New Years eve day

Grooming is done-turned out perfect! The huge moon kept me company and lit up the trail. 2 wolves were out trotting down on Flatlander, then out to Fisher Ave. to the Baby Grave. Just massive paw prints. Now off to ski!

SS'n

December 29th, 2009. Miatke farm, Town of Hewett.

Grooming, snowsheing,wine making

Fixed the broken G2 hitch in -16 degree early morning trailside work, then groomed for several hours. Levis looked really nice! Snowshoed later and am making cranberry wine now. Rhubarb is in the bottle "resting."

Snowshoein

Nice long snow shoe this morning-snow coming down lightly, lots of tracks to check out-Fishers, Coyotes, fox and all the small critters.

Post Christmas Day

Started grooming at 4:00am at Levis-lots of wolf tracks down Columbia rd, Rouse Rd, Gorman Ave and one the ski trails too. Nice to see in fresh snow. The grooming was tough-ice crust under powder over frozen base. 6 hours later, something skiable appeared (at least that is what most skiers think-the trails just appear?) Home then and "Tom" showed up for a bird seed treat.
Softly Falling Snow now just to brighten things up.

Snowshoed with Ruger in the neighborhood...always something to see.

Good day on snow

Groomed at 5:00am, done at 9:00....pulled on the skis and got a decent lap in at Levis-managed to get down to BRF to the Buzz ' Brew shop for supplies then home to make venison roast, chili and head out for snowshoeing with the pups. Just a few flakes of snow coming down, but nive none the less.

First ski of the year.

Muscles don't all remember how to do this, but most do. Just really out of shape, so I'll take this a little at a time to start the season. Cold today, so I think snowshoeing will be better after work. Ruger will enjoy it anyway.

Winter is here :)

Been a while, but it's time to write again. Snow is on the ground, so for me, it's a fun time of the year. Snowshoed several time this week and weekend and now can ski at Levis. My trails need a few inches of snow before I can groom again and ski them. Saw Three bald eagles today grooming-that was SOOO cool.

In Between season

Fall is too damn short, you know? October is ...POOF....gone, and now it's November already. So what to do? Hunt? Bike? Run when it's cold?Oh, shoot, then I'd miss hunting or getting the yard ready for winter. Stuff to finish up at Levis before snow flys. Fall needs to be at least another month long. First time I have not even bow hunted once by November. Twangfest is this week, so I guess I've just waited for that. Should be good and I'll have my woods time fix.

Sandhills at the StoneHouse

Sandhills at the StoneHouse
Originally uploaded by SJMeurett

The sandhills have been cruisin the neighborhood for a few weeks now-fun to see them. Now to prepare for the trip to North Dakota-should see lots of birds there.

The Big Boy

IMG_8495
Originally uploaded by SJMeurett

He's been hanging around the house and across the road all summer and Fall-I think everyone in the area knows that too. Still.....fun to see and he's built well.

Whooping Cranes at HOG corners

IMG_8443
Originally uploaded by SJMeurett

Been chasing a Whooping Crane for the past week- number 733 and Thursday discovered 2!!! Felt like a storm chaser!

Fire Sky

IMG_8413
Originally uploaded by SJMeurett

Sometimes, it just pays to wake before the dawn and wait for the day to wake up.

Almost Oktober

Been a while since I've been on here. School, from day one, has been yucky. The kids and my classes? Great. It's just been a constant threat of re-doing the special schedule into a nightmare that has been in the background everyday. WIll have to wait and see.

Back at Levis tonight to build another teeter and skinny-looking forward to that. Bugs have been bad, but it smells like fall and that is a good thing. Been mushroom hunting too lately, and that has been fun...Chickens and Hen of the woods-delish!

Better get some photos back up here-off to Oktoberfest this weekend!

Re-routed Lower Glen last night. Yellowjackets didn't like it and got stung twice. No reaction, so that's good. 3 years of Bee injections must be working. I wanna crank out more of Lucys loop this week. Gnome Fest is next weekend.

Foraging

8/22/09 04:53 PM
Originally uploaded by SJMeurett

Been fun to walk the wet woods the past cpl days-all this rain has mushrooms popping up everywhere...in every variety. Pretty cool. I did find some chanties (the yellow ones) which are supposed to be good. This one seems to be a Boltes, maybe a King, which from all reports are great. Waiting to get a positive ID. Another one is also a Boltes, but bitter. I found a lot of these and it would be great if they are edible.

Did some mowing at Levis yesterday-3 hrs and would like to finish today. Also need to ride-have been off the bike all week and my time is running out.

IMG_4770

IMG_4770
Originally uploaded by SJMeurett

Found this beauty while blackberry hunting today. What IS it?

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

Log Skinny done

http://forums.mtbr.com/newreply.php
Here are shots of some of the finsihed "skills" elements on Lucys loop.

*hrs at Levis yesterday, just 3 today, but it is looking pretty good. Now I better ride.

More Levis dirt

The work crew did a ton of Levis Trail building yesterday. I know I got 8 sweaty hours in! Upper Hermosa-Done! Northface-Done. Lucy's Loop (kinda) Done! Then the yellowjackets showed up.....didn't get me though-whew.

More Lucy's work today

Spent 4 or 5 hrs cutting picnic table wood for ramps and bridges. Built the 180 degree ramp off the top of Lucys onto the side hill. Quite some engineering I must say. Good thing the chain saw was new.

Catchin up

Just back from Levis-just had to get those skinnys done and ready to ride. Used the Earthquake to dig post holes, and everything is mounted and ready. A couple stumps have to go, but that shouldn't take too long. Need to get a "DO_NOT_ENTER" sign up on the south end.

Maybe I can get another element done this week-that would be cool....a teeter maybe? Or, more skinnies. I hate this hot humid weather-just fee like a slug and was totally drenched with sweat running off my cap. Buggy too right now.

Earthquake

I love this machine.

Lucy's Loop :)

(my fellow dirt digger and home owner-CB)
Damn...it's nice to have extra hands when workin at Levis-Hat's off to Darrell and CB and Lucy for the help constructing elements (ramps, bridges and a teeter) on the skills loop. Rode the loop later today to see how it went and that teeter scared me (just a little) but I wanna do it again!
Sweet day at Levis fo sure.

Work Day

CB is going to meet me at Levis at 8:00, so it'll be nice having some help building stuff....Hope Lucy is along-I like that name for the new skills loop-Lucys Loop, nice ring to it. Rained during the night, so we'll maybe build another ramp first, then go install some? No set plan. We really should work on Northface, but LL will be more fun.

Levis Day

Long rainy, sunny,humid, dirt diggin rock pickin day at Levis with the motley crew. Stone is ready for Howard and company, Lower Hermosa bridge done and skinnys made for Lucys loop.

Riding the two niner

Did the house chores early and used up half the day watching Le Tour-the sprint on the champs de elysee is always exciting and I love the Yellow Jersey team leading their man onto it for the first lap. Great tradition. Contador is not the team player like Lance, but he is the strongest this year. Exciting Tour.
Nice ride later at Levis-rocky, technical stuff and not much leg burnin.

This week-start the skills course!

Stll in Hodag land

Nice being up here yet-sunny and nice thurday and today....well, will probably get wet. Love being in all the wildlife, although back home, we have plenty of that....just less water. And tourists.
Can't wait to get on the mtn bike again.

Hodag Land

Been in my class all week-great to be up here in the northwoods-always feels like home. Lot's of motorcycle riding, photography and jumping in that ice cold lake every morning to clean up!

Trail Building

New trails done today-man, I like having 8 people working with me at Levis. They are young and really don't know what they are doing....and like to take breaks, but we do accomplish things. Lower Hermosa to Dead Turkey is now done except for a bridge, and Lucys loop is cleared and raked. Now time to start building elements.

Nice ride on the SS this afternoon-spun my legs out, but a good kind of tired....

100 Miles of Levis

Thought I'd pop up a picture of the Race yesterday-tough riders-this course on Levis is really hard and a lot of climbing. Think I'll stay as trail monitor.

Pay Dirt

Lot's of trail mowing the last few days- DR on the singletrack and the Swisher on ski trails. I put my time in this week on pay dirt.
Watch the race today-shot gun start. :)

diggin dirt

Got two sections of trail done yesterday-climb up the ridge on Hermosa and the sweeping corner on lower east Cliffhanger/Switchback. Glad those are finally done. Today, a date with the DR mower and maybe a re-route of a short Yellowjacket section.

Back in the Saddle

Good to be riding again-really nice cool morning at Levis-had to check the geo-cache and make sure it was still where it was supposed to be, and all was well.

Beauty...and the beast.

Headed down to Levis early this morning to mow......had rained during the night and fog was taking it's sweet time rising. Drove past this 100 yr old farmstead, long abandoned and two Sandhills were feeding...just had to grab my little camera and catch this moment. :)

Then...........although snakes are not-my-thing, I leave them and understand their role. This hog nosed snake is not super common, but I've seen them at Levis several times. They put on quite a show-flair out their neck like a cobra (two "eye" spots on the back) and hissss like crazy-also sometimes vibrate their tail in the dry leaves. Gets your attention! This one was about 2' long and after I turned to do something, he was gone.
Good day in the Clark County Forest.

South Mound Loop

Decided to hit the gravel early-predicted 90 humid degrees would not be a lot of fun later today. The SF was comfy and my legs okay. Tried to ride the hills hard and maybe....someday, I'll be back in shape again.

Cobia

Nice ride thru all of central Wis...all the back roads and county hwys...nice. Toured the Wis Maritime Museum and the USS Cobia. I have a new respect of the "Silent Service." ....and they all volunteered-wow.

Nice ride back from GB thru the Ice Age area and then back on a 2 hr mtn bike ride. Butt is sore.

Self Ports?

Thunder in the distance this early morning, so I decide to see what some of the bogs are up to. EBees has followed http://stanstrembicki.blogspot.com/ and I really enjoyed his project of taking a SP every day for a year. Not sure if I could swing that, but I sure need to jump start my making pictures again. I think this blog will help. I've shot more that usual, but then, school is out too.
Seems I always want to add a picture of some kind every time I post here...so maybe it is a good idea.

Snodgrass

"Recycled" a bunch of picnic table wood from the burn pile at the county shop and am re-purposing them for bridges on Snodgrass. Sue J stopped out and we seeded and mulched the entry along the driveway, then headed into the swamp with tools and supplies to finish the bridges Dean and I started yesterday. Got it all figured out and started pounding nails and cutting. Turned out really well...evcn the mosquitos thought so.

Wolf Po

Worked all day at Levis on the shed....needed TLC after a few years and grooming all winter. Finally, later in the day got the smoker going and then hit the "Wedges Creek Loop" on the Superfly. Didn't want to hit it too hard after yesterdays sand slog on Beaver Lane. Spun as much as I could. As always, saw some fresh wolf po on the trail off Sterling ave. Thought I really wouldn't want to be a deer living back there. Bear tracks a plenty too.

Lucy Lu

Spend a good part of the day building trail-some on Upper Glen, some on the east end of Porky Point. Raking, chain sawin, mowing and bench cutting. Looks really good-next project, lower Cliffhanger.

Scouted the section of woods to construct the skills trail-can't wait to flag it.

Lucy made the work day more fun-my chewed up gloves liked her too. ;)

Iris of Summer

Decided a while ago that today wouldl be my first long ride of the season-fel a little bad about that, all my other riding friends have plenty of long rides in, but at least I'm getting out and I want to get out and pedal. Grabbed the Salsa SS and headed the back way to Levis, then thru Levis and finally the front side back. Stopped a few times to press the shutter and give my legs a break.
When the iris start reaching up out of the swamp water, I know summer really is here.


With summer, comes dirt diggin-tomorrow and Saturday looks to be on the slate.

Upper Hermosa Backwards

Finally......"School-is-out" projects got set aside for now and the clouds parted so I could ride some dirt. Decided to get out to Upper Hermosa and ride it south to north-not really that great or flow, but different. Inspected the new seeding and always looking at re-routes. Too many to count. Wish I could snap my fingers and the trail would be moved...over there!

Today is too many house chore, but Thursday I better get my trail work ducks in a row for saturdays work day.
Word.

Levis Mound Stuff

Well, I kinda forgot the Wisco State foresters would be touring Levis Mound next week....so I need to get on my horse and get some trail work done...soon!
Stopped rainin, so maybe finally I can get a ride in today.

First Wine of Summer

Racked Rhubarb last week after a tremendous fermentation and today the Cran-Apple, which feremented at a less than-stellar rate, but still looks to be okay. Maybe less alcohol %, but semi-sweet and beauty color.
Just dreary outside....but need a bike ride ride.

New season

School is done. Track is done (kinda). On to clean-up chores at the office and then bring on Summer....riding!

Busy few days ahead-Last day of school (for me) today. Special Oympics state tonight, state track tomorrow and saturday, Padre's Ride in Ladysmith Sunday. Then...cut grass for a couple days and start digging dirt at Levis. Summer is here!

Fat Tire Amber Ale

Finally got out and rode at Levis again...this time on the Superfly. Just a couple cars there and some campers leaving-I wanted to catch the ride in the morning. Started climbing Cliffhanger-yeah, good warm-up,huh? I spun up and it was nice...some hikers up there checkin things out-first timers I'd guess. Stoopped at High Rock and snapped a few pixs. On the way down TT I had a jingling down below.....loose granny gear...no wrenches. Tried to ride a ways, but out on flat lander, the crank stopped. Hand tightened the bolts and limped out. Still...a. nice ride. The parking lot was deserted. But....there was a loney looking styrofoam cooler in a abandoned campsite, campfire still smoldering. Just had to check it out. Well, the mtn bike gods finally left me a present-inside were bottles of Fat Tire Ale (and a couple Millers). Dang, had a thirst right then too. First "payment" ever for the dirt digging here over the years-yes!

Run Fast, Turn Left

Sectionals today-Medford. Long day and night ahead..hope to be back by Midnight. Thinkin Sheila will be our only State Qualifier.

Hope to get out on the fat tires this weekend- Ten is coming, so we have brewing to do also Sunday- a nice Saison. Found more info on bike skills construction, so am looking forward to getting that going soon.

Summer is almost here. :)

rain rain...

Rainin again.....oh well, there was a slight 3 hr window last night and we got the regional track meet in pretty much unscathed. Pretty da*m cold by the end. 12 events movin on on to the next rung on the ladder to state. Sheila was her usual awesomeness.
Hope to get back on the bike this week-after riding a couple day in a row, I've got the itch again.

Gods Country

Up and at 'em early-hit the atv trail in the morning when it was still chilly-rode the SS hard and can feel it today-then hopped on the Road King for a nice off-the-beaten path ride to LaCrosse and the Taylor Donskey Grad party. Funny-some of the family there I really haven't seen in 20 yrs. Good to catch up again.

Memorial day today-think I'll brew up a Cran-Apple wine this morning, then, if my legs hold out, get a ride in, smoke some salmon and then track practice tonight. Tired already.

Green Flags and Salsa

Rain early today, but I was chopin at the bit to get to Levis and flag out re-routes. Nothing major, just a better corner on the bottom of Cliffhanger, a better climb up to the top of Upper Glen and less of a climb on the east end of Porky Point. Didn't matter that it rained-just great to be out there.....there, smelling like bug dope. That accomplished, suited up and rode the Salsa single speed "around the block" just to survey things. Trails wouldbe wet so I stayed on Fisher and Rouse rds. Checked out an old farmstead foundation to use stone from and inspected the new seeding. Looked good. Just a bit tired, so headed home to country livin chores. That's okay too.

smokey bear

No slumber last night-guard dog Ruger sounded the alarm and woke me from my blissful sleep on the couch-I think I was watching travel channel thru my closed eye lids. Something was amiss in the back yard and he didn't like it. It was almost dark, but putting your face up to the glass allowed a pretty clear view that something big and black was sauntering around the lawn. The bear wasn't huge, but big enough and must have been passing thru the area and swung in to check out the bird feeders? Anyway, he ended up right next to the house, so the screen doors were closed and living room windows shut. I decided that although it was cool to have a bear of our very own to view, Ruger (and he's still growling and sounding all mean-like) and I decide we'd rather not have him on the deck. The 12 ga. was still handy from turkey hunting, so I tossed in a light bird shot and grabbed a flashlight and tip toed out the back door and around the house. By the time I flipped on the flashlight, he (she?) had worked their way around to the back, the light lit up it's big shiny butt, the saftey flipped off and by the time the 7 shot reached his bum and the smoke cleared, he'd made a black streak bee-line into the woods.

I shuffled my slippers back into the house, knowing I'd only put one shell into the gun. Smokey won't be back anytime soon.

Clover smells so good

I was a little shocked to find out the Neillsville girls had not won the conference title since 1978 (a good year)...31 years-wow. I think I've had the head girls job for about 15 years or so and Mosinee just always dominated the track. Not last night. We put on a 196 point whoopin on everyone. Awesome job by the whole team. :)

Superfly :)

Finally.........got to ride at Levis and had it pretty much to myself this morning. Did bump into a dad and son out on Yellowjacket. As I rode, I thought, I should write up a little story on each trail-maybe too much information? I dunno, but it was something that popped into my mind spinning the pedals.

Each trail kinda has it's own story- why was it built in the first place, why there??? What issues went into it and who designed it. Might be a worthy project to post on the web site (www.levismound.com) and Yahoo group page. Hmmmm, have to think about that.

Anyway, good ride and the Superfly rode so well-just lovin that bike more and more. I should camp out down here (at Levis) some weekend-would be fun to ride and hang out.

Also thought we should make some jerseys up-for the folks who work here. Maybe Deano can scoop some Pearl ones and we can print them up.


Speaking of......and I don't want to jinx anything, but IF we win conference Tuesday, it would be sweet to have t-shirts printed up for the girls...and supporters.

Perfect day outside-ride, mow, have a Capital Autumn Fire on the deck.

Chilly

Just 29 degrees outside-Brrrr. Sun will be out, so maybe a nice ride at Levis is in order. Yeah, it is.
Wonder how Craigs dirt diggin went. Nice to have someone dedicated to the trail helping out big time.

Redstarts,Towees and Toms

Rise and shine, 3:30am...at Lunds by 4:45. Wind is howling and the woods are silent as far as my selected game goes.
Got some reading done...saw other species and finally saw the sun.

Explored some ruins near Columbia (as in the ghost town north of Levis) and shot a few pix....good morning.

Papermakers

Nice win. Best I can say. D-1 schools, and little 'ol Neillsville came to town (Thanks Sheila and co.!) and showed'em we can compete. All the pieces are in the puzzle this year. Nice night and good to be a coach on this night.

On to tomorrow-looking forward to spending quality time in the woods and maybe diggin dirt.

Bird Song

Part of the outdoors is just listening...trying to figure out what that is...wait, what was that??! I'm not all that good at it, but I like to try to figure out what I'm listening to. I guess birds entertain me to that degree. This time of year, my favorite sound to listen to is from orioles trying to impress each other. It's kinda like a a slurpy song, whatever that means, but I like it. Wish they would stay all summer, but usually they move along. Spent some $$ on an ipod app that has bird calls on it-too pricey and too few birds, but fun none the less.

Valintinos

So the world of Cloverbelt track and field were oh so important last night. Conference meet info, by-laws, motions, voting and most confusing...who is in the east and west Cloverbelt.

My head is spinning a bit-too many meets this week, oh, and teach too.

I think summer will be good, now wheer IS that bike?

Four by Four Hundred

Eight hours in the classroom and 5 hours running a track meet makes that very first Leinies Red taste oh so good. Long day, but the Listeman Invite went well and the girls won another-things are looking good for the conf. meet next week.

On the other side of my brain is just wanting to get out and ride. In Wild Hogs, Woody screams that out about a different kind of bike, but I'm feeling the same.

Conf meeting tonight, meet at Rapids tomorrow, set up turkey tent Friday, shoot turkey Sat.

Works for me. Ride on Sunday.

Frost?

Are you kidding me? Back yard has frost on it! Hopefully the weather will just start getting nice soon here-headed down to Lunds in BRF to try and outsmart a turkey this coming weekend.

Big track week-home invite tomorrow, then Nekoosa thursday. Collapse Friday.

B of the B

I like this. The "Battle of the Birds" each spring morning. Ruger always is insistent about getting out in the morning, so I follow mans best friend. When I step outside, it is sometimes so loud with which feathered friend can out-do the other. Sounds just great to me there in the dark.

Should ahve rode yesterday, but back was hurtin, and I did yardwork and hunted 'srooms instead. Found some. Morels (in the firepit part of the yard). Fry 'em up good with eggs?

Spring has Sprung

Trees have gone from grey to green in ...like 3 days. Everything is green. A peer through the woods and it's solid green. I like it. Toms are gobblin again this morning nearby. Rained again during the night.

Track meet today-may be cool and wet? Hope not for the athletes sake.
50th party tonight, laptop loaded, speakers, amp, dvds etc etc....bring on the party.

Love waking before daylight and listening to the birds start up. Corny? Don't care. It's something that a lot of people never hear or expierence.

No track tonight, just getting a few things ready for the folks 50th. The yard needs some TLC too. Spec Oly meet tomorrow-which I always look forward to.

Looking fwd to this soon.

Day one

Well, I like what Livin the Life has done on his blog, so I decided to try it out. I doubt there will be followers, but this is for me, right?

Been feelin like I miss the dirt-did a ride at Levis last weekend and it felt really good-that said, I was by myself, so I could go my pace. I'm afraid, winter and too many tasty brews have "anchored" me some. Or a lot. I'm ready to spend quality time diggin dirt again too. It's an escape from teaching-it's been a long year and next year just looks terrible from a job load point. Gotta get out of track-but it's hard-so many good kids on the team this year and fun to be with.

Hmmm.

Well, beauty day out the window. Not long now til I can take my coffee at the rock faces at Levis.