The Council Room

[Bob Kennington]

Topics taking up a lot of discussion at the Winnipesaukee.com forum include the Big Lake's water quality.

It seems that most newcomer-homeowners won't drink from the lake, complain about "duck itch", and bemoan the lack of crayfish.

They can't even agree whether water quality is better or worse!

So I ask, did we campers suffer from "duck itch"? Could we find crayfish behind every rock, and did we stir up silt when we swam?

'Course, well-water contains radon, but that hasn't stopped rampant drilling, even on the islands!

Deer regularly cross Forest Road evenings at the top of Wyanoke Hill today. Is that something new?
_________________
Gordon B. (Father) Wyanoke ~1929-1937
Midget C-1 (1952, 53) (Belden, Edwards)
Junior J-7 (1954, 55) (Scheirer)
1967-1971 Military-Naval Security Group
Sister: Winnemont 1955-56

Blue: there's another color?

[Mike Freeland]

Nope. We drank the water, crayfish were plentiful (though I could never bring myself to eat one), I don't remember any silt or mud except in the boggy areas with the lilly pads and water skater spiders. Duck itch? Not that I was aware of. I always thought that was just jock itch.

If all these complaints are real, then I'll hazard a guess that yes, the lake has indeed deteriorated since my days in it.
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'56-C-9 C. Mosher '57-C-9 Bill Feaster
'58-J-14 H. Peavy '59-J-11 G. Wood, C. Duncan
'60-S-8 R. Leavitt, D. Hemphill '61-S-1 E. Slocum
'62-JA-1 H. Dunbar '63-C-2 (JC)
'64-C-5, (JC) Councilor
'65-C-9 '66 - '72-J-8
'73-JA1 '75-J-6

[Steve Hood]

Well, Bob....

I pretty much spent my days on the waterfront, except when I had to run up the hill to blow a bugle call.

The complainers you refer to remind me of one councillor (Mr. Slocum)and lots of campers who just plain didn't want to go into the water. Some of them didn't know how to swim very well, and some of them didn't want to learn how to swim and some would have rather be running on the track with Sloc !!! I am sure of this because I basically lived on the wharf and taught swimming and sailing.

The only down side I can think of were the "wharf-bugs" that could be seen from time to time....
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1951: C-9. F. Whitemore, P. Durkee.
1952-53: J-11. E. Wilkins.
1957: S-7 D. Irons, JA
1958: J-4 W.Dann JC
1959: J-1 G.Engstrom JC
1960-61-63: J-6. Councillor
1964: JA-2. Councillor

[Mike Freeland]

C'mon Steve, a monster is a monster - call it as it is! Those were Wharf SPIDERS, not bugs. They averaged eight feet in diameter as you may recall. Sometimes they made it up the Junior Path and into or near J-8.
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'56-C-9 C. Mosher '57-C-9 Bill Feaster
'58-J-14 H. Peavy '59-J-11 G. Wood, C. Duncan
'60-S-8 R. Leavitt, D. Hemphill '61-S-1 E. Slocum
'62-JA-1 H. Dunbar '63-C-2 (JC)
'64-C-5, (JC) Councilor
'65-C-9 '66 - '72-J-8
'73-JA1 '75-J-6

[Bob Kennington]

I know that dock spiders are a vital part of Earth's ecosystems.

Still, I found it bothersome to hear their footsteps on the underside of the dock.

[David Bentley]

You guys are making this all up, and over time your facts have grown out of reality. I have it on the authority of Freddie that wharf spiders NEVER exceeded 4 feet in diameter, and on the authority of Phil Hodgson, it took 5 medium crayfish to produce one tablespoon of lobster meat, but only if cooked in flavored water. Further, I hate to refute the narrative of the esteemed Bob Kennington, but his comment that wharf spiders are part of the ecosystem may have been pre-mature because in the 1950s and 1960s no one ever mentioned the ecosystem a part of which he says the spiders were. And how did he think the spiders felt about him clomping around on top of their still then yet to be discovered ecosystem? I think Hood might be right about basically living at the waterfront teaching swimming and sailing, and I say this because I do remember several of these aforementioned spiders merrily sailing up Winter Harbor one beautiful Sunday afternoon as a group activity and they were singing praises to the teaching skills of the "guy who blows the horn all day long."
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C-1 49 J-7 52 S-3 55 J-10 58
C-7 50 J-7 53 S-2 56 J-8 59
C-8 51 J-4 54 S-7 57 (JA) J-8 60 - 64
1965 - 1968 Military service
Pine Cone 68 - 75 (with wife,Sherry,
and daughter Tracey)
Wolfeboro - full-time since 1997

[DavidAyars]

This guy (and friends and family)?

I can still picture with a smile Mike Freeland doing his best imitation of a sprinter/ballet dancer down at the wharf when surprised by one of these guys.

Credit to Jeff Rogerson on Flickr.com for the image as found at https://tinyurl.com/ycxbwbfe

[EDIT: annoying script text previously seen in this post made invisible thanks to Bob Kennington's advice below]
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/jeffrogerson/7173115751/in/photolist-bVS6pv-cksYHu-oaZxMP-a2MTu5-dD1vaa-8Rntr9-ooWdx2-qBPMrv-9jTeLm-7fuG4F-pjUR4x-a8x8Pm-ohBAAY-92Ytta-pUAEJn-Fd5D3q-daDEBG-dNA47s-xiDTB-dYQypD-aSHtN2-ckr59f-fEFjYy-ohLuy7-nLHRpY-Dap35E-amDKAg-DWFZ2E-cXUL2L-fdX5Qr-cfMiuN-oMpbcE-a4D2Kq-oCeJpJ-ncn8kV-6JXnvC-cFr2Ju-PCQokC-Awbms4-AV5TkB-c8nEi7-9FBAP4-oBPpMJ-2zhohR-fu79PE-apcd6V-d43W1h-acSDKE-bwoJSY-2rpSQ" title="Dock Spider (Dolomedes)"></a>
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Camper: J-8 1965 (Kevin Ryan), J-8 1966 (Mike Freeland), S-6 1967 (Russ Hatch), S-3 1968 (Jeremy Cripps), and JA-2 1969 (Dan Mannis).
JC: J-2 1970 (Bill Bettison) and J-3 1971 (Gene Comella). Councilor 1972, J-5 1973, and JA-1 1974 & 1975

[Bob Kennington]

During a yard cleanup, a Florida neighbor picked up a stick, and said, "There's a bug on your back--I'll brush it off". I could feel it running up my T-shirt, and knew what it was!

This isn't me, but...

[Robert Vaughan]

I can recall two places where catching crayfish was one of the great memories of my childhood. The first was at the Midget Beach on the rocks on the left near the path going up the hill - plentiful.

And then on one campout at Land's End, we caught 53 crayfish and cooked them over the fire and actually did pick them apart and eat them!

[Bob Kennington]

[DavidAyars]

Bob K, that is ingenious--thank you! You just became my tech support guru. Don't worry; I promise not to call your phone for help with future issues earlier than 4:30 a.m. weekdays and 5:00 a.m. weekends.

Oh and to answer your question in the original post, I don't remember ever seeing or hearing about deer on camp property, adjacent to it, or on Wolfeboro Neck. Interesting.

Lake Winipesaukee water used to have a very distinct smell and taste. I think I would still recognize it if it was the same as my last encounter in 1975, but maybe it's different now.
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Camper: J-8 1965 (Kevin Ryan), J-8 1966 (Mike Freeland), S-6 1967 (Russ Hatch), S-3 1968 (Jeremy Cripps), and JA-2 1969 (Dan Mannis).
JC: J-2 1970 (Bill Bettison) and J-3 1971 (Gene Comella). Councilor 1972, J-5 1973, and JA-1 1974 & 1975

[David Bentley]

I think Dave Ayars is right, I don't remember deer on the Camp property, nor on Wolfeboro Neck in general. The answer might be as simple as the fact that there were some 250 people moving around all day long and the deer just didn't bother to populate the area.

As Bob says, there are plenty of deer now, which is sort of strange because there are many, many more cars, still lots of people, dogs, and fire crackers. Maybe the deer have become urbanized over the years, and, with more homes comes more gardens, more tasty plants.
_________________
C-1 49 J-7 52 S-3 55 J-10 58
C-7 50 J-7 53 S-2 56 J-8 59
C-8 51 J-4 54 S-7 57 (JA) J-8 60 - 64
1965 - 1968 Military service
Pine Cone 68 - 75 (with wife,Sherry,
and daughter Tracey)
Wolfeboro - full-time since 1997

[DavidAyars]

We'd be remiss in not mentioning the drastic local decline in population of the white-tailed deer's most formidable natural predator: the sidehill gouger. With no deer and no wayward campers outside their sections after taps to feast on, the SHG faded from Winter Harbor's shores in the late 1970s. Perhaps Mike can "borrow" a breeding pair in Colorado and reintroduce them to Wolfeboro Neck.
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Camper: J-8 1965 (Kevin Ryan), J-8 1966 (Mike Freeland), S-6 1967 (Russ Hatch), S-3 1968 (Jeremy Cripps), and JA-2 1969 (Dan Mannis).
JC: J-2 1970 (Bill Bettison) and J-3 1971 (Gene Comella). Councilor 1972, J-5 1973, and JA-1 1974 & 1975

[Harry Sloan]

I agree with Dave SHG should be reintroduced to Winter Harbor. The food source is still there be it wealthy people who are well fed and wonder off after to many cocktails.
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68 S-6 ( Jon Crane ) 69 S-6 ( Kent Newby ) 70 JA-2 ( Dan Mannis )