Carlin Lake Association

Book club June 5th

 

Our leader Barbie has reminded those of us at the lake about our June book club meeting next week.   I know, too, that some blog followers who aren't regulars at our book club often read some of the books we've chosen.

Next Tuesday, we are reading Population 485:  meeting your neighbor one siren at a time, by Wisconsin author Michael Perry.   We have also read and liked his book Truck; a love story.  I'm predicting we will enjoy this discussion too, about life in a rural Wisconsin community.

Click here to read what many reviewers have to say about Perry's first book.   You can see if your opinion matches that of the experts.  

 

Plus, here's a reminder that at our July meeting, we will be choosing our list of books for next year.   Why don't you start thinking of books you might like to recommend?  If you email suggestions to me by July 1st or so, I will compile a list for our consideration on July 10th.  

Independent book store owners have come out with a list of books, now published in paperback and recommended for book clubs.    You may want to take a look at this link, to see if any of these titles ring a bell for you and which you may be interested in reading.   

 

Decoration Day

 

I hope you all had a good Memorial Day weekend, and were able to dodge the raindrops to spend some good times outdoors.

John and I always like to watch the televised tribute to members of the Armed Forces from Washington DC.   What a shame for everyone there this year, to have threatening weather cancel the program half-way through!

In addition to the memorials for the military, though, I always think of my parents and grandparents on Memorial Day weekend.   When I was growing up, it was referred to as Decoration Day, and it was traditional to put flowers on the graves of family members.

Let me share a small town story with you.   It made me glad I still live in a small town now, and maybe you will, too.

My mom and dad have been gone since 2001 and 2003.  In each of those years, when my siblings or I have gone to visit their graves in our little hometown, there has been a pot of flowers by their gravestone.   Each of us has asked various relatives and checked with the nearest florist to see if we can pay for those flowers.   ----With no results!   We had finally given up on the mystery of who was providing the flowers, year after year, for our parents' graves.

This past weekend, my sister Julie was in northern Iowa, and stopped at a greenhouse in a town 25 miles away, where she worked for one summer thirty years ago.   The son of the owner recognized Julie after all these years and greeted her.  He acknowledged that he had been filling that flower pot every year, knowing that would be what Julie would want, and that sometime, she would probably stop in to pay for them. 

Where else but a small town would a business person remember a former employee so fondly that he would continue to put flowers on the graves of her parents?

Julie says he did accept payment for about four years worth, including new plants again next Memorial Day.   And Julie and I laughed, to know how much our mom would have enjoyed hearing about the ten-year mystery of the flowers.

 

From Bill Draves

 

In case you missed Bill Draves' comment below, I'm copying and pasting it for you here.  It's pretty amazing to me how many of us have shared Carlin Lake for 20 years or more.    For those of you who are newer residents, it's probably hard to imagine the lake with all the vacant properties there were before 1990.

 

TODAY IN CARLIN LAKE HISTORY
20 years ago this Memorial Day weekend my wife Julie told me this was the last weekend we could afford to buy a lot up here. So on Friday we drove 14 hours up from Kansas. On Saturday we looked at a bunch of lots and selected our current one. On Sunday we did the paperwork with George Hartford and bought it for $23,500. On Monday we drove back to Kansas. About halfway back we decided to buy the lot next door as well (Joe and Connie's) and called, but it had already been sold. So Julie was right. And that's how Joe and Dick missed out on getting a nice neighbor and got me instead.

I think we are all lucky that Bill and Julie bought their Carlin property.  None of the rest of us would want to have to be the first swimmer in the lake each spring, and last swimmer each fall!

Stay calm

 

The flyer we received recently from Marshfield Clinic seems designed to relieve some of our fears about ticks and Lyme disease.   Most of us know someone who has contracted Lyme disease, but the clinic tells us that infection is much less likely than we may fear.

This brochure says that less than 5% of those bitten by a deer tick contract Lyme disease, and that transmission is highly unlikely if the tick is discovered within 36 hours.    Reading those numbers made me feel less paranoid about ticks than I had before.

They mention the precautions that we all know:  long sleeves and pants in light colors to help detect a tick, and using insect repellent.   Check yourself and pets carefully before coming back indoors.  

(One morning this week, a wood tick was crawling on my leg, even after I'd taken a shower the night before.   I wonder where he had been hiding and how he found me in the house!)

For someone infected, a ring-shaped rash may, but may not, occur, and flu-like symptoms will be present.  If caught early, treatment with antibiotics is usually effective.

I googled for these photos to show the difference between wood ticks, which do NOT carry the disease, and the tiny deer ticks, which may.   

The flyer suggests that we can go to the website of the Center for Disease Control to get additional and accurate information.

    www.cdc.gov/lyme

So, I think the clinic's message is to relax and enjoy the outdoors.  Use good sense, but don't worry and have fun.

 

Bird-Brain

 

Cliches must originate for a reason, right?   Well, we know the label "bird-brain" accurately refers to one of our resident robins.  

For two weeks, this determined robin has been trying to build her nest early every morning----on the 1/2" ledge over our garage door.   And, every day John sweeps away the refuse, which (not surprisingly) hasn't stayed on that skinny ledge.  And every day, the bird tries again, with her failed project left behind her on the concrete.   

Although I admire stick-to-it-ivness, I hope she soon gives up and finds a safe place to lay her little blue eggs.

In other wildlife news, Danny and Barbie report watching a wolf out their lake-side window during Sunday afternoon's heavy rainstorm.  She was only about 15 feet from their patio, as she wandered around near Barbie's flower beds.     Danny says she appeared to be a nursing female  (although he was more explicit in his description)  and that she had one ear that appeared to have been torn off in a fight.   It was now healed, but still looked pretty rough.

Board meeting June 9th

 

The first official event of the summer at Carlin Lake is coming up on Saturday, June 9th---the meeting of the Carlin Board of Directors.

Cecil and Linda Davis are welcoming the group to their home at 9:30 that morning for coffee, followed by the meeting at 10:00.   All CLA members are invited to attend this meeting, whether or not you serve as a board member.

For your information, so you know who your "decision-makers" are,  board members whose terms expire at this summer's annual meeting are Ricks Brewer, Dan LaPean, and Bill Huemann.  Board members whose terms expire in summer 2013 are Ann Swift, Linda Davis, Mary Watkins, and John Farwell.

Also FYI, officers whose terms expire on even-numbered years, like 2012, are the offices of president and of secretary.   Our nominating committee, of Linda Davis, chair, Barbie LaPean, and Mary Watkins will be working on those expiring positions, I know.

And FYI about another topic, our rain gauge measured about 1/2" of rain by last night.  It's looking greener and greener out our windows.   ----We had been notified by the emergency weather service yesterday afternoon that severe weather may be coming our way, but it sounds as though the strong winds and hail went nearer Lac du Flambeau.   

 

More flowers

 

 

Here are a couple of photos of flowers growing along the roadside, some violets and a patch of forget-me-nots. They're pretty small----click to enlarge.

May Flowers

 

Kevin, a former student of mine, (a fellow who is kind and sweet enough to give me credit for teaching him how to write!)  is the editor of a monthly publication for senior citizens in the Quad-Cities area.  

His recent editorial has a couple of quotes about flowers which made me smile:

"Weeds are flowers too, once you get to know them."     A.A. Milne

""A weed is a plant that has mastered every survival skill except for learning how to grow in rows."     Cartoonist Doug Larson

The rest of Kevin's article for his May issue bemoans this year's early start to lawn and yard upkeep.   That's definitely a choice those of us in the Northwoods have----to do as much or as little lawn and yard work as we feel like doing!

 

 Now, if you can handle such provocative language, maybe another quote from Kevin's article will get you into the mood for spring in all its forms.

"A flower's fragrance declares to all that it is fertile, available, and desirable, its sex organs oozing with nectar.  Its smell reminds us in vestigial ways of fertility, vigor, life-force:  all the optimism, expectancy and passionate bloom of youth.  We inhale its ardent aroma, and no matter what our ages, we feel young and nubile in a world aflame with desire."

(I don't know about you, but if I ever felt "nubile in a world aflame with desire," it's been too long ago to remember!)

 

In the woods

 

I'm spending less time than usual tromping through the woods.   I don't worry about the possibility of wolves.  My bigger awareness is the prevalance of ticks, who seem to have popped out along with the leaves on the trees.  

John walked no further than down the path to our dock and back, and discovered two wood ticks on his shirt.  More dramatically, Duanne told us he had been outdoors for a short time, and came in to find two deer ticks in his hair.   He said they must have dropped from a branch.  

Soon, I will summarize information re: Lyme disease prevention, from a sheet distributed at Marshfield Clinic.  But, with Duanne's experience in mind, I've decided I will wear a hat when I walk.  Plus, I will follow the usual advice of wearing long sleeves and long pants, with socks tucked inside, when I intend to spend time off the main road.   

That said, there are wonderful things to see in the woods, just popping up these spring days.  Yesterday, I almost stepped right on the first jack-in-the-pulpit I noticed.  Then, when I started observing, I was able to spot over a dozen in the woods.   It was wonderful---more than I have ever seen all in one area before.

 

Spring has sprung

                                                                            

 

The hummingbirds who arrived this week appeared to have brought spring weather along with them.   The leaves on the trees have popped beautifully, and it's been a thrill to watch the daily changes.   Before Sunday's nice rain, we had barely a hint of green.   How it's changed!   Here's a photo I took yesterday afternoon of the greening woods.

 

Also, you can compare these two pictures of ferns along the roadside.  The left picture was taken earlier this week, and the right picture was taken yesterday.   As usual, you can click to enlarge.