Carlin Lake Association

Be prepared!

The Presque Isle Fire Department and emergency medical responders who serve us are offering the "file of life" program to residents like us.

Linda Novak and Jim Nelson joined us at our annual meeting to suggest we fill out a "file of life" folder and keep it on the side of our refrigerators.  Then, if we ever do need the services of the EMTs, they can grab this folder and learn lots of necessary information about each of us:  our doctor, our emergency contacts, the meds we are taking, our allergies and other medical history, and insurance info.    (The program makes sure this information remains confidential.)

With this form, the EMTs can have access to necessary medical information and can begin appropriate treatment immediately, and don't have to try to communicate with us when we are ill or worried.

Although we hope we never need the services of local EMT providers, Carlin neighbors who have had their support in the past speak very highly of their volunteer medical help.   And, we are especially fortunate, as four of these public servants live near us on Hwy P--Marshall Reckard, Jim and Kathy Nelson, and Linda Chantry.

If you picked up a form at the meeting, fill it out and let the department know.  If you didn't get a form, call the department and leave a message.   715-686-2000.     Any questions?  Just call this number, and one of the department responders will get back to you.

We are very fortunate to have this service in our rural area, and fortunate to have these trained volunteers here if we need them.

 

Clean Boats/Clean Water

Judy Ruch was recently featured in the monthly newsletter from the Discovery Center, for the summer presentations she has done there.   As she did last summer, Judy has taken her program about "lake invaders" straight to the those most apt to straighten out adults--the children.

Judy has conducted about a dozen programs this summer, at the Discovery Center, at Camp Jorn, and at all the area libraries.  Her engaging program includes hands-on activities such as illustrating a book and making a decorated visor and for a finale, going outdoors to check a boat for attached vegetation.

Her theory---that educated kids will help educate adults--seems supported by the enthusiasm of the kids who participate and by the organizations who continue to invite her back.

Thanks, Judy!  You not only make all Carlin Lake people look good, but you are making a significant contribution to clean boats and clean water in our area.

 

Another exciting sighting

This week's exciting sighting was a large gray wolf, which Ramona Kubica watched from her kitchen window on Monday morning.  The big wolf, tail straight out behind, was walking purposefully along Carlin Lake Drive toward Straus' about 7 am.  She says he looked healthy and confident and at home in the neighborhood.

Ramona also mentioned that they still see fawns with spots around their yard, and wonder if they will stay safe into the fall.  Also, she and George have watched a large buck with a velvet rack in their yard.   I wonder if it is the same one that camped out in Jim and Joyce Stocker's yard on Saturday afternoon.

Is this a great place to live or what??   (I will say, though, that in the last couple of days, the deer have beheaded what remained of my still-colorful summer petunias.)

More folks having fun

I've promised a few more photos from last weekend's ice cream social at Stockers.  

 It was fun to see visiting Jennifer (Davis) and husband Brad Paepke with Cecil and Linda Davis.

  Other "kids" who joined us were newly-engaged John Smith, son of Bill and Jeanne Huemann, and his new fiancee Laura Servaty.  John had surprised Laura with a diamond ring the evening before, out on Carlin Lake in a paddle boat.  

 Maybe Carlin has special love vibes!   Our daughter Kristin and son-in-law David were engaged here on Labor Day weekend thirteen years ago, in a row boat, I think.   And, Scott and Michelle Schelp had a romantic engagement on the Schelp pier, complete with candles and flowers, on Labor Day 2005.  Do you think this is perhaps something we can market??

Here's happy mom Jeanne, with our also-smiley hostess, Joyce.

 And, here's "the end" of this year's ice-cream social photos, a pose that someone there on the deck titled "ice-cream ANTI-social." 

Additional water data from Gail

If you may have missed Gail Speer's comment below from last week, she suggests we take a look at the following link, to graphs which show how much the water level has risen this summer in Presque Isle Lake and Katinka Lake.  

http://home.centurytel.net/presque-isle-weather/water-lev.htm

Katinka is a seepage lake, similar to Carlin.   In Gail's link, you can see the water dropping and dropping through the summer of 2009, but dramatically rising now during the summer of 2010. 

Read the graph more carefully than I did---I was first shocked to see that Katinka had come up 21 inches. But, when I paid more attention, I saw the difference was 21 cm, converting to 8.4", still a significant amount.    

Gail's graphs at "Presque Isle Rainfall Information" show that we got almost 8" of rain in June, approximately 6" in July, and another 6" so far in August.     I appreciate Gail's local weather information very much; it's a very nice service for us PI residents.

Wrong weekend!

 These two beautiful deer spent Saturday afternoon in Stocker's yard, by the fire pit overlooking the lake.  They must have gotten their calendars mixed up---our ice cream afternoon had already taken place last Saturday.   

I wonder where this buck will be hiding when hunting season begins.  Click to enlarge, if you can't see his antlers.      

Thanks, Jim, for forwarding the interesting photo.

Big thunderstorm--and poplar trees

If you are at Carlin Lake today, you just watched a powerful thunderstorm go through this morning, with lots of lightning and very heavy rain.  Our rain gauge says we got 2" of rain so far from the storm.  The rain has stopped for now, but skies are still cloudy, and the forecast still predicts 60% chance of rain today and tonight.

I understand there was hail as close as Van Vliet Lake, so we must have been just away from the worst of the storm.  (See Jim's comment below about hail at Carlin.)  A friend from Winchester said they had nickel-sized hail and a big tree down in their yard.  She said they still had no electricity by the middle of the afternoon.

If you're looking forward to a Carlin visit over Labor Day weekend, you will see that the lake is definitely up.   The shoreline is looking less rocky than it was earlier this summer, and some folks' docks are getting almost level with the water.   Maybe we will get comments below from those who are wondering if/when their dock will start floating away.

And, the poor dried-up poplar trees we see along the roads and in the woods are getting a good watering, but it may be too late for this season.   Two different "experts," from the Discovery Center, and from the DNR, suggested to me that these poplars with brown and curling leaves are finally displaying the stress they have suffered in these last years of drought.

Report from ice-cream social

Our annual ice-cream social was originally planned as an end-of-the-summer chance to get together, so I guess we'll acknowledge that the summer is winding down.

 In any case, we had a lovely summer Saturday afternoon on Stocker's deck---a beautiful view of Carlin Lake, sun filtering through the trees, and a cooling breeze.   The space was just right for the 26 of us, and almost everyone stayed to chat till 5:30 or so.

 Many thanks to Jim and Joyce for entertaining us so comfortably and generously!   It was great to have the ice cream choices, the toppings, the sprinkles, whipped cream, nuts, and M and M's there just waiting for us to dig in.  

 

Pictured:  (Remember you can click to enlarge.)   2. Swifts, Clara McCall, Webers, Bob and Pauline;   3. Chuck and Karen, Richard, John;   4. Bill, Joe, and host Jim

(More photos later.)

Lake monitors impressed

 The three botanists from White Water Associates who studied Carlin Lake last week (see Judy's summary in a post below) were very friendly and informative.   Maybe it gets tedious zig-zagging across a lake for two days in a small boat, from one GPS coordinate to another, but Susan, Barbara, and Tom were very willing to chat with any of us who paddled over to see what they were up to.

 Bob and Judy Ruch, through the town lakes' committee, will get a written report of their findings later, but the preliminary report from the botanists revealed just what we all expected----no evidence of invasive plants at Carlin Lake!   (And we all mean to keep it that way, right?)

The three "studiers" were especially impressed with the appearance of Carlin's lake shore, specifically how natural our lake-frontages look, how far back our homes are set and how little visible they are from the lake.   They gave us all credit for foresight in planning and locating our homes.  They also noticed the shoreline restoration on the Krassel's property and commented very positively on that change.

 Barbara wrote down for me the names of some of the good plants on our shoreline---lobelia dortmanna and polygonum.   Also, they told us that nitella, a very healthy deep-water algae, forms a thick cushion on the bottom of the lake in water about 20 feet deep.   This nitella layer is good habitat for fish, they told us (or at least that's what I remember.)  

Other plant names she wrote (as well as I can read them):  polygonum, called "smart weed"; lsoeter; and eriocaulon aquaticum.

If any of you have additional information from the lake "studiers," or better spellings of plant varieties, please comment below.  We'll all enjoy hearing the formal results when the company's final report becomes available.  

Some updates on Carlin water

Carl Watras emails this weekend to confirm what we have been observing the last two months:  yes, Carlin Lake and other seepage lakes like ours are gradually rising with this summer of generous rainfall.  

Carl measures that Carlin is at its highest elevation in over a year and has risen 17cm or 7 inches since our record low at the end of May.    And, another inch (nearly) of rain which fell Friday night into Saturday certainly has added a bit more to that measurement.   It's a pleasure to watch, yes?

About water clarity:  John Farwell reported at the CLA annual meeting that the depth of the secchi dish reading was 17 feet in June, 21 feet in July, and last week's lake monitors reported that they had a reading of 24 feet deep.   So, in spite of seasonal changes in vegetation, our water clarity also stays clear and constant.

Water temperature has been great this summer, too, and I have been swimming more often than I do most summers.   At the meeting two weeks ago, John reported that the water temp was 76 degrees, just one degree down from 77 degrees, the warmest reading he could find on record.

Carl also mentions in his email that the blugreen algae are blooming. They look like pollen-sized specks floating near the surface.  A modest bloom is normal for this time of year, so don't worry.  Thanks for keeping us posted, Carl!

If you have info or observations to add, please comment below to let the rest of us know.