THE COAST GUARD BUOY TENDER "ALDER"

THE BUOY TENDER "ALDER"...

...LOADED WITH RETRIEVED BOUYS

Thursday,  8:00 AM.  41 degrees F, wind W changing to S, calm to light.  The sky has a high overcast with darker clouds moving in from the W beneath it.  The humidity is up, at 79%, and the barometer is down, now at 29.79%.  The Farmer's Almanac predicts unsettled weather for the next few days and that may be what we get.  The weather suddenly turned much warmer yesterday afternoon, after our taste of winter weather.   It must have been a welcome change for the crew of the Coast Guard ship the Alder.

   The harbors and channels in and around the Apostle Islands contain many navigational buoys...all with lights, some with weather and water condition analysis equipment and radio transmitters... that must be retrieved before freeze up for routine  maintenance during the winter, and then reattached to their tethers in the spring.

   The buoy tender "Alder," based in Duluth,  does this in the Chequamegon Bay and Apostle Islands region, and she was at work yesterday afternoon off the Ashland marina.  The huge bouys, painted red or green, were lifted onto the deck by the ship's crane.  She and her Coast Guard crew will return next spring with the refurbished buoys.  The Coast Guard is a constant in life on the Great Lake.

   I have an Urban Foretry Council meeting in Madison tomorrow so there will be no blog Friday.  I hope to be able to do an hour's pheasant hunting in Marshfield on the way if it doesn't get too late and the weather cooperates.   It will give Buddy and me a chance to stretch our legs, pheasants or no.