Fire on Ice 2012

We ended up getting there late but Fire on Ice is happening again this year. They switched from Cecil Bay to the County Park area on Shawano Lake I assume to coincide with the famous Figure 8 Musky Club Fishing Tournament this weekend. The landing to access the contest appears to be better on the other side of the lake.  The Fishing Tournament has a pretty good draw by itself.

As you can see – the number of cars in the races that were left when we finally arrived was slim but they still gave it there all.

John & Mona's Blog

Snowmobile Race

Races took place at the Red River area just North of Dykesville on the Bay of Green Bay on February 11.  The temperatures were in the low single digits and and the wind chill was minus digits (Sub-zero). There was a nip in the air…

      

Granddaughter Miranda on sled # 65 participated in her first snowmobile races over the weekend. Her friend Nick posed for a shot on a classic sled # 19.

Miranda’s first run hit 61 mile per hour while her last run topped out at 91. Nick, I assume not on the vintage sled but on his racing sled had a high speed of 101 which was the fastest speed of the day. Nick’s parents run Simonar Sports Inc. in Luxemburg, WI. There was a little bit of tragedy that followed the race when Miranda and Nick decided to take a run after the race had ended. For some reason Nick wiped out his sled and ended up in the hospital over night. At this time everything appears to be OK.

Picketing in Madison

On Saturday, February 26th Mona and I went down to Madison to support the Wisconsin Public Workers. I had received a call from APWU National Postal Press Association President, Tony Carobine the preceding day inquiring as to whether Mona and I would like to join him and his wife in the adventure.

 
 
 
 
 
(Left) John takes a break after walking around the Capital building several times. (Right) Mona was given a sign from AFSCME. You can see the snow is coming down pretty good.
An adventure it was. There were between 70,000 and 100,000 people filling the sidewalks, the lawn, the streets and the Capital building itself. It was an experience I’ll never forget.

(L-R) John, Mona, Cathy, and Tony

Click on photos to enlarge.

Photo from Algoma Webcam

Cousin Denise caught this photo of us while we were facing the Webcam in Algoma. She downloaded it from the Internet on her iphone and emailed it to me. It was taken while they were up here for the 2010 Family Reunion.

Photo includes: Dustin, Mona, Denise, Carol, Mike and myself.

Our Cabin at Chippewa Pines Resort

This is the side of the cabin that faces the Flowage. Cottages 5 & 6. We've been trying to rent number 6 for the last 5 or six years now.

Inside Cabin 6. Two bedrooms and enough room for us and our stuff. Real nice and cozy.

Saturday morning Mona puts the last couple of small items in the van before we check the cabin to make sure we didn't forget something. (Still can't find the battery charger for the camera so we hope we didn't leave it there somewhere.)

Last view is from the van in the previous photo looking towards the cabin and the Flowage. We had a lot of fun again this year.

(Click on photos to enlarge - You may also scroll left and right to see the entire photo)

Go Fly a Kite

This guy was out on Cecil Bay on Shawano Lake on Saturday January 16th. At one time he had 8 kites in the air (that we saw). I had a few videos (actually one or two better than this one) but I lost them somewhere in my gigabytes.

The first kite with the long tail is huge and I think very impressive. The last one at the end resembles an Eagle.

Don't remember if it was last year or the year before when Mona and I were out on the Lake we saw these same kites being pulled by a couple in a boat. (Trolling slowly of course.) Yesterday (as per Mona with the binoculars) said it looked like he had them tied to buckets. Sure wish I could find the other videos. If I do, I'll post one. (This particular video was shot with a Sony DSC-HX1 Digital Still Camera)

Fire On Ice on Shawano Lake is Back in 2010

The Fire On Ice Races are back on Shawano Lake again. I guess they started last Sunday. A couple of the photos below are from last week and a couple from today. I saw I was getting a few hits on searches for the event so I figured I take the time to throw a few more pics up here.

With the nice weather today the attendance was decent. I ran down to the Cecil end of the Lake with the 4-wheeler and parked for about 1/2 hour or so. Got parked in and had to ride the length of the track just to get out.

There was one spectator there all set up for tailgating with the card table and chairs out as well as the old Smokey Joe BBQ.

Hope to get a post or two in the future if everything turns out OK.

Chippewa Flowage Vacation 2009

First I'm going to show you that we did actually catch some fish while staying at the Chippewa Pines Resort this year. I think we brought two or three meals back which is plenty of fish for us for a while. We can always get some on Shawano Lake if we really, really need fish. Not only that - you can buy it in the store too... although it doesn't taste the same. Mona was on a roll one day. This is one of the Bass she caught and released.

John caught this Largemouth on his favorite spinner. The fish seem to like it too, sometimes... The Resort has a pontoon boat that they rent out. We rented it one year when my Mother came along for the week (just for one day) and had a blast. That particular day it rained off and on and it was nice to be under the canopy.

A small northern pike on the same lure. We caught plenty of crappie too as you will see if you continue to follow these posts.

Poor Brew... Mona told the pet groomer to take a little more of his poof off this time when she groomed him. It looks like she put the proverbial bowl on his head after she hacked the rest of it off first. The last photo in this group shows how heavy his head is even after having all his hair cut off. You'll see later that he likes to rest his chin on things. He does it at home all the time.

Fresh Water Fishing Hall of Fame 1

One of the cool and windy days while at the Flowage we decided to take a ride in to Hayward and check out the Fresh Water Fishing Hall of Fame again. John has been a member for over 10 years now and we get a free pass to visit the place and take advantage of it every few years to see how many changes have been made.

On October 18, 1983 a friend of ours, Bob LaMay caught this fish while fishing for walleye (he said) on the High Falls Flowage in Northern Wisconsin. He was only using 6# test line on his rod and reel and landed this 50 pound Musky.

Bob passed away a few years ago, but I know he was really proud of his accomplishment. One of the fishing Clubs I belong to and we were both President of at one time or another would put the fish on display at the Sport Show in Green Bay from time to time.

Fresh Water Fishing Hall of Fame 2

Here are some additional photos we took while at the Fishing Hall of Fame.

Both of these photos where taken inside the "World's Largest Musky". John is standing right in the mouth and Mona is somewhere around the Adam's Apple.

Mona in a pose here with one of the panfish. This too was catch and release - he let her go. And as mentioned earlier - the World's Largest Musky.

Where is the Chippewa Flowage anyway?

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More Ice Racing on Shawano Lake - 2009

We stopped over by the races again today. I wanted to try to experiment more with video clips and my little pocket camera with the video option on it. I am more than satisfied with the results of the video as it was zoomed in more than I wanted to.

The race presented here was won by car number 43 who had the lead from the beginning. Temp's were around 40 degrees and this was probably the largest crowd I've seen at one of these races. You can see the results of the fine winter day with plenty of sunshine that brought about a lot of water on top of the ice. I'll bet those cars were pretty clean by the end of the race.

Ice Racing on Shawano Lake 2009

On Sunday, January 18, Mona and I stopped in at the Fire On Ice races on Shawano Lake on our way to drop of the computer at the computer place in Green Bay. (Our computer is sick again.)

The easiest access to the races is by the public boat launch in Cecil. The landing appeared to be in better shape this week than last week. There were all kinds of cars, trucks, ATV's and snowmobiles out there. Although I don't know much about them, the races have been held on Sunday afternoons again this year. This race was later in the afternoon and appears to only have four cars in it however, earlier races had more participants.

It's a good place to join the crowd and spend a Sunday afternoon. You can even get yourself a brat or hot dog as well as something to drink on the ice. You could even tune in on your car FM radio and keep up with what was going on as well as lap by lap information.

Toward the end of the video you can hear a lot of extra noise. There was a kid on a four wheeler next to me. Another lesson learned for in the future.

Visit to Lower Cato Falls near Clark Mills

On Sunday, October 26th Mona and I went out to eat at Nibby's in Branch with my Mother and her friend. (They've got great "Family Style Chicken" on Sunday's.) On the way back to my Mother's house we took a detour and stopped at the Lower Cato Falls in Manitowoc County. It's located on County Highway JJ about 8 miles from Manitowoc and a mile or two from Clark Mills.

Pictured here is a view of one of the four sets of wooden steps that lead down to the Manitowoc River. We decided to try to displace some of the chicken we had just eaten so we hiked our way down to the river. Years ago when we were kids and before the County invested the money into renovating the park to what it is today, we would occasionally go fishing there.

N0! This is NOT Jaws...

These photos were taken on Saturday, April 26th. This is not a scene from JAWS, but was taken by the Dam in Shawano. These Sturgeon are making their annual migration to their spawning sites. Under normal circumstances these fish complete the annual ritual in a matter of a few days compared to this year where the weather is not cooperating. DNR Bioligist estimate that the prehistoric looking fish may spawn for a few more days yet.

Thunder - The Red-tailed Hawk

One of the attractions at the Earth Day event held at the Navarino Wildlife Center recently was the appearance of a Red-tailed Hawk. The pictured bird who goes by the name of "Thunder" spent several hours entertaining the onlookers who came to get closer to nature.

Thunder was hit by a car and lost part of it's wing making it impossible for him to ever fly again. Pictured above with the Hawk is Tricia from the Wind River Wildlife Rehabilitation Center who is his caretaker and trainer. Thunder actually lives with her and her family at their home.

The states that the bird has a diet of lab mice and the life expectancy could be from 25 to 30 years. (John took the photos)

(Click on photos to enlarge)

Earth Day Celebration

On Saturday, April 19th we went to the Navarino Nature Center again to check what they were doing for their Earth Day event.

Aside from the face painting (Mona and I didn't get in to that), solar power demo, critter catching in the ponds, bird house making, 7 mile wagon ride through part of the reserve itself, and numerous displays inside the center itself there were two individuals who brought some birds that they are taking care of.

Pictured above is a photo John took of a Peregrine falcon and it's care taker. The bird had been injured and unable to take care of itself in the wild so it is staying at this woman's house.

Not only did Mona get to try some ice cream with fresh maple syrup, we brought home a few pine tree seedlings.