Don't Forget Mother, Sunday, May 10th

We will have our annual Mother's Day Buffet, Sunday, May 10th. Serving from 11am to 2:00pm. Dee was running the cash register this last weekend. (So nice to have her back on board.) Hopefully, she'll be there every weekend.

Back at it...

Last week, we spent under the sunny skies of Denver, CO (although a little snow still on the ground here and there amongst the tulips). Bob had his annual check-up at Craig. All checked out positively and we both got plenty of "hug therapy" from friends and family (my brother and sister-in-law and Bob's cousin and her family) there.

We got back Friday night in time for work. Saturday was the Waterboard meeting. There was a reporter there from the Hamlin County Republic and I do encourage you to purchase the paper.
The way I see it, in a nutshell, even though the water level is coming up on Poinsett, the board is going before the state to ask for local control of the outlet gate in the future.

Been busy brainstorming and planning a fun and action-packed, 10-year anniversary celebration at LAKEVIEW Resort May 14th-17th. Will be sharing the details shortly.

Don't look for updates until after Sat. 4-25-09

Enjoy your week. Bob & I will be out and about this next week enjoying a week of Spring temperatures, so am taking a break until Friday night...

Lookin' Good...

With what felt like an extra long winter now behind us, here at the lake, we've got spring fever as folks are stopping by to say hello. I liken it to those first birds of spring that inspire us with the sites and sounds letting us know, "we're back!" And for some, it's, "honey, I'm HOME!"
To all, let me say, "WELCOME BACK, we're all going to make it an extraordinary summer to enjoy at Lake Poinsett. Right on..."

LAKEVIEW BOAT RAMP status good

Water's coming up so word from GF&P is that the boat ramp next to LAKEVIEW will be in the water this year!! YEAH!!

This weekend

FYI Some have asked when Mary & Dick will be up. Looking forward to them being with us this weekend. Don't know if they're planning to stay in their camper or not. Getting a jump on the camping season, Mike and Missy spent last Saturday night in our campground in their camper.

We will be closed this Sunday to spend time with our families. Hope you get to do the same...Happy Easter!

taxes, spring cleaning & darts

This last week I set out to put together our taxes. But after sitting at the dining room table for over an hour with papers, file folders and mini-mountains of receipts scattered before me, I had this urge to eat something. After a quick trip to the kitchen settling on an apple and some snack crackers, I was back at the "tax thing" for a few minutes when in the middle of what I had filed in January 2008, I had to get up and go to the bathroom. While there I couldn't stop myself from scrubbing the bathroom sink, the floor, wiping down the shower and the mirror and so it went all week. Every time I basically chained myself to sit and 'do taxes' my short attention span for the task would send me into either an eating or cleaning frenzy. Finally, cleaning won out in the struggle and eventually the taxes got done. Maybe next year I'll plan to do it in the same way and not give in to so many snack crackers along the way.

Anyway, LAKEVIEW Resort is proud of their Renegades team that claimed 2nd place in the dart season this year. They were awarded a trophy (that we will proudly display) at the dart party last Friday. Bob was there to thank the Poinsett Area Dart League for supporting our dart tournaments held monthly this last year and to invite all to come out this Friday night for our final dart tournament of the season.

Registration is at 7:30. Play begins at 8:00pm. Maybe we'll see you there.

Annual Meeting of LPWPD April 25th

This week's Hamlin County Herald Enterprise reported that Lorin Pankratz, chairman of the Lake Poinsett Water Project District (LPWPD), called for a meeting last Monday, in Pierre with the Governor's Chief of Staff, Game, Fish and Parks and the secretary of DENR (Department of Environment and Natural Resources). The purpose of the meeting was to address the flooding of farm land by the Big Sioux River while Lake Poinsett is still experiencing low water level (at least 2' below full).

The story is very interesting reading while capturing the emotional confrontation that led to the local authorities being summoned to the scene where the outlet gates were temporarily opened to allow water in to the lake without authorization. The article gives a very good synopsis of the frustration of residents of Lake Poinsett as the low water level has plagued the lake in recent years. People are on both sides of the issue of quality vs. quantity of the lake water.

Chairman Pankratz was quoted as saying about the upcoming meeting that will be held at the Lake Poinsett Methodist Camp April 25th, "We all need to try and understand the other's point of view and find grounds for compromise." Bob and I will be there. Hope to see you there...

Ice story from Keloland April 1

Had some inquiries Wednesday about the story some had seen on TV news about the ice on Poinsett. Push PLAY to watch the video about an isolated case on the west side of the lake. They made it look pretty scary, which I'm sure it was for those couple of lake home owners...

Lake Poinsett ICE OFF, April 1st!

No foolin'!! I write with double joy about the ice off. After a lion's last roar sending March packin', the storm yesterday was followed by open water, not from the warm weather but instead from the strong wind pushing the ice around.

As if that isn't exciting enough, I put in my 2 bucks and luckily picked the day on the local ICE OFF board. Stop in to LAKEVIEW and tell me you read about this on this blog and I'll buy you a drink at the resort this week with my winnings (Wednesday-Saturday night 5:30-9:00pm).

Thank you to clubfisher for sharing their adventure on film of yesterday's storm. Enjoy the new slide show.

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...

Last weekend for Tropical Specials

Take advantage of the 'first drink 1/2 off special' for anyone coming to LAKEVIEW in February, dressed "Hawaiian Style" Friday or Saturday Night. We can whip you up a scrumptious Aloha ice cream drink if you just say the word. Don't forget Saturday Night is the night for Bob's Karaoke for those who like to join in song or just want to sit back and listen.

Tonight's supper specials include our own lightly breaded and broasted cod and butterfly shrimp. Saturday night is (beef) prime rib and BBQ country style ribs.

So come on out for a reasonably priced meal and/or tip a few drinks and get away from it all...
Linda

Easier than a website?

That's the claim, but whenever I do something new, man, it takes me forever. Anyway, I'm going to get this linking thing down. But in the meantime, these pictures are kind of fun to share (even though the photographer maybe had a bit too much Bailey's in her coffee, [I confess] that afternoon). Has anybody else got some? I took a couple outside of the "course" but they didn't turn out.

I've got alot of the fishing pictures posted in an album. Will get that address (or slide show) on to the web page very soon. Just blogging along...linda

And then the sun went down...

and so did we.

Snolf pictures

Snickers, the Snolf Penguin mascot, greeted visitors and let them know for weeks that SNOLF was coming in February.