Category Archives: Association News

Posts about Clary Lake Association stuff.

Maine Lakes 2021 Spring Newsletter

A little late but better late than never, Maine Lake’s Spring 2021 newsletter is now freely available on line and is well worth perusing. The Clary Lake Association has been a long time member of Maine Lakes (formerly the Maine Lakes Society). Among other things, Maine Lakes administers the award winning LakeSmart program: “LakeSmart is an education and reward program that helps lakefront homeowners manage landscapes in ways that protect water quality. The program is free, non-regulatory, and voluntary.” The Clary Lake Association is considering participating in the LakeSmart program in the near future.

The 2021 Spring/Summer Newsletter Is Posted!

Wild Rice (Zizania palustris) is making a comeback in the marshes around Clary Lake. Photograph by George Fergusson

I’ve added the 2021 Spring/Summer Newsletter to our Newsletter Archive. It went in the mail less than one week ago and how gratifying it is that membership checks are already coming in! A little more information about the newsletter: we call each issue the “Spring/Summer” issue but really, it’s the only issue we publish during the year so that term may change in future issues. It is a throwback to when we actually did try to put out two newsletters a year, an initiative that turned out to be a lot like work. With email and our website, we found we really didn’t need two newsletters a year to stay in touch with out members. The last year we published two newsletter was in 2012, we haven’t done since, and we probably won’t do it again unless (or until) circumstances change. As for the name the “Clary Lake Clarion” that came from a small local newspaper that my father Stuart Fergusson and Paul MacDonald published back in the summer of 1931. I found a couple of copies of in an old closet a few years ago (see post “The Original Clary Lake Clarion“). Appropriating the name for our newsletter just seemed… appropriate! Here’s the newsletter: Continue reading →

The Newsletter is In The Mail!

No really! It’s in the mail which means the Clary Lake Association’s 2021/2022 Membership drive has begun! Traditionally, it begins with the mailing of the Summer newsletter which went in the mail a few days ago. Most of you should have it in your mailbox by now, or will have shortly (I’ll post a digital copy here in a few days). Unofficially our Membership drive begins on April 1st which is the date we start accepting dues for the upcoming year. In reality, it’s never too soon or too late to join or renew your membership in the Association. We’re always ready for new members! Dues are $25 per person per year and Membership is open to all. I’ve added a page to the site to keep track of who has signed up for the Upcoming Year. At the time of this writing there are already six people who have renewed their memberships. You’ll find the list under the Current Membership List, under the Membership Menu. Continue reading →

17 April 2021: Canoe On The Loose

Brenda Robbins down at the east end of the lake has reported their green Coleman canoe has floated off. Something like this seems to happen every spring to someone or other! If you should happen to spot it, tie it up if you can and let George Fergusson know. Thank you!

29 March 2021: Ice Out!

Ice Out 28 March 2021

I’m calling the OFFICIAL Clary Lake Ice Out date today, March 29th. I’m also calling yesterday the “What Do You Mean It’s Not Ice Out Yet?” day, yesterday, March 28th. This morning there are only a few vestiges of ice remaining and I’m sure the sun and wind will make short work of them today. We therefore have 3 winners of our 2021 Clary Lake Ice Out contest: Bambi Jones for guessing the “official” Ice Out date, and Kelley Doore and Alan Nicholas Decker for coming the closest to the “What Do You Mean It’s Not Ice Out Yet?” date of March 28th without going over. Fortunately we have enough “We Give A Dam” tee shirts to go around and I’ll be in touch with our winners to make arrangements to get them their shirts 🙂 Continue reading →

01 March 2021: Your Connection is Secure!

It has been a long time coming, but our website now supports SSL (secure socket layer) browser connections. This means that your website traffic between our server and your browser is encrypted on-the-fly. In a world that is becoming increasingly more security (and privacy) conscious, it was really only a matter of time before we were forced to take this step. You can tell your connection to our website is secure from the lock () to the left of the URL in the address bar. Also the URL starts with “https” and not “http.” We’ve been planning on installing an SSL certificate for some time but lacked a real incentive to do so, the primary reason being cost. I’m happy to report now that the cost of purchasing an SSL certificate has dropped considerably in recent months such that it was really no longer Continue reading →

23 February 2021: Spring is Coming!

It’s about this time of year that I really start hankering for Spring, and I’ve been watching the progress of the Sun anxiously as it rises a little further northward each day. By the time the Vernal Equinox on March 20th gets here, the point where it crosses the Earth’s equator on it’s way north, it will be rising well to the left of where it rose this morning:

12 February 2021: Maine Cabin Masters on Clary Lake

A camp on Clary Lake belonging to the Andersen family was featured on Maine Cabin Masters this winter. The camp is over on the west shore of the lake. I recall the camp being worked on last summer, and more than once I waved at the folks working on it while out fishing. At the time I didn’t know it was a Maine Cabin Masters project and I didn’t learn that until long after they were gone. I also lost track of this project and didn’t know when it was going to air or I’d have posted about it sooner.

Check out the Maine Cabin Masters post. The before and after pictures are impressive, and the 3D model is pretty sexy 🙂

603 – The Old Fishing Camp

Many thanks to Dan Burns for bringing this to my attention.

Albert R. Boynton May 18, 1926 – January 31, 2021

Albert Boynton, 1926 – 2021

I was very much saddened to hear of Albert Boynton’s recent passing. Albert was intimately familiar with the Clary Lake dam and the Clary Mill which his family owned and ran back in the 1920’s and early 1930’s. I first met Albert when I was just 13 years old when his house caught fire, back in 1966. Water from the mill pond next door was used to save his house, something he liked to point out to people. I have spoken with him often in recent years about the dam and mill and how they factored into the lives of his family.

In early 2018 the Clary Lake Association was in the process of raising money to buy the dam, and Albert made a generous donation towards that end. I took the picture at left in the late fall of that year, after we had successfully purchased the dam. It shows Albert standing next to the red mill house in which he was born, talking with our Treasurer Mary Gingrow-Shaw one day while dam repairs were underway. Albert lived just across the road from the dam and he was a frequent visitor during that exciting period. He was thrilled that the Clary Lake Association was finally able to buy the dam and restore Clary Lake. Albert has been a Clary Lake Association member for a number of years, and an unending source of stories about Clary Lake.

He will be remembered, and he will be missed.

Here is Albert’s obituary: Albert R. Boynton May 18, 1926 – January 31, 2021

This article has been posted under Members No Longer With Us which you’ll find under the Membership main menu heading.

26 January 2021: Clary_cam1 and Clary_cam3 Upgraded!

Last week Dave Knight and I upgraded Clary_cam2. Today we braved the cold and installed new cameras for Clary_cam1 and Clary_cam3. You can see all three on our Clary Lake Webcams page. The new cameras take beautiful 1920 x 1080 pixel pictures and represent a significant improvement over the old camera’s 1280 x 720 pixel pictures. All three cameras upload pictures to the website every 2 minutes. They cover the same general areas, but the fields of view are bigger than the old cameras: Continue reading →

22 January 2021: Clary_cam2 Has Been Upgraded

Dave Knight and I just finished installing the new Clary_cam2. The camera’s 1920 x 1080 image needs to be adjusted slightly, it’s a little dark. I’ll swing by this weekend and tweak it a bit. As is, it’s already a big improvement from the old camera:

Here’s the old image from earlier today. As you can see, the new camera has a wider field of view and better resolution, not to mention color rendition:

I was going to replace Clary_cam3 today but I’ve run out of gumption. I’ve got 2 more cameras on order and I’m going to hold off until I can replace both Clary_cam1 and Clary_cam3, sometime next week. Stay tuned!

20 January 2021: New Webcams On The Way!

The View Out My Window

We’re in the process of replacing our webcams. We’ve got 3 of them and 2 of them are slated for replacement just as soon as I can make it happen. Clary_cam2 has lost it’s color correction and Clary_cam3 periodically uploads corrupted images. Clary_Cam1 is still working but it’s old and will be replaced soon. Continue reading →

14 January 2021: Maine Lakes Wednesday Webinars Are Back!

I received this email this morning from Maine Lakes (formerly the Maine Lakes Society) and thought I’d pass it on to our Clary Lake readers. I attended several Maine Lakes webinars last year and found them interesting and educational. I’m sure this year’s programs will be as well. I’ve already signed up for the first one, Winter Lake Monitoring. There’ll be more webinars. I’ll post notices of additional programs when I receive them.

Maine Lakes Wednesday Webinars Are Back!

In light of the continuing health concerns about COVID-19, Maine Lakes will be hosting this year’s Maine Lakes Conference speakers in another series of “Wednesday Webinars” running the 1st and 3rd Wednesdays of each month, from February through June.

This year’s theme, A Deep Dive Into the Lake Book, features many interesting and relevant topics that correspond with our soon-to-be published 4th edition of “The Lake Book.” While we are currently finalizing speakers for some of the webinars, we are happy to announce that registration is open for the following presentations. Registration is free and easy. Hope to see you there!

Continue reading →

8 January 2021: ClaryCam2 Back In Service

I’m happy to report that ClaryCam2 is back in service, thanks to David Knight’s finger which he used to press the ground fault reset button on the power supply. If we’d known it was such an easy fix we’d have taken care of it sooner. Sorry about that!

I wouldn’t normally write a website post for something as trivial as a web camera coming back online, but it turns out that the Clary Lake Web Cams page is the single most popular, most viewed page on the site 🙂

7 January 2021: It’s Ice Fishing Season Again

The 2021 Ice Fishing season has started on Clary Lake. Dave Knight stopped by the State boat launch earlier today and took the picture at left. One of the fishermen said there was 8 inches of ice. As usual, be careful especially near inlets and in the channel where moving water could affect ice thickness.

If you’re going fishing, know Maine’s Fishing Laws! You’ll need a fishing license of course. Here’s a link to Maine’s Daily Bag, Possession and Length Limits. Clary Lake is in the South Zone and the daily limit on Bass (large mouth or small mouth) is 2 fish, no size limit. However, only 1 may exceed 14 inches. It would be nice if you threw ALL the big breeder Bass back. There’s no limit on other fish species that you’ll find in Clary including White and Yellow Perch, Pickerel, and Black Crappie.

Let’s see some fish pictures! Send them to George Fergusson and I’ll post them on this website.

Holiday Greetings from the Clary Lake Association

Dear Friends and Neighbors!

The old proverbial line, ‘where did the year go’? comes to mind. And what a year it was! As professed in an earlier post, there’s always something to be grateful for. During these challenging times, we have been called upon to embrace great patience, enlist monumental courage and muster unprecedented strength. So many are suffering and we have been forced to expose ourselves… the very best and those aspects of our species that are so in need of evolving to affect real change in our society. This takes incredible perseverance, not unlike our challenges in replenishing the health of our beloved Clary Lake. So, we know the drill! Continue reading →