Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Pond Boss LET THE SUMMER OF FUN BEGIN!

Ok, HERE WE GO!!!

GF LakeChair and I are off to Houghton Lake for the Michigan Lakes & Streams Conference, with Boys of Summer T-Shirts in tow.....

The Good News is: The State Senator I have been informing since 2004 of our problems, sent me an e-mail and is very interested in moving our project forward, to get the S. Blvd Drain divereted, and to get storm drain cleaning systems put in our drains!!!! Seems our salinty testing shows over 550 ppb of salt in our lake, while the lake next door (where he lives) only has 48 ppb. The gov. has just released 234 million in stimulus money for WATERSHED IMPROVEMENTS.........

The Bad News is: They want me to tell them how much this will cost. Hope the engineer that was there last year is there this year and can throw some numbers on the drains, we are taking detailed maps of our lake.

The Boys will be here to wish us off before we go and treat our lake as it will be 80 this weekend, and it looks like crap from all the massive rains we have had.

We are going one day early to meet the guys from the DNR conference, as with budget cuts the MDEQ and DNR will be merging some operations in the future. Before the MDEQ came about, the DNR took care of everything.

Hope everyone is enjoying their ponds and fish coming alive...LET THE PARTY BEGIN!

The gov. has just released 234 million in stimulus money for WATERSHED IMPROVEMENTS.........
That should just about cover the beer fund for the PB converance this year(and yes Jeff,I'm including your rum&cokes in that budget,Hey,Im not an beancounter,but Im not totally stupid either.)Dont say it,I know what your thinking.

Well, I did not think it possible to improve upon last year's MLSA experience, but this one beat it by a mile!
Nice drive up about 3 hours, pull into the hotel on the big lake, and nothing but police and sheriff cars from all over the state, made me quite nervous. Check in, no room for us, get put in the sister hotel express, which turned out much better as you could smoke there. No bar at either place, oh no, what to do? Not to worry, Skip's Lounge real close by would be even better.
Wearing the Boys of Summer shirt turned out to be a big plus, as we met lot's of people that know the boys, and think highly of them as we do. We played a big joke and took lots of photos with their competitors, like signing contracts, really funny!
As usual, turns out we get more contacts and information at the bar than at the conference. First night, drive an hour back south to a very large casino, go to order a coffee, no wallet. Rush back to the car still in the valet, it was in the back seat, our guardian angel was traveling with us once again. Couldn't drag GF LakeChair out of there, leave at 3:30 am, just miss hitting a critter, then, the whole hour back I had to drive about 45 as we saw at least 75 deer on each side of the highway eating grass, scared me to death.
Next morning, we learned the DNR got in trouble for sinking a boat with a bubble in the pool last year, so all were on their best behavior.
We made lots of contacts with the vendors and made a friend with the MDEQ lady in charge of our region, that had never even heard of our lakes (tells you that nobody followed the rules in the past). She let us set up our photo/info boards near her booth and we would bring people back and show them all we have uncovered and changed so far. Going in people tend to think we are flighty girls who laugh a lot, then once we talk people have lot's of respect for us.
That night we decided to try Skip's lounge near our hotel. Upon walking in the first thing I saw was 2 shuffle board tables, my best game, along with Karoke, a dance floor and a few locals. Within 20 seconds of walking in we were converged upon by two conference attendee's who must have been a few sheets to he wind already. GF LakeChair came up with the best way to describe this experience "Grope & Hope." Once again, that guardian angle was with us as it turned out one of them is the Drain Commissioner of 13 years of a large county in the state, and the other was the VP of a huge Engineering Firm that deals with dams, watersheds, wetlands,sewers, storm drains,etc. Although they were soused, I went to my car and brought in all our photo boards and tried to write down what the drain commissioner was saying. He said he has a PHD in Efluvial streamflow morphology, and all our problems are fixable. They weren't exactly interested in talking shop, and as luck would have it, nobody else from the conference was there. We had a blast, playing shuffleboard, singing karoke, dancing and drinking, and non stop laughing. The term, "need some help" will be a phrase that will make us burst into laughter when we hear it for the rest of our lives. Since we are good girls that would never cross the line (when the bar closes, the party is over!)we are reevaluating what the line really is. Next morning we made it in by lunch and met Larry the engineer who gave us tons of info, even a c.d. regarding the drain code and a promise to come down here and take a look with the commissioner who is sort of an adversary of our drain commissioner who has not helped us. Turns out, it is a simple process to get the creek where we outflow fixed. All it takes is 5 stakeholders in the watershed to sign a petition, the drain commission then has to form a board to review it all, then the county would pay 20%, the city would pay 25% and all the people living in the watershed would be assessed over time for the balance. It is just that people on the creek have gotten nowhere for many years going about trying to solve the problem, in the wrong way. Our sub board in the past has treated the creek like it was separate, but it is not, we are all connected.
This experience has GF LakeChair willing to continue on, as there simply isn't anything better than non-stop laughter for four days. Our Summer of Fun has started!

Decades ago, when I was single and drank too much, I tried that line all the time.

It never worked for me, either.

Good for you Lynda!

Decades ago, when I was single and drank too much, I tried that line all the time.
That musta been before you were a rocket surgean. That always worked for me.

Good news 2cat. Sounds like you got a lot accomplished, at least verbally.

Thanks you guys:
I think we did have a Karma moment in that little bar, and I think Larry hangs out with the Commish for a reason, lots of business. In our county he said there are 200 staffers to do what Larry's firm does, but not in other counties. He said that this Commish would give people the form to get the process going, where in our county the whole thing is a big secret. This Commish is the Commish in the county where the state capitol is - and looks like he may be running for a US Senate seat coming up, he has been an elected official for 31 years. He is a tree hugger type, knows the Clean Water Act inside and out. Larry grew up in our town until age 5, and there is a middle school and park from property his grandfather donated. He wants to come an see that too. I think he thinks we were good sports and a lot of fun, yet serious about our cause at the same time. I do think we will get some real help.

Lynda forgot to tell you that she was employing the dance moves from Flirty Girl (the DVD). I think that helped. We laughed non- stop. Whoever knew that fixing our water coul be so fun.

welcome, girlfriend. Can you put some of her gyrations on your avatar?
There's this guy, Fatty McButterpants, who can tell you how he puts his 'bust a move' as signature.

So Glad GF Lake Chair finally made it on here, she is busy preparing for the semi-annual Homeowner meeting tomorrow night, where she will give her extra special Power Point Presentation, while I get to sit with Fav Guy Boy of Summer in the audience, this really is starting out as a great summer of fun.

2catmom,tell GF Lake Chair that she gets to drink all she wants while signed in at PB.That should help.

Tom G:
GF Lake Chair and I are perfect traveling companions, she is a blast!!!!!!!! She says I talk in my sleep, mumble sentences that she can't understand and then say NO! She will do a great job tomorrow, she has the worst part of the job,I just
hope I am not laughing and screw her up, I just can't stop laughing. We have to write the newsletter article this weekend, then she has to have a board meeting at her house next week, then it is full speed ahead, looks the fish kill will be around teh 2nd week of May, have to shut the overflow off for a week (scary, our water is high) and the DNR/MDEQ want an extra dumpster there as they think there will be more than the 2,000 lbs of fish.
I am way behind at work trying to catch up.

Depending on how long that dumpster is there it should smell pretty good! I think you'll be amazed at the amount of dead GS.

RIPE!!

The thought of 1000's of dead GS rotting in the sun makes me sick... GS stink bad enough when alive and fresh, when rotting even just a couple of them they wreak!

The thought of the fish kill is getting to me again. So yesterday several caring people, especially Ken Grand who lives on the lake next door starting fishing out the bass and any large bluegill as we have many of the stunted types. What is bothering me is we are seeing a great minnow population that went away for a while after the lake was nuked a couple of years in a row, and the bluegill are bigger than I have seen in the past. So I am very proud of myself for the following: I am in involved in the transport and release of the fish - and even though I avoided it in the past, I learned how to pick the fish up out of the coolers, and release them into the lake. We are taking them to the largest lake which has lots of weedbeds as Ken knows the best places to fish there so we can bring some back after the fish kill. This makes me feel some better about the whole process, and I think we even got Gashy. I did get poked on each thumb, but I think the fish are beautiful, looking down their mouths, it is amazing. We will be doing this up until the fish kill.
GF LakeChair did a great job at the HO meeting, and Fav Guy BOS with his quiet, calm demeanor was really great as well. He is looking into a new product under a grant to try out on our lake. Everyone we met at the conference talked about what good people they are - so glad we found them. Turned over the "Drainopedia" c.d. and info from the engineering firm to the board pres., lets hope they are smart enough to pay the guy a modest consulting fee to guide us through the process, we will keep spinning our wheels without "some help" from those that know the system, and can identify the problems exactly. He said he would do it on his own time but would prefer some type of compensation.
The nicest thing yesterday is how we finally had a decent day while I was home. I spent most of my time shoring up my buffer zone in the middle where I had a breach when the ice first melted. We have had massive rains this year, even last Oct. a hundred year rain. Living on the West shore, I get the waves here. The trade off is that it is warm and sunny on my side up until 9 at night in the summer, can still enjoy it after work. The area in question is where it always stays wet because of the springs. I am pleased and thrilled at how my plants took off in just one season to hold in the sand. There are only a couple of days left for the finishing up of the retaining wall going down the side of my property and resetting up the sprinkler system. Will get this contractor to bring in another load of rocks and my worries at the waters edge should be over forever, and I've set a great example. Right now it is a mass of purple ajuga. I thought the zebra rush and pickeral weed in the water died, but am seeing new growth there now. I love my little lake. And I have a couple of frogs, they love the habitat.

The weather here is delaying the summer of fun a bit, 42 tonight and someone stole my 2 Tier Flower Pot with the cat windchime that has been out next to my driveway for 5 years; don't know how anyone can enjoy stolen flowers?

I AM VERY INTERESTED IN SHIRTS, POND BOSS AND BIG BLUEGILL. I am quite amazed a what a hit wearing the Boys of Summer Shirt at the MLSA conference was. I am off next week to the first leg of the LAKE LEADER INSTITUTE I am enrolled in this summer. It is headed up by Jo A. Latimore, Ph.D of the MSU Fisheries & Wildlife Dept. along with the MLSA.

This is funny, first session is next weekend, at Higgins Lake Ram Center, which is 10 minutes away from where we stayed at Houghton lake a few weeks ago. Never been to either before now, but I am going up a day early (going it alone to the LLI) hitting that casino by myself, and am going on to stay at the same place and go to Skips where I am comfortable. I want to support those local nice people. I have already completed the first homework assignment reading "Tragedy of the Commons" and will have to read it again.

Then on July 30 I will spend 4 nights at the Kellogg Biological Station on Gull Lake (never been there either) doing field work in the water, class time, and more homework. After that I will do my Applied Project and poster board (I will need 2 boards for sure)on my lake, and I will call it WHEN A GOOD LAKE GOES BAD, and outline the steps, process, contacts, etc. to find the solutions. Part of it will be about learning what the fishery is (I will put Pond Boss, and Big Bluegill on there) along with getting rid of the bad guys and getting the BOS in here.

On Oct. 2, I will go to the Bengal Wildlife Center in Bath MI, (never been there) and have the final day of classes, present my project to all the Alumni guests that show up, and graduate. I will get to attend the Alumni day every year after.
This is funny, young biologist of the Boys of Summer is in this year's class as well. I already told him to do his homework as I will be watching him.

On June 27, I will be attending the parade of ponds tour in West Brach, (never been there).

My State Rep is coming to my house for a tour of our problems in an effort to get stimulus money, and the State Senators office is working on this as well.

Fish kill can't happen soon, water is way too high to shut the overflow off for one week, it just keeps raining. This is funny: GF LakeChair has a pump in her garage they use to pump water from one lake to another, no thought or consideration has been giving to draining out some water, it kind of make you wonder, you know?

Then the next battle will be to try and keep a balanced fishery instead of LMBass only, it kind of makes me crazy, every single thing around here is a battle. I have gained so much pleasure in feeding and observing the fish, I will not give it up.

Along this path of When a Good Lake Goes Bad, I have gained so much more than I ever could have, had our lake remained the beautiful blue swimming pool it once was. I would not trade what I have gained for a beautiful, trouble free lake.