In February I took part in The Great Backyard Bird Count sponsored by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.  The final report from The Cornell Lab was posted last week.  Madison was the lead city with submitting 180 lists.   Rhinelander was second in the listing of reporting cities with 63 lists followed by Milwaukee in 3^rd place. 

            Thirty species were observed in Rhinelander with a total of 2,472 birds counted.   I had hopes Newbold would increase the number of submitted lists.  The report showed this year 5 lists were submitted up from only 1 list in 2008. The Newbold total bird count was 264 birds representing 15 species.   The newest activities ... [Read More]

             Calling all bird lovers . . . get in on The Great Backyard Bird Count this weekend.  The bird count is from Friday, February 12 to Monday, February 15^th.   

            It's sponsored by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Audubon and Bird Studies Canada.  This is the 13th year of the bird count.  The participation by Wisconsin residents continues to increase each year.  Records go back to 1998 at the site.  In 1998 there was no count submitted from Rhinelander, but 60 were submitted in 2009. 

            This will be the first time we have participated in the count.  The 2009 chart of Wisconsin localities shows one list identifying 9 different bird ... [Read More]

             Did you shop a locally owned store in the last week?  How about three different locally owned stores in the last month?  Are there locally owned businesses you would miss if they were no longer available?  

            Then you may want to make a conscious decision to take part in the 3/50 Project.  The 3/50 Project is based on a consumer making a decision to spend a total of $50 a month in three locally owned businesses.  Promoting the 3/50 Project goal to shop locally and spend $50 per month doesn’t mean swearing off franchises.   It is spending money in locally owned businesses so more of the money stays in the local communities; for instance, when $100 is spent in locally owned businesses $68 returns to the local economy through taxes, payrolls and other expenditures.  If the same $100 is spent in a “big box” store $43 of the $100 remains in the local community.  The same $100 spent online... [Read More]

            We will be leaving early tomorrow morning for a sport we have grown to love, snowshoe disc golf.  Never heard of it?  It is a derivation of the summer sport disc golf.  Snowshoeing is the twist that hooks us into going as often as possible to snow play the game.

            The course we traverse is in Sugar Camp.  The course has 18 holes.   Snowshoeing the 2 miles plus or minus a few yards around the course is a great workout.  The discs we use are engineered for the sport.  The discs are not Frisbees.  One looks at the plethora of disc choices for distance, engineered to fade left or right, and weighing in grams from 150 to 185. All three of the three described characteristics are taken into account when deciding... [Read More]