The summer lingers on, but according to the forecast, we're in for a rude awakening starting with rain tomorrow night and the rest of the week sounds pretty dismal.  I heard one of the forecasters tonight suggest doing that "summer reading" we've been putting off.  Summer is waning, for sure, but we still have the beautiful autumn to look forward to.

This is going to be a really super apple year.  Our two trees are loaded with apples.  Sadly, we don't spray in the spring, so the apples tend to have a fair amount of imperfections, and they run small, but I can always find enough for applesauce and an occasional pie and still leave plenty for the deer to enjoy.

We received a nice offer today.  Jim Bernotas (Laperle Drive) is a diver, as many of you probably know, and told us today he noticed some dangerous trash in the upper narrows - broken glass, sharp aluminum scraps, etc., and said occasionally sailors have to walk their sailboats through the narrows and there could be serious injury, so Jim is going to be retrieving those sharp objects at some point.  He didn't say exactly when he might be working there, but said there will be diving flags out (see above photo) and he will be visible most of the time.  So if you see some  unusual activity there, that is what it's about.  

We thank Jim for cleaning that up - it's unfortunate trash gets either tossed into the pond or left on the ice to lodge in places like that, but how fortunate we are to have members like Jim who are willing to take the time to keep our pond clean and safe.   Thank you, Jim.

I don't remember if I mentioned the new buoys that Jamie Dimick put out a couple weeks ago - one in front of Mike Malaney's, behind the islands, and another sort of in front of Dolly LaGue's.  These are "experimental" buoys that warn of shallow water.  The pond bottom changes from time to time, depending on runoff, flooding that causes wetlands to erode, or change of direct channel flow, so if you are boating close to shore with canoe, kayak or fishing boat, there may be new shallow spots you need to be aware of.  Jamie is anxious for comments on the new buoys - either pros or cons - so he will better know what boaters need or would like changed in order to safely navigate our pond.  There are more buoys out now than there have been in the past - most by request of JPA members, and

he needs to know if there are concerns or suggestions for either more or fewer buoys.  He will be available at the next JPA meeting on August 23, or contact him at jamie.dimick@katv.com.