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
