November 2025 – Birch Lake Yacht Club

*Early morning fog on the lake. November 2, 2025.*
Photo credit to Jennifer Ball.

Halloween Recap

Thank you to everyone who came out on Saturday night to help us celebrate Halloween around the lake! We had 35 houses on our map, and a few more residents who were out to hand out treats. Our wagon and parade of trucks and golf carts included more than 25 kids and at least that many adults this year! The weather looked gloomy all day, but we ended up with a pleasant night and no rain. Many of the trick-or-treaters and other lake residents joined us for a gathering at the Snider’s house in the cove after trick-or-treating concluded. More photos here–>

If you took photos, please send them to birchbarker1@gmail.com and I will add them to the album!

Planting Trees for Clean Water

Have you noticed new trees taking root in your neighborhood? It’s all part of a grant project through the Van Buren Conservation District and Michigan Lakes and Streams Association. This project offers landowners on six lakes in southwest Michigan the opportunity to have native trees and shrubs planted on their properties. These plantings will reduce runoff, improve the quality of water in our lakes and streams, and provide valuable wildlife habitat.

Landowners on or near Round, Gravel, and Eagle Lakes in Van Buren County and Harwood, Birch, and Baldwin Lakes in Cass County who would like to participate next year are encouraged to fill out an interest form. For more information, contact Erin Fuller at the Van Buren Conservation District, 269-218-0199 or watershed@vanburencd.org.

This project is made possible by a Great Lakes Restoration Initiative grant through the Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer, and lender.

From the Birch Lake Homeowners Association

Commodore’s Comments

The Lion Sleeps Tonight

Bud Hall will be painting the exterior of our house as weather permits, but there’s a chill in the air, and the days are getting shorter. It’s almost Halloween, and the clock moves back an hour on Saturday night.

The word “Halloween” is short for “All Hallows’ Eve.” “Hallow” came from Old English “halig”, which meant “holy” or “saint.” Halloween is the evening before the modern Christian holiday of All Saint’s Day, which began as a Celtic celebration to ward off ghosts and scary things that roam in the dark.

Jackie and I recently returned from the southern African countries of South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia, and Botswana. We did a photo safari in the latter three countries with Overseas Adventure Travel, or “OAT,” which caters to American tourists. On the photo safari, we stayed in four different tent camps near rivers. It was the dry season, and many animals could be found near the rivers. The tents were large, comfortable, and had electricity and private bathrooms with hot and cold running water. We were not allowed to leave our tents after dark, because wild animals roamed through the camps at night. These could – and did – include lions, hyenas, baboons, hippos, and elephants.

We would arrive at each new tent camp in the late afternoon, and would be welcomed by the warm and friendly camp staff with a wonderful performance of singing, drumming and dancing. By then it would be dark, and we would be taken out into the jungle on a game drive by highly skilled guides who had grown up in the area. Our guides were keenly attuned to the night, and instinctively knew when and where to shine a light to reveal some amazing animals in the darkness. Often the animals quickly disappeared–especially the several kinds of mongoose, which feed on snakes in the darkness, and are necessarily very quick and wary. But other animals did not seem bothered by the light at all. The only animals we ever saw sleeping were in the daytime, and those included lions, a leopard, and an elephant, all during the heat of the day. At night, the jungle is alive with activity.

We stayed in each tent camp for three days, and would go out in the early morning and late afternoon on photo expeditions by land or by boat. After dinner on the last evening in a camp, our hosts would give us another wonderful singing and dancing performance. At the start of the tour, our tour guide had asked us to prepare a responsive performance for these farewell parties, to share some American culture with our hosts. I suggested singing the Token’s 1961 version of The Lion Sleeps Tonight. The group liked the idea, but our excellent tour guide, Nyellie, ruled that it was originally an African song, not an American song. So we chose This Land is Your Land and God Bless America instead. We gave it our best, but our performances never came close to the delightful singing and dancing that are a part of the daily lives of our hosts. However, they were always very kind and appreciative of our efforts.

Our journey ended in the small city of Victoria Falls. The falls were named after Queen Victoria of England by Dr. David Livingstone in 1855, when he became the first European to see them. On our last morning in Africa, our tour guide treated us to an excellent presentation about Dr. Livingstone, given in a clipped British accent by Libby White, a fourth-generation citizen of Zimbabwe. Dr. Livingstone was a Scottish medical doctor and missionary, who is loved and revered in Africa to this day. Among his many accomplishments, he played a major role in exposing and ending the East African slave trade. His statue still stands at the falls, and the name he gave to the falls has not been changed.

Right after the presentation about Dr. Livingstone, Nyellie gave us a final surprise: A beautiful live a cappela rendition of the original African version of A Lion Sleeps Tonight, sung by the Amazulu Cultural Ensemble.

Jackie and I hope that you enjoy our photos and two videos taken in the African jungle at night. (Click on the images to enlarge). Plus, the video of Amazulu performing The Lion Sleeps Tonight.

Video of farewell dance party, Baobab Camp, Chobe National Park, Botswana. The warm, cheerful, yet dignified people of Southern Africa charmed everyone in our tour group.

Video: Our guides tracked this rare pack of African painted dogs for two hours before finding them after dark, not far from our camp. Okavango Delta, Botswana.

Tour Guide Nyellie, with Guides Bob and Akim, getting ready for a night drive in the jungle in Kafue National Park, Zambia.

Fleet Captain’s Corner

Sailing Tips for More Efficient Leaf Blowing

Tip 1 – Check the Forecast

Sailors are always paying attention to the weather and wind forecasts. Unlike in sailing, ideal conditions for leaf blowing are when there is no wind. But schedules and projections don’t always line up. The following tips will help if you do have to leaf-blow on a windy day.

Tip 2 – Use Your Hill as a Wind Shadow

In sailing, an upwind sail can project a wind shadow up to ten boat lengths long. This is an area where the wind is blocked or changed drastically. In the forecast, look for days when the wind is blowing from your side of the lake. Depending on the topography of the hill behind your house, there may be little to no wind. If you do have to blow leaves when there is wind on your side of the lake, look for days when the wind is blowing in your favor.

Tip 3 – Run Downwind

In sailing, we call sailing directly downwind a Run or Running Downwind. If there is a certain location you blow your leaves to choose a day when the wind will be at your back. This may be the quickest day to blow leaves because you’ll get a wind assist.

Tip 4 – Don’t Get Stuck in Irons

You cannot sail directly upwind. The sailing term for when this is attempted and you get stuck with no wind is Getting Stuck in Irons. You can sail in an upwind direction, but you have to sail at a certain angle to the wind and tack and jibe back and forth to get to the upwind mark. Depending on wind strength, it can be difficult or impossible to blow leaves upwind. Try to avoid days like this. But if you have to blow leaves on these days, try blowing across the wind.

Tip 5 – Play the Wind Shifts

The wind does not always stay the same. Sailors place telltales, such as small strips of yarn or fabric, on their boats and sails to help know if the wind changes direction. When leaf blowing, pay attention to markers such as flags to see how the wind is shifting back and forth. Use the wind shifts to your advantage.

Bonus Tip – Pay Attention to How Wind Moves Around Structures

When sailing close to a shoreline, the curvature of the shoreline can throw wind back out towards the lake. Buildings and other structures can cause a wind shadow or cause the wind to act in weird ways. When leaf blowing, pay attention to how the wind whips around structures.

~ F.C. Bob Niezgodski

Public Service Announcements

Time to Fall Back

The time change was early Sunday morning, November 2^nd – if you haven’t already done so, make sure to set your clocks back an hour!

Christmas Crawl is Back!

Mark your calendars for Saturday, December 13^th for the mostly annual Christmas Crawl. The fun begins with appetizers at Holly and Scott Troeger’s house at 5:00. Next, dinner at Blair and Bernie Garceau’s house at 6:00, followed by dessert at Sandy and Bob Baucus’s house at 7:00. Please reach out to any of the host houses if you can help or provide food for any of the food venues. We hope you can join us for all or even part of this Birch Lake tradition.

Turtle Signs

It’s time to stow away your “slow down” signs for the winter! Don’t forget to take them in so they don’t get destroyed by the snow plows this winter.

Update Your Email Preferences

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BLYC Directory

Corrections and updates to the new directory? Send any updates to birchbarker1@gmail.com and we’ll publish them here for folks to update their directories.