First Warm Spring Day of 2011

What a glorious spring day at last with enough sunshine I was able to sit out on my deck for awhile and read and take in these sights:

gulls flying all around, robins, a beautiful blue sky and an ice free lake! I also heard and saw the familiar spring sounds of workers putting in their boat docks - a sure sign that spring is here!

Unfortunately as I write this two days later I again woke up to a light covering of snow but know that it will soon be gone and warm spring/summer days are in the near horizon.

Lake View's Marketing Area

This map layout shows the large area of states and towns that make up the actual residents of this small Iowa town. Many are what we call our "seasonal residents" but none the less I found this map most impressive the first time I saw it. If you could get a closer look you would see all the lines drawn to the different towns.
What draws people from outside the town's limits? The number one reason is our beautiful Black Hawk Lake, the southern most glacial lake in our country. To find out about all the many fun events held in this small town check out http://www.lakeview-ia.com/. When you go to this site you can also get more information from Facebook and Twitter by clicking on either of the invitations at the top right of the home page.

First day of Spring, 2011

Hooray for the first day of spring at last!! Notice the real signs of this special day in these pictures. All the gulls gathered in one of the pictures. Unfortunately I couldn't zoom out far enough to get the eagles that were also out on the remaining ice area of the lake. Then you can see where the ice had melted near my shoreline. It was all gone by late afternoon. My area of the lake is always the last to melt away. Donald and Daisy have returned to my neighborhood and then there is Mr. Woody Woodpecker again on my birdfeeder. All of this occured on this first day of spring along Black Hawk Lake.

"Hot Rod" school musical

Hats off to the 7th and 8th graders who performed in their recent musical "Hot Rod", Cruising back to the 50s"! The overall plot made one think of the movie, Grease, although this was a modified version with the main character being a girl who used to belong to a drag racing gang and is now trying to join a special sorority group. That is until her younger sister desperately needs to raise money to pay off a debt to the "bad guys". Big sister can help if she will once again race in an upcoming drag race against the "greasers"! Of course, her old boyfriend comes to the rescue and all ends as happily as in the movie "Grease"! The musical numbers were great and all the characters did an outstanding job!

Native American Collection

Come see this unique Native American display now seen in our local library. David Geary has quite a story to tell about each of the items, some of which he made by hand. A sample of cider/sage is in one picture. This was used by the Indians as a smudge stick for ceremonial purification rites. Each of the animals were representative of a particular tribe's medicinal beliefs.

The loss of a great tree!

What a loss will be realized later this summer from the loss of this huge tree that was recently struck by lightening. There is some question by some of us, myself included, as to why all of the tree had to be cut down. Why couldn't just the damaged part be trimmed. You can see from these pictures that the huge pieces stacked are NOT hollow. The area this tree shaded was in a prime location for people to sit under and around during our annual summer carnival stage events. Now everyone will have to either use umbrellas to protect themselves from the heat or just suffer without any shade covering. I'm sure the two houses across the street will also miss all the shade this tree provided. A new tree will probably be planted but how long will anyone be able to benefit from it?

UPDATE: I have now heard the reason for cutting the entire tree down although I still believe it will be missed by at least the carnival spectators this summer. Liability issues are at the crux of the matter. Nowadays that is a sad state of affairs but one that is very real and costly if not heeded..