Winter Storm Warning

Today we have winter storm warnings out but only for about 2-4 inches (not much of a storm in my book) . The photos are from the first snowfall we had, apparently that was more of a storm - 9inches! It melted quickly though. The ice has skimmed over, with some bare spots, but next weeks weather is for the low 20's so I think winter will be here to stay. Our Christmas Party was cancelled this year, due to low reservations. If you have any canned goods or monetary donations for the Food Pantry, you can drop them at Tom and Susan Welch's house on Circle Drive before Thursday and Susan will deliver them.

There are some possibilites on the horizen for  our Clean Boats Clean Waters program which I hope to keep you posted on. Part of the good news is that the Board voted to have the AIS postion a permanent one as the current term was to end shortly. So that will be good news for all the lakes. Michelle does a good job and hopefully she will be able to continue in that position.  Tom Welch had told me earlier that by the end of July our volunteers had put in 87 hours and checked in 129 boats. And that was just for the first half of the season. Stay warm.

A Very Small Slice of Fall.....

                 Greetings Everyone,

Sorry it's been such a long time since I've posted. Things have been pretty busy at my house for quite some time, we had a big wedding this summer as my son got married and I had two big shows to prepare for, that I ended up not even attending. Unfortunately, my mother became ill and I have been spending my time taking care of her after a big surgery. So I am now back in Rhinelander, and she is here with us recovering. So I didn't get to see a lot of Fall this year, but before I left town I snapped this shot at the landing so I could remember what it looked liked. The other is an early foggy morning on the east end of the lake.

Sad news...

Catherine Bartholow (the Eckhardt's daughter) wrote recently to let me know of her father's passing. I've included the link for his obituary   : 
 http://www.press-citizen.com/article/20110730/NEWS02/107300333/Richard-Eckhardt-93
Catherine says
 "Steve and I visited with my parents on the 24th, and although very weak, Dad was witty, sharp, and dignified, and content."
We send our sincere condolences at this difficult time.

KEEPING OUR LAKE CLEAN AND HEALTHY....

A message from Tom Welch.

One thing we can do to maintain the health of our lake is to remind all of your guests to make certain that all boating equipment is free of weeds, mud, and all water is drained from their boats and live wells, before entering our lake, and when leaving.

Tom Welch is in charge of our Clean Boats/Clean Waters boat inspection program and now has ten volunteers watching our public boat landing to educate and remind boaters to keep their equipment free of weeds, and to drain all water from boats and live wells. Over the Fourth of July, our volunteers put in twenty six hours and checked in fifty three boats. So far this year year our Clean Boats Volunteers have put in 87 hours and inspected many, many boats.

We want boaters to know that we are watching when they come to use our lake and hope they will get in the habit of cleaning their boats and trailers and there will be less weed transfer from one lake to another. This could be the best investment you can make in the future health of our lake and our property values. A recent study concluded that property values decreased an average of seventeen percent when a lake becomes infected with invasive plants and Zebra mussels. Zebra mussels have recently been found in northern Wisconsin lakes.

We still do not have adequate coverage for  watching our boat landing, so if you have even an hour a week to volunteer, please call Tom Welch, at (715) 362-6384, for information, or with any questions.

COMING UP......

The Lake Thompson PICNIC on Aug. 14th at Holiday Acres. Bring a dish to share with your neighbors and your choice of meat to grill along with your utensils. The Grill will be provided as will the beverages. The fun starts at 12:30 this Sunday.

Valuble Information from DNR Warden Jim Jung....

The Eckhardts send a greeting...

Their daughter Catherine sent me this photo so I thought I would share it with you. They are doing well and recently attended Dick's 75th High School Reunion in DeKalb, IL! Pretty good I'd say.

OCLRA Spring NEWSLETTER....

The Oneida County Lakes and Rivers spring newsletter is available online at this link,



http://oneida.uwex.edu/files/2011/05/Spring-2011-Newsletter.pdf

They have a lot of up to date information on Shoreland Protection that should be a must read.

FYI ....    Did you know that this winter there were 93 days where the high for the day was below freezing and only 36 days with a low temperature below zero? Our first snow fell on Oct. 21, 2010 and we had 92 inches total for the season. There were 104 days with at least a trace of snow-compared to the historical average of 40 days! Check out the link and you'll find lots more .

ANNUAL DINNER MEETING

LAKE THOMPSON ASSOCIATION

ANNUAL DINNER MEETING

www.lakethompsonassociation.blogspot.com

Spring Greetings!

Things are finally budding out here, but it has been a long wait for Spring to appear. The Annual Dinner Meeting is set for Friday, June 17^th 2011. Cocktails will be served at 6:00 and Dinner will begin at 7:00 at Holiday Acres Resort. The cost of the dinner is $14.50 which includes tax and tip and one free drink per person, courtesy of the Association. Please make your reservations by calling Joan McEnroe at 715-363-4602 or Jean Kilbane at 715-369-1875 by no later than June 15^th.

Frosty has asked me to let you know that he still has copies of his book LAKE THOMPSON HISTORY AND STORIES available. He will have them for sale at the dinner only for $18.50 and after that for $20.00. Frosty has generously donated the profits of this book to the Lake Thompson Association, which have totaled $975, $225 of which comes from Holiday Acres. We thank you both as this money has helped to make available the packet which is being sent to you and also the new Directories.

We are hoping to have the new Directories available for pick-up at the Meeting for all dues paying members. This has been a big project and now includes all property owners on the lake. This was done so that we could include everyone to help maintain, protect, and improve the water quality and safety on the lake, as well as its fisheries and watershed. Education plays a big part in this, and the more you know, the better the chances are, of living on a quality lake and preserving it for future generations.  We hope you’ll join us in helping to make this happen. If you can’t make it to the meeting but would like a new directory, give one of the Board Members a call and we’ll send you one in the mail.

If you have any questions please contact a Board Member, they are as follows:

Kathy Furda  Pres.   715-369-0340  nlight@charter.net                   

Kari Zambon  Sec.    715-369-1500                                                             
Mike Rolling Tres. 715-359-3216
Joan McEnroe          715-363-4602

Bob Rossi 715-369-0614               
Tom and Susan Welch   715-362-6384 (our newest members)

If you haven’t paid your dues yet, you may do so at the meeting.

We cordially invite all property owners to attend the Annual Meeting, meet your neighbors, and learn what you can do to make YOUR lake a better place.

Kathy Furda   Pres.

We will also have Identification cards available at the meeting for your home use to identify Aquatic Invasive Species

FINALLY.....my kind of day!

Blue sky smilin' at me, nothin but blue sky do I see!

Want to see Eagles?

For those of you who aren't lucky enough to see the eagles on the lake or are perhaps wintering elsewhere, checkout this website   

http://www.ustream.tv/decoraheagles

It's a live video of an eagles nest in Decorah, Iowa (yes that would be Hawkeye Land) There are 3 babies that have recently hatched. Enjoy.

IT'S OFFICIAL.....

Yes , it's now official, the block has dropped and the ice is officially out. The time was April 21, 2011 at 4:57pm. I actually liked it better last year when it went out before April even got here, but this is more like a normal year, even though it's a bit on the later side.This photo is an immature Bald Eagle that was sitting on the ice in front of the house. I think there may have been some left over fish from ice fishermen that may have been frozen into the melt we had, and that's what attracted him. He was being mobbed by several other birds at the time as well. Well maybe now we can think Spring!

Still winter.....

I just got back from vacation and was disappointed by the snow we got last Saturday. I think I'm officially ready for Spring,but never the less, it obviously isn't ready for me. The forecast is for more snow, but the upside is there are some widening holes in the lake. We already had Buffleheads and Mergansers skirting the edges and also a couple eagles landed on the ice and sat for awhile. Unfortunately, they were still too far away for even my long lens. Well..... maybe next week it will get here.

Winter's Not Quite Done.....

In case you hadn't heard, we are in the middle of a sizable winter storm. I guess we escaped so many this year that our number was up. I only took a few pictures from the warmth of my house, but what was lawn yesterday is winter wonderland now. It's about noon and the temps stayed cool so we didn't get the heavy wet stuff that was predicted. Lucky for us as that's what brings the tree branches down and causes the power outages. I filled the bath tub and made sure we had enough candles available last night, in the hopes that we WOULDN'T loose power. And so far so good. But it's still snowing and doesn't look like it's going to let up anytime soon. The winds were howling last night night and we even had thunder and lightening. And to think that just Saturday we had a nice walk down the road, that was snow and ice free and even dry! Winter can be such a tease....

Visitors out my kitchen window....

We've been watching 2 of these Pileated Woodpeckers for most of the winter, right outside the kitchen window. Joel sticks suet in the crack of the post every morning and by afternoon it's all gone. The Pileateds even helped out by excavating the crack to make it bigger. They're an amazing bird. Jean Kilbane called last Friday to let me know that she had spotted 3 wolves walking along the shoreline towards the east end of the lake. Unfortunately, I was gone or I would have been scouting the area with my camera. The lake is like glass right now, with all the melting and freezing going on. But it feels like Spring might be in the air, I don't want to say that too loudly in case I might jinx things! Have you seen anything interesting lately?

MARCH FLYER

Greetings from the Slightly Snowy North,


While all those around us have been enduring fierce snow storms, we seem to have escaped the worst of all of them. It gives one pause to wonder what might befall us next year. I have a special request for you this year; we are in the process of revamping our directory and including absolutely everyone on the lake. I have a committee working on this project and they are close to finishing. But I also need your help in furnishing the committee with any new updates you might have to make this project successful. So while you’re sending in those extremely well thought out and scientifically based Ice Out guesses, I’d like you to include your current information on the form below. We’ll appreciate your promptness in returning these forms as well. The goal is to have a new Directory by the June 17th meeting as well as encompass the entire lake in terms of education, maintaining, protecting, and improving the quality of the lake, its fisheries, and its watershed. Please send your dues…$20 per household, form and Ice Out guess to our Treasurer:

Mike Rolling

4707 Sternberg Ave.

Weston, WI 54476-2833

Since in the past couple years we have had uncharacteristically early ice out dates I have to change the date you need to have your guess post marked by to March 25, 2011. Good luck to all of you!

www.lakethompsonassociation.blogspot.com

Kathy

715-369-0340

nlight@charter.net

Lake Thompson Association Dues, Ice Out Guess and Information

NAME_____________________________________________________________

ADDRESS__________________________________________________________

SUMMER ADDRESS__________________________________________________________

PHONE____________________________SUMMER PHONE___________________

EMAIL_____________________________________________________________

MAILING PREFERENCE (address)_________________________________________

ICE OUT GUESS______________________________________________________

Lake Thompson History and Stories...

Frosty asked me to post that he still has copies of Lake Thompson History and Stories on hand. If you need a copy you can contact him at 715-369-0520. He will also have them available at the Annual meeting in June.

National Ice Fishing Contest Photos....

Here are a few photos that Frosty took from the National Ice Fishing Contest held right here on Lake Thompson.