August 2010 Issue 38

Adopt the pace of nature…her secret is patience.

Puffs from the Chief’s Tepee

As my term as a Director and your President nears the end, I can’t really say that it has been a fun year. However, it has been a satisfying experience working with my fellow board members, and I enjoyed getter to better know neighbors who previously were only people I waved to in passing.

This has been a difficult year for the Board dealing with…the dam project going way over budget, the electric company inadvertently causing expensive water problems, and a very harsh winter. To add insult to injury, all of these problems caused a great deal of damage to our roads. The Board is working hard trying to find an affordable solution to the repair of the roads. This is sure to be a main topic at the Annual Meeting.

I want to thank all of the Board members for the time and effort they have so generously given to this community – to Frank Campbell for keeping everything on track, and especially to Dick Hennig, who has devoted numerous spur-of-the-moment hours dealing with our water outages and for all of the hours he spends monitoring the water system.

I would also like to thank all of those neighbors who serve on the many committees that maintain and beautify our community. A special thanks is extended to Fred Markert for the many hours he has given to this community, not only this year but in past years as well, and for the leadership he has given in dealing with the headache we all call the “dam(n) project”. Thank you, Fred; I know you are relieved that it is over.

I would like to invite both our long-standing and our new neighbors to become involved in the community – become a Board member, serve on a committee. I won’t guarantee that you will always have fun, but you will be able to have a say in the decisions which are made in your community.

Gordon and I have moved around the country quite a bit in our 41 years of marriage, and we feel truly blessed to be able to live in Indian Lake Estates. ~cheryle

PARTY ON!!
LABOR DAY CELEBRATION AT THE PARK
Sunday – 5 September – 4 pm
Pot Luck Picnic – Grill is available
~~Food – Fellowship – Games~~
Wampum Report
31 July 2010: Fifth Third Business Checking $ 6,172.60
Fifth Third Business Platinum Money Market $15,764.56
Total Assets $21,937.16

Two lots (19 & 20 – at the entrance on the left) have been deeded to the Club.
Seven lots are being foreclosed. ~frank

It’s a Boy!!
Mason Alexander Hawkins was born 31 July.
His grandmother is Pat Hawkins. Congratulations!

Signals from the Tribal Council
WATER We are relieved to report that our water problems have ebbed this summer. The cable installation crew has been fortunate in avoiding water lines since they moved over to the north section of Indian Lake Road. The wells and pumps are behaving; our utility bills are at par.

ROADS However, our road problems are still with us! We are seeking solutions, but available funding remains baffling. We would like nothing less than fully paved roads, but that cost is insurmountable. A renewed set of estimates for asphalt paving, ‘pitch and tar’ surface, and machine patching are due to arrive. A letter to you – Operation Asphalt – was mailed late July. Thank you! Fourteen of you have responded; half of those responses included a pledge of a loan. The rest were of the question type with a possible loan pledge after more thought. There is still time for you to come forward and pledge your loan. Asphalt work usually continues into November, so there remains time for planning. By mid- September, we will need to know the direction we are going to follow.

LAKES/DAMS The lake is back to its normal level. It is being stocked with bass and bream. Our thanks is extended to those of you who donated money and to Jerry Hollar for heading up the Restocking Committee. Jerry reports that the bass are alive and well – growing, lively, and nesting.

The state – DENR – has made its final inspection. This occurred 1 August. They were satisfied that the bottom drain assembly functions correctly; that is, the ‘gate’ that controls the water flow through the culvert opens and closes. However, the throes of repair are not over. One of the seams on the spillway failed. The spillway repair company and the committee are in conversation, and we will know what has to be done shortly.

The dam repair – ongoing since 2007 – has been a costly endeavor. In the planning stages, the cost was estimated to be $100,000. At each stage thereafter, the pricing spiraled and four years later, the cost was a staggering $250,000. Because of the foresight of the Finance Committees and your Boards of Directors, this bill has been paid. But other projects have taken a back seat.

GREEN SPACE This committee has been renamed Beautification in keeping with its mission – ‘to enhance the natural beauty of the community, and landscape the public spaces with native shrubs and perennials, adding annuals for color’. Over and over, owners and guests remark on the beauty of our community. The summer has been great! Though warm these past few weeks, our surroundings are lush– green and colorful with just enough rain.
The park has been a gathering space for many families this summer. The chairs on the dock have been a big hit. The dock has been put to good use, as has the lake for swimming and boating. The ‘regulars’ at Wednesday at the Waterfront have continued to enjoy their get-togethers. When you have the opportunity to be here, please come down and join us on Wednesdays. Several projects are in progress – the outcrop will be weeded and tended, arrangements for fall plants have been made, three of the six community benches have been refinished, the path to the dock has been planned, steps off the picnic area are being replaced, mulch has been ordered, and the tables have been washed. We are aware of the ‘damage’ done by the electric company; we are working with them, and they with us in correcting problems.

A Tribal Welcome
Almost a year ago, two sisters and their husbands purchased the Deano cabin at 230 Toxaway Trail.
Bill Gifford and his wife, Jodi Turner, are from Winston-Salem. A Yankee by birth, Bill met Jodi at UNC –
Chapel Hill. Jodi and her sister were raised here in Morganton. After graduation, Bill and Jodi moved to Chicago, near Wrigley Field, and back to Winston-Salem in 1996.
Jodi teaches kindergarten, and Bill is a partner in a two-man law firm specializing in real estate. They have two daughters, Traci and Lucy, both graduates from UNC – Chapel Hill.
Jodi is a nature lover and a volunteer worker. Bill is an avid birdwatcher, a golfer, and enjoys running.

They are excited to be part of our community and look forward to meeting neighbors while learning their way around the area.

John Pappas and his wife, Traci Turner, make up the rest of the team. Traci and Jodi are mountain people and couldn’t be closer sisters, John says. The four of them have traveled, vacationed, and explored together and are now relaxing and enjoying Indian Lake Estates. John is from St Louis; he and Traci met at the University of Missouri.

They have been in Atlanta for 30 years, where Traci has her own communications company. John has been in the computer industry since moving there. They have a daughter, Hallie.
Traci and John enjoy hiking and traveling, having recently returned from Peru where they visited the Colca Canyon and the Amazon. They said their focus for the past several months has been renovating the cabin. If you see a car in the drive, stop and say hello!

Across the street, another Atlanta couple just purchased the Carlen home at 47 Thunderbird Lane. Michael and Fran Gould have lived in Atlanta for 30 years and have enjoyed hiking in North Georgia and Western North Carolina. They discovered the Greystone Inn about 10 years ago and have become familiar with this section of the mountains since then.

Fran is a native of the Ohio River Valley (Huntington, WV) and Michael is from Long Island. They have two daughters – Jenna (a paralegal in NYC) and Alison at Smith College. Michael is an executive with Thermopro, a plastics manufacturer in Duluth.

Fran is an avid gardener and bird watcher, and they both enjoy hiking. Michael would like to become more familiar with the hiking trails in the area and join a hiking club. They are currently busy renovating the cabin and are planning to spend many weekends here.

To the six of you, welcome to Indian Lake Estates. We are happy you chose the greatest place in the mountains for your second home!

Reduce Reuse Recycle

The Natural Resources Defense Council reports: If each household in the United States replaced a single roll of virgin fiber toilet paper (plush and soft) with a roll of 100% recycled paper (not as soft), the wood saved would amount to 423,900 trees.

The French Broad River…
The history of the French Broad chronicles the waterway as an industrial magnet and industrial dump, a route for trade and tourists, a home for rare aquatic species, and a haven for fishers, paddlers, and swimmers. As one of the world’s oldest rivers, the French Broad can be tranquil or feisty and is resilient.

Surrounded by the Appalachians, the waterway runs for 218 miles from its headwaters in Rosman to where it joins the Holston River to form the Tennessee River near Knoxville, picking up many tributaries on its journey. In the 115-mile channel through North Carolina, the French Broad meanders calmly through farmland in Transylvania and Henderson Counties. It widens around Asheville by the Biltmore Estate and the NC Arboretum just west of downtown. It streams into Marshall and Hot Springs in Madison County where it gains strength as whitewater before broadening into the Tennessee River.

Visit ourstate.com for an online travel guide to the French Broad.

Annual Meeting of the Membership

The Board of Directors is looking forward to meeting with you Saturday, the 11th of September at 10 am. This year, the meeting will take place at Lake Toxaway Fire and Rescue, located on 281 between the Post Office and Highway 64. Drive into the parking lot and up the hill to the upper lot.

We will meet in the public room on the second story.

In this mailing, you have the materials necessary for the meeting. There is a ballot for the new Directors; seal it in the envelope marked Ballot. If you are unable to attend, there is a proxy to mail back, so your voice will be heard. This paperwork needs to be returned to the Club by 3 September to be valid. Ballot in sealed envelope by itself; proxy and/or ballot envelope mailed in self-addressed envelope, with your return address placed on it. If you are attending, be sure to bring your copy of the Agenda, Minutes, and Budget with you. We will not be making extra copies, in keeping with our lessening budget.

The Finance Committee and Board have studied the financial needs of the Club, have remained mindful of the economy, and have listened to you, our owners. In the end, assessments must be raised if we are to move forward in maintaining and repairing our infrastructure. As one Director put it, the assessment pays for the infrastructure of the community – the roads, dams and lakes, and the water system.

As ever, we are excited about our community and its future. We have not retreated but are moving forward, full steam. We hope to see you on Saturday.

To thee we raise our joyful hymn of praise…
For the beauty of this place, our earth, the skies, and the love that around us lies;
For the beauty of each hour of the day and night, hill and vale, sun and moon and stars of light;
For the joy of human love, friends on earth and above;
For all thoughts so freely given, grace, flowers of earth, and buds of heaven.
~folliot sandford pierpoint (altered)

Earth’s Bounty
Hydrangeas seem to be the latest rage in horticulture and rightly so. They give us huge flowers in the middle of summer without too much trouble. It seems like every time we turn around, there is a new cultivar. Hydrangea lovers grab it up to add to their collection and love it as if it were a new species.

For those of us less enthusiastic, there are four species that we can grow. Two are native species, Hydrangea arborescence and Hydrangea quercifolia. The most noticeable is the H arborescence growing along the highway. A variety called Annabelle has huge heads of multi-florets that start out and end up a beautiful lime green. In its prime, the color is white. The other native, H quercifolia, or oakleaf, has a big spire of flowers at the end of each branch that eventually turn a soft pink.

The third species is Hydrangea macrophylla, or mop heads, lace caps, or French hydrangea. This is the showiest of the species with their large heads of pink or blue clusters. There is a white variety called Mme Emile Mouillere. The fourth species is Hydrangea paniculata, or PG, and is most noticeable in late summer and many feel the showiest of the species here in the mountains. Hydrangeas are deciduous and require little work. They all like a shady environment with some morning sun, although PG can take full sun. The macrophyllas in our natural acidic soil will give us blue flowers. With the addition of a handful of lime twice a year, the flowers will be pink. Hydrangeas thrive in our rainy climate; their name hydra means water, and they will suffer in times of drought. They make great cut flowers and will sometimes even root in the vase, indicating their ease of propagation.

Remember the rule of thumb: use natives far away blending with the existing landscape, and bring non-natives closer up to the front door. Choose a species of hydrangea that suits your space. Enjoy!
~barbara