The Day That Made Winter Awesome

2011 Police Report Wrap Up and Analysis

A Blue Lake Free Press Special Investigation

Now that it seems winter has finally arrived with single-digit highs and 22-below lows, we can finally get down to the nitty gritty, crunch those numbers and make beautiful graphs to illustrate how the people of the Blue Lake area exercised tax dollars and enhanced community safety (we’re staying positive) by keeping in communication with the Minocqua Police Department throughout 2011.

The Blue Lake Free Press team (me) analyzed last year’s police reports and found:

• 22 Blue Lake area-specific incidents were reported to police.
• Most police reports concerned activity on Blue Lake Road: a whopping 73% of all incidents reported.  Blue Lake Point Road came in second with 14%, followed by Agawak Road with 9% and Blue Lake (lake) with 5% of area-specific reports.  EDITOR’S NOTE:  Those of us in the boonies on Hacker Drive and Bobcat Lake Drive are either well-behaved or pretty covert… I’m leaning towards the latter.  Kudos, too, to folks on the island and on Helmar Road for keeping out of reported trouble.

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2011 BLMA Police Reports by Street

• Vandalism accounted for the majority of incidents reported: 18% or 4 reports.  Vandalism reported to the police department included a window broken in an ice shack on the lake in January; a bunch of mailboxes damaged on Blue Lake Road in May; another mailbox damaged in September; and someone shooting street signs with a paintball gun in October.  Vehicle incidents and burglary/theft tied as the second most reported crime-types in the BLMA, totally 14% of all crimes reported, or, 3 reports each.  These reports include a theft of a shotgun from a residence on Blue Lake Road in January; a burglary at a residence on Blue Lake Road in February; and theft of fishing equipment from an unlocked garage on Agawak Road in May.

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2011 BLMA Police Reports by Type

• May, July and September saw the most police reports with 4 incidents reported each month.  May’s reports included vandalism against mailboxes; a high-powered rifle firing on Agawak Road; a burglary on Agawak Road; and a two-vehicle collision on Blue Lake Road and Highway 51.  July was a truly stand-out month for Blue Lake Point Road with a neighbor complaint of an unattended fire followed by a report of juvenile shenanigans.  In separate incidents, a golf cart and a kid-powered ATV, both motoring down Blue Lake Road, warranted police reports in July.  September’s reports included a prowler knocking on windows and honking a horn on Blue Lake Point Road; a hit and run crash involving a vehicle and a mailbox on Blue Lake Road; cows on Blue Lake Road; and more vandalized mailboxes, also on Blue Lake Road.  EDITOR’S NOTE: I find it interesting that in the most forbidding months of March and April no crimes and incidents were reported to the police department.  Perhaps the Blue Lake populace was just too lethargic to do anything, good, or bad, during these long months.

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2011 BLMA Police Reports by Month

• Other police reports in 2011 included dogs-at-large in June on Blue Lake Road; a tree down near Agawak Road, also in June; an unattended death investigation in August; and illegal dumping on Blue Lake Road near Sutton Road in November.

EDITOR’S NOTE:  I am most disturbed by the reports of a prowler and the theft of a shotgun in the BLMA.  My safety suggestion is to keep your goods and yourself locked up, and to not become complacent and blindly trust in the goodness of humanity.  I know this sounds very Hawthornesque with a touch of In Cold Blood, and it’s a genuine shame to lack the liberty to fully rely on the goodness of our species but sometimes prudence is key for survival.  And for those thinking about committing crimes, consider that there are now a number of video surveillance operations in effect around the lake and on lake properties.  I know because I’ve seen the footage which, knock-on-wood, has thus far been mostly wildlife-related.

But perhaps the most poignant question to arise from the police report findings can be answered in the following poll:

Tags: Agawak Road, Blue Lake Island Road, Blue Lake Point Road, Blue Lake Road, Bobcat Lake Drive, Hacker Drive, Helmar Road, police reports

40s and a Beautiful Sunset

No… not ice cold from the refrigerator 40s… warm southern winds 40s!  Today was absolutely divine on Blue Lake with a major heat wave steaming in to melt the big New Year’s snow.  I ventured outside in a light jacket to enjoy the drip, drip of melting icicles sparkling in the bright sun and was actually… hot!  Ahhh, yes, the one I’ve been waiting for has finally arrived!  To top off a near perfect day, a glorious sunset lit up the western sky like a creamsicle on fire.

Sunset over Minocqua

Thanks to TC for the photo!

Tags: Lake Minocqua, sunset

Nancy Wright Passes Away

As printed here:

Mrs. Nancy A. Wright, of Whitefish Bay, passed away December 29, 2011 at Horizon Inpatient Hospice in Mequon. She was 82 years old. Nancy was born April 18, 1929 in Milwaukee, the daughter of Ogden and Ruth Groelle Trayser. On August 8, 1953 she was united in marriage with William H.B. Wright III in Milwaukee. He preceded her in death in 1987. For over 20 years, Nancy volunteered at St. Michael’s Hospital. She enjoyed music, going up north to the family cabin, and spending time with her family. Nancy is survived by 2 children: Susan (John) Sweitzer of Thompson Ridge, NY and Bill (Debby) Wright of Cedarburg. She is further survived by grandchildren: William, Emily and Michael Wright, great-granddaughter Charlotte, other relatives and friends. Nancy is preceded in death by her husband William, and grandson Timothy Sweitzer. Funeral Services will be held at 6PM on Wednesday, January 4, 2012 at Eernisse Funeral Home, 1167 Washington Ave. in Cedarburg. The family will receive visitors at the funeral home on Wednesday from 4-6PM. Nancy will be laid to rest beside William at Forest Home Cemetery in Milwaukee. In lieu of flowers, memorials are suggested to the Alzheimer’s Association. The Eernisse Funeral Home, Cedarburg is assisting the family with arrangements. 

The Wolf Kill That The Eagles Ate

The bloody wolf kill by Blue Lake Resort provided good, week-long eating for the eagles.  Eagles don’t have teeth to pull off chunks of tough beast meat and can’t peck through solid hides so they come in for the feasting after other creatures have ripped the dense and sometimes frozen carcass to shreds.

Eagle in Flight over Wolf Kill

Eagles Feast on Wolf Kill by Blue Lake Resort

Thanks to TC for the awesome photos!

Tags: bald eagle, bald eagles, Blue Lake Resort, carrion, deer, gray wolf, wolf, wolf kill

Snow Blue in 2012

Blue Lake Panorama of Snow

Canada delivered a Happy 2012 gift to Blue Lake in the shape of massive snow storm which shook a good few inches on the lake.  Tremendously gusty winds simulated a blizzard at times with already-fallen snow whipping up in deceiving snow banks.  Snow fall covered both ski trails and a dunk tank that some young rascals were chainsawing out of the lake west of the weed bed on New Year’s eve.  Fishermen flocked to the ice with their grubs in the wee hours of New Year’s Eve among the excellent, overcast fishing conditions.

Cross country ski conditions around the lake were poor as of Tuesday afternoon with snow-atop-slush-atop-ice creating rough, no-glide fields of slogginess. The slushiness is strange as mid-teen temperatures and overnight ten-below freezers seem to be keeping the lake good and frozen.  Ice depths to about 10 inches were measured over the holiday (lower than area averages) which is well enough to hold a heavy vehicle but does little to identify hidden springs, decaying vegetation hot spots and currents which may interrupt ice solidity.

Holiday crowds disappeared by Monday with nary a soul spotted trotting in the snowpack since early in the week.  This is quite a difference from one of the last daylight sights of 2011 – a man and a dog driving an ATV on the lake, towing a man in a sled with ice fishing gear with another dog running alongside of him.

Tags: cross country skiing, ice fishing

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone in the BLMA! The 2011 season of festivities kicked off on December 19th with an out of control afternoon baking dozens of cookies – 32 dozen to be exact – and fighting with a disobedient cookie press. With December 22nd came a rollicking winter solstice party.  Lodges were decked in silver.  Feasts were devoured.  Nuns drummed. Blue Lake creaked.  Our lake, in step with area lakes, is having a hard time freezing this year with open water sloshing around Picnic Point and The Tunnel.  Flimsy conditions, however, didn’t keep snowmobilers off the lake with one particularly audacious machine spotted zipping around on western ice floes.

Italian Cookies Baked at Blue Lake

VISITORS, SNOWMOBILES AND ATVs

Visitors trickled into town for a relatively quiet Christmas Eve Feast of the Seven Fishes (or traditional area fish fry) and for an equally quiet Christmas Day. Blue Lake, and Minocqua in general, were very low key over the holiday weekend. Activity picked up around the 27th with festivarians streaming up north following a fairly good powdering of snow. Far more ATVs seem to motor around Blue Lake this year, outnumbering snowmobiles 3 to 1. Although a snowmobile was seen pulling a snowboarder for an exciting ride, ATVs were spied hauling ice fishing gear to-and-fro, plowing ice rinks and tugging sledders on high-speed whirls.

TAJ MAHAL ICE SHACK

Ice fishermen are enjoying incredible Blue Lake catches this year with early anglers snagging tasty Northern Pikes and two lads in what’s been deemed “The Taj Mahal of Ice Shacks” (a tricked out white camper with sleeping quarters) having excellent luck with walleyes.

SKATING RINKS AND BREAKS

An awesome little John Deere tractor with a huge brush attachment on the front from north Blue Lake created nifty ice rinks around the lake.  An ice trail curled around the western shores of Blue Lake to ferry skaters from the north shore to the south shore.  A Blue Lake business man / environmental philanthropist sustained a terrible ankle break in a freak skating accident while allegedly either participating in a snowball fight with a dog or stepping on uneven ground or a combination of both, and had to be loaded into a pickup truck, transported into an ambulance, and treated at an area hospital.

Tractor Making an Ice Rink on Blue Lake

PROGRESSIVE DINNER

Holiday Table

Temperatures have remained pleasant throughout the holidays with unseasonably warm temperatures and only one night or so of really biting northern winds. Incidentally, the super cold night shared audience with a merry group of seven feasters plus one Blue Lake blogger who embarked on a progressive dinner hitting up three lake houses in succession by either cross-country skiing, walking or hitching a ride, to enjoy appetizers (stuffed mushrooms and brie cheese), an entree (taco soup and cornbread), and dessert (kahlua brownie and heath trifle). The three houses were all dinner participants, well prepared to host the traveling band and most kind to the unannounced arrival of the blogger. Conversation topics included wild animals and cryptozoology.

WOLF KILL AND A PORCUPINE FEAST

Wild woodland creatures ate well this week with huge lobo-looking tracks surrounding a fresh wolf kill on Blue Lake. The wolf kill, a bloodied, mangled deer met its fate very close to a Blue Lake residence earlier this week. Wolves are on the prowl in the Northwoods with a desirous 300-wolf strong population ballooning to 800 statewide. Although many Blue Lakers have seen tracks pressed into the snow, this blogger has only heard the beasts howling on long, dark winter nights. Enormous mountain lion tracks have also been reportedly sighted across the lake.  In less freakish news, a huge porcupine enjoyed the delicious cuts of a leftover deer hunt which also attracted the interest of a pair of dogs. The eagles checked out their old nest, flapping about and perching in their twiggy bowl, though it seems as if their minds remain undecided about staying.

NEW YEARS AND GUNS

Stories of big impending New Years Eve parties are a’glitter around the lake. Santa may have brought someone in the southwestern BLMA a gun for Christmas as rapid gun shots echoed through the woods shortly after Christmas. More gunshots – firecrackers – bonfires to ring in 2012 are expected. Here’s to a bright and prosperous New Year for all!

Tags: bald eagle, Christmas, gray wolf, Holiday, ice skating rink, New Years, New Years Eve, porcupine, wolf

Skating on Something Slippery

I’ve been hearing a lot of questions from Blue Laker expatriates like, “How’s the lake doing?”  ”Is it totally frozen?” “Have you walked across the entire lake yet?”  ”Will it be frozen by the time I get up there for Christmas?”  Now, I’m going to let you in on my secret way of telling if a lake is good and frozen to be safe enough to walk on:  I look out the window and see if anyone else is walking on it without breaking through the ice.  This usually occurs after a substantial cold spell (yup) with nighttime temperatures at least in the teens (yup).  Now, it’s warmed up since then to around freezing in the low 30s which has made everything super slippery and, dare I say, ice skating ideal?  Well, I am happy to report that on Sunday I saw this:

Skating on Blue Lake

The three kids in the picture appear to have skated with a hockey stick and puck around the entire perimeter of Blue Lake.  Kids across the Northwoods must be taking full advantage of awesome ice conditions as schools were closed early in the week due super slippery roads.  Now, as an additional confirmation that the lake is substantially solid, today, I saw this:

Ice Fisherman Prepares to Auger on Blue Lake

Will I be the next to take a walk on the frozen side?  Come to think of it… maybe I’ll take some ice depth measurements first… just to be sure.  Happy skating!

Tags: frozen lake, ice, ice fishing

First Below Zero

It’s way too soon to be seeing this!

Morning Thermometer

Tags: below zero, freezing, why

What Happened Last Night

Yup, Blue Lake did it.  It held out ’til December to get crackin’ on freezing over.  I had a feeling it’d be this way, although I was still surprised two days ago, on November’s final day, when I spied Seagull Island / The Weed Bed magically transformed into a snowy ice patch:

Seagull Island and the Weed Bed: Frozen

Yet most of the lake waters kept on flowing into December so I was even more surprised when I looked out my window this morning to see darn near the whole lake settling under a thin sheet of ice.  I raced outside to catch a better look and was greeted by the twangy resonations of the new ice shelf shifting and settling.

Blue Lake Freezes in December

I still have hopes that 80 degree weather is right around the corner, although the forecast is calling for snow this weekend.  And it seems that when the lake has made up its mind to freeze, it keeps on doing so, warm spells be jolly.  So, looks like it’s time to sharpen up those ice skates!

Tags: Blue Lake, freeze, ice, ice skates, ice skating