Will Winter show up this year???

Winter is on the Horizon…

Summers seem to go by so much quicker these days. Spent just about every weekend on the pontoon cruising the lake, sharing laughs with friends and invites on the party rental pontoon many friends had rented over the summer.  We were invited to go down the water slide on this rental and made me feel like a kid again. Hanging out at the sandbar never knowing who’s going to show up. Water temp this year rose quickly into the upper 70’s by the middle of July.

My fiancé Wendy had planned a surprise 60th birthday party the middle of May for me and what a surprise it was to have all our friends and family show up from S.E. Wisconsin. Local snowbirds even came back early from Florida (Senior & Colleen). The party was a blast and could not thank Wendy and her girlfriends for the great decorations, food and fun. She even hired Dana The Performer to do the entertainment for the evening with his awesome singing talent.

 We had our first 4th of July weeklong family and friends up north with many shenanigans to go with it. Some I can post, others not so much thanks to my nephew’s sense of humor. This year I had some paybacks planned though. A few days before he showed up with his camper, someone had a bad hook and release musky around 35 inches that ended up floating on our shoreline. Of course I had to move it, so I threw it in the woods between our property and the neighbors. My nephew was the first to show up with his beautiful camper and I had him back it right up to the woods within smelling distance of our rotting friend. We celebrated a friends wife birthday (Jamie) that same week and James (husband) hired Dana to perform once again. A picture of the family all together.

It never gets old taking pictures of the many different sunsets and never knew how much the sun changes it’s landing during the year from June 21st more north to December 21st much earlier and south looking west. Wendy and I spent many summer nights in aw watching the sun go down and knowing how very lucky we were to have purchased this property. There were some local folks that had a hand in making this property ours. Thanks especially to Dustin and Tim!

Some UTV fall rides into the UP of Michigan with friends and family. Awesome views of some fall colors.

Came across some Yoopers that had the unfortunate luck of having a tire roll off the bead. They had every tool possible, still could not get the UTV up high enough to put the spare on. We stopped and with some borrowed wood were able to complete the task.

 Had a flat tire on Randy’s rental UTV another time which tested the tire plugs. Never have I taken 4 tire plugs to seal a tire, but it held and made it over 70 miles back home. We pretty much have a day ride route which takes around 8-9 hours round trip which takes us to Rogers Bar, Root Cellar, Berland Bay Bar, over to the Bruce crossing area and then down to Agate Falls, Bond Falls and the ever-mysterious Paulding light valley.

 Also did a couple rides in the Eagle River area into Three Lakes area. Great day ride and conversation on an enjoyable scenic tour south into an area I spent many years snowmobiling with friends. Had to stop at their cabin and take a picture.

 A special project I’ve been wanting to do for years is finally completed. I’ve been driving up north for over 30 years, and during hunting season we came across HWY 8 toward Rhinelander and on the side of the road sitting in the trees was a manikin dress in orange with a gun sitting in a tree stand. I always though how cool this was. So my search for a sitting manikin came up empty, so I had to make one of my own. Mine is assembled with PVC piping and golf balls to articulate the joints. The head was purchases on Amazon for around $30. The orange was left over from grandfather George who passed many years ago. I cut the PVC pipe to the length of my body to try and make it look correct in size. Just last weekend Hunter Hank finally made it up in the tree on our road. I did have a real gun with a scope I was going to have in the tree with him, but did not want to explain to the DNR it was just for show. So, at the last minute I traced out the gun on some wood and went to carving. I did reuse the scope and mounted it on the wood. From the road it looks real and will at least keep people guessing.

Our first snow event of the season happened this last Wednesday evening. Local accumulations were less than a inch in most areas with wind gust over 40mph which made it feel like blizzard conditions. By late Thursday morning the snow changed to rain and the snow on the ground disappeared quick. Thankfully this wasn’t a big snow maker, we need the ground and the lakes to freeze over before any really big snow event. But the patterns are shaping up nice for what appears to be a great winter for lots of snow and cold.

Well, bring on the cold before the snow comes. We need the lakes frozen over and the ground nice and hard. Then we can do a snow dance for a early snowmobile season opener by the middle of December. Lets break some records the opposite direction of last year and have some record snowfall.

Till next time

Good night from the Northwoods

Keep doing your snow dance

RWM

Spring has arrived

Springs has arrived…

After a long strange winter, I’m excited for summer and pontooning season. I feel robbed of this last winter with the lack of snow and for the first time in recorded history, the Vilas County snowmobile trail system did not open. I’m very hopeful for the years and seasons to come, we will pay a heavy price and mother nature will pound us with plenty of white gold and make up for it. I’m a believer in that the earth goes in cycles and el Niño came to an end at the beginning of last month.

Been so busy getting the Pontoon out of storage, setting up the bunk trailer with some new guides. I’ve never owned a bunk trailer before and found out the hard way about loading a pontoon with this trailer it had no guide system to get it on the correct surface when pulling out of the water. I did some research and found some heavy duty bolt on guides, three sets of them which I believe will do the trick. In the past I’ve always borrowed a scissor lift trailer and there is really no magic in using these, easy peasy. I seem to always learn things the hard way. Will be a couple of weeks I think before I actually dump in the pontoon though with the 10 day forecast, I’m a fair weather rider.

May 5th was a party we hosted and was told we’d have possible boat traffic. My son Trevor and his girlfriend Amber helped me get the dock in the water. Took about an hour with these aluminum 24 foot sections, basically one person can roll it the water with ease.

Cinco de Mayo party was a lot of fun with the open invitation to come celebrate with Wendy and I. Plenty of food, drinks and shots, it was a beautiful day for a party. I believe it hit close to 70 degrees, great day to sit outside and enjoy all the friends that showed up to party. And party is what we did. The pool table was going most of the party with Gary Jr. having a record day of winning. Of the three games I played, I think I won two.  

Also had a great friend and co-worker showed up that had recently retired from Harley Davidson Tomahawk. When you retire from Harley, they give you an option of receiving a Tour Pack Cover or a Fairing with all the companies employees signing it. He didn’t want it, but asked if I’d be interested and I couldn’t pass it up. Thanks Mark.

Till next time...RWM

Roller Coaster Weather

Spent my day off on Tuesday chasing around Eagle River finding a much needed spare tire for our old truck. Wendy’s dad had a spare in that was in the bed of the truck but would not hold air, it was bald so instead of trying to fix it, I went to Eagle River Tire to see if they had a used take off or a cheap new tire to purchase. Neither were available, but they told me about a salvage yard a mile south of 70 in Eagle river. I’ve past the driveway for this place forever, but never knew it existed because there was no sign stating a business was there. I drove down the drive and saw the business sign “Don Scharf Automotive” Salvage yard. The counter guy pointed me in the direction of the take off used tires, all were priced at $25 dollars. I went into the trailer and found a tire the correct size and it looked almost new. They didn’t mount tires, so back to Eagle River Tire with my new used tire and old tire and rim to be mounted. Told the guy I‘d be back Wednesday around 1pm to pick them up. I made it a mile down the road the Eagle River tire called me back saying that my rim I supplied was a 16 inch and not a 18 that matches the wheels on the truck. Back to the salvage yard to see if they had a used 18 inch rim. For $75, I bought a new used aluminum rim to match the truck. Dropped it off at ERT and I finally was able to continue my day off.

Took a picture of the lake on Tuesday afternoon and the ice is slowly disappearing, looks like ice/water ratio is at about 50/50. Just a matter of time before its all water. Temps reached 65 degrees and it felt awesome.

At 5pm we went to our first ever Conover Sno-Buddies meeting/dinner at Bauer’s Dam. Private get together with all the members that wanted to show up. It was social hour for drinks, 50/50 raffle and conversation. John is pretty creative and printed up some beer bottle covers, which I thought were pretty cool, rickweatherman of course. John and Kevin put on quite the spread of 3 different soups, salad, pizzas, bread sticks and cookies. After dinner was the pick for the money raffle with 5 cash prizes with a top prize of $5000. Wendy had high hopes of being the winner, but it wasn’t to be.

Thursday afternoon the weather was beautiful and the lake was now all water, temps in the 50’s and felt l spring day.

Ended the week with the Nascar race on one TV, and the Wisconsin Badgers basketball game on the other. The Badgers being a number 5 seed playing Illinois a number 2 seed which we led by 8 points at one part of the game, but Illinois came back with some great defense and the win. Nascar really needs to get their act together with some of the things they do and ask for. Nascar asked for a change in the tires from Goodyear and wanted a tire that wore a little faster, still have problems with this request. Well they got it causing many issues with cords showing through within 60 laps, and spins and crashing. The veterans figured out how to do tire management and saved there tires for the long haul. Nascar needs to stop trying and figure out how to make the races more exciting and leave some things alone. I did notice that the stands were only packed a little more than half full, Bristol used to be the track that sold out every race. Time to wake up Nascar.

Winter made a return this weekend with some snow and wind with temps only reaching the low 20’s. What a roller coaster we continue to be on this winter. The lake was looking mean and nasty with white caps, snow blowing and coming down sideways at times.  I’m over it and ready for warm temps and pontoon season to start.

Till next time...RWM

Warm Weather Brings Soft Ice

Well the investment in a 22 is paying off, two red squirrels in one day. And they won’t be going to waste. The fox is back and most likely will be having her babies soon.

Starting to see the lakes with open water on the way to work in Sugar Camp, and our lake on Lower Buckatabon is losing ice everyday. My son went out there on Wednesday and drill some holes, were down to 5 inches. The ice is very soft and squishy, spongy. We hear so often of vehicles of ice fisherman going through the ice as  the weather warms up and the ice cover deteriorates to such, that the thickness gets to the point that UTV’s disappear below the ice very fast. This happened this week to two fishermen and 2 UTV’s on the north shore of Lac Vieux Desert in Land O Lakes. The vehicles went down in 8 foot of water and Bull Dog Off Road Recovery services were called to pull them out. Two more fishermen were on the Willow Flowage and they went through, unable to get out of the water, a delivery driver heard the yells for help and called in for rescue. If this warm weather continues like the forecast is looking like with temps in the lower 60’s on Tuesday, we should see water real soon on Lower Buckatabon.

Friday night pizza at Bauer’s Dam and the John didn’t disappoint. Wendy went down to the waters edge of the lake to get some awesome sunset pictures, something about late winter sunsets knowing there never the same and always moving/dropping further north or to the right. After dinner we had a spontaneous get together at our bar with locals and I actually teamed up for a game of pool and won, look out Gary I’m ready for you. And the bar games/shots were going strong. Saturday was a slow go recovery day.

I’m looking forward to making my first Conover Sno-Buddies Membership meeting on Tuesday for the first time at Bauer’s Dam. 5:30 social hour/6:30 dinner. The Miller families will be serving All-You-Can-Eat soup, salad, pizza and dessert for a cost of $12. (No RSVP needed) Meeting and election to follow dinner. Groomer Appreciation night plus BIG CA$H RAFFLE winners will be drawn! New members are always welcome. Should be a fun social get together with all the locals.

Till next time...RWM

Mild weather continues

What a roller coaster week of weather…

Tuesday’s weather was like a spring/summer day. At 1pm walking into the gym with a zip up hoodie I was half tempted take it off it was so nice. Close to 64 degrees, but by 7pm it had fallen to 30 and headed down to 5 degrees by midnight. I was driving home in a white out conditions coming north of Eagle River, could not see any lines or tire tracks in the road. With the extended forecast to the middle of March, I’m ready to call this snowmobile season a complete and utter bust. This is a history/record breaking winter for northern Wisconsin with the trails not opening at all in Vilas or Oneida Counties . I figure we might of gotten a total of 15 inches of snow between December and now.

Made it to Friday and ready for a 3 day weekend. Played in the garage for a while giving the UTV a bath and some new registration sticker so she’s ready for the Saturday ride with the Landover UTV Club ride. Can’t believe its March 4th and we still have no measurable snow in sight for the snowmobile trails to open. Saturday we rolled out of the driveway around 9:15am and headed to the club house. Around 25 UTV’s and 3 ATV’s showed up. By the time we left at 10am, it was feeling warm with the sun shining and no clouds in site. The ride took us to Bent’s camp, Brews Pub, Hillside and then to Twin Lake Pub for the Poker Run Festivities for the snowmobile trail fundraiser. Randy Remblake our Sno-Buddies Snowmobile club President was on the mic as we walked in the door doing a great job as always. 20 baskets donated, 50/50 raffles a full spread of food and a packed house. Lucky Wendy won a basket filled with Whiskey, Champaign, gift card and Hoodie to Sweet Waters Bar and Grill. As always on these rides, Wendy and I made new friends Dawn and Fred, Andy’s little sister showed up, can’t remember her name for the life of me, but I think I’m in her wedding party as of Saturday…lol.  I just hope that was a dream because of my placement in the wedding. Randy her better half is one lucky guy.

Then it was off to get closer to home by 4:30 and make our final stop at Bauer’s Dam Bar. Donna made some homemade chocolate chip cookies that were to die for. If you ever had her signature Ice cream sandwiches made with the same cookies, you know what I’m talking about.

Sunday was all about finding out how my buddy the red squirrel getting into the walls of the house. I noticed a vent pipe that was sawed off on close to the house, so I took some PVC and put the elbow back to the way it was meant to be. Took some great stuff meant for animal control and sprayed it in some holes where the air-conditioning electrical and plumbing were coming through the wall. I’m still waiting for him to poise for a picture so I can give him a shot of iron/lead supplement.

Looks to be mild for the upcoming next 10 days with very little chance of any measureable snow. Great weather though to take a trail ride with your local ATV/UTV Club ride, always a great time going out with these guys and supporting our northwoods businesses.

Till next time...RWM

Spring Like weather

Well, it’s been one heck of a warm week.

At our local watering hole (Bauer’s Dam) they have a contest most every year of who can guess when our lake will open up enough to run a row boat from Bauer’s frontage, to the Islands in the middle of the lake on Lower Buckatabon. I think I guessed April 19th, but I think I chose way too late. With all this crazy warm weather I’m thinking it will be much earlier. Wendy stopped on Wednesday after returning from her trip out of town to put some groceries in her belly and picked another date of March 25. I would of preferred the first week of april, but with with this crazy warm winter, I may just get lucky.  Current picture of the ice out to the Island.

Thursday got the call from the Geiss Meat processor in Merrill that my deer meat I had processed was ready for pickup. When they called I asked if they ever did find my back straps that I never received when I picked up my deer cape (head). When I arrived and paid the bill for 7 boxes of meat, she was asking the owner Andy Giess if anything could be done. Andy explained to her over the phone that they were long gone, but to make it right I was allowed to go shopping in the company store for 12 packages of any of there prepackaged beef tenderloins (about 6 lbs) of regular, marinated and pepper. I was impressed that they would go to that extent to satisfy a customer. So off I go to work with all this meat in the truck, I did pack a large cooler but that wasn’t enough for all that meat. It was frozen so I figured it should be good till I got home. But, can’t have all those goodies just sitting in the truck and not taking a package into work to sample if I made the right choice to have the deer processed at Geiss. I grabbed a package of Garlic snack sticks and opened it at my desk to thaw a bit. Within an hour of sitting out, I took one out and bit into it. It was heaven on earth, the flavor was like I’ve never tasted before. I did share with my co-workers and they were equally impressed. When I did get home with all that meat, I loaded up our small deep freezer in the garage and it was filled to the top. I was thinking during deer season of getting a second deer because I had an extra doe tag, glad I didn’t. Thinking I might have to invest in a larger deep freezer. Years ago we had a power outage and I lost most of my deer meat due to power being out for multiple days, I’m thinking with the investment we made last year having the backup generator installed, I wouldn’t have to worry about losing this batch of meat again.

 Spent Friday evening with my better half enjoying a steak dinner for her birthday. We like to treat each other with a nice dinner of choice to celebrate making it another year in this crazy world. Bear Trap has always been her go to for an exceptional and consistent steak. I get the garlic infused sirloin steak. Wendy is a very social person and invited some of her closest friends along for the celebration. Great time and conversations to end a crazy work week.

Went to the grocery store on Saturday afternoon to get some snacks for a late day get together for Wendys birthday, we stopped at Mapleview in Conover for a beer. Not knowing that the UTV club was coming by the same time we’d be sitting there, I had to get a video. The place was already packed with their annual ice fishing event. Was told they cook up lunch right on the ice, something they call a surf and turf. Bring anything to grill out. Gonna have to try to remember this event for next year.

 A small get together at our house Saturday afternoon to celebrate Wendys birthday. I posted this on Facebook as a surprise birthday get together for her and did I get an earful by many how she could see this as she is on FB too. I’ve always been a fan of how people that do marketing and advertisement do things that don’t make sense, and this is why I did it. People always will always talk about these so called mistakes, I call it cheap advertising that spreads like wild fire. Yes, I do think differently and I’m ok with it. The UTV club did stop by around 7pm and I missed out getting pictures or video of them playing on the ice before they came in. Not sure how the arm wrestling started, but it was fun to watch. I played some pool and teamed up with the neighbor to play a couple games. But the money bets were being placed and you’d think having a pool table in the house I’d be better, but you can’t be good at everything. I donated to the cause again. Buckshots in Eagle River over the holidays let me try their Apple Pie flavored Vodak, I liked it so much they sold me a bottle. I brought that out and we ran out pouring shots (very tasty). The girls having a good time taking selfies. Wendy on the bottom, starting on the left top Lindsey, Jessica and Lindsay.

Till next time...RWM

snowing, just not enough

Driving home Monday night, it was looking like a winter storm had made its way to the northwoods. Woke up Tuesday morning to just a coating of the white gold, but still nice to see it was still winter.

Then again on Wednesday we were on the northern edge of  another system. Driving home that night in white out conditions. Tomahawk received around 4 inches when I left work and driving home was a slow go at reduced speeds.I snapped a couple of pictures coming through Eagle river. I made it all the way just north of Conover rental center when 3 deer popped out of the woods and just had to cross when I was coming through. I was doing about 45mph in a 55, 2 does and a basket 6 point from what I could tell. I had a vehicle about a half mile in front of me coming from the opposite direction. So I was trying like heck not to swerve toward the center lane. I hit the brakes and the antilock kicked in, I started to slide and knew I’d impact the deer but didn’t know how bad it was going to be. I was honking the horn hoping they’d turn back but wasn’t that lucky. When I impacted the deer only only one of the three cleared the truck and I got a double hit, first the buck then the buck hit the doe and they both went down off to the right of the truck. The sound when I hit was more like a thump than a crunch. When I made it up to 45 & K, I stopped to check the damage. To my surprise I couldn’t see any damage. I was like holy crap could I get this lucky. I made it home and got a flashlight out and did see hair form the deer and a couple of brown smug marks. The bumper on the right side did move about ¾’s of an inch back but hardly noticeable. I remember back in the day the bumpers had a shock absorber for small impacts but don’t think they do that on todays vehicles. Pictures from Thursday morning of the truck. Yes, I bought a lottery ticket that afternoon…lol.

On Saturday was determined to organize a small section of my garage and put some shelves up. This 2 hours project turned into 5. Not being a woodworker but willing to attempt anything, in the end it will serve its purpose. Now that I had a workbench to work on again, I started working on my high powered pellet gun. Cool gun purchased from Farm & Fleet with a silencer on it. Don’t really think a pellet gun makes a lot of noise anyway, but it looks cool with a 3x9x40 Centerline scope on it. A Crosman 12 shot semi-automatic for around $235. Taking the trigger from a 5 pound pull to a half pound pull with some machining and a lighter spring. Hopefully will create a smoother firing gun with more accuracy. The pesty red squirrel is about to be a head mount in the home bar.

The plan for this Sunday was to kick back and watch the Nascar Daytona 500, but looks to be a rain out with the weather in Florida today.

Till next time...RWM

The winter from hell…

Another quiet week in the northwoods of Wisconsin. Missing the sound of snowmobiles passing by the house, no snowmobiles parked at local bars and restaurants. But I did see some regulars from years past sitting at Bauer’s Dam. Scott and his wife always rent from Deer path finally made it up. Marty and company that stay at Bauer’s cabins were up and getting there poker run cards completed and turned in. First time they could remember coming up not hauling the trailers full of snowmobiles. The snowmobile trails in Wisconsin have an end date of March 31st and were about 45 days and closing with no snow in the forecast.

We picked up our truck from the body shop on Friday afternoon that was struck by a deer last November. Gerber bodyshop of Eagle River did an outstanding  job. It’s an older truck 2002 Chevy Silverado but is in great condition for its age. As we were picking our truck up, my son’s truck was towed in that morning from a deer hit coming into Eagle River. His truck had to be towed due to the impact of the hit.

As winter rolls on with this unusual warmth and no snow in the extended forecast, my hopes of snowmobile season are running low. The LandOver ATV club of Vilas County did another ride this weekend, but we decided to sleep in on Saturday. We did go on a poker run by car and hit some places that the UTV’s couldn’t . We were sitting at Great Escape mid afternoon when we got word the trail boss was heading our way with around 14 machines. With temps around 28 degrees, I waited at the trail stop opening and did get a video of them coming through. They were all bundled up and looked frozen…lol.  

Still doing my snow dance…RWM

spring…not!!!

Another week goes by and great weather for everything but winter activities. Went on another LandOver ATV/UTV club ride on Saturday, this time over 50 vehicles and a packed house at Wild Turkey for a buffet style breakfast that was outstanding. I met new folks that live in Three Lakes and trailered up for the event. Started out chilly with temps around 20 degrees, but quickly warmed up to the mid 40’s. We were able to visit Brews Pub, Club 45 that put on an awesome Taco Bar, Dublins, Twin Lake Pub, ShotSkis, Erins, Bauer’s Dam, Burnt Bridge. This was the next best thing to ride if we can’t be on snowmobiles. I did take a video when we arrived at Twin Lake pub I put on the interweb showing as many UTV’s and ATV’s that attended the event, was great to be apart of such a historic event that just isn’t suppose to happen this time of year.

Sunday with the family on Lower Lake Buckatabon fishing was a bust. Beautiful warm spring like day with a temperature of 50 degrees. The lake ice was making a noise we normally hear when it’s freezing. But with the warm weather it was sounding off just about every 30 seconds. Almost sounds like sounds right out of a horror movie soundtrack-creaking, moaning groaning as the ice is shifting . When this happens our local fish authority (Jake) tells me the fish tend not to bite, as such was the case.

So we ended up in the garage fixing the one snowmobile that needed some small repairs. I received the parts in the mail a week ago, but was in no hurry to fix due to the extended forcast. About a 15 minute fix to put in a new set of brake pads but now needed to make sure they were seated correctly, I fired up the old girl along with 2 other sleds, and the 3 of us made our way across the lake for a lap trying to get our snowmobile fix for the day. I ended up stopping in the middle of the lake which is an island and normally has 2 feet deep of water. But the lake is very low right now due to the dam being open. I actually rode up on top of the sand and stopped. We did decide not to cross the channel to the upper Buckatabon not feeling the channel was safe to cross. Made our way back around to Bauer’s Dam and skipped the water, still a thrill to cross open water. Oh yeah, the brakes feel just like when the sled was new. Parked the sleds back in the garage just to wait for mother nature to change her mind on if winter will actually return.

Ended the day with a cocktail on the patio looking out at the lake. Gorgeous day to be outside enjoying the weather, just doesn’t feel right on February 4th being spring like weather and very little snow.

Here we sit waiting for the weather to change back to winter, hopefully by the end of the week.

Hopefully next post will show some winter scenes.

Till next time...RWM

We rode…

Here we are in the middle of winter with less than 5 inches of snow on the ground, not the ground breaking winter snow I was hoping for. Weather patterns look to return back to normal in the 10 day outlook. They have to because I made a bet last night saying we would be riding sleds by the middle of February, I don’t like losing so I need the snow Gods to help me out. I asked a local Conover historian (Glenn) if the snowmobile trails ever NOT opened for the season, was told they have always have opened to his recollection but sometimes for only a few weeks.

All the warm weather and the swamps open again, the lakes are losing ice and getting soft. We need something to change fast so we can get this snowmobile season underway.  So many of us still wanted to ride this weekend and with the snowmobile trails closed, the Conover ATV club trail boss (Gary Lagueux Jr.) suggested we go on a club ride on Saturday. So over 20 UTV’s made the day trip throughout Conover, Phelps, Land O Lakes and Eagle River. No heat in our UTV, we bundled up and were very comfortable. We visited as many businesses in throughout the day, meeting the new owners of Smugglers in Eagle River. Great people letting us sample their pizza with different varieties of toppings they offer. The pizza was outstanding and I will be back for that and something people rave about is their smash burger. Lunch was at Sweetwater in Eagle River, and once again the food was outstanding. The place was already busy before we all came in, and did not disappoint with great service. Made our way back south to Bauer’s Dam and Burnt Bridge, and that was about 10 hours of riding, I was done.

Today will be a down day getting some work done around the house putting up a new used pool table light upgrade for our home bar. Was very happy to find this very cool vintage Budweiser light, was told the horses must face Bauers Dam or we’d have bad luck…lol. Also picked up a Pabst table light which is in great condition, and I think I have the perfect place for that. Have to be done by 2pm so I can root on the two teams I’d like to see in the superbowl.

That’s about all I have for now, keep doing your snow dance. RWM (AKA The Kid)

Enough Already…

Mother nature is killing me with this crazy winter. All my friends in southern Wisconsin are enjoying some awesome riding, here we sit with barely 5 inches on the ground. Now that we made it through the deep freeze of January 2024, we head into this week with warmer temperatures and mix precipitation.

Was able to watch a very close and exciting game on Saturday evening with some friends, we were so close to winning but it just wasn’t meant to be. Our Green Bay Packers came on strong in the second half of the season and are on their way to be a Superbowl contender for seasons to come.

While the trails aren’t open for snowmobiling yet, local ATVer’s were making the best out of a bad situation. We all are saving money not spending it on gas/oil on snowmobilling, we can all do our part to patronize local businesses.

I did see the lakes had plenty of people ice fishing this weekend. With the warmer weather this week, my plan is to get out and take advantage of some of crappie that were biting, someone I know was slaying them.

A couple of cancellations and changes this week were posted. One was Phelps Radar Run that was suppose to be happening this weekend was cancelled. Another one in Saint Germain, Hiller’s Radar Run was to happen February 2, 3rd was changed to the “2nd Annual Breast Race Of Your Life” and moving it to the Saint Germain Community Park Pavillion.

I know we will ride this year, keep doing your snow dance…

RWM

Deep freeze

Woke up this morning to -11 degrees. This is actually a good thing for snowmobilers as our lakes needed to get the ice much thicker. On Monday North Twin was marked with barrels with a reported 8 inches of ice. The Cisco Chain was marked over the weekend and hoping to see barrel on Lower Buckatabon later this week.

I was in the U.P. of Michigan on Monday, and just going an hour and 20 minutes north of Conover I was in winter wonderland. The snow had to be 2-3 feet deep and white out conditions with the lake Superior snow machine doing its thing. The roads were horrible as I was pulling my 25 foot enclosed trailer to pick a new welder from AWG Gases and Welding Supplies in Houghton Michigan. The counter guy at the store told me they had received all that snow in the last couple days.

This week it will slowly warm up and by Sunday we’ll see a high of 18 degrees. On Wednesday we will get a dusting of snow but not much to add to our current snow depth. Next week it looks to warm into the mid 30’s and this will bring another weather front with it. Right now it looks to be snow in the range of 3-6 inches by mid-week on the 24th.

Our Vilas County snowmobile clubs meet on this Wednesday the 17th to discuss opening the trails. I let you know if they decide to open.

But for now that’s all I have…

Keep doing your snow dance

Your Northwoods Eye In The Sky

#rickweatherman

www.rickweatherman.com

blizzard storm last night

Well, once again mother nature had me so excited and the blizzard was a bust. We maybe had 2 to 3 inches at best with this system. I woke up this morning like it was Christmas and wanted to see massive amounts of snow and my snow gauge actually didn’t move an inch, most likely due to high winds in the middle of the yard. Temperature had dropped to 13 degrees this morning which is the high here in Conover today. The next few days don’t look to be getting much higher than 2 degrees until it starts to warm back up starting on Wednesday. Not sure at this point the trails will open, but I’ll post as soon as I hear from Randy from Conover Sno-Buddies.