The Kahshe Krier

Editor: Keith Price

416 233 7688

705 687 7108

416 272 1486 (cell)

keithonkahshe@bell.net

Vol 12:  Issue 2

May 2020

In This Issue



Editorial



Septic Bed Maintenance

Ron Pearson



Summer Event Schedule



Invasives - A Reminder

Henry Kowalewski



FOCA Report

Sandra Moad



In Memoriam

Elayne Burt

Rick Nice

Dorothy Porter

Sharon Selva



What's on in Town



KLRA Boutique



Photo Contest



 

VOTY

Who Will Be

This Year’s

Outstanding

Volunteer?

There are many wonderful people who willingly give their time and skill to help make Kahshe Lake the marvellous place that we have come to cherish and enjoy.  Each year, KLRA selects one such individual and recognizes them with the Outstanding Volunteer Award.  Traditionally, the award is presented at our Annual General Meeting, but this year we may need to make other arrangements.

You are part of the process.  If you know someone who should be considered, why not take a moment and nominate them?  To take a look at previous recipients and get more information, go to our website, click on News and scroll down to Volunteer of the Year.

 Send your nominations to

Volunteer@kahshelake.ca

Deadline for nominations: 

June 14, 2020.   

President's Message

We have been living through this COVID-19 pandemic since March and our world has changed significantly.   Never in my lifetime has staying safe and healthy been more important to the world. 

The purpose of the  KLRA is to protect and enhance all aspects of the quality of life on Kahshe and Bass Lakes and their immediate surroundings and to provide representation for the membership to municipal and government bodies.  Your board members continue to work diligently in these efforts. 

During this pandemic we have seen changes. 

The Canadian border is closed for American travellers which means many cottagers from the United States cannot come to their cottage until the border reopens. 

The Ontario government has advised everyone to avoid all non-essential travel.

Non-permanent residents have been advised not to access their cottages and cottagers who have boats stored in Marinas are not allowed access until Premier Ford allows it.

The government docks at Kluey's Bay and South Kahshe Lake Road are open, BUT the KLRA has posted warning signs at all 3 government docks noting that the rock markers are NOT in place and that you use the lake at your own risk.  

Nagaya beach is closed.

The total fire ban that had been in place throughout Muskoka was lifted last Saturday.  Now -- no daytime fires between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. and small fires only from 2 hrs after sunset to 2 hrs before sunrise.

How has COVID-19 affected the KLRA?

The door and dock drop has been cancelled this year.

All KLRA summer activities are now under review, and will run only IF the situation improves significantly and only IF the organizers  are comfortable running them.

The  KLRA Annual General Meeting scheduled July 11, 2020 has been postponed with a new date to be determined. 

E-blasts will be sent out with updates on all our activities.  

We are involved and support you through discussions with the Town Mayor, Paul Kelly and elected councillors. You will shortly be receiving a KLRA e-blast with a letter to seasonal residents from the District of Muskoka Council.

We continue our involvement with the Waste Management team, by attending, or as now is the case listening in thru Zoom on District meetings   Due to COVID-19 there are changes in the operations at the Briers Transfer station. At press time there were still bins at Denne's and Rockhaven, but not at South Kahshe Lake Road.  For updated information refer to the EngageMuskoka.ca website.

The Federation of Ontario Cottagers' Associations has been very proactive during this crisis. Please read the article by Sandra Moad our FOCA representative

In response to member interest in the health of our Lake, the KLRA website now includes Home Page access to Lake Health, a page containing all our Lake Steward’s reports and articles.  

We are a community of people that encompasses all age groups, but I believe we have one thing in common -  the enjoyment, relaxation and family time that happens while we are at our Cottages on Kahshe or Bass Lake.  

Please be safe!

Margaret Taylor

President of KLRA

Please note that some of the information above may be out-of-date by the time you read this.  Please check our e-blasts for further developments.

Editorial

The Krier is evolving.  As we move completely into the digital Krier era, we are also moving to a different way of producing the newsletter.   It will now be produced directly through the KLRA website and distributed in much the same way as the e-blasts we have been sending out over the past few years.  It will still appear at least 3 times a year, but could pop up unexpectedly at other times if the need arises.  Since this is all digital, the Association will incur no extra costs from "extra issues" if and when they appear.


At this time last year, I found that I was beginning to lose enthusiasm for the job of editing the Krier, and indicated my intention to continue until the end of this year or sooner, if a suitable replacement stepped forward. I even reiterated these sentiments in the January/February Krier, but the new way of producing the newsletter has resparked my enthusiasm.  I find that I am looking forward to the challenge of learning how to get the most out of the program and am excited by the potential it offers.  As a result, I am withdrawing my decision to step down at the end of this calendar year, i.e. I am willing to continue into next year and beyond if no-one volunteers to take over.

A couple of paragraphs without mentioning Covid-19 must be something of a record these days! Sadly though, Covid-19 is very much with us and will impact our summer quite extensively.  The KLRA Board has made the decision to suspend all events until it is safe to do so.  To this end we will be sending e-blasts on a fairly frequent basis as the situation changes.  If we can run any of our events, we will be sure to do so.  At the present moment, we are looking at holding a virtual AGM, the KLRA Photo Contest and an online Boutique offering dock drop-off delivery.  Beyond that we do not yet know, so keep watching for those KLRA e-blasts.

If you are up and about on the lake, please remember that the Rock Markers are not yet in, and will not be put in until further notice.  Please do not become the victim of one of our stray rocks!

Stay safe, everybody.


Keith Price, Editor


Links

You will find that there are many links within the newsletter to other websites, to other website articles and to email contacts. Please take advantage of them, especially the one that you would use to send me stories, suggestions, photos and questions, for inclusion in future Kriers:

keithonkahshe@bell.net.


Septic System Inspection and Maintenance

by Ron Pearson, KLRA Lake Steward


In my last Krier article, I highlighted the importance of improving our lake water quality to offset the potential for unpleasant algal bloom development associated with warmer water conditions resulting from climate change. The main accelerators of algal growth are phosphorus and nitrogen and the main source of these two nutrients is from septic systems that are either plugged or in need of repair or maintenance.

As was noted in the Krier article, the Town of Gravenhurst (Town) carries out a septic re-inspection program to ensure that property owners are maintaining their systems as per the requirements of the Ontario Building Code. According to Town staff, waterfront properties on Kahshe Lake are inspected every five years, with the next one being scheduled for 2020. However, it’s not clear if that program will take place this year given the COVID-19 situation or whether properties on Bass Lake are part of this five year cycle. 

To better understand how effective this program has been, I’ve asked the Town for more information on their findings to get a better idea of the number of properties they typically inspect via the use of a summer student and for a break-out of the major or minor failures they’ve identified and the status of any corrective actions these inspections have generated.  

To date, I’ve not had a response to my inquiry. However, I have taken a closer look at how these types of Municipal re-inspection programs work and have posted a more comprehensive report on this issue in the new Lake Health tab on the KLRA’s web-site As noted below, we don’t have to wait for an official re-inspection to take place, as we know our properties better than any summer student could and there are definitely signs we can look for and independent actions we can take to make sure our systems are functioning properly and not contributing to lake contamination.

Very briefly, here’s a summary of the main findings of my review: 

What to look for?

 If you are experiencing any of the following signs or have doubts about the condition of your system, consider having it pumped out and inspected by a licensed septic professional:  

  • Slowing or backed up drains in your home/cottage;
  • Spongy spots on or near the leaching bed;
  • Above normal growth of grass/weeds in patchy areas of the leaching bed;
  • The appearance of raw sewage on the ground or close to the tank or leaching bed;
  • Septic odours in the basement or outside in the vicinity of the tank or leaching bed; and
  • Poor well or surface water quality.

What kinds of failures are common in septic re-inspection programs across Ontario?

In a recent study by the Federation of Ontario Cottagers’ Association (FOCA), the effectiveness of a number of municipal septic re-inspection programs undertaken by septic professionals (paid for by the municipal authority) across Ontario was evaluated.

Their findings are highlighted below:

  • 32% had no deficiencies or impediments to function or performance. 
  • 27% had minor deficiencies requiring repairs/upgrades to ensure performance. 
  • 41% had major deficiencies in significant/extreme ways that impeded function and performance.

Major deficiencies were found in 75% of all systems over 30 years old and included:

  • Leaching bed failure (34%)
  • Deficient outlet baffle (21%)
  • Saturated leaching bed (15%)
  • Heavy tank corrosion and/or structural failure (15%)
  • Sludge in leaching bed (15%).

In another re-inspection evaluation consisting of over 7,600 properties between 2013 and 2017, the consulting company conducting the review on behalf of the local municipality reported that:

  • 18% of inspected systems had solids in the tank at or greater than one third of the tank volume and as such, were in need of solid pump-out.

As it is likely that a large number of the septic systems on Kahshe and Bass Lake waterfront properties are well beyond 30 years old – i.e. installed before 1990, these re-inspection review findings are cause for concern. This is compounded by the fact that a large number of waterfront properties on Kahshe Lake are water-access, requiring the use of a barge to get pumper trucks to these properties. This just adds further expense and decreases the likelihood of these systems being pumped out and inspected at the recommended 3-5 year interval.

What can you do to make a difference?

Based on the information presented above, it is possible that a number of septic system failures of minor or major importance are present on Kahshe and Bass Lake waterfront properties and require attention. The possibility of this being the case is even greater for systems over 30 years old (installed before 1990).

While the Town of Gravenhurst’s septic re-inspection program may eventually identify these problems, this may not happen in time to prevent a failure from contaminating our lake water.  As such, it would be helpful if property owners, who know their property better than a summer student ever could, would pro-actively look for signs of a failing system and retain a licensed professional to have their tank pumped out and the entire system evaluated for signs of failure.

If you have any questions regarding your septic system, there are some excellent publications that might be helpful and I’d be happy to flag these for you or help you find a qualified septic maintenance person.

Ron Pearson

Kahshe and Bass Lake Steward

ron.pearson.pics@gmail.com

KLRA Summer Events

All summer events are on hold until the pandemic allows otherwise.  

If the situation iproves enough the events will run, but only IF the organizers and their volunteers are comfortable running them.

Tentative dates


Picnic             July 18

Fishing Derby   July 25

Regatta            August 8


RE/MAX

Terry Pilger C.S.P.

705 644 1195 cell

705 687 2243 office

terrysellsmuskoka@gmail.com

Follow me on Facebook,

Twitter and LinkedIn


"By the way...I am never too busy for your referrals"

DENNE'S

 M  a  r  i  n  a


"Providing our clients with solid, reliable boat servicing, docking and winter storage."


Paul Caswell -- Owner


705 689 5082


email us


www.dennesmarina.com


179 N. Kahshe Lake Road

Kilworthy, Ontario

P0E 1G0

P.O. Box 117A

Zebra mussels and other invasives

-- a reminder

by Henry Kowalewski,

Water Access Committee Chair


  “May you live in interesting times…”


Wow, what a crazy beginning to a cottage season! Who saw this coming!?  Hopefully, we will all be able to open up out cottages safely, maybe later than usual, as we have for generations before us.  

Now that we have seen what an invasive species (the Coronavirus-19) can do to us, we should be more aware of what invasive species of any sort can do.  For boaters the worst may well be the Zebra Mussel.  For more information, I urge you to refer to our Lake Steward's reports in the Lake Health section of the KLRA website, as well as the invading species website of the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters.

FOCA

Federation of Ontario Cottagers' Associations

Spring AGM - March 2, 2020

by Sandra Moad

Main Topics of Discussion

  • FOCA  consultation with Hydro One about the designation of seasonal rates,
  • Watershed problems due to high levels of water  in lakes,
  • Bill 132 re Property Tax reassessment this year.  A Tool Kit will be available to compare your property to others with similar features,
  • Lake Partner water quality monitoring,
  • Airbnb and short term rentals -- guidelines that some communities have put in place, 
  • Invasive species -- reports on several lakes invaded by Starry Stonewort and Watermilfoil and how they dealt with it,
  • Invasive species being transferred from lake to lake via boat launching,
  • Microplastics and road salt build up in lakes.

For a full report, check the e-blast which will be coming shortly.

To get on the Elert list for free cottage country updates from FOCA:

Click here

In Memoriam

Elayne Burt

11.06.1959 -- 11.02.2020

You probably know Dave and Elayne Burt’s cottage -- a little ramshackle, deceptively small, on higher ground just around the corner from Rockhaven.  Tongues firmly in cheek, they named it On The Rocks and had a sign made up.  Elayne always called it the “Wee Cottage”. Twenty- some years ago when they bought it from Don and Madeline Shay (nee Heaps), it didn’t have an indoor toilet but did have an outhouse.   Elayne was fine with that.  She’d been a camper ever since her days at the CGIT camp on Doe Lake.

What she loved was the old cedar-lined front room that she filled with games, books and newspapers and the natural rock nook cradling the cottage, which was called “Mommy Rock”. She also loved Turtle Lake  -- their secret lake and the source of water -- right out the back, just past the pine trees. 

She loved the big front deck too. She decorated it with flags and patio lanterns made from Christmas lights and old plastic pop bottles she and daughter Jenna painted.  The path from North Kahshe Lake Road up to the deck was lined – some might say littered – with porcelain rabbits, wooden flowers and much more, all garage sale finds. She loved garage sales and The Elephant Trunk in Gravenhurst.

But she hated garden gnomes. Trolls were fine but not gnomes.  Her sister Anne dared to gift her with a gnome once. Acting on orders, Jenna threw it down the outhouse. (They had a compost toilet by this time.)

You probably knew Elayne Burt herself. Or, at the very least, chatted with her. She loved people. That is said about a lot of us, but she really did. She loved sitting on the bench on the government dock and chatting to anyone – everyone – who drew up there in their boats. She wanted their life story and she usually got it. When Elayne, Dave and Jenna went to the Shop the Docks craft show in Gravenhurst, she was always more interested in the artisans than their wares. Dave and Jenna would have toured the whole show in the same time it took Elayne to get to her third booth.

Some of you met her at the Sunday church services that used to be at the barn; others at the lake’s annual craft show. She was the one who decided the kids needed some activities and made it happen; who begged a helluva lot of prizes from local merchants, who made up the signs and who first had the great idea of bringing Sawdust City and its beer to the show.  

She also probably sold you a ticket at Jakestock. Pam Lyon remembers the first time she saw the woman who would become a good friend. It was at the annual Labour Day Jakestock music fest honouring Pam's late brother, Jake.  Pam was frazzled, working hard behind the scenes when a woman came up and told her in no uncertain terms that the fire in front of Jake’s brother's cottage was just too damn big. That was her brother Ross's responsibility and Pam told her so.  “She was really annoying me”, Pam remembers. “I kept saying to myself ‘Leave me alone’.” But she noticed at about 3:30 a.m., when the party was down to a half a dozen people sitting around the fire singing and playing guitars that Elayne was one of them.

God, Elayne was fun, and so creative. Her licence plate was OH BEHVE. But she never did.  She organized caterpillar races; she wrote an unproduced play called Don’t Touch My Panini. She wrote a story for the CAA magazine about all the other quirky licence plates she’d noted long before anybody else was looking out for them. When she saw Jay Leno at Rama for the second time and realized he was recycling all his jokes, she decided he needed some new material to freshen his act. So she wrote some  jokes about Canada and sent them to him via a rep at Rama. (She never heard back.)  When her parents moved into a retirement home, she created Silver Brain Olympics, an entire Trivia program for seniors. That one she almost got going. Almost. “I’m the queen of unfinished projects,” she’d tell Dave.

Actually, she was just ahead of her time. 

Elayne was diagnosed with bile duct cancer last fall. She died at home in Scarborough. Her funeral was on February 22. Dave and Jenna thought maybe 100 people would come. There were about twice that. Elayne loved people and they loved her back.  Friends from high school were there. Friends from public school. They all had stories about the crazy things they’d done back then, most of it mischief stemming from Elayne. 

Nobody wanted to leave.  Even after they ran out of food.  Elayne would have loved it. She would have thrown back her head, crinkled her eyes and laughed.

Richard John Nice

1947 - 2020

Rick grew up enjoying summers with his parents and three brothers at their cottage where Housey’s Rapids opens into Kahshe Lake.  In the 1960’s, Rick was very popular among Boomer generation teens on Kahshe.  He was always up for a lark as when he smuggled a hand-cranked siren into the Muskoka movie house much to the consternation of the management.  He tore around the lake in his multi-hued runabout, the Rainbow Raider, that he made at his dad’s Rainbow Marine boat works.  As a founding member of the Pacemakers boat club he helped organize and participated in the races they held on Kahshe.

Rick chose teaching as his life’s work, graduating from Toronto Teachers College and then earning a BSc by commuting to Waterloo nights, weekends and summers.   He taught in the East York Board of Education and gave several students their first glimpse of cottage life.   He’d been a Queen’s Scout in his youth and remained active as a scout leader and pursued another passion as an officer of the Ontario Recreational Canoe Association.  He was also an avid SCUBA diver, visiting dive sites throughout the Great Lakes and the Caribbean.  He became a PADI instructor, providing his expertise to the Fern Resort and also to movie shoots in Muskoka.  He partnered with a teaching colleague to create Classic Wood Flooring, which became a thriving business that carried him into retirement.

In the 1980’s, boaters would idle past to marvel at the distinctive dream cottage that he and his wife Jennie built high overlooking the bay and the impressive stairs he built down the rock face to access the lake.  The cottage became a focus for their three children and six grandchildren. Upon retirement, he and Jennie took up permanent residence at the cottage and became valued members of the community, especially through their work with the Ryde Co-op.   Although he faced some serious health challenges in recent years, he remained active with projects around the house and playing hockey three times weekly during the winter months.  Rick was always available to help or socialize with neighbours.  He was generous with his skills, his tools and his time.  Rick will be sorely missed by his family, his many friends and the community of Ryde/Housey’s Rapids. 

Gord Robinson  (Gord was close friends with Rick for over 60 years.)

 Ken Porter

1929 - 2016

 Dorothy Porter

1930 – 2020

Dorothy began her love of Kahshe Lake as a young girl when her family frequently came up from Toronto to stay with the Sutherlands .

In the early 1960’s, Dorothy's mom, Maud Hourston acquired land from Bob Smith, a family friend from the Orkney Islands. The family cottage was soon built high upon the rocks at the Housey's Rapids end of the lake. Ken built the cottage working alongside William Hourston and Bob Kennedy.

Ken and Dorothy were Kahshe Lake cottagers for almost 60 years.

Over the decades both Ken and Dorothy were active members of the Housey's Rapids Lake Residents' Association. Ken was the president for a number of years and organized many regattas on Share-a-Shore. These eventually morphed into the Housey's Rapids Picnic which will celebrate its 60th anniversary in 2021.  Dorothy was the secretary of the HRLRA for a few years. They loved to socialize with their Kahshe Lake friends. 

Every summer was spent at the cottage, with Ken arriving punctually on Friday nights, staying for his holidays and eventually spending the whole summer after his retirement. He was greeted on the road by his young children and Dorothy always had a fresh pie ready for him. Blueberry being his favourite.  Summers were always full of fun, adventure and relaxation.  

With a growing family,  Ken decided an addition was needed, it turned into his passion which he “completed” in 1984, although it kept him busy working on it until well past 2010.

Ken and Dorothy were the loving parents of Pam (Paul) ,Nancy (Shawn) and Rob (Jennifer).  Grandparents to Amanda (Jesse), Kayti, Matthew (Nicole), Alison, William and Chloe.  Great Grandparents to Kailee and Elsie.  The whole family loves to spend summers on Kahshe Lake, continuing the many family traditions set by Ken and Dot.  

Sharon Lynne Selva

     12.09.1943 - 28.01.2020


It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Sharon Lynne Selva (nee Davis) on January 28, 2020. Sharon's grandfather came to Kahshe Lake in 1910 and purchased the island in Kluey's Bay. The LeDrew, Davis and Selva families have occupied the family cottage ever since. Sharon loved the lake and spent every summer here for the past 76 years. The only summer that she ever missed was the summer of 2019, as she wasn't well enough to travel. Sharon loved to be at the lake with her family and many good friends. She is greatly missed by her husband Gary, her son's Lewis and Eugene, her daughter inlaws Grace and Diane and her grandchildren Sophia, Marcus and Justin. Sharon's family and friends all shared a special bond with her. She touched the lives of so many people and was - and is -  an inspiration to everyone that she met.

"Sharon, we will always appreciate your loving heart, you gave us some of our best memories. You cared for us and loved us so deeply - we can’t thank you enough for a wonderful life that will carry on.  Our love for Kahshe Lake will live forever because of you. We know you'll always be with us at your first love -- Kah-she-she-bog-a-mog -- and will be in your spot on the dock cheering the kids on as they ski in around the bay."

The Selva family

 

Opera House

2020 Summer Theatre Season Suspended!

Other shows

Miss Emily August 29

Brass Transit: The Musical Legacy... October 22

No Sugar Tonight October 23

The Practically Hip: A Tribute November 14

Roy Orbison All-Star Tribute December 4

For full details on the Opera House season, click here.


Recreation Programmes

Registration for all programmes is postponed until further notice.

The Town of Gravenhurst offers a wide range of recreational, arts and cultural programs for youth, adults and seniors. From volleyball to ball hockey, pickle ball & ballroom dancing to fitness classes & meditation and more, there are plenty of activities to choose from that will keep your heart pumping and introduce you to a new activity and/or new people.

For more details or to see updates, click Recreation Activities

Welcome to the

2020 KLRA Boutique

Yes!  We are open for business.

But only for dock to dock delivery or pick-up at the Government docks at Denne’s or Rockhaven until further notice.

We have added exciting new merchandise to our regular line-up.  New beach towels, beer koozies and shopping cooler totes.  Coming soon Kahshe Lake playing cards   Coffee mugs and T-shirts are still available.


To order contact Leslie Pinard:

lesliepinard@gmail.com


905 724 2022

RE/MAX

PROFESSIONALS INC, BROKERAGE

Independently owned and operated


NANCY SUTTON KEHL

Sales Representative

Hall of Fame

Lifetime Achievement Award

1075 North Kahshe Lake Road

705 689 2627 (Bus/Res)

705 689 1921 (Fax)

suttonkehl@bell.net



ERIC KEHL

Sales Representative

100% Club

705 330 6665

MuskokaM e a t s

Muskoka Meats & 100 Mile Store

Meat Pkgs, Freezer Orders, Cutting

Smoking, Sausage Making

Local and No Growth Hormones

Beef, Pork, Chicken, Wild Game, Naturally Grown Seasonal Produce, Preserves, Perennials, Local Arts and Crafts


2288A Hwy 11 North, Gravenhurst

(3 doors past the Muskoka Store)


705 687 3283

www.muskokameats.com


dleshuk@cogeco.ca

or visit my website:  Natural Solutions

The 2020 KLRA Photo Contest

is happening!

With social distancing preventing our usual events from taking place, the Photo Contest is the only game in town right now.  Don't miss out.  Get your entries in to photocontest@kahshelake.ca before 

4 p.m. on July 24. (This may change.)

Display and Awards will take place at a time and place yet to be determined.  Watch for an e-blast update.

Click here for full Contest Rules

April Drane

Sales Representative

D: 705 687 9087

C: 416 617 3733


"Your Gateway to Muskoka Realtor" 


181 Bay St., Gravenhurst



President's Sales Award



CSA: Certified Staging Advocate



30 Years Staging Experience



mailto:Aprilgadsbydrane@sympatico.ca




R.J.LIQUIDATION


A New Truck Load Every Week

FRI: 9am - 5pm

SAT: 9am - 5pm

SUN: 9am - 2pm



1824 Hwy 11 North

between

South and North Kahshe Lake Roads