ICE OFF !! (on Lake Albert)

Lake Albert's ice vanished overnight in the wind, but Lake Poinsett's ice is more stubborn. However, both lake's are up and unofficially the word is Poinsett is up another 6" since last week. I think that makes it less than a foot below full. With the forecast for more snow (9-13"for Watertown) and water running in from the west and in from Dry Lake under stone bridge, things are looking good for the lake this year. Thank God the Red River that begins near Wahpeton, flows north. We don't want that much water all at once. But our thoughts and prayers are with the people of North Dakota battling the flood waters.

Lake Poinsett area water update

The lake is coming up, some saying it's already up 6-8" since last week, and we have open water half way out in front of LAKEVIEW!

This week's Hamlin Cty newspaper reported that Monday, in the early morning hours, the Castlewood and Estelline area received "between 3-1/2 to five inches of rain," according to the Hamlin Emergency Director. The Sioux River rose about two feet during that time and was expected to crest, Tuesday.

Speaking of water, the Hamlin County Ducks Unlimited Banquet begins with a social hour at 5:30 pm Saturday, March 28th in Castlewood. For tickets and more information contact Greg Archer (793-2522) at the paper www.hamlincountypublishing.com

Hey, come out this weekend and check out our new menus with your old favorites along with some new offerings. We have a new scrumptious butterfly shrimp dinner. How about the broasted catfish everybody's raving about!? And for cod lovers we still have the fish special every Friday night. Saturday night's specials include prime rib for $15.95 or BBQ pork ribs for $11.95. As always, the broasted chicken, our specialty, is a favorite everyday!

after the excitement dies down...

Between the SDSU women's basketball team being in the national playoffs, (Sunday and Tuesday) and the rains of Monday night, today finds us down. Playoffs ended abruptly in last half-second of the game and our peek at spring seems over for now as the cold and snow are trying to move back in.

But first of all, "How 'bout them Jacks?" Didn't they made us all proud!!

And then the rain! All of the area lakes and streams are flowing hard. Bob drove around yesterday and found some country roads are under water as the creeks rise above their banks.

I went to the cocorahs website (mentioned in an earlier post, see below) to find local precipitation levels. Reporters in Brookings registered .42-.47 inches in their rain gauges. Watertown, White, and Hayti measurements were 1.56-1.76 inches. But Lake Norden's total was 2.66 inches!

If you'd like to be a volunteer with cocorah and report rainfall, visit the following link for more information. http://www.cocorahs.org/Application.aspx

Week blew by and now we're watching spring waters...

Did this week just blow by, or what? St. Urho and St. Patrick's day celebrations, snow melting, temporary ponds luring in Canadian geese, Snows and Blues in huge flocks rising and falling over the frozen lakes, first robin spotted and today it's officially the first day of spring. Whew!

We took a trip down to the Ortman Chiropractic Clinic ortmanclinic.com and stayed overnight at the Ortman Hotel in Canistota. Beautiful weather for travel and running errands in Sioux Falls and Brookings.

For more information about the geese migration, or the Spring Light Goose Season that runs until May 3rd, visit the South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks website sdgfp.info

The Hamlin County Conservation Officer Kraig Haase was quoted in the Hamlin County Herald Enterprise hamlincountypublishing.com this week regarding water level in Poinsett. He said the lakes above Poinsett are all filled up. Presently, Lake Poinsett is three feet below the full level but the runoff of chain of lakes has not started. "The diversion ditch on the north side of Lake Poinsett is running now." Haase said. "There is a very low possibility of flooding at Lake Poinsett."

JR's in Hayti becomes Renagades Saloon

New owners of JR's; Billy Jo and John Hurley with John's sister, Clara, and Rodney Anderson, are hosting a "meet the new owners" karaoke party tonight. Three of the four owners are celebrating March birthdays. Throw in some green beer, and it should be a wild time.
Good luck to the Renegades in their new endeavor! Go check 'em out. Keep them in mind when you're looking for off-sale liquor, too. And I should add, their hours are Mon.-Sat. noon-2am.

DARTS,DARTS,DARTS

Last DART tournament of the season at LAKEVIEW, Friday Night, March 13th. Sign up at 7:30pm. Thank you to Billy Jo, Cap and the rest of their team for holding these tournaments every month.

More links from The Outdoorsmen Magazine

The South Dakota and the surrounding area...Outdoorsmen Magazine is published monthly in Flandreau, SD. We have it delivered to LAKEVIEW Resort to distribute. The articles are fantastic! I am sharing web sites from some of the contributors to the magazine. The March issue had some wonderful wild game recipes and camping food ideas, like the best creamy fish soup. I followed the link and found the Heavenly Soup Recipe on the Babe Winkelman site
Babe Winkelman Productions
Color Catches Fish by Bob Jensen
www.trueblueicefishing.com
Kones Korner - Castlewood, SD - South Dakota Gun Dealers, firearms dealers, gun dealers South Dakota Gun Shops. South Dakota Gun Stores
: South Dakota’s Premier Hunting Experience – Sioux River Wildlife :
If you want to know more about a magazine published locally that provides all of this kind of information every month email them:
outdoorsmen@iw.net

Tinkering with the webpage

After "tinkering" with the website, Lakeview Resort at Lake Poinsett over the last few days, I'm happy to report the addition of many links including a link to Music Service for current and past dart and pool information, Music Service

and two on snowmobiling, but I neglected to give credit to a picture of snowmobiling that I included on the page. That credit should go to the local artist John C. Greene and I am including a link to his studio here, John Green Art Studio

Have you ever wondered about the rain or snow fall accumulation around Poinsett on any given day? If so, go to CoCoRaHS - Community Collaborative Rain, Hail & Snow Network for up-to-date info.

Another website for Poinsett inquiring minds is South Dakota Lakes & Streams

Lodging in the Lake Poinsett area

This week, we received an email from a family in California that is traveling to Lake Poinsett this summer for family reunions. I was asked to help them locate a place to stay, so I thought it a good idea to list with phone numbers lodging right here within 34 miles of Lake Poinsett. If I missed any, let me know so we can add to the list.

I've got links, now, published in the web page
Lakeview Resort at Lake Poinsett
referring to some of the area tourism informational web pages.

Last Call on Winter Sport?

Last weekend, we had quite a few out snowmobiling after the snowfall on Thursday, for what they admitted, "might be the last time this winter." The ice fishermen are all over the ice now that alot of the snow cover is off the lake. Saw a 20# catfish brought in for weighing this evening by a proud, very young man. Hope to get a photo to add to our slide show emailed to us.

Not Feeling So Bold

Wow, I just looked back at the blog as I set it up last week and was taken back by the boldness of my settings. Do you ever get the feeling type style on a page is yelling at you? Hope the new settings I just chose will feel more welcoming to you the reader. I'm feeling more subdued now and hope it shows. We all have enough around us "yelling" for our attention (and I'm not even mentioning those little voices inside my head, save that for another day). But what can you expect from someone who gets her inspiration from Oliver on 'Green Acres'. Last week while I was blogging, he was telling his wife, Lisa that some of the best things that have happened, "have come from people that didn't know what they were doing."

Anyway, March blew in like a lion (with a different feel to the air than a winter wind) so the end of March should feel more lamb like, spring like. Daylight savings time change this weekend. Days are getting longer. Hope springs eternal...