Queechy Times Summer 2016

The Official Newsletter of the Queechy Lake Club

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Welcome to the first issue of the Queechy Times!

One of the suggestions I received as your new QLC president was to improve communications among the membership. A recommendation brought out at a director’s meeting was to produce a local newsletter detailing all things relating to our beloved Queechy Lake and the happenings throughout the summer.
Thanks to the efforts of board members Patsy McDonald and Caitlin Schwager, we have committed this year to two issues of the Queechy Times, a summer issue and a fall issue. Most will read your copy sent to you via email or you can get the issue on our website. Those not using computers will be able to get a hard copy at the Corner Deli. The Queechy Times will not be interesting without your input. Our readers want to know what’s going on in your neighborhood or association. We are looking for family news, current other lake management issues. If your neighbor did not get this issue pass the word and his or her email to us. We’ll make sure the next issue gets to them. Hope you have a great summer.
Sincerely,

Steven Berninger
President
berninger349@aol.com.

Get Ready for the Boat Parade on July 2nd!

The 41st Annual Boat Parade will be held on Saturday, July 2nd at 2pm. We are hoping for lots of entries this year so start your brainstorming now! Who will be this year's Best Overall?

Contribute to the QT!

If you have news about happenings in your "grove" or with your family you'd like to share with the Queechy Times, please email the editor at pmcdo@verizon.net!

The Lewis Levin Winter View

New Neighbors on the Lake
By Patsy McDonald, Editor
Meet the Lewis Levins

Queechy extends a big, warm welcome to the new occupants of the former Kinzel house, the Lewis Levin family. They are a family of five with 17 month old Ava, Elijah, age 8 and Sydney who is 10 years old. Proud parents are Seth and Kami.

The Lewis Levins moved in last Spring and drive up almost every weekend from Park Slope in Brooklyn. Seth and Kami have been working in the New York City Public Schools. Seth is an ardent outdoorsman who grew up in Boston. He has been a high school principal and now stays home caring for his children while pursuing a Masters Degree in Library Science. Kami, originally from Miami, Florida, is now Director of New Leaders, a New York City Non profit in Leadership Development for Public School Transformation. She works with the NYC Dept. of Education in the Charter and Regular Schools. At present she is pursuing her Doctoral Studies in Adult Education and Leadership Studies for Organizational Development in
Corporate and Nonprofit settings.

For three years the family searched throughout the Hudson Valley for a country retreat. They rented a house in Hudson overlooking the river and the Catskills and visited nearby lakes finding mostly crowded cottages, speedboats, and a suburban atmosphere. Finally at Queechy they found the space, serenity, and friendliness that seemed missing at the other lake communities. Kami said they knew it was right even before they walked into the house. The Queechy area holds many attractions for them including the Shaker villages, a best friend in West Stockbridge, and a general friendliness from the Canaan General Store to the Canaan Post Office and beyond.

Sydney and Elijah occupy the gallery/barn behind the house, where they build Lego forts and enjoy lots of play space. The Lewis Levins also bought the Lappies property next door and will make the little cabin a guest cottage. They feel very lucky to have the Whitakers and Patzwahls as next door neighbors. The Lewis Levins found the Queechy community particularly special because many of the same families have been coming back for generations, some since the 1800s. They hope to join this legacy as generations of Lewis Levins follow. They are hoping to make their Queechy home their “spiritual home base.”

During last summer’s Queechy Lake Club Annual Meeting the President Charles Long turned the gavel over to the new incoming president Steven Berninger. At the last director’s meeting in October Mr. Long received a plaque honoring his dedication as president for the past three years and his long term commitment to the Club.

To join the Queechy Lake Club as a full or associate member, please visit our website www.queechylake.org

Helpful Lake
Health Links

For more information on CSLAP:
http://www.dec.ny.gov/chemical/81576.html

For more information on NYSFOLA:
http://nysfola.mylaketown.com/

For more information on invasive species, with many additional links:
http://www.dec.ny.gov/animals/265.html

Photos of prohibited and regulated plants:
http://www.dec.ny.gov/docs/lands_forests_pdf/isprohibitedplants2.pdf

For information on harmful algal blooms (HABs):
http://www.dec.ny.gov/chemical/77118.html

Photo gallery of non-toxic and toxic algae blooms:
http://www.dec.ny.gov/chemical/81962.html

Additional Resource

The Lake George (NY) Association put together a handbook titled “A Homeowner’s Guide to Lake-Friendly Living." This 22 page booklet gives lake property owners an idea of some of the simple things you can do on your own property to help protect the water quality. This booklet gives 15 simple ideas for sustainable lakeshores and landscape projects to protect our beautiful Queechy Lake. The Queechy Lake Club has a few of these valuable booklets and is willing to give them away to anyone interested . Please write to us at PO Box 92, Canaan requesting your free copy.

Queechy Lake Club Annual Meeting
Saturday, August 6th

The Queechy Lake Club Annual Meeting will be held on Saturday, August 6th at 10am at the Canaan Town Hall. Join us for light refreshments and stay up to do date on QLC activities and recent water testing results.

Volunteers are Vital for Healthy Lakes
by Betsy Janes

At the annual conference of NYSFOLA, the New York State Federation of Lake Associations, representatives of the member associations have expressed a common concern year after year: the membership is growing older; those who volunteer are aging out; it’s harder to convince young people to join, and few of them have the time to volunteer.

Some lake associations have memberships large enough (and/or wealthy enough) that they can hire paid staff. Others, like the Queechy Lake Club, rely entirely on volunteers willing to donate the time and effort needed to keep their lakes healthy.

We need to develop the next generation of volunteers. We need you.

We need you to watch for exotic plants that can overwhelm a lake. We need you to keep an eye out for invasive animals like zebra mussels and Asian clams, and to recognize algae blooms that might harm the health of lake users. Once you've learned which species are cause for concern and SHOULD BE REPORTED THE MINUTE YOU SEE THEM (really, I mean it!) you can be an "exotic spotter" whenever you’re on the water or strolling the lake road. If we catch invasives as soon as they arrive, there's a chance they can be eradicated. Once they gain a foothold, the effort and expense required to manage them can exhaust a lake association's human and financial resources.

Learn what you can do to improve the landscaping on your property, so that fewer nutrients will enter the lake from precipitation runoff or wave-generated shoreline erosion. Excess nutrients lead to increased weed and algae growth. And when boating, remember to observe the no-wake zone within 100 feet of shore.

We need people willing to pitch in on "chores." Offer to drive your pontoon boat once or twice for the bi-weekly water sampling we do for CSLAP (the Citizens Statewide Lake Assessment Program, a monitoring and education program managed by NYSFOLA and NYSDEC.) Each trip takes only an hour or two. If you enjoy that, take the training so you’ll be qualified to collect the samples. Or, equally glamorous, spend a morning collecting for the end-of-summer bacteria testing!

When you've taken leave of your senses and decided you're able to make a greater commitment, volunteer to serve on the board of directors. If you survive that, consider leading the exciting life of a QLC officer: occasional meetings! With coffee and pastries! Any time and effort you can spare will make a difference.

Life at Queechy: Nostalgic Ecstasy and Uncertain Prospects - Part One
By Ed Long, Jr.

What are probably some ninety years ago my parents rented a cottage in Chatham camp back from the shore for what was a limited summer stay. I was too young then to have any details fix themselves in my mind other than to know it happened, but do have a vague feeling I caught a fish off the dock that belonged to the owner. Soon thereafter my parents learned that George Taylor wanted to sell land located across from Trempers Camps on the south end of the lake. Taylor had arranged to have the property surveyed to lay out a plan for a development consisting of nine lots, one with lake front of its own and the others with lake access across a common front that was to be keep free of structures and in its natural state forever. My parents at first bought one of the lots with common front access and made plans to build a cottage. I was still very young, and my sister still almost an infant.
  I became old enough to remember the summer when we pitched a tent on the property and began to build a cottage. My mother’s father came up with John Page’s hired man from Chatham every weekday to help my father build the first unit, which was finished sometime in August so we could move in and then secure it for the winter. My father and grandfather made an agreement that my father would do the nailing and my grandfather would do the sawing, and my father often remarked afterwards that he made the wrong choice. My grandfather was always ready with the board to be installed and doing the nailing “nearly killed” my father. I watched every move and once I picked up a piece of scrap that I thought would fit the place they were working and it did so perfectly. I still remember the delight with which my grandfather assured me I had an eagle eye.
At the end of each workday, and earlier on weekends, we would row across the lake to swim at the spot now used by the Berkshire Farm for staff access. As many readers probably know there is a remarkable extension of waist to shoulder depth water at that location with a sand bottom and it was a gathering place for many residents from all around the lake. In those days the boys from the farm used their own beech regularly for well organized recreational activities.
    Canann had significant rail service; two trains each way to and from New York City and an equal or even greater number to and from Albany. The trains brought the mail, which the midmorning train bringing the print copy of the New York Times that could be subscribed for a dollar a month for the weekday edition.
We could purchase milk and ice cream at Coon’s dairy and supplies at Walker’s store.   Building supplies were available from Thomas’s Lumber yard on the lower Queechy road. It even carried dynamite for stump blasting, which it sold without a license for twenty-five cents a stick well into the forties and was left at a hidden place so it could be gotten on the honor system even when there as noone on duty as cashier. Giffords garage stood across the street, which made it convenient because cars needed to have their oil changed every thousand miles.

Copyright © 2016 Queechy Lake Club, All rights reserved.

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