Thank you to our volunteers from the SCA, Women of the 14th moon, and the Calavan family.

The construction crew will be working on the bridge, stage and horse shoe game.

To-Do list

• Paint;
  • Stain wood wall behind fridge on deck
  • Paint Parking sign board
  • Paint kitchen benches
• Clean:
  • Scrub shower
  • Clean spare fridge (on deck)
• Garden:
  • Weed flower beds
  • Trim ferns
  • Spread bark dust
• Landscaping:
  • Cut blackberries
  • Clean fountain and path
  • Weedeat around bridge
• Other:
  • Pressure washing (paddle boat, lawn furniture, toy castle)
  • Fill floaties with air and check for leaks

For a seamstress (in progress)

⁃ We have a conastoga wagon shaped bench with a canvas cover. The replacement canvas is too small. We would like to find a way to adapt it, maybe by adding grommets and ties or by sewing in a panel in the middle.

For painters…

⁃ paint kitchen benches

– Restain dock

⁃ Wood wall behind fridge on deck (low priority)

For carpenters…

⁃ Replace stage steps

⁃ Repair horseshoe toss boxes

⁃ Repair/build benches. (The boards are cut and painted for new benches, they just need assembled.)

– (optional) Repair door to play fort.

For Gardeners…

⁃ Weed flower beds and “water fountain” path

⁃ Spread bark dust

– Trim ferns

⁃ (In june) plant flowers in beds and pots

For other workers…

⁃ Cut blackberries in flower beds and behind chicken coop

⁃ Pick up branches

⁃ Rake paths

⁃ Pressure washing (paddle boat, lawn furniture, toy castle)

– Fill floaties with air and check for leaks

Big projects for a future date…

⁃ Replace brocken window in “sauna”.

⁃ Build a screen or box to hide pump and electrical box.

July 15-16: The Gowey family gathering (camping July 13-18th).

August 5-6: The Whitmore family gathering (aka Patrick’s Debacle) (camping Aug. 3-8th).

Work Day: There will be a work day April 30th and June 11th. There are also several painting projects that can be done any day with good weather.

This year, we aren’t having a family reunion, but family is invited to the pond on two weeks…

August 6-10 – Grams and Carrie will be hosting this camp week. No scheduled activities or meals, just a casual week of family time.

August 20-21 – Pat and Jimmy will be hosting this weekend for friends and family. *Gathering canceled due to extrema heat, but individuals are still welcome to camp out*

June 26 – 27, 2021. Help get the Pond cleaned up at the start of the season. Work an hour of two, then camp the rest of the weekend. The Hopping clan has cleared most of the branches from the Ice Storm, so its just the usual yearly maintenance.

Current work projects:

• Rake paths and pick up branches.

• Landscaping: cut blackberries, pull weeds, plant flowers.
  
• Repair damage to the sink area.
  
• Help Patrick re-floor and paint the bridge.
  
• Repaint the parking signs and Whitmore rock.

Turns out that yucky pondweed growing in the pond is a native plant called Bladderwort (Utricularia gibba.) And it’s endangered.

The Soil and Water people have kindly asked us not to eradicate it all but to let some of it grow in the lesser used half of the pond.

Bladderwort is carnivorous! It is identified by the tiny black pods that grow on the plant. These pods are actually tiny traps that catch and digest insects and larva, including mosquitos. The mechanism is similar to the Venus fly trap.

Patrick has built a large floating rake, which we used to remove the pondweed near the deck and beach. But the far side of the pond is now a unofficial Bladderwort Nature Reserve.