picnic & Parade in Niagara
Starts Friday at 4pm and Saturday at 1pm - Parade at 2pm
Food & Beverages, Live Music, Raffles

Pound VFD picnic- tractor pulls, truck pulls, fireworks

Saturday- 7th Annual Bear Point Yacht Club Fishing Tournament

Saturday- Dock Side Bar & Grill Inner tube Races on the Peshtigo River

Saturday and Sunday-Lakes Country Sports Show at Northern Lights Casino in Carter

Sunday-Marinette County Breakfast on the Farm in Pound 8am to 1pm

This doesn't really qualify as an event, but it should interest people.. The Lakewood Zoo has a new baby lion, and you can go and pet her and get a picture taken with her. That's pretty cool.

Have you seen this little gal?

Her name is Lulu and she is approx 45 lbs. She is missing from near the Red Pine Amoco in Silver Cliff. She was wearing a striped multi-color collar that has a box on it for her underground fencing system.

One last item this afternoon, a new web site for Rustic Plumbing. Bo from the Rustic Inn's husband Rich is a plumber that has gone out on his own. He can do all sorts of plumbing work, but has a lot of experience in sand points and well systems. The web site is basic at the moment, but will get better as we gather up more stuff for it.

I think that is going to just about do it for today. Have a good week, stay cool and thank you for visiting!

RJB

Friday June 19th, 2009

Greetings and welcome!

The rain expected late this week has been a disappointment-so far. Thursday morning's dawn came with a strange red hue to the sky. Shortly after came a fitful little line of storms that pounded on the roof pretty good for about a half-hour. According to my rain bucket, it added up to about 1/3" here and radar showed about 1/2" in the watershed.

Since then, nothing has happened in the way of rain. We were supposed to see a line come through last night from the northwest, but it sort of dried up on the way here and nothing came of it.

The dawn this morning brought fog and mist in a pretty cool but eerie scene. It certainly indicated how primed with moisture the atmosphere was. The NWS had mentioned something about high precipitable moisture values in the air, and that was the case.

There is a better chance of rain and storms this afternoon and tonight as the final push of the storm comes through. There is a chance that the daytime heating could take those storm to severe or at least heavy rain levels if the timing works out.

Downstate they have seen heavy rain. Radar returns are showing values in the 3-6" range, though the Madison daily climate report only shows the rain adding up to about 2". The bulk of the storm was expected to be down there, but the stuff hitting us with 1-2" never came to be .

The difference is that we stayed in the more stable air, and the storms never formed. While conditions were favorable, the atmosphere did not destabilize and convection never got started. That will likely change this afternoon.

The good news in all of this is that we are still in for a beautiful weekend. The storm is expected to be past our area by Saturday morning, and we should see a couple of sunny and hot days ahead. The expected timing of the storm suggests that the majority of it should be done by midnight.

Saturday morning should bring clearing skies. The forecast for both days is for sunny and a high of 84, with a little wind possible Saturday.

Two things that I am expecting this weekend is good fishing and good stars. We have a new moon coming up Monday, and that should help both.

We have a lot of events coming up this weekend, I will refer you to the earlier week report rather than pasting the extended version here. In short, there is a benefit for Terry Minor and the Middle Inlet VFD on Saturday, Jack's ATV benefit ride for Cancer is Saturday in Dunbar, there is a car show on Saturday at the church on C & A in Athelstane, and Sunday brings Father's Day and a buffet at the Hilltop Resort.

I don't have much to offer in the way of a great outdoors update. While there were a few evenings that I would have loved to go fishing, work took priority.

Well the distractions are getting to be too much, so I am off to go and get with the day.

Have a good weekend and thank you for visiting!

RJB

Wednesday June 17th, 2009

Greetings and welcome!

We have been enjoying some very nice weather this week. Temps have been for the most part in the upper 70s and low 80s. Today looks like the last day of that until the weekend, there is a storm expected for Thursday through Friday night that will both bring rain and a drop temperatures in the short term.

I like the weekend forecast a lot more than yesterday's version. For past few days the forecasts have included a very wet weekend. Today's version has the rain moving out Saturday morning. Look for clearing skies as Saturday progresses, and a sunny day Sunday with temps in the 80s both days.

In the meantime things could get a little wet. The storm coming for Thursday-Friday looks like it will bring a pretty good amount of rain. While the main focus of it will be to our south, we are still in the 1.25-1.5" band, and the 1.5-1.75" band is immediately to our south according to the HPC QPF. Most of the state south of a line from Green Bay to Superior could see 2-2.4" of rain. No matter where you are in WI, it looks like a soggy finish to the week.

Yesterday I did some traveling. I apologize for missing the report. Once I returned, I decided to relax a little and take in a sunset and a beer. It looked too overcast to get a good sunset, so I left the camera at home. That was pretty dumb. As it turned out the lake was very placid, and there was a very colorful sunset between the horizon and the cloud bank. There was also a 12-14" diameter snapping turtle that ambled past me as she made her way back to the lake from laying her eggs. Both would have been good photo additions to today's report.

It was a very tranquil scene, almost too much so. It isn't often that I get Caldron Falls Flowage to myself, but I did last night. In visiting several boat landings I only saw two other trucks, one with a boat trailer. It was a prime dusk for fishing, and one guy had the whole lake to himself. That is very unusual, even on a Tuesday night.

Once the afterglow of the sunset faded, I was off for a nightcap at the Peshtigo River Resort. It is usually pretty fun there and last night was no exception.

We have a lot of events coming up this weekend. We have a benefit at the Middle Inlet VFD Saturday for Terry Minor, and we have Jack's Ride, an ATV benefit ride in Dunbar.

Terry is battling cancer and got a bad shake on her health insurance. Minor's Construction and Minor's Fireplace and Overhead Door have been advertising here for many years, and we bought our wood burner from them too. They are an honest hard working family as well as long time customers and friends, and they certainly have my support.

Jack was just a wee fellow when cancer took his life before he turned three. He loved riding ATVs, and now they have a memorial benefit ATV ride in his memory. Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin –Milwaukee and one of Marinette County’s therapy programs will be benefiting from the proceeds of Jack’s Ride 2009,while they lead the crusade to fighting childhood cancer(s).

There is also a car show at the church on C & A in Athelstane on Saturday, and those of you that like that country music might want to go to the Porterfield Country Music Festival about 30 miles east of here.

Sunday is Father's Day, and there is a Father's Day buffet at Hilltop Resort from noon-9pm.

Whitewater rafting holds a lot of promise this weekend. If we really do see 1-2" of rain between Thursday and Saturday morning, both rivers will be on the rise, making for some very fun rafting this weekend. We have been having a good year for water levels this year, and it looks like the good times will continue.

Right now my biggest concern is the timing of the storm. I would like to see it continue to advance in the timeframe so that we can get Friday or at least Friday night out of the rain. Earlier forecasts actually had the storm coming over the weekend. My latest forecasts have it clearing up early Saturday morning. I wish that I could yell buy and lock it in like a corn future.

It looks like summer is finally under way, and the weather has caught up. The great outdoors has greened up and is filling in nicely. We are starting to see the vast assortment of moths, butterflies, thunder bugs, and other members of the insect world. It is warm enough to go and enjoy a swim or a tubing trip, and we are seeing lots of events. I like it.

Have a good week and thank you for visiting!

RJB

Friday June 12th, 2009

Greetings and welcome!

It looks like a nice day unfolding outside today. According to the forecast, we are in for some clouds later and a very slight chance of rain. More of interest is the near perfect temps in the low 70s.

We are looking at an interesting weather forecast for the weekend, but I think that we should do OK. In general, look for cloudy days and temps in the mid-70s. There is a slight (20-30%) chance of rain daily, but I am not giving that much credibility.

It looks like we will have some unsettled weather around us over the weekend. There isn't really a big storm or system, it is more of a series of upper air disturbances. The bottom line is that they are expecting the majority of the rain to stay south of here for the most part. South of Green Bay could see some rain, some even possibly heavy. Being close to that, we will see a cloudy weekend and a slight chance of showers daily.

Looking at the HPC QPF, they are only predicting 0.01-0.1" of rainfall for us for the weekend. The NWS is a little more generous.with a 30% chance Saturday, a 20% chance Saturday night, and a 30% chance Sunday. Looking at the various models, it looks like Saturday night and Sunday bring the best chances of rain, with the most generous QPF being for 0.1-0.25" for Sunday.

For now it looks like a nice weekend. It should be on the cloudy side with temps in the mid-70s and a 20-30% chance of rain.

There are a lot of events this weekend, and here is a cut n paste from the early week report..

Lena Volunteer Fire Department 100th Anniversary Celebration
Parade at 10am - Picnic to Follow at Fire Station
Live Music, Food, Refreshments, Kids' Games

Crooked Lake Town Rummage Sale - 8:00am to ??
Sponsored by Crooked Lake Mountain Lions Club
Sites also available at the Sportsmen's Grounds

12th Annual Bob Cowie Pan Fishing Tournament and Fish Fry
Registration at 7:00am at Dockside Bar n Grill

Benefit for Skip Seehawer at Eagle Creek Pub 2pm-?? Food, Beer ,Music
Raffles and stuff all day Music by Rick Hansen $5.00 donation

The only thing that I have to add to that is the Oconto Co Breakfast on the Farm, happening a little north of Lena on Sunday. Yesterday when I went by there were already signs out on 141 guiding the way.

Next weekend we have a few events to add. The first is a benefit for Terry Minor. Terry is a long time customer and friend. She has been doing battle with some cancer. Her benefit is being held at the Middle Inlet VFD building on 141 and Hwy X in Middle Inlet Saturday the 20th.

An ATV benefit ride against cancer with the Dun-Good Riders is coming up June 20th in Dunbar. It is being called Jack's Ride against Cancer, in memory of Jack
Henry-Lee Gannigan, who was taken by Cancer before he was three. Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin – Milwaukee and one of Marinette County’s therapy programs will be benefiting from the proceeds of Jack’s Ride 2009. There is a link to the poster in the right side column.

I don't have much of an outdoor report today. It has been a busy week in the shop, and my outside time was mostly limited to there or the driveway. There I encountered some ticks & mosquitoes, and the new player this week was a couple of rather inquisitive bees. My spare time this week was taken up learning to TIG weld vertical lap joints on sheet steel and buying a broken snowmobile to fix up. Both should work out good.

Whitewater rafting should be good this weekend. The Peshtigo is running at about +1 at the moment, and the Menominee is running between 1,500-2,100cfs. That is about normal for the summer, and on the Menominee, a pretty big ride. It is about time to do some river tubing too, and Kosir's will be ready. That should come any day now. This weekend will be nice, and the forecast for next week includes a chance to get into the 80s.

Update: The noon news showed a little better chance of rain on Saturday afternoon than previously thought. They are showing a chance of showers and maybe even a storm Saturday afternoon. As of 11:54, the NWS is still at a 30% chance.

That is about it from here. Have a good weekend and thank you for visiting!

RJB

Tuesday June 9th, 2009

Greetings and welcome!

We have another cooler than normal day unfolding today. Our normal high temp in Rhinelander is 73, in Green Bay it is 75. We actually hit about 50 yesterday. That puts us 23 degrees under normal for the day. Today we are at 55, and should hit the low 60s. I don't think that the weekend ever did hit 60, though it did clear out late Sunday afternoon.

All of this is bordering on the unusual. In the context of normal variability, we can see as much as a 20 degree departure from the normals, and in rare cases, 25-30 degrees. Saturday was 15 degrees off, Sunday was 21, and Monday was 23 degrees below normal. We were not in record territory, but we were bordering on the unusual. I don't recall running the truck heater or the wood burner in June in past years, but I did use both repeatedly this past weekend.

Apparently parts of North Dakota had 1.5-2" of snow Saturday. While other parts of that state have seen snow in June in the past 10 years, Dickinson hasn't seen it in 60. Like us, their normal high is about 73, but Saturday brought a high of 42. Yowza. Someone must have been having a global warming protest or something. A high of 42 and 2" snow on a June day that should be 73 is not normal.

We did see some rain Saturday night, drizzle Sunday, and more rain Monday. According to the USGS gauge, the rain those days added up to about 1/2". Usually that gauge is about half of what I see here in my gauge, and an inch sounds about right. Yesterday's rain, according to the radar returns, dropped between 1/2 and 3/4" of rain in the Peshtigo River watershed. That I find pretty believable.

We are looking at a slightly cooler than normal week ahead. Today we should see a high of 63, and it eventually ramps up to 70 by Friday. Saturday and Sunday should be close to normal with 73 and sunny being the prediction at the moment.

We have been seeing a lot of critters the past few days. With Sunday's full moon, I expected the game to be moving around, and they were. There were a lot of bear and deer sightings. It is also the time of year when deer have their fawns, and there have been more of those. We saw the Momma deer and fawn from last week's picture again Saturday morning, and this time the little guy was a lot better at scampering off. There was also a grouse that jumped from behind us and drummed as it was running down the trail past us, probably trying to distract us from a nearby nest.

A check of the event list for this coming weekend finds the following..

Lena Volunteer Fire Department 100th Anniversary Celebration
Parade at 10am - Picnic to Follow at Fire Station
Live Music, Food, Refreshments, Kids' Games

Crooked Lake Town Rummage Sale - 8:00am to ??
Sponsored by Crooked Lake Mountain Lions Club
Sites also available at the Sportsmen's Grounds

12th Annual Bob Cowie Pan Fishing Tournament and Fish Fry
Registration at 7:00am at Dockside Bar n Grill

Benefit for Skip Seehawer at Eagle Creek Pub 2pm-?? Food, Beer ,Music
Raffles and stuff all day Music by Rick Hansen $5.00 donation

The Bob Cowie tournament is a local tradition. Folks go out and fish for the panfish, bring 'em back to the Dockside, and fry 'em up for dinner. It is a fund raiser for the good folks that stock the flowages, and held in memory of a well liked local fisherman.

The benefit at Eagle Creek Pub should also be a good time for a good cause. If I recall correctly, Skip has serious liver cancer that was recently diagnosed. I might try to make it down there later Saturday, Skip is a good guy. You might not recognize the name, locals enunciate it differently that it looks. Use a long A and a V for the W. (See-hay-ver)

In the great outdoors the world is turning very green. There are a lot of shades of new leaves as the trees continue to fill in. The understory of the forests are filling in nicely too. I can only see a short distance into the woods now. The grass has been cut, and needs it again. The ferns are getting big.

We are finally past the frost, and I can now put my giant tomato plant into the ground instead of bringing it in on cold nights. I usually shoot for the first week in June, and we are a little late this year with a couple of frosts last week. Nothing is sure with our weather, but I am going to probably plant it this week.

Well, that is about it for this visit. I will return in a few days with another update. In the meantime, have a great week and thank you for visiting!

RJB

Friday June 5th, 2009

Greetings and welcome!

We have some interesting weather coming up for the weekend, and that will be the bulk of my report this morning. It looks like we will have two different systems influenciung our weather.

Today we should see a cold front come through late in the day. There is a chance of showers and maybe a storm. It should be a mostly clear night and Saturday should start off pretty nice too. Look for a low around 40 both nights and a high around 60 for both days.

Saturday afternoon or evening there is a system pushing up from the south that should bring some showers and storms. The NWS says start looking for that after 1pm, my latest models say somewhere between three and six pm.

Once the rain gets here, the plots are showing us in the 0.25-0.5" band for rainfall Saturday night and Sunday, thought the 0.5-0.75" band isn't very far south. The bulk of that is Saturday night. Sunday looks more like lingering showers, the QPF is showing it as 0.01-0.1" per six hour timeframe.

It is not included in our forecast, but there was an interesting bit in the forecast discussion from the NWS. Here is the first paragraph, and I highlighted what caught my eye.

.SHORT TERM...TODAY THROUGH SATURDAY. CLIPPER LIKE SYSTEM WILL
PASS BY JUST TO OUR NORTH AND BRING A COLD FRONT THROUGH THE AREA
LATER TODAY. THE BEST DYNAMICS ARE TO THE NORTH AND THE BETTER
MOISTURE IS WELL TO THE SOUTH. SO WILL KEEP A CHANCE OF SHOWERS
AND ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS THOUGH IT IS ENTIRELY POSSIBLE THAT THE
FRONT WILL COME THROUGH DRY (SOMEWHAT RARE AT THIS TIME OF YEAR).
IF IT CLEARS QUICK ENOUGH THERE COULD BE SOME FROST AGAIN INTHE
NORTH TONIGHT. THE FRONT STALLS OVER NORTHERN ILLINOIS SATURDAY
WHILE A WAVE MOVES TO THE NORTHEAST TOWARDS THE WESTERN GREAT
LAKES WITH GOOD OVERUNNING RAINS AND ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS. WITH
VERY DRY AIR IN PLACE THERE WILL BE SIGNIFICANT EVAPORATIVE
COOLING. THAT COUPLED WITH A WIND OFF OF LAKE MICHIGAN SHOULD MAKE
IT ONE OF THE COOLEST JUNE HIGH TEMPERATURES IN RECENT YEARS. IF
RAIN ARRIVES EARLY ENOUGH...HIGHS COULD BE IN THE UPPER 40S IN
SOME PLACES.

I don't think that we will be the subject of their highlight. We are a good hour inland from Lake Michigan at highway speeds. As I suspected, I prowled around lakeshore forecasts and found that it is for places like Door County (high of 53 Saturday), or Algoma (high of 49 Saturday).

Well, the weekend weather isn't perfect, but we should get most of Saturday in decent weather. I am not sold that Sunday will be a washout either. A lot of times the 0.01" QPF band ends up being a non-event. In this case, it will be an unstable atmosphere scenario, and it could go either way. The NWS is putting the numbers at 40% Sunday.

We seem to be having some late cool weather this year. We had frost again a few times this week. It was in the mid-30s the past few nights and there was frost in the low spots like my little pond. Looking at the 16 day GFS, there is maybe one more chance of that after the weekend, and like this week, it will probably be limited in scope.

We did not get much rain this week. Tuesday afternoon a couple of little cells came through with fitful rains. It pounded hard for five or ten minutes, and it went back to a decent day. It happened three or four times.

As a result of a reasonably wet spring, the rafting should still be good this weekend. I just checked and the Peshtigo River is running right at normal. Next weekend holds some promise of big water, I am seeing some big storms for early next week.

The fishing should be good this weekend both with the time of year and with the full moon Sunday. It is also free fishing weekend, where you need no license Saturday and Sunday.

Yesterday I got a little time in stomping around in the great outdoors, and working in the driveway and shed. All of the above are well known for ticks, and I only got about a half-dozen. It was a lot less than expected. I did not see a gator all day.

I saw that the extension to go to digital TV is almost over. Here is the secret to having your TV still work around here. It no longer runs off of the rabbit ears or VHF antenna. It runs off of the UHF loop or bow tie antenna. A lot of people have also been finding bad coax or balun boxes. Most older antennas focused on VHF and UHF was an afterthought. Now it is all UHF, and the old rabbit ear antennas are only good for FM radio.

A look around E-Bay found plenty of DTV ready outdoor antennas, most with wireless rotor, for under $50. Some came with the cable, most had 28db gain or better. Do that and get a good quality DTV box and you are golden. I get a dozen channels from here, including a local weather channel. That is up 5 channels from analog TV.

I have a project that I am working on and want to show off. It has been a lot of work, and it still needs a lot of work, but it is fully functional and ready for a sneak preview. Take a look.

That is about it for today. Have a good weekend and thank you for visiting!

RJB

Tuesday June 2nd, 2009

Greetings and welcome!

June is here, and that bring a wide variety of stuff. In the wild world of the great outdoors, the first two on my list are deer fawns and turtles.

The deer are indeed having their fawns. Several people reported encountering wobbly legged fawns, and I saw one Saturday. We came around a corner and there was a Momma deer and a little wobbly legged fawn. Momma scampered off of the road, and the fawn tried, but couldn't run yet, so it hit the deck and stayed absolutely motionless. I snapped this picture as I went by..

According to the DNR, the turtles start laying eggs right about now. People are being advised to keep an eye out for them as they cross roads in search of sandy spots to bury their eggs.

Turtles mean fishing to me. Some of the best little lake fishing that I ever had around here came during a turtle hatch, and now I associate the two. Actually finding the time to go fishing might be another story..

This weekend the DNR is having their free fishing weekend. You don't need a trout stamp or fishing license this Saturday and Sunday, June 6 & 7. They usually have it is association with other events like trout hatchery tours and a kid's event, but I have not seen info on it yet.

They are also having an open house at some state parks including the Tommy G Thompson State Park in Caldron Falls Flowage. Here is a cut n paste from their web site..

Governor Thompson State Park , Crivitz, (715) 757-3979 or e-mail - Open House Day. Join us for the grand opening of the new Woods Lake Shelter Building. Explore 16 miles of hiking trail, fish on our inland lakes or Caldron Falls Flowage, and enjoy a cook-out lunch provided by the Friends of Governor Thompson State Park. Free Admission for Open House Day. Woods Lake Shelter in the picnic area on Paust Lane off of Ranch Road. 10 a.m. - 2 p.m.

You will need a parks sticker to get in.

As long as we are covering events, there is also a Volunteer Fire Department 100th Anniversary Celebration in Lena. Look for the Parade at 10am - Picnic to Follow at Fire Station Live Music, Food, Refreshments, Kids' Games.

There are a lot of events coming up next weekend, including the Bob Cowie Memorial fishing tournament and fish fry at the Dockside, the benefit for Skip Seehawer at Eagle Creek Pub, and a town rummage sale in Crooked Lake. I also recall something similar planned at the Silver Cliff Grounds, either this weekend or next. I will look into that. I have not been out to the bars in a while, so I am in need of some scouting for posters. I will catch up soon.

This weekend also brings a full moon on Sunday. Oh boy.. The full moon, according to solunar table believers (like me) brings increased activity levels for fish and game. That means that the fishing should be great, but there might be critters moving around a little more than usual, so be careful driving.

I was a believer in the power of the full moon long before I had heard of solunar tables. In my much younger and somewhat wilder days, we used to do full moon pub crawls, and go out and watch the crazy people. We were never disappointed. I also see the new moon having a similar effect. ... Looks like high tide this weekend.

I am getting a variety of scenarios from my sources on how the weather will turn out this weekend. There is a chance of rain Friday and Sunday, according to the NWS. I like what it says, so I am sticking with that for now. None of the scenarios looked like a washout, so don't sweat it. Hopefully things get a little clearer in coming model runs. I will update later in the week.

It is obviously time to cut the grass. It is headed for a foot high out in the yard.

The bugs and ticks were moderate last weekend. The gators were hit and miss, but I saw a few. Ticks were readily available if you went into the wrong places.

Well, it is a very busy time of year for me, so I am going to wander off and get back to work. Have a good week and thank you for visiting!

RJB

Friday May 29th, 2009

Greetings and welcome!

We have a nice and sunny day unfolding outside of my window. As predicted, the mid-week rain hit in just the right spot, and the rafting should be great this weekend. The weather scenario is interesting though, so let's start with that.

Over the weekend we will be in the battleground between a pretty cold air mass to the north, and a pretty warm one not too far south. The area between them is only a few hundred miles, and that usually means a little wind.

Tonight and into Saturday morning will bring a chance of showers and maybe a storm. They are not expecting much rain here according to the QPF plots, but in NW WI it could bring 1/4-1/2" of rain.

Saturday morning things should clear up, and the day should get into the mid to upper 60s. The only challenge will come with the wind, currently predicted to be 8-18 mph. From here it sounds like a pretty nice day.

Saturday night it looks like the cold air mass makes some progress south, and it could be a chilly one. Here is the NWS take on it: Saturday Night: Patchy frost after 1am. Otherwise, partly cloudy, with a low around 34. North northwest wind between 11 and 14 mph becoming calm. Winds could gust as high as 21 mph.

Sunday we should see a high of 65, a little wind, and some rain moving in late in the day.

It isn't a terrible forecast, but it has interesting parts. If you are camping, bundle up Saturday night.

The rain that came mid-week was a perfect bull's eye on the Peshtigo River watershed. The folks planning on whitewater rafting this weekend are in for a treat. At the moment, the river is headed for about a +10" level, and might go just a wee bit higher by Saturday. That is a really fun level, and we should see some people having a great time getting wet this weekend.

Likewise, the Menominee River watershed saw some rain, and that to is running on the big side. At the moment it is just over 2,000cfs, again a really fun level.

After the play in the river, there will be a DJ/Karaoke guy at Rapids Resort. Tom the DJ does a good job of keeping the place hopping, so it should be fun Saturday night too.

I forgot to pay my old dial-up host this month, and got shut off. As a result, I haven't seen my E-mail in a few days. After I pick through 3,000 spams, I will be answering the good stuff later today.

Yesterday we took a trip to Iron Mountain. Along the way we ran into a construction project on 141 north of Beecher that had the road down to one lane. They were grinding the asphalt on the road shoulders, and had barrels on both sides for a few miles. They probably won't be working over the weekend, but don't be surprised if there is a little slow down there.

Gas prices varied along the way. The best was in Crivitz at $2.49, and the worst was at $2.69 not too far north of there. Fill up where it is cheap.

There was an article in the paper that said the there is a new ATV trail open in Townsend now. They extended the railroad grade ATV trail and now it goes all of the way to the northern Forest County line. This is a huge new addition to the ATV trail system. It is also open to pedestrians and bicycles.

Beyond that there isn't a lot of new stuff since our Wednesday visit. I scanned the paper and the grocery store for event posters and came away empty handed for this weekend. Likewise I was on the road all day yesterday, and don't have much to add to the great outdoors report.

On that note, I am off to go and see what the sunny and 65 day blooming outside is about. Have a great weekend and thank you for visiting!

RJB

Wednesday May 27th, 2009

Greetings and welcome!

Here I am with those what day is it short week blues.. It is great that Friday comes so soon, but it always brings such a mad busy week.

The holiday weekend was a good one. There were a lot of people having a lot of fun. The weather held out and was nice all weekend. Even though people were clearly concerned about the current state of affairs, they still escaped and had a little fun. There were a lot of people doing a lot of fun stuff.

The weather changed Tuesday when we had a cloudy dreary day with some drizzle and rain showers. There was more overnight, and it is getting better as it goes. The news said that we had 1/2-3/4" in most of the area. Right here we are probably on the low end of that.

On the other hand the Peshtigo River watershed has been seeing some good rains so far, and continues to be in heavy bands of rain. People that like to play in the white water will like this part. The rain will indeed raise the Peshtigo River, and already has. Between what is down and what is imminent, the storm is hitting both with perfect timing and placement to make the weekend rafting great.

The NAM QPF this morning was showing another 1-1.25 inches of rain possible today and tonight. It again shows the rain hitting in the same area as the storm bumps into the cooler drier air farther north and sets up a line of moderate to heavy rain. It might be a pretty good bull's eye with a couple of inches of rain both perfectly timed and placed for weekend whitewater enthusiasts.

Conditions are favorable for a set up that I refer to as the freight train. It is where a frontal boundary or line sets up and waves of the storm run down it one after another like cars in a freight train. We had that happen a few years back and had 9" of rain in one night up in the watershed. I don't expect that, but 2-3 seems likely.

Once the rain clears out tomorrow, we should see a couple of nice days. Look for temps around 70 and mostly sunny weather Thursday and Friday. The NWS forecast carries that into Saturday and finally Sunday brings a chance of storms.

That weekend forecast would be great to lock in, but it isn't that clear cut. There will be a weak cold front threatening minor showers at some point. The models have varied on the timing of it, and have gone back and forth on if Saturday would be great, or have a chance of rain later. The latest is pushing it back to Sunday afternoon, and I say buy before it changes again.

The weekend and the rain today are bringing scenic views. As the hardwoods have delicate leaves emerge, there are some unusual colors. Set against a rainy day, they are pretty.

The weekend brought a lot of bear sightings for a lot of people. The guess is that a lot of occasional visitors stirred things up in usually quiet areas, and had the bruins moving around a little more than normal. It wasn't a problem, just that a lot of people got to see them. We even had one in the yard here Saturday morning.

I checked the event calendar, and I don't have any events for this weekend. That can't be right. I guess that means that I have to go out and about and check posters. Likewise I will check the paper when it comes Thursday. It is a little bit of an unusual month in that Memorial Day weekend was as early as it could be, and we have a weekend after it in May.

Well, this is one of those weeks where there is more work than week, so I am off to get back to to it. Have a good week and thank you for visiting!

RJB

I set up a message board for the ATV riders. It is at http://www.northerndestinations.com/atv. The way that I see it, I get busy in the summer and have a hard time keeping up. You guys know a lot more about what is happening than I do. I will keep it up to date as much as I can with info that I get, but it is up to you guys to add the rest. A hot tip, when you register, use a name that is ATV related. We get a lot of spammers, and have to try and seperate riders from spammers by the user name or local e-mail address.

 The Big Bear Outpost