Three Lakes, Wi

6/30/09

We have been located right across the street from Big Stone Lake, in Three Lakes, WI for a month. This lake is connected to 27 other lakes, which is the largest connection of lakes in the world. There are thousands of other lakes around those 28 lakes. We visited many of the lakes, but we were told by a man who has been here 27 years, he's never seen them all, and thought it would take a life time to do so. We've been trying to get back to walking each day. The first week we were here we found 2 deer ticks on us. We were walking up along the airport,
( which is located right next to the campground) and then into nearby neighborhoods. We were told later, that there are a lot of ticks in that area.



Road between small grass runway airport and the campground, with Lake at far end. Sunset from our Nest. Mallery has been grabbing things( a yellow sticky note) and won't give it back. Just like a kid," if I can't get attention, I'll do something bad to get it!" We decided to try a different neighborhood, to avoid the ticks. This was a beautiful neighborhood with lots of trees between the homes, and there were lakes on both sides of the road. The 2nd week we were here, we had some new neighbors move in next door. It was pouring rain and was dark as they set up their 5th wheel next to us. We felt sorry for them, as we remembered our 1st night out in Urbana Ia. It was pouring as Joe tried for the first time to set up our unit. We met Dave, Kathy and their son Kevin the next day. They invited us out for a ride on their pontoon boat that evening. We jumped at the chance, as we had only seen some lakes from the road.



Kathy & Dave from central WI. Wisconsin Loon The people that were next to us when we first arrived, told Joe where to go fishing, if you didn't have a boat.



This bridge is the place! And look, Joe is a fisherman- his 1st fish - a large mouth bass. And before we left, he caught a small mouth bass. I just sat and read a book and watched. I didn't have a fishing license. Guess what's for dinner tonight. This goose and her babies swam by as Joe fished. Our neighbors Kathy and Dave were so nice. They invited us over every night for a campfire and games. Their son, Kevin is going into the ROTC, and had just met a girl in the ROTC, who can't get calls or emails for a couple of months. So Kevin starting writing her every night and would come over each night to print his letter. What a cute kid, I wanted to adopt him and I looked forward to seeing his sweet smile every night.




Joe and Dave playing golf toss
One morning Dave and Joe went fishing in Dave's pontoon boat. While they were fishing, Doug, a guy we meet the first week we arrived, stopped by and asked if we wanted to go boating. I knew Joe would be coming back soon, so I called him and he said they were on their way back. While out fishing, Dave and Joe caught two perch each. Doug took us on a boat ride through many of the lakes, up to the dam. We saw the boat lift that carries boats across to the lakes on the other side of the dam. But no boats were being lifted across, so we didn't get to see that. It was a beautiful sunny, calm day and the water was like glass.




Joe and Doug Boat lift On other side is the dam Sign at dam with map of the lakes on this side of the dam. House built maybe in the twenty's- Rumor has it, that years ago, Al Capone- type mobsters came here because it was so secluded and also on an island. When we got home from a full day of fun in the sun, and sunscreen of course, it was time to clean the fish that Joe had caught earlier with Dave. Dave gave Joe a refresher course on cleaning fish. When Joe caught the two fish on the bridge the other day, he said he butchered them. Vinnie, a guy we meet at Edisto Beach, Georgia last November gave Joe a fish cleaning course, but it has been a while with no practice. Fish for dinner again tonight!




" I got your pen, and you can't have it" " I want attention all the time" Kathy our neighbor was cutting her husbands hair. I asked her if she was a beautician. She said she was not, but had been cutting Dave's and her 3 sons hair all their lives. I told her Joe was in need of a hair cut, and she asked if Joe would like her to do his hair. So Joe, being a LaFontaine, accepted the offer. For not being trained, Kathy did a great job.

Today Joe and I spent the day driving around looking at lots for sale, all over this area. We wanted to see more lakes and what the prices were for different sizes of lots, and lake, and water clarity.



While driving around, this little turtle was in the middle of the road, and needed to be saved, and put in a safer place! When we came home, we couldn't believe, Dave, Kathy and Kevin had left. Darn, I was going to get a picture of Kevin when he came over to use our printer that night. We found a note on the picnic table from them, saying they decided to leave today, to get a head start before they had to go to work on Monday. We remember those working days, and are glad it's them and not us. They left their email and phone number and said good-bye. What a neat couple they were. They always had us laughing! After reading the note, we ran inside, changed our clothes, and headed to Doug and Lauri's permanent summer home, in the campground. They had invited us over, with some of their friends, for grilled pork loins. Denny and Shirley were there. We met Denny and Shirley, and Doug the first week, we got here. Doug' s wife, Lauri and his daughter Andrea, were there also. We met them on the next weekend when they came up from the Milwaukee area. At the cookout we met Nancy and her husband, Doug's friends. Everyone brought food that was yummy, with strawberry short cake for desert. We just brought ourselves, because Lauri insisted not to bring anything. We were blessed by all their generosity!



Denny & Shirley and their 2 girls, Molly and Maggie The next day we, as well as everyone in the campground were invited to the owners son's graduation party in the park. There are 98 permanent trailers here, with the owners coming here every summer. There are only a few spots for transients, like us.



Denny & Shirly's permanent seasonal home. Doug & Lauri's summer home. Building a deck on Nancy and her husbands home. Doug and his daughter Andrea at the graduation party. Doug just retired this year and is getting use to his new life. Sorry his wife, Lauri wasn't at the picnic, so I missed getting her picture. While sitting and eating at the graduation party, a guy we had briefly met earlier, came over and visited with us for awhile. Later he came back and asked if we would like to go fishing with him the next day. You know the answer to that one! The next day we went to the store and I got my fishing license, a scoop of minnows and a dozen leeches, as he had suggested we purchase.Then headed to the dock to meet him.



John helping Joe. We had a great day fishing with John. As soon as we got to his chosen spot, Joe threw in his line, and in about 2-3 minutes he got a fish. John was trying to get my line baited, but had to stop, because Joe's fish had swallowed the hook and John had to help him. To make a long story short, John never had time to fish, because he was helping me, or Joe all day. Joe and I were catching fish as fast as we could throw out the lines. Many times I would lose the fish because I could not get the hook in them. I was having a hard time getting the coordination of hook and reel and keeping the pole up, all at the same time. The fish kept getting the bait. John was a great teacher, but I think I was a real challenge for him. Even with all my loses we still had the 6 walleye limit- 2 for each person on board- in no time. After that we had to throw all the walleye back in the water, which added up to a lot. We continued to fish and by the end of the day we had 18 fish (6 walleye and 12 perch). All walleye between 14'' -18" had to be thrown back because they are spawning size. All our walleye were under 14".

I think this one was 14" that Joe had to throw back John is a retired teacher from New York who has been coming here for 7 years. He is a champion musky fisherman, who has won several tournaments, with one netting him $15000.00. One of my catches was a perch with a northern or musky( can't remember which) trying to eat my perch as I reeled in my line. As it got closer to the boat we could see the big one attached to the perch. John got his net, but as I started to pull it up the big one let go of the perch. That was exciting!



At the dock this caught my eye. Another of God's creations! Joe, John, and Rod in the fishing house cleaning fish. This is our catch of the day! It would have been doubled, if we could have kept all we had caught that day. And that's no fish story! John said this was not a normal day of fishing. This was fishing like in Canada, except smaller fish. It was a phenomenal day. As I have said God's Favor is chasing us down, and we are enjoying his blessings. The fish are cleaned and we have several meals of fish, thanks to John!