Here’s a great way to show your feel­ings about the mus­sel situation.

A cre­ative Lake Free­man res­i­dent has cre­at­ed a clever T‑shirt. One can be yours for just $10.00! They are avail­able in sizes small through 3X and in White, Pink, Blue, Green and Yel­low. Reach out to Tom, his email istrw1956@​mac.​com Let’s hope we are done with this low­er­ing the Lake nonsense!

Muck The Fussels Artwork
Not much more to say!

Here’s an inter­est­ing con­cept, Mus­sels hibernate.

Well they don’t actu­al­ly hiber­nate. They go into a state of dor­man­cy. Like most water crea­tures, mus­sels are not active in the win­ter. They bur­row deep­er into the sandy bot­tom of lake and stream beds. They also do not eat. So that means they don’t need a large amount of water. (500cfs) This is fact and based on sci­ence. Win­ter would be a good time for USFWS, FERC, NIP­SCO and SFLECC to come to the table and agree to back off the water efflu­ence from the Oak­dale Dam. It would give Lake Free­man time to heal and not harm any endan­gered mus­sels. A win win. Every­one is look­ing for a bet­ter solu­tion and this one makes sense and is bio­log­i­cal­ly driven.

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Mussels know how to survive. They've been on planet Earth for millions of years

Stay Clear Dur­ing Sail­ing Regattas

When boat­ing on the South por­tion of Lake Free­man on a Sun­day after­noon and you see orange boy’s in the mid­dle of the lake, be aware that the Lake Free­man Yacht Club is prob­a­bly hold­ing a regat­ta. It’s fun to watch the sail boats, but be respect­ful and keep your distance.

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Watch­ing Jaws float­ing at your dock is crazy fun

On a whim, I decid­ed to have a par­ty. Not just any par­ty, a par­ty with some teeth. I invit­ed thir­ty or so friends over, had them bring their floats and bev­er­ages, got a pro­jec­tor and some speak­ers and watched the clas­sic Jaws”. I thought it would be fun, but it was real­ly fun. Hey, the Lakeshore Dri­ve-In is still pret­ty cool, but if you’re look­ing for some­thing dif­fer­ent on a hot sum­mer night… it was a blast!

Lake Freeamn Jaws Party

The Madam and The Oakdale

Big things have been hap­pen­ing at both the Madam Car­roll and the Oak­dale Bar & Grill. In case you haven’t ven­tured by either Lake Free­man busi­ness, we encour­age you to. The Oak­dale now has an incred­i­ble beer gar­den and patio. The Madam Car­roll has a very robust sched­ule and top tal­ent for its cruis­es. AND it just received a mod­i­fi­ca­tion to it’s liquor license to remain open while docked!

Thank you Chris Peters and Nick Blum for all your hard work.

Chris Peters Nick Blum
Chris Peters, Madam Carroll and Nick Blum, Oakdale Bar & Grill

The Super­man of Lake Freeman

Carmel-Harrison
Carmel Harrison doesn't stay in shape by sitting around.

Carmel Har­ri­son is one of the neat­est guys I’ve met in the area around Lake Free­man. He’s 80, that’s right 80, and still cuts wood like a lum­ber­jack! Carmel has the best fire­wood you can find around Twin Lakes. He sea­sons it, sorts it, and loads it. He’s got fast and hot burn­ing Pine, slow burn­ing Oak and wood smok­ing Hick­o­ry. He’s locat­ed down road 1100 & 421, at The Land­ings. Swing by and pick up a load. He’ll be glad to see you.

The Eagle has landed

By Susie Karberg

Dur­ing the twen­ty-five years that we have lived full time on the lake, until this year, we have seen Bald Eagles in the sky only a few times.
Last week, Lindy, my hus­band, and I were begin­ning to think about the errands we had to do in the after­noon, mov­ing unhur­ried­ly in late morn­ing when sud­den­ly, Lindy said qui­et­ly, Suzy, your eagle has final­ly land­ed.” For years, I have wished and wished to be one of the lucky ones able to catch more than a fleet­ing glimpse as eagles fly by with a tease of their mag­ni­tude. Lindy took a deep breath, head­ed off to grab his good cam­era. A full minute lat­er, with fin­gers crossed, he began to pho­to­graph. Trans­fixed, I watched. We want­ed so bad­ly to get a few good pic­tures. Mag­nif­i­cent in bear­ing, it’s all about the stance, the broad shoul­ders, the head held high. Proud, assured, yet com­fy on the branch 30 feet from our large pic­ture win­dow and 50 feet above the lake. 

Lindy was not only able cap­ture a moment before our guest moved on, for the next TWO HOURS , he con­tin­ued to shoot pho­to after pho­to as our new friend sat, for the most part, qui­et­ly on his nar­row branch. Still, the Bald Eagle is elu­sive. The pic­tures don’t quite tell his sto­ry. He is larg­er than life in per­son. And, by the way, what was he doing on the branch? So serene. Rest­ing? Watch­ing for fish in the fresh­ly thawed lake? Or, as I would like to believe, maybe prac­tic­ing his morn­ing rit­u­al as only Bald Eagles can.

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Meet Sadie, the laid back pooch liv­ing the lake life

We all know real­ly cool dogs, but this one is excep­tion­al. You’ll find Sadie at the sand­bar, spot­ting wake board­ers or cruis­ing the neigh­bor­hood in a golf cart. She belongs to Steve and Amy Pol­lack who have made her com­fort­able around the water since she was real­ly young. I love see­ing dogs with sea legs. 

Some dogs take to the water easy, while oth­ers need some time. If you bring your dog out, espe­cial­ly to the sand­bar, keep an eye on them. Not all dogs are as cool as Sadie. She’ll be watch­ing from her chair!

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Enjoy a fire and a laugh with friends

Whats bet­ter than star­ing at a fire? Anoth­er spe­cial Lake Free­man expe­ri­ence. The song is an old Hank Williams tune. Hap­py sum­mer peo­ple, enjoy and be safe!

The Best Boat­ing Grill For Lake Freeman

If you’re look­ing for a grill to bring on the boat, look no fur­ther than the Weber Q.

This grill has been bat­tle test­ed on the Lake Free­man Sand Bar. And passed with fly­ing col­ors. If your boat has an extend­ed swim plat­form, the Weber Q fits per­fect­ly. Just put an old tow­el under­neath it to catch any grease. You can also buy a nifty, light­weight stand that can go right in the water.

The Weber Q heats up hot and even­ly with dis­pos­able camp­ing propane tanks.

There are two mod­els the 1000 and 2000, basi­cal­ly small and large. This year they are also avail­able in a num­ber of col­ors. It’s not the cheap­est grill, about $199, but after the first time you use it you’ll think it’s worth every penny.

So come on, become a sand­bar chef. Ok, end of commercial!

WeberQ
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Lake Freeman Facts

Did you know?

Over 221,000 mussels have died on Lake Freeman since August of 2020 due to the USFWS water release mandate.

MONTICELLO WEATHER