Sep
3
2010
Yes, they let “The Dowgs” out again; performing for the last 15 years at Romy’s Holiday Inn at Kelly Lake!
NO ADMISSION or DONATIONS—FREE! Come out for an evening of dancing with one of the best classic rock bands in Green Bay; brought to you right here at Kelly Lake by Kelly Lake’s Bob Piontek and his band! End a fantastic summer with a blast! See you there! Roger
Sunday, September 5, 2010 8:00 p.m. Holiday Inn
music by: the DOWGS
Sep
2
2010
Lunch With Courageous Kids and Encouraging Packers! (emendated with a few corrections and additions)
A noble cause by a stellar selfless group of people for courageous kids with cancer was the program presented at the Atrium at Lambeau Field Wednesday noon. Our good friend and Kelly Lake neighbor, Gary Clevers, invited Shirley and I to join in at his table in the Atrium (one of 91 tables!), along with Kelly Lake’s Ellie Ullrich, Kelly Lake’s Al Breitlow (referee at training camps), Bill Kamke owner of Fox Ridge Game Farm who serves on the Community Memorial Hospital Foundation Board, Trisha Brown, HR Director at CMH, Luella Gallegos, along with her guest Annita. Leulla (Leu) was seated the head of our table. Leu is one of the kids with cancer being honored for her courage to fight the disease. We were seated second row from the stage and adjacent to the center aisle where the Packer players walked by; a perfect spot!
The Packer Organization sponsored the Luncheon; most of the members were there including the Packers themselves. Jarius Wynn was picked as Lou’s personal guest. In his second year, Jarius plays as Defensive End; is 6′3″; 285 pounds; 24 years old; number 94; graduated from Georgia University. Jarius is a pleasant, personable, congenial titan who speaks modestly of his life and family; he noted that his mother and father talk about his achievements and the Packers daily! His eighth-grade brother, also proud of him, boasts his Packer-player status! Jarius’ wide-smile brightens when asked about his wife, three-year-old daughter and a son due in February! For a quiet man, he’s quick to fill us in–and express his love and pride–for his family. Jarius’ proudest football play was blocking the field goal attempt in the Seattle game last year, saving the game!
Drew Smith from Fox 11 was MC at the event. Coach Mike McCarthy gave the address, promising “we’ll meet any team, anytime, even right out here in the parking lot!”, or as best as I can remember, but CLOSE! . Nick Barnett was recognized, selected and awarded for his generous outstanding contribution to the community by his teammates.
Leu is a remarkable, pretty young lady with a pleasant, pleasing smile, healthy look and positive attitude. She will be attending NWTC this year. Her ultimate goal is to be a radiation therapist. Her determination seems evident as she deals with her daily course of treatment, normal studies and plans for the future; we all admired her charm through all her challenges; she’s an inspiration for us all.
I would like to take liberty to express my admiration for Gary Clevers. I hope he doesn’t mind that I mention his involvement with kids who have cancer. Gary told me about two years ago he wanted to do something for the ‘kids’. He proposed an idea to his Board of Directors to raise money—serious money. With the economy as it is, the Board didn’t think it advisable at the time, at least a goal of $1 million dollars. In spite of, or despite the economy, Gary set out on a mission to help the ‘kids’. The Angel Fund Board agreed and together met the challenge.
We’re proud to know you, Gary, and thanks for inviting us to meet remarkable kids, and benevolent people who set aside their lives for such a worthy and noble cause. And Gary’s wife, Kathy, is also very active in the community, volunteering her time and energy helping others. Two great people we’re honored to share our friendships. Roger and Shirley
Bill, Gary, Shirley, Leu, Anitta, myself.
I ran into a long time friend from the original Naiad Ski Club ‘79, Brad Hansen! We still get together at Kelly Lake; his dad has a cottage on White Lake.
Former Packer star, Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila mingled through the group, stopping to pose with us. Kabeer retired due to injury. A very pleasant and outgoing gentleman. Attendees were asked not to take pictures during the dinner.
Our table’s guest, Darius Wynn!
What a grand time we had with some fine folks!
Sep
1
2010
Friends and neighbors two doors away, Rick Hansen, Heather (daughter) and son, Tyler (rear of canoe), enjoy a week’s vacation last week. The Hansens are relatively new to Kelly Lake and immensely enjoy their new summer home here; even enjoy improving the dwellings and landscape (a lot of work), and have greatly enhanced the property.
Warm and friendly, they are a welcome addition to our neighborhood! Roger
Cheryl Hansen, Shirley Birr and Hansen Heather Hansen (daughter).
Aug
31
2010
When I was young, along with “Route 66″, one of my favorite-never-miss-it TV shows was “Sea Hunt” with Mike Nelson (Lloyd Bridges!). Remember?! I always pictured myself scuba diving, until one day I did; tanks and all. I guess the worlds of outer space and inner space (water world) attrack and intrique a good majority of us. So, too, was it for Kelly Lake’s Jack Peterson.
Kelly Lake’s Jack Peterson was eager to plunge into Kelly Lake using a Snuba diving unit he spotted in our garage. ‘Snuba’ is a term used for snorkel/scuba diving; air pumped from the surface to the divers.
Back in the late 60s a couple friends and myself had scuba tanks for a short time until I ran across the ’snuba’ system. With tanks, we found we had to to drive to Marinette for “dive air” to fill them; 45 minutes one-way for air that lasted about a half hour. The Johnson “Airbuoy” I found runs 45 minutes on a quart of regular gas—just need to keep filling it up. There are two 25′ hoses and masks/harnesses. The principal is positive pressure to the mask; self-purging; no regulator to control or worry about. 25′ feet is plenty deep for most areas around Kelly Lake, and the “buddy system” applies perfectly. Besides, below 40′ you have to worry about decompressing while surfacing. You don’t have to be certified to use a snuba diving unit. May I note that the Airbuoy is about 40 years old; still runs like new! It has a 2 hp Lawn Boy 2-cycle engine, and pumps 2.5 cf/m; parts are still available!
Well, anyway, I gave Jack some instruction on clearing his ears and technique on breathing using the positive-pressure mask. I told Jack that we’d just swim along the surface (like snorkeling) until he felt comfortable. We no more than started out when Jack made a dive for the bottom! Following him to watch his progress, and when from about 10′ down, he voluntarily headed for the surface to catch his breath; or so one thinks; it’s easy to hyperventilate sucking in more air than you need. Your body gets too much oxygen and thinks it carbon dioxide!
Taking his time now, Jack grew more accustom to swimming slowly without exertion. Under the sunny ski and under the warm water, Jack and I entered the water world.
I’ve dove much of Kelly Lake, and, yes, I’ve seen some spectacular fish—BIG ones! Also, large bass around the cribs; northern pike; and a variety of pan fish. They’re usually located just off the weed beds. Diving deeper—and I have gone completely across the lake underwater—it’s like a vast inundated desert; no plant-life only thing to see is a blanket of silt with numerous snails crossing to-and-fro every few feet, leaving the snail-trails behind like parched cracks in the desert sand.
I’ve been called upon to search for outboards that fell off; propellers; chairs, etc. Thirty-some years ago the Constable approached me to see if I would dive for the 19-year-old boy who drowned while skiing. My long-time friend, Kelly Lake’s Greg Levar, said he’d go along; we were the only divers there at sunrise on Saturday; the boy drowned on Tuesday. Perhaps some of you can recall how they banned any boating on the lake for those 5 days—again, that was over 30 years ago; mid-70s?
We were waiting and ready to go Saturday sunrise. The Sheriff came over and told us they were going to do one more fly-over before we would go diving. Both Greg and I were eager to help, but apprehensive about what we would find. Back then, for those who remember, Earnie Chadwik had an airstrip running adjacent to St. Bernadette Road (there’s a corn field there now). The plane took off, circled and returned for a landing. They came running back to where we were standing and said they spotted the body floating about a hundred yards off the southeast shore—a body will usually surface in 3 to 5 days..
Bernard Van (Van, as more popularly known) and another person set off in Van’s 16′ Boston Whaler. We watched as they pulled the body back to the landing where Greg and I stood; the undertaker was standing behind us; Van and his partner had done a noble job, but needed a break from the scene. I won’t go into detail, but it was sad to see the boy, the condition he was in and the tragedy of drowning. Together Greg and I had to muster-up our reserve to get his body on the gurney; the undertaker handed us a blanket to cover the boy first. Greg and I were just talking about this the other day. We were in our twenties and never before had witnessed a drowning—something we’ll never forget. Greg and I both agree, that being in our early twenties, we were fortunate we didn’t have to dive and find the young man; not knowing what to expect.
Well, back to more pleasant memories and diving. Here are some pics of Jack and I venturing out into the lake. It’s been a few years since I’ve had the unit out; it was fun and refreshing going back down-under! Roger
“Nexus basically means a bridge. Therefore Snuba acts as a bridge between the surface and the underwater world.
Snuba is also a portmanteau word which combines the words scuba and snorkel.”
For more info about “SNUBA” diving, see http://www.phuket-diver.com/Snuba_diving_information.html
Aug
30
2010
I guess before Jeff gets too old and frail, he wanted some shots of him on slalom. Shirley agreed to try to capture Jeff’s fast-action for his archives to show the grandkids(?); someday; maybe! I confess that I did the same thing when I was about 35! Yup, with only photographs and memories now, I can show my grandkids my skiing days now at 61-and-8-months!
I feebly attempted to video Jeff from our pontoon boat anchored off. Jeff threatened to spray me… I took little heed; he wouldn’t take advantage of an old-guys vulnerability; where’s the respect?! He drenched me in a wall of water, me covering up nearly in a fetal position to protect/guard the cam—ya, it’s a cheaper one I took out just in case….
You can click on “Kelly Lake VIDEO Cam” under “Links”. Videos are not great. The second one wasn’t focused, but captured the last moment when the pontoon was inundated with wall of water; see Jeff’s dastardly look on the last frame! The cam is small and only had an LCD monitor; focus was difficult as well as my aim trying to see it through a sun reflected lens. On the other hand, Shirley got some great shots in the moving boat, trying to hit a moving target. Good job, Shirley and nice form, Jeff!Roger
Just call me Roger Dangerfield; I get no respect!
Kelly Lake’s Jeff Levar.
Driver and dad, Greg Levar.
