Carlin Lake Association

Saturday.

 

I know you are all out taking your own photos this beautiful weekend.    Here are a couple to add, both taken within a dozen steps of our front door.  

 

Great fall weekend

 

For those of us who are here every day, and those of you who are planning a get-away for some leaf-peeping, it will never be prettier than this coming weekend.   The forecast is for sunny and pleasant days, and the trees should be almost at their peak.

If you are not going to squeeze in a visit, I'm attaching some photos that John and I took on our last pontoon float around the lake yesterday.   ---Taking the boat out of the water marks a definite end to summer, doesn't it?     

Can your recognize your shoreline or your neighbor's?   Good luck.  After you have guessed, click to enlarge the photo, and the name will appear at the top of the picture.

We are fortunate to live here, aren't we?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And this one, just because I like it.   You can see that trees on the shoreline still look mostly green.

 

 

 

 

Ten floating, five to go

 

The fishing committee is working away on these nice fall days, and now have ten fish cribs near the Carlin boat landing, soaking up water.   The men still have materials for five more cribs, and expect to get those into the water soon.  

 

 

 

Here are the guys responsible for most of the work, Mike and Cecil and Chris, here manuevering another load into the water.

 

 

 

 

Cecil continues to work on constructing the cribs, planning to have all the water soon.   The date for dragging the cribs to their final locations is still undetermined, waiting till they are all soaked and ready to go.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Moose in Presque Isle

 

I copied and pasted this photo from the Discovery Center's Facebook page.    They say the moose was sighted in PI, so it's probably safe to assume it's the same one that visited the Hayes front yard this past week.     When I know whom to credit with the photo, I will.

Equinox, etc.

 

It's no surprise to anyone with windows that days are getting shorter and that dusk is coming earlier.   Now, this Saturday morning, we experience the autumn equinox, the time of year when hours of daylight and darkness are equal.    The earth is tilting on its axis, as it always does, moving those of us in the northern hemisphere gradually away from the light and the warmth of the sun.

For those of you not here at Carlin, lots of fall color has appeared this week, but plenty green remains also.   I will get out my camera to share some photos with you soon, when the trees look a little brighter.

If you will be here for the Carlin Chili Cookout this weekend and haven't already replied, know you will be welcome at Huemanns about 4:00 on Saturday afternoon.   We will have good food and a good time, I'm sure.

We had 6/10s of an inch in our rain gauge this morning, from the last day and a half of off-and-on showers.    Now, it looks as though there is a chance for our first measureable snow this weekend.   I'll keep you posted.

 

Moose! No kidding!

 

I know it is true----I could tell just by the shakiness still in Karen's voice as she shared the tale.  

This afternoon, Stella barked enough to bring Chuck and Karen to their front windows, where they found an enormous male moose standing in their driveway, just looking toward their house.   Karen says it was huge, with a big rack and a long beard on its chin and extremely long legs.   

The moose stood there long enough for Karen and Chuck to try to grab the camera and fiddle with it, as they attempted to quiet Stella and absorb the surprising sight.   So, they didn't get the photo they wanted, although it doesn't sound as though they will forget the mental picture of that big moose.

In retrospect, Karen tells that they have been making applesauce this week, so had lots of peelings and cores composting behind their wood shed.   Maybe the moose found an easy meal, as all the apple remnants were gone.  

Wow!   Wouldn't that be something to encounter, as many of us walk along Carlin Lake Road!   Karen says the moose eventually wandered off toward Kolinskis, and thus, maybe down toward Van Vliet Lake. ( I gave Zach Wilson a call, remembering his interesting program about moose at our annual meeting this summer.)

Keep your eyes peeled!

   

Exciting weekend

 

You've been hearing about the fish cribs being constructed for Carlin Lake.    Now, I can report that the process Cecil, Mike, Chris, and Duanne have been concocting to get the cribs into the lake worked great, just as they had envisioned. 

On a beautiful Saturday afternoon, some of us got to watch the first cribs being floated into the water.   Thanks to Jim Stocker and Chris Davis for these good photos, to give you an idea of how it all worked out.

 

Two cribs on Cecil's pontoon trailer, ready to get into the water.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Note the blocks, giving weight so the crib will sink.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On its way into the water.

 

 

 

 

 

Even the concrete blocks didn't do the trick right away, so the first crib is floating till the brush and the logs take on water.

 

 

 

 

 

After more work on Sunday afternoon, six cribs are now floating off Warren and Mary's dock, taking on water so they can be pulled into place this coming weekend.  

You can click photos to enlarge and see more detail.

(More photos later of the rest of the project, and of the guys who have been working at this.)

 

 

 

An albino neighbor

 

Credit for these great photos goes to Richard and Susan Straus, along with daughter Jane and son-in-law David.   They were returning home from a traditional fish fry on Friday night, when this four-footed family was waiting to greet them along West Van Vliet Road.   

The Straus family said the deer family didn't seem at all alarmed, even when they stopped the car, rolled down the windows, and shot multiple pictures.    

(If you click to enlarge, you can count the points on the little buck's antlers.)

 

Those of you who drive on West Van Vliet frequently can tell us how many years you have been spotting this albino doe.   It seems to me that it has been quite a few years that she has been living near Carlin Lake---a very welcome and dramatic-looking neighbor!    

 

 

 

 

 

Drop by Our Crib(s) Sometime

Those of you attending Saturday's Carlin Lake Association board meeting (9am at the Ruch's)
will hear first hand from Fish Committee spokesman Richard Straus. What follows is for the rest-a-y'all (remember, I live at the south end of the lake).

The Fish Committee is primarily interested in habitat improvement and gaining sort of a
"status report" on the fish species and supply in Carlin Lake. With this goal in mind they undertook the ambitious objective of constructing fish cribs to be added to the lake bottom. For the uninitiated the purpose of fish cribs is the protection of small fish rather than the attraction of large ones.
As last year’s lake vegetation study pointed out, Carlin has great water quality but little vegetation necessary to protect small fish from predation.The cribs will provide some protection for the little guys who hopefully will live long enough to grow.

The second purpose of the Fish Committee is to find out what changes are taking place in the lake's fish population. The DNR hopefully will assist us in gaining an understanding by surveying the lake this fall. Because Carlin lacks a public landing we are not as high a priority for the DNR but, according the Woodruff-based fisheries biologist Steve Gilbert, "We hope to get to it this fall, weather permitting." When the survey is complete we will have a better understanding of the health, species and growth rates of Carlin's fish population. Similar to the lake weed survey the goal is to monitor and
understand what the conditions are and what changes are taking place.

A couple of months ago one of the Glashagel grandkids found a Cisco floating dead in the lake. While this is certainly no cause for alarm (they are native to this area) it is a bit of a surprise as normally they are found in lakes much deeper than Carlin. What else is down there and how prevalent are they? By this time next year we should have the answers. From a knowledge base we can make decisions about the future and whether we can, or wish to, alter it. Had the lake weed study turned up milfoil or some other invasive we would be making educated decisions about how to deal with it. The fish survey is no more than that; an effort to learn about the lake we all love.

The cribs will be installed in the near future. Cecil Davis has two loaded on his pontoon trailer ready to launch. There are enough materials to build about 14 and they are placed (usually one or two) roughly between the lot lines of the riparian owner's property no further than 200' from shore. While the DNR says at least 5' of water should be over each crib the committee is targeting about
twice that amount if possible. About 35+ residents have contributed to the crib project.

Those of you yearning for additional entertainment this fall might want to contact Cecil as to the date of  installation. Launching an 8x8' square of logs about 4' high weighing several hundred pounds
merits a few photos, don't you agree? Duanne

CURING THE WEEKEND BLUES

Finding something cheerful to write about is a challenge. Especially when you are a football fan on a Sunday evening when both the Badgers and Packers lose games they were favored to win over the weekend. Its enough to make the most cheerful person a bit surly.

I did want to share with those of you who frequently drive by the low spot between the Farwells and Swifts. Apparently the family of river otters has taken up  residence in the little pond that is located on the property across the road. Several times this past spring/summer Ann and I have seen them crossing the road. At one point there appeared to be a couple of adults and four youngsters. A week or so ago I saw just the adults. Perhaps even otters, who seem to always be having a good time, reach the end of their rope with kids and asked them to find a pond of their own. So if your traveling down Hwy P keep an eye open for the neighborhood river otter family.

There, I don't know about you other football fans but I feel better now. A little story about otters does a world of good to lift the gloom. It was either that or something about kittens and I couldn't come up with a way to tie that into Carlin Lake. Duanne