The Rhinelander Daily News - Online news and information for the Rhinelander, Wisconsin region

Ced Vig
wisconsin woodsmoke

“People are always good company when they are doing what they really enjoy.”

– Samuel Butler (1835-1902)

Fireplace note

A seasoned fire tender becomes a connoisseur of fuel wood, selecting it as one does wine and cheese. He soon discovers that he can keep the flames driftwood-blue for weeks by placing a broken piece of copper screen in the grate — that the salts of strontium chloride sprinkled on the wood produces a red flame — calcium chloride an orange color.

On a bucket

In 2006, the most recent year for which statistics are available, anglers spent 11 million hours sitting on an overturned bucket or shacked up in an ice shanty, waiting for a red flag to fly.

They caught 14 million fish and kept just under half of them, according to a statewide mail survey of anglers the DNR conducted in 2006.

In winter, as in summer, panfish rule, says Brian Weigel, the Department of Natural Resources fisheries research scientist who analyzed the survey responses. “A quick check of the numbers shows panfish, panfish, panfish by far.”

Anglers caught about 11.7 million panfish during the ice fishing season and kept a higher proportion of them, nearly half, than in the open water season. The same pattern held true for walleye, northern pike and bass, Weigel says.

Animal facts

The adult bucks are in breeding condition from September through February. Does are not constantly receptive to bucks. Their heat period lasts 24 to 36 hours. If a doe is not successfully bred, she will come in heat again in 28 days. Although some of this spring’s fawns will breed this month, it is highly improbable that the buck fawns are capable of breeding.

The black bear sleeps in a different den each winter. According to Paul Kelsey, writing in the New York Conservationist, a hibernating bear takes on no food or water, does not urinate or defecate, maintains its lean body mass and keeps its proper water balance. Urine is produced but is reabsorbed. These characteristics are similar to those of the other six sleepers.

It was a surprise to read that the average life of a red fox is one year, although a few of them may live five to six years. Bobcats and coyotes are the principal predators of red fox, and the young fox are killed by large hawks and owls. However, the principal killers of fox are diseases such as mange, distemper and rabies.

Ranch-raised mink are being pelted. A ranch-raised mink is just as ferocious as a wild one. Both types will bite the hands that feed them. Minks are country cousins of otters, weasels, and skunks. All boast nauseating scents!

Fish under the ice

The lakes are frozen over. Don’t feel sorry for the fish living in the cold water. They’re living in an environment where it is always above the freezing point. Animals that live on land experience temperatures that plunge down as much as 40 degrees below zero. Here in the Northwoods an average winter has 24 days when the temperature is below zero. In 1931 there were only 13 days when the temperature dropped below zero, but in 1950 there were 65 days below zero.

Fish don’t hibernate, but they do slow down eating, browsing and moving. Walleyes may eat two times a day in summer, but in winter it may be only once in two or three days.

When ice covers the lake, it closes off the atmospheric oxygen. In shallow lakes, the winter’s supply of oxygen runs out, resulting in the death of many fish. This is known as “winterkill.”

Ced’s notes

This is the season when the Norwegians feast on lefsa and lutefish. Lefsa is made from mashed potatoes baked on top of a wood stove — lutefish is processed dried codfish.

Our Sugar Camp Lake is 38 feet deep. The Olav Enlis live on Squash Lake where the maximum depth is 81 feet. The deepest lake in Oneida County is Perch Lake where the depth is said to be 100 feet. Lake Tomahawk is 79 feet deep — Big Carr is 71.

On Dec. 23, 1803, France sold the Louisiana Territory — 828,000 square miles — to the United States for less than 3 cents an acre. The purchase doubled the size of the United States and provided an opportunity for western migration.

To thaw a frozen pipe, wrap the frozen section in an old towel and pour boiling water over it. Once the water flows, insulate the pipe.

Before you venture out on a frozen lake, the ice should be at least four inches thick for skating, five inches for snowmobiling.

Winter poem

The snows of winter cloak my lawn,

But I don’t mind at all.

Now passers-by can’t see the leaves

I didn’t rake last fall.

Orben’s Current Comedy

Santa’s reindeer

During the early history of our country, Santa Claus traveled by horse and wagon. In 1882, a Columbia University president, Clement Moore, wrote a poem for children — A Visit from St. Nicholas. Since then Santa has traveled through the holiday skies in a sleigh pulled by eight tiny reindeer. In their wild habitat, reindeer weigh as much as 300 pounds — a weight that taxes the strength of rooftops that he visits.

Question

Wonder if Santa Clause carries life insurance? If he can find an insurance company that will cover him? He’s overweight, he smokes, he flies at night and his land-on-the-job hazards include cramped landing zones and headlong plunges down chimneys. As a life insurance risk, Santa Claus is a disaster.

Mistletoe

Much of the mistletoe that we decorate with at Christmas time comes from southern states. The only mistletoe that can grow in the Northwoods is a dwarf variety — generally on black spruce and balsam trees. These tiny plants upset the growth processes in the spruce tree, forming thick clumps of spruce branches know as “witch’s brooms.”

First day of winter

The winter solstice is scheduled for Sunday, Dec. 21 — the first day of winter. At that time the sun appears lower in the sky than any other time of the year. Winter solstice means “the sun stands still” because the sun appears to linger in that position before starting north again. Night fires celebrating the event are held in places in Vermont and in European countries to urge the sun to “get moving.”

Although the solstice was celebrated many years before the birth of Christ, the Christians have observed the event by burning yule logs, decorating evergreen trees and decorating their windows with lights.

Deer note

The earliest that deer have been seen breeding is Oct. 5 — the latest is Jan. 18. However, wildlife managers have determined the average date to be Nov. 19. The presence of deer hunters has little effect on the deers’ breeding season.

During the rutting season, a buck may mate with five or six does. After chasing does, traveling long distances and eating poor food, a buck will lose 25 percent of his weight. When the breeding season has ended, bucks drop their antlers, retire to the woods and become shy, non-aggressive critters.

At the end

This year sure has gone by quickly. A note that I got from a friend, Peg, had a cute little saying at the bottom of the letter:

“Life is like a roll of toilet paper.

The nearer you get to the end

The faster it goes!”

Tell us what you think...

Comments »

The comments above are from readers. In no way do they represent the views of the Rhinelander Daily News.