First snow of the season

We had, and are having our first snow of the season, and it's a doozy. Winter storm warnings all over the area, currently snowing, but was sleeting and slush over night and into part of today. River Falls seems to have missed the brunt of it though, as parts of the twin cities is expected to get up to ten inches during it. I wouldn't doubt it, as it's one of those spiraling storms that seems to just linger, and the snow is coming down harder now here.

The picture is something i always dread happening to me in a storm like this. One of my neighbors got a flat and they were changing it in the wet snow. Not pleasant. Hopefully this storm will pass and we'll be back to the 70s, but i really doubt it, and should get used to the snow again. That's part of living in northern Wisconsin.

New Kwik Trip

There is a new Kwik Trip on the north end of town, and it has this "thing" blowing around by a fan at it's base. I'm not sure why, but it kind of freaks me out. Maybe it's the expression, or how it moves, but it does. Not sure how long they plan to keep it there. It's odd, i saw a ton of cars with people just hanging out on the backs of them, like Kwik Trip is the new place to 'hang out'. It is a pretty small town, but there has to be something more exciting to do in town, right?

A Crow on Halloween

Saw this crow on halloween in one of my trees while waiting for trick or treaters to show up. It was huge, which doesn't quite show how big here. It was a pretty impressive bird, and i've been noticing a lot more crows in the yard than normal for some reason. I do find them to be very interesting birds, especially after seeing the episode of Nature on PBS called "A Murder of Crows".

Speaking of trick or treaters, this year was an unusual i think, a lot, and i do mean a lot, of very young children, and not one high school kid. Lots of the young kids were in big groups of about four families, some single families, but pretty steady for a couple of hours. All had pretty cute costumes, not one an NFL team jersey which seemed rare from previous years. All and all, a good turn out, but then the weather was good, even if it got colder as the night went on.

I've been bad at posting for a variety of reasons, probably best to not go into them here, as i'm sure no one is really interested. Hopefully i can find the motivation to get back to posting regularly, although it's getting into that part of the year where things look and feel drab as leaves have gone, and everything is turning brown or grey.

Running of the Llamas

Saturday was also the Running of the Llamas event in Hammond, WI, and while not quite in town, it was only a handful of miles away. I have a ton more pictures of it on my Flickr, as it was a great time and lots of interesting things happening. Sadly i was starting to feel not so hot and had moved out of a good spot after the second heat of them running, and with so many people it was hard to get shots over their heads. So i headed home before the end. The llamas and alpacas were adorable, they reminded me of larger, strange versions of my pet rabbits. They even made similar sounds, a low humming type thing, or a sigh, hard to explain. I have a short video up on my flickr though, and if you listen you can hear a couple of them making it over the sounds of people talking.

Art on the Kinni 2010

Here is a photo of the Art on the Kinni event that happened in town yesterday on the White Pathway along the river. It was nice, although the almost 20 degree difference in temperature from when i got there to when i left really tired me out, not to mention all the walking and my back hurting. Lots of interesting things to look at and buy, one of my favorites being by Fire In the Hand, the octopus plates and bowls. Thought about getting some, but in retrospect it's probably better i didn't, not because of them, but when i got home to download pictures one of my main hard drives had died a horrible death (head crash, "whirrr... click... click... grind...) and had to make a quick run to get a replacement before i lost more data. Thankfully it was one in a Drobo, so it seems no data was lost, but has since been working to repair the archive. Anyway, it was a nice event, with lots of different art and styles. Lots of people when i was there too.

Swinging bridge

It was a lovely day, not too hot, not too cold, and i felt the urge to get out, so i thought i would go to the bridge and see how the river was. There were lots of things covered up around the entrance, and i was curious what was going on, and seeing an article in the paper about how they are going to do work on the foundation, now i know. This is one of the markers to the side of the bridge on the south side. I always feel nervous when it gets bouncing a lot, and it really does when people walk on it.

Not 'quite' River Falls

This wasn't actually in River Falls, but was close, and interesting enough that i wanted to share. In Hudson (less than 10 miles away) there were replicas of the Nina and Pinta ships that Columbus sailed on. It was something i found interesting, especially since i guess i always pictured them larger. Must have been quite the experience to cross the ocean on them. I have a hard time driving a far distance some times, hard to imagine getting on a boat that size, out in the ocean where you are pretty much out of luck of anything goes wrong, and no facebook or anything. ;) It was quite the hot day too, with temps in the high 90s (33 or so C) and very high humidity, so being on a black boat wasn't the most comfortable, but it was interesting. I have more pictures of the ships in a flickr set here.

Flooding

This is Hoffman Park on the north side of town. We had very heavy rain, over four inches and it caused quite a bit of flooding. This is deeper than it looks, and what's scary is that there is more rain predicted for tonight. Not looking forward to that as i already have water in my basement, and this is already the wettest summer on record, with a month or so to go.

Interesting fact, this is the same place i took the pictures of the fireworks, for a different view of how it looks dry.

Molting?

Saw this blue jay on my deck, and it seriously freaked me out for a bit. Not sure if he is molting, which i'm guessing as the fuzzy feathers on the back look like the young ones, or if he's ill. Either way, it's very hot and humid again, and i feel for the birds and animals out there.

River Falls Days, Friday - Food tent

This part of the food tent at River Falls Days, this one called Island Noodles. There were only really a couple vendors in the food tent, mostly overpriced and prepackaged, like soda for $2 and premade things, but this was decent. I liked the fire coming up from the wok, along with the smell of freshly cooking vegetables and noodles. Definitely beat the smell of beer from the beer garden, but then i don't really care for beer.

River Falls Days, Friday - Parade

This is one of the floats in the parade, one i had an issue with, as they (and many others) were shooting water into the crowd and i had to be very aware as some seemed to be aiming right at my camera. Some years it seemed like a good idea to spray water on the crowd, as the temps can be high, but it was only in the low to mid 80s, and with a nice breeze. Anyway, the theme of River Falls Days was Kinnistock, a play on Woodstock, with most things having a 60s feel to it, with a lot of tie dye. I felt the parade was pretty lackluster, but it could just have been my state of mind. About an hour before it was over i decided to go get some food as i was tired and hungry.

Storms, many of them

Short break from the River Falls Days to talk about the storms that rolled through here on Wednesday. This picture was taken after the storms left if you can believe that. The sun came out right after, but there were tornado sightings, lots of rain, and wind gusts up to 80mph. Thankfully the immediate area was okay, but south in Elsworth there was a lot of damage, and over in Baldwin or close to, a semi got over turned by the wind. This was made worse by the fact that it wasn't just one front, it was two or three. One in the morning, with just mostly rain, then the major one with the tornados and then later one with another storm front. They say thursday will be more of the same, as it's been very hot (high 80s or into the 90s) with a high dew point (high 70s) and feels like 106F with the humidity. I know as soon as i stepped out it sure felt like it.

I found out later that my home town of Pittsville got hit too, and my parents house may be damaged, but also that a lot of my friends from there told me many trees are down. I'm glad everyone is safe and while the storms were fierce, it sounds like no one was hurt.

River Falls Days, Thursday - Rubber Soul

Thursday a Beetles tribute band called Rubber Soul played in the beer garden. They were very good, the music and performances were amazing. They had three costume sets, this is the middle one, the Sgt. Pepper's era. It was also my first try at concert photography, and without a flash at that. It seemed to take a while for the audience to move forward, not sure why, but i've heard that is just how people in River Falls are. Takes some getting used to after going to The Warehouse in LaCrosse for so many years, and it being such an intimate concert venue where you are generally within touching distance of the bands.

River Falls Days, Friday - Hot Air Balloon

Friday nearing the end of the parade, a hot air balloon surprised people. Partly because there was a hot air balloon, but also with how low it was. In this shot it was actually higher than it had been when i heard people yelling outside the food tent. It seemed to brush the trees closer to where i was here, and slowly got higher. I'm linking to a video someone grabbed and put up on the chamber of commerce youtube site. It's not the best video, but is kind of interesting.