Pelican's Return

Saw this large gathering of pelicans this past week floating by my lakeside home. They have "hung around" our lake longer than ususal this time of year probably due to the good fishing they are finding due to our lowered lake level - a process initiated in preparation for some major lake improvement projects already in progress.  Avid fishermen and women will have some great fishing to look forward to in a couple of years. They will just have to have patience as beautiful Black Hawk Lake is enhanced in the months ahead.

Do apologize for the somewhat blurry image.  Either they or I was moving too fast.

2012 Summer reading winners

Here are four of our 2012 Summer Reading Program winners. As you can see they chose these cuddly stuffed animals instead of some book choices. I guess they did so much reading during the summer and with school now back in session they felt they needed a comforting change of activity. Maybe these cuddly treasures will help them do their homework this school year! Absent from the picture is one boy who did choose a book on cars. These are children who also attend our weekly "After school hour" on Mondays. We are having a special emphasis on pioneer games this month since the annual Kid's Pioneer Day at our local log cabin was rained out last month.

Crimson Dawn Band

What an awesome band of young people from the Omaha area! This group called Crimson Dawn were one of the two bands that played at our final summer concerts held on our historic stone pier. The blonde guitarist is the grandson of my dear friend Diane. He has so much musical ability as do all the members of this special group of teenagers, but of course I am biased having known Tag before he became such a talented musician. Who knows how famous he may become and then these pictures will really be valuable! Perhaps this group will be able to play again during next year's Stone Pier Concert series on Black Hawk Lake.