Banana Brew Butterflies

The Upper Mississippi River Valley has so many different beautiful things to admire, even some insects. When you are cruising the Mississippi River many times you want to take a break and stop at a sand bar, and while there you notice some beautiful butterflies flying around. We all have seen butterflies of different types but did you know that there is actually a way to lure these butterflies to your houseboat or even your home personal garden. Many houseboaters have plants on their boats and sometimes on the dock in their immediate area. Many of us enjoy everything Mother Nature provides for us and in this case it's butterfies.
We have learned that not only is there certain plants to have around to lure butterflies there is also a concoction called Banana Brew.  Here's how to make it:  Take 10 pounds of over-ripe bananas, 1 pound of dark brown sugar, and one bottle or can of dark beer. You can also use yeast.  Mix the ingredients with a blender and put into buckets or containers to ferment. Be sure to leave room for expansion of the concoction and vent your brew. You might even have butterfies show up while making the brew if done outdoors. You can use the brew right away or store it for later, just be sure to vent the brew. The brew can be poured or brushed onto logs at sandbars or bring a piece of driftwood to your houseboat and brush it on and they will come. This brew was invented by the National Butterfly Center which is located in Texas. The claim is you will see butterflies that you may have never seen before. Butterfly season is rapidly coming to an end here in the Upper Mississippi River Valley but we are giving it a try and will defintely try it next season and we will post our results. We provided a link to their web site for you to get more information on which plants will lure butterflies to your boat or home garden.
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9/11 Remembered

Ten years ago we all experienced a life changing event in the United States. Everyone asks the question, Where were you on that unforgetful day?. We were cruising the Mississippi River here in Port of La Crosse going past Riverside Park when we noticed a large group of people gathering. We discovered local firefighters, police officers, boy scouts, and their families and friends along with a full color guard had organized together to march through Riverside Park and into some of downtown La Crosse to honor those that perished in the 9/11 attacks, It was a great site to witness,as we didn't hear about any such gathering. Here are some photos from the event we took from our boat.
Houseboating Excursions thanks everyone for remembering that day and for all those that put their lives at risk to give us the life we want to have, our thoughts and prayers go out to everyone.
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Float Fishing, Alma WI

If you plan to visit the Upper Mississippi River Valley and would like to experience some good fishing in different areas,  getting on a Mississippi River Float is a great idea. One of the many floats is The Great Alma Fishing Float in Alma,WI. You don't need a boat to access these floats they provide transportation for you, in the Alma case you can board the shuttle near the Lock and Dam #4. The Alma Float is open daily from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. and there is a fee for fishing, $16 for adults, $7 for children 12 and younger and $5 for nonfishers. The Alma Float does serve breakfast and lunch. It also has portable restrooms and a fish cleaning room. The float is owned by two brothers and was built in 1948. Alma is one of our many cruise stops and as we pass by the float we notice it's always got lots of people catching lots of fish.  A little history on Alma is that it was named by riverboat pilots for a rock formation in the bluffs above town. It became an official village in 1868. It is built into the bluffs and along the Mississippi River and is several miles long but only two blocks wide. The village features museums, art galleries, gift shops and restaurants. Alma is also the birthplace and area Beth grew up in and many of her family's relatives still live there. I have heard many fishing stories from her father and grandfather, Beth included, about the many trips they took to the Alma Float, if the fish were not biting good, the food sure was.
Boat or no boat the Upper Mississippi River Valley has plenty to offer for everyone and for more information on the Great Alma Fishing Float visit their web site.
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Stale Beer Uses

Many of us have been in a situation where we are cleaning out our refrigerators or our coolers after a fun weekend and discover a can of beer that was forgotten. Beer drinkers know that the breweries now put a date on the bottom of a can of beer telling you how long the beer will stay fresh. There is always that one forgotten one that we find and it's way past it's freshness date. We don't like to waste a good beer so here are some alternatives you can use that beer for:
1. Trap slugs and snails; just place a dish of beer around your garden mainly in the evening and in the morning the slimy critters will have been drawn by the beer's aroma and will have drowned. The beer can be re-used until evaporated.
2. Trap fruit flies; just place a can of beer on the kitchen counter and cover the top with plastic wrap and leave a small opening for the flies to get in and the won't be able to get back out.
3. Distract bees and wasps from your outdoor activities; put some beer in cups around the outskirts of your picnic area and it will attract bees and wasps. It's not a long-term control tactic, it's more like keeping that unwanted guest at the farthest table.
4. Get rid of mice; a humane way of getting rid of mice is to place an inch or so of beer in a bucket and put a ramp to it so the mice can climb in and when they are inebriated you can remove them and place them someplace outside.
5. Cockroach trap; soak a piece of bread in beer and place it in a jar and put Vaseline around the lip of the jar and the roaches are attracted and can get in but not out.
6. Fertilize your gardens; beer has sugars which are loved by your vegetables and flowers, your indoor plants love it too in small amounts.
7. Get rid of brown spots in your lawn; the acids in the beer kill off fungi and pests and the fermented sugars feed the grass.
8. Spruce up wooden furniture; using a soft cloth rub the flat beer onto the furniture and it will help restore some of the polish and color.
9. Clean gold jewelry; just place your gold jewelry in a dish of beer and let it soak awhile and remove, rinse and dry with a soft cloth.
10. Polish brass pots; use a soft cloth and rub beer onto pot and let sit awhile then rinse and dry with another soft cloth, the acids in beer work great on most metals.
11. Loosen rusty bolts; pour the beer on the rust and it may dissolve enough of the rust allowing you to get them loose.
12. Insulation; for all us adventurous types you can use  full unopened cans of beer in construction walls because the beer absorbs the cold and won't freeze due to the alcohol content.
The next time you find that lost beer and hate to just dump it out remember these few tips and you will never have to waste a good beer again. That's called, "BEER ABUSE".  So  if you are the creative and adventurous type give it a try.
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Fountain City, WI Dock Installed

It's been a long summer with high water this year preventing a lot of small communities from being able to put in their docks for boat commuters. This has had a huge impact on their local businesses because they rely on all us boaters to stop and shop. We just learned that Fountain City,WI has just put in their dock that is located right in the center of town. The season here in the Upper Mississippi River Valley is starting to wind down with the start of schools coming but there is still a lot of great weather to be enjoyed in September and early October. Fountain City is one of our favorite cruise stops so we encourage all boaters to take advantage of this opportunity and stop by, it's an easy walk to town to enjoy restaurants like the Wingdam Saloon and Grill and the Golden Frog Restaurant. According to the news report Fountain City officials are looking into putting in a piling system which would make installing a dock easier no matter what the Mississippi River levels reach up to. They plan to seek a grant to help pay for it but the officials realize it is something that has to be done to help keep the local businesses going because they rely heavily on our boating adventures.
There is still time to take that boating adventure and head to Fountain City,WI, check out the links to the restaurants to get an idea of what they are all about.
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Trip to Old Man River

After we discovered that cruising north up the Mississippi River wasn't a good idea we decided to cruise south to one of our favorite cruise stops and went to McGregor IA, and stopped at the Old Man River Restaraunt and Brewery. They are famous for their micro brews and we needed to fill our growlers. The food is great and well worth the trip.  We had our gowlers filled with our favorites, Dunkel and Weizen, and this time we were able to sample the Helles brand which is a light wheat beer, it was very good. We ordered a growler of Helles also and we discovered the brewery had changed it's logo. It is now known as BackPocket Brewery instead of the original name Einfach.

Einfach Beer was originally created by Old Man River and titled APPRECIATE SIMPLICITY. The story they had printed on their growlers told about the Brewery stived to provide Iowa with a simple, yet incedibly enjoyable world-class beer. They focus on German  lagers, they brew a beer you would need to fly to Munich to equal. Einfach was brewed locally on the Iowa shore of the Mississippi River so you are ensured the freshest German beer possible.

We discovered that Old Man River had to change it's brand name from it's famous Einfach Bier to Backpocket Bier because of some copyright issues from someone else already using that brand name. The best and most important part of it all is that their beer is still very high quality and great tasting.

The story behind Backpocket Bier goes; The truth is, you can tell a lot about a man by what he keeps in his back pocket; a useful pocketknife, a lucky coin, a worn out photo from an old love that has never died. Whatever it is, even if it wound up there by accident, there's a story behind it. A story that probably won't come out until you're in the right place, talking to the right people, with the right beer in hand. German-inspired and hand-crafted right here in Iowa, there's a Backpocket Beer perfect for every person, every occasion and most importantly, every story.
The next time you are cruising on the Mississippi River be sure to stop at McGregor,IA and visit the Old Man River Restaraunt and Brewery, you won't be disappointed.

High Water Blues

Here in the Upper Mississippi River Valley we are experiencing some unusual high water levels. Normally this time of the year the water in our area is around the 5ft. level and this year it is in the 9.5ft. range making our travel plans this year difficult. The sandbars to hang out on are very few and are now more like sand cliffs. We took a short cruise in our ski boat to pre-scout some areas out and were disappointed with the results we found, as we went north to Trempealeau we were pleased to see our favorite hangout, Hungry Point, still had their docks in and were open for business. As we went further north to Winona we noticed the city's docks were out of the water and the first tier of their levy was under water making it too risky to park and venture to town, we cruised to Fountain City,WI and were disappointed there also to see that the Wngdam Bar and Saloon didn't have their dock in either. The high water creates a very strong current and strong undertow making it difficult to keep docks anchored in place. However, we did get to enjoy a great sandwich and sweet potatoe fries at Hungry Point, also access to Sunset Bay Marina is open if you want to go to town and visit the historic Trempealeau Hotel. If you visit Port of La Crosse all the marinas are open for business and if you come during the week stop at Pettibone Boat Club, on Tuesdays they feature live music with outdoor seating. Caution: this week of July 18 - 22 the weather here is horrible the temperatures are in the mid to upper 90s and extremely humid with heat indicies as high as 115 degrees, IT'S HOT. Thanks for air conditioning, we sit inside the houseboat and watch movies and enjoy some adult beverages and the fishing pole sits outside in view by the door as we try to catch some catfish, they are fun to catch.
We plan to take on the heat and head south to see what it's like down that way we will let you know.