Grouse Hollow Journal for the week of April 3, 2014

Grouse Hollow Journal for the week of April 3, 2014 by Greg Koelker

After coming out of her long winter's hibernation, the Mississippi Queen growled to life, almost instantly on Saturday morning. I previously carried my boat batteries up from the basement and reinstalled them in the back of the boat. I tied some new hair jigs on my walleye rods.

After a stop at The Captain's in Genoa for bait, Vince and I got on the river. Karen Clements told us that the fishermen on the barge had done well on Friday, but that Mark Clements had called from the fishing barge and said it was real slow that morning. The Corps had opened up some roller gates and there was a great deal of cloudy water filled with debris, no doubt flushing out some fish and making others hunker down. It was beautiful though.

When we got to the landing at 4 PM, there was a general exodus of fishermen. Not much was happening fishing wise at least. We solved the problems of the world and saw one successful fisherman, a bald eagle swoop gracefully down and lift off with a dripping 9-inch fish in its talons. Very cool. We got a rock.

It is finally warming up, but this last winter of our discontent still hangs on in our memories. Like back in October when I got back from North Dakota. Ellen told me how it seemed like the house letting some w

Vince with only catch of the day.

Scout takes a break while on a walk with me on one of the warm days.

ind in. On some days this winter, we both noticed how much harder the geo-thermal AND furnace had to run because of the cold and wind. For two winters we never burned any LP in the furnace, except in the gas fire place. With a summer fill, LP was a bargain. This winter, we had to fill up twice to the tune of about a grand - and we were the lucky ones. The LP barons told the country that there was a shortage caused by the cold winter and farmers drying grain in the fall after a wet harvest, yada yada yada . . . All the while the LP companies were still selling US produced LP overseas. According to the Rueters New Agency in an article at the end of January, “As millions (in the US) suffer from the supply squeeze and sky-high prices, government data shows the fuel was being exported at historic levels at the end of fall and analysts say the pace of sales abroad was maintained into the new year.”

Anyway, over the years, I thought we did an awful lot to tighten up our old farm house, new low-E windows, R36 blown fiberglass in the attic, foam wrap, Tyvec wrap, lots of Great Stuff foam, more attic ventilation, insulation in the walls, etc. At the Vernon Electric Coop meeting in February, I picked up an energy audit rebate form, so last week we got an energy audit. Dave Ware of Warm House Co. worked on assessing our home for about 3 and a half hours, using a whole house blower, infra-red camera, and observation. He checked the outside, the inside attic, basement, all the windows, etc. We found so many leaks, if this were a boat, we would have gone down before the Titanic even set sail. Dave had lots of good advice, realistic suggestions of what his company might do for us, and he was quick with returning his audit and a bid for the work that may button us up a little better before the polar vortex strikes again.

Now the audit was eye opening, but the really good part about it is that it was free. Yup, Dave gave me his bill and I submitted it to Vernon Electric with a rebate form I printed off their web site. For this energy audit, they rebate just what Dave charged me. Vernon Electric will also rebate 25% of the cost of the fix up to $1,000! So, now you're talking what could be real money. Now that I know, the Energy Audit is a no brainer in my opinion. Anyway, we hope to have Dave and Warm House Company here later this spring - it is spring, right?

Until next time, get out - Ellen and I got our fishing licenses and I bought my spring turkey license and stamp on Sunday. The youth season is this weekend! My season is next week. The birds are out and about a bit too. Don't forget to attend this year's Conservation Congress and DNR fish and game hearings next week either. The Vernon County one is on Monday, April 14 at Viroqua High School at 7 PM. Enjoy.