Looks like Hurricane Earl will be bringing rain and wind to Manchaug Pond Friday afternoon into early Saturday morning. Take today and tomorrow morning to secure umbrellas, lawn furniture, boats and other “toys” around your home, dock or campsite. Here’s advise one of our Board members received in an email from a local marina: Greetings! Although we are at this point unsure of what kind of weather this weekend will bring, we wanted to pass on some tips for securing your watercraft and keeping potential storm damage to a minimum! A few key things to check IF your boat is in the water: -Ensure proper operation of your bilge pump. Make sure your battery is fully charged, and that the pump is working. During the storm if a significant amount of rain has fallen, it is important to activate the pump to keep the water from accumulating. After any heavy rain, always check the boat to make sure that the automatic feature worked. -Cover the boat securely to keep much of the water out. It is normal for some water to seep in, but a cover will help to disperse most of it. -Make sure that there are no loose …
Great Boating Weekend? Check for Weeds Washed up on the Beach!
On Monday morning around the lake one just needs to take a look at their beach to know whether or not it was a big boating weekend on Manchaug Pond! With the weeds growing up and the waterlevel going down – the plants are easily severed by motor boats. The plant fragments wash in and pile up on the shore with waves bringing in more and more. As the waterlevel inches down, ribbons of dried plants form on the sand. Two invasive aquatic weed species are dominant: variable milfoil and tape-grass. Variable milfoil (Myriophyllum heterophyllum) Tape-grass or wild celery (Vallisneria americana) Variable milfoil grows in dense beds reaching up to the water’s surface. Milfoil spreads rapidly, crowding out our native species, and blocking sunlight and oxygen. Tape-grass is now flowering, sending up long spiraling stems we see at the surface. http://www.dnr.state.md.us/Bay/sav/key/wild_celery.asp What do you do with the wheelbarrows full of weeds that wash ashore? Options include composting, bagging and bringing to a composting area at the town transfer station, or drying for incineration. CONTROL: Since weeds have seeds and the plant fragments of some species can grow roots starting new plants, it is best to remove from the lake and …
Sacred Sunday: Yesterday Morning’s Bird Sightings
Adult Great Blue Heron on the dock Osprey flying over rescue drill Cormorant on the dock Heron in flight Two juvenile Great Blue Herons on Blueberry Island
ONLY A DRILL! Two Men in the Water and One Under
Remember, this is ONLY A DRILL! This morning at 7:45 a mock boat accident took place here on Manchaug Pond as part of a Boating Accident/Water Rescue Drill – “a joint operation between the Sutton Fire Department, the Douglas Police Dive Rescue Team and the Manchaug Pond Association.” The accident resulted in two injured victims in the water and a third yet to be found. With morning air and water temperatures both at about 57 degrees F, it was a cold morning indeed to be the two men in the water awaiting rescuers. Sutton Fire Dept. first to respond. Arriving at the State Boat Ramp on Torrey Road, the Sutton Fire Dept with the police boat and the Fire Dept’s boat was the first on the scene. Later the Douglas Dive Team arrived to search for “Dolly” the rescue dummy. The Fire Dept. reports the drill “is intended to test the procedures of, and readiness of the parties involved. “
Only a Drill!
One hour from now, right here on Manchaug Pond, volunteers from the Manchaug Pond Association (MPA) will assist the Sutton and Douglas Fire Dept. and the Douglas Dive Team in a rescue drill/training. Victims will be in the water awaiting rescue, the rescue dummy drowned and sunk in dark water, and a panicked witness on shore to aide fire departments’ personnel in the rescue and recovery. Sutton Police boat As you see the fire trucks and rescue boats arrive on the water, please stay way back. Tell your neighbors this is only a training/drill. The MPA will post details and photos right here! Further, we’ll let you know if it is Rescue Jennifer, Rescue Randy or Resuscitator Annie who has drowned.
Thursday’s Post and is “Anyone having internet problems today?
I posted Thursday about an opportunity for a $100,000 grant opportunity for a national or state by the Coca-Cola Company. Today the text is gone and replaced various codes. I put more text up and home it will stay.Another site I visited wrote on Thursday: “Anyone having internet problems today? Earlier today, on and off, I had some real problems with use of the internet. Some sites wouldn’t load, and others would. I had particular problems with loading anything from a Google search.Did you have this experience?Did something happen out there?”Attacks to the internet are high in the United States. Visit this site to see the world map.http://www.akamai.com/html/technology/dataviz1.htmlSomething definitely happened to internet traffic on Thursday. Look at the graphs on this site.http://www.internettrafficreport.com/7day.htm
VOTE Today for your favorite park! Purgatory Chasm and Douglas State Forest
Purgatory Chasm, Sutton zip code is 01590 National and state parks have an opportunity to win $100,000 from the Coca-Cola Foundation. Douglas State Forest-zip code 01516 Visit this site (or click the post title) to cast your vote for your favorite park! http://www.livepositively.com/#/americasparks Everyone needs to participate, pass the work, and must vote often if a local park is to win! Purgatory Chasm? or Douglas State Forest? Who will the winner be?
Don’t Forget to Bail the Boat!
It is amazing how much this slow and steady rainfall the past few days can add up in your boat! Don’t forget to bail during and at the end of the rainstorms! You might have a bilge pump system or some other fancy bailer you bought at the marina but if you don’t here’s directions from “how to do things.com” on how to make the easiest and cheapest boat bailer! A 2009 rain event where a 5 gallon bucket did the trick! “The easiest boat bailer to make consists of a one gallon plastic jug, cut in half along a horizontal line below the handle. One gallon milk jugs are the most common plastic bottles used to make a boat bailer, but other types of plastic bottles will work just as well. Discard the lower half of the jug and use the upper half with the handle and spout. It is a good idea to use this end of the jug because the handle makes it easy to bail water out of a sinking boat rapidly and is a good point to tie one end of a string to and the other end to the boat. This will ensure that …
Guest Speaker, Rep. Jen Callahan, No Stranger to Manchaug Pond and Our Issues
Saturday, the YMCA Camp Blanchard Dining Hall on the shores of Manchaug Pond was once again the location of this year’s annual meeting of the members. Reports and updates from the president, treasurer, secretary and committee chairmans were given on topics ranging from water quality and the stormwater grant to boating safety and invasive species to the events held and planned for the fall. The Manchaug Pond Foundation, 501c3 public charity, was introduced with all its benefits in addressing current needs and future issues. Also an election year, our Nominating Committee Chairman and 2nd Vice President presented a slate of officers and directors/area representatives approved by the membership for the 2010-12 term. And our speaker, Representative Jennifer Callahan, is no stranger to Manchaug Pond…. Her door has been open to us, and she has solidly stood with us advocating, demanding the preservation of Manchaug Pond – She was there in Boston March 09′ as we attended a meeting with state agencies and officials looking at the issues of the lake’s waterlevel; on the Manchaug dam April 15 at MassDEP’s site evaluation; at the Sutton Town Hall July 7, 09′ at the Mass. Environmental Protection Act (MEPA) Public Hearing. She …
Sacred Sunset
Thanks to the Facebook photographer who sent in this sunset photo from earlier in the week.
43rd Annual Meeting of the Members THIS Saturday!
Attention all members! Just a reminder that the Manchaug Pond Association will hold its 43rd Annual Meeting this Saturday, August 21, 2010 at the YMCA Camp Blanchard facility on Manchaug Road, Sutton. We’ll begin at 10:30, visit with lake neighbors and friends over a coffee or ice tea (punch for the children), purchase your flares for the Labor Day lighting of the shoreling event, pick up a registration form for our next fundraising event – The Dam Race, check out the new MPA logo hats (2 color!) and t-shirts (safety orange, black, dusk blue, azalea to name a few!) and view the 319 stormwater grant exhibit will on display with all the handouts to help you around your landscape. The business meeting will begin with reports and updates (it has been a busy year!) from the committees, board of directors, and president and end with the election of officers and directors for the 2010-2012 term. (If you are interested in serving – give us a call or email.) This year’s speaker is Representative Jennifer Callahan of Sutton. Dr. Callahan is a strong defender of Manchaug Pond working on the state level the past few years with the MPA, Rep Kujawski, and …
From the Window of the Camper…
Each of us has our own view of Manchaug Pond; a portrait of the lake framed by a camper window, the porch of a summer camp, the large picture window of a year-round home, or even more simply from the vessel we launch at the state boat ramp. the view out the back window of our camper… Advocating for this natural resource is the mission of the Manchaug Pond Association. Founded in 1967, we collectively work “to promote the welfare and correct use of Manchaug Pond and the contiguous area.” To deepen our efforts, the MPA formed a 501c3 last October- the Manchaug Pond Foundation. If you want to do more than look at pretty pictures of the lake while sitting back in your lakeside lawn chair, stand with the members of the MPA by joining today! For you convenience a PayPal button has been put on this site. For $35. you can become a friend of Manchaug Pond – receive all mailings and meeting notices as well as our new quarterly newsletter SPLASH – or make a donation of any size to help us in our work. Volunteer now – I look forward to hearing from you!This photo was …