GETTING READY...

LAKE EFFECT SNOW ADVISORY THROUGH TUESDAY MORNING

LOGGING ROAD...AND DEEP SNOW IN THE WOODS

Monday, 9:00 AM.  14 degrees F, wind NW, calm with moderate gusts.  The sky has a heavy, low overcast and lake smoke is rising from the channel.  The humidity is 81% and the barometer is more or less steady, and now stands at 29.80".  It is snowing lightly with about three inches of new snow on the ground, giving us at least two feet of snow in the last week,  and there is  a lake effect snow advisory through tomorrow morning for northern Bayfield county.
   We have to spend most of today in Ashland, with a dentist appointment for Joan and a lot of shopping ahead of a busy schedule of travel, meetings and deer hunting in the next ten days.  The early winter with heavy snow and bad roads has taken a toll on our schedules and activities. And to top it off,  I haven't had a chance to take the rifle out and do some shooting before deer season, and this afternoon is probably the last chance I will have to do so.  It will be a busy day.
   Yesterday we all sort of just crashed, but we did get out to my deer stand, the Ridgeline again managing the snow really well.  Buddy raced up and down the logging road blowing off pent up energy, and Joan helped me spot deer tracks crossing the logging road to strategize where the best confluence of deer runs, such as they are, might be.  There are enough tracks that it gives me some hope of seeing a buck on opening weekend.  I haven't seen any buck rubs, although I haven't really done much exploring in the deep snow.  I will have to hunt near the logging road, as I will never be able to drag a deer very far by myself through the deep snow and heavy brush.
   Congress is also getting ready to finally vote on the Xcel pipe line, the Senate Democrats bringing the matter up now in an attempt to help Louisiana Democrat Senator Landrieu in her upcoming runoff election with a Republican challenger, even though the President will surely veto the joint bill if it passes.
   The whole pipeline project has been a political football right from the start, and is evidently a moot question after six years, as the oil industry has moved on and completed the southern half of the pipeline, from Nebraska to Louisiana, and rerouted much of the northern US route, which serves mainly US oil production,  through existing pipelines and rail transport. The Canadian oil will find its way to refineries and markets by other routes. Economic issues on the scale of the Excel pipeline are not likely to be determined by legislation or the lack thereof,  only delayed and made more expensive. And the Congressional Budget Office says that completing the pipeline will have no effect on carbon emissions, since the Canadian oil will get to the world market without it.
   Truth and logic are always the first casualties in political warfare.