PORTAGE LAKE FISHING EVENT

The Manistee County Convention and Visitors Bureau presents the

Inaugural Manistee County Winter Fun and Ice Fishing Festival

On Portage Lake in Onekama, Mi.

January 31, 2009

Five hours 9 am to 2pm $5.00 per line,

Lots of prizes! Shortest and Longest of all species!

Any fish caught could be a winner! Cash and Prizes awarded.

Bring a scoop, your bucket, and your fishing equipment - whatever

you need to spend 5 hours on the ice. A limited number of extra poles

are available. Assistance with hole drilling will be provided if necessary.

YOU WON'T WANT TO MISS THE FUN!

3 sessions; start times 9am, 10:30 am and 12 noon

THE RULES ARE SIMPLE!

One winner - BIGGEST FISH - TAKES ALL

Registration for both Ice Fishing Contests begins at 7:00 am at

FISH TALE CAFE IN ONEKAMA

or

Vistors Center in Manistee at First St and US 31

Call Fred MacDonald at 231-645-8366 for more info

DNR RULES APPLY

Award Ceremony at Portage Point Inn at 4:00 pm

Must be present to win

Bring the whole family, dress warmly and prepare to

HAVE A GREAT TIME!

Property Taxes

Brian Calley, state rep from the 87th district is going to fight for property owners! It will take a state constitutional amendment - but the concept is simple. If market values decline so should property taxes. Remember , taxable values by law increase by the rate of inflation or 5% whichever is less. Your SEV may be going down, but taxable values continue to go up. This year in Manistee county, they went up 4.4%. It's not an option, but no one had the foresight to believe in the early 90's that market value could go down, therefore the law needs to be changed.

Brian Calley may have to start a grass roots movement and get 500,000 signatures to put this on the ballot. Stay tuned I'll keep you updated on his progess. Or feel free to contact him on www.Facebook.com

Wild Game Dinner

Despite a raging snow storm, my husband and I braved the elements to attend the 4th Annual Wild Game Dinner at the Baptist Church in Manistee last night.

And we weren't alone.

Almost 100 hungry guests showed up to feast on buffalo (generously donated by Oleson's in Manistee) and successful hunters shared their venison, moose, turtle soup, fish entrees on the lucky guests.

The hunters brought in their trophies and entertained us with stories on personal hunting experiences.

I am grateful to Rev. Don Long who brought in 6 trophy bucks and is an expert on calling. The Not only did I enjoy a fantastic meal but the knowledge I gained on using a grunt call was very valuable. I'm going to try calling them in next year - just for fun!

And people downstate wonder what we do up here......we are having a ball.

Taxes, Marley and Me, Etc.

Confused? So are most people. My brother down in Rochester Hills is planning on speaking out at the next city council meeting and I have been doing my best to help him out on this very topic. I have an article from the Manistee Advocate that was headline news on January 5th, 2009 addressing the the bizarre taxing structure we have in Michigan. If you are a property owner in Michigan - take a good look at your tax bills. Your assessment or SEV (state equalized value) may be going down to reflect our economy, but your taxable value is still going up. In the city of Manistee, taxable values can go up to 4.4%. It is a tough concept to get your head around - believe me as a Realtor I hear lots of opinions on this. Email me with any questions.

Better news? I'll change the subject!!

Go see a movie! If you like dogs, you gotta see Marley and Me. I forced my husband to take me (he claims it's a chick flick) to see it down in Ludington last Saturday. We shed a few tears apiece at the end. Not a flick for chicks only. Just a good old fashioned tale about love, marriage and a very difficult, untrainable 100 pound dog.

Looking forward to a new year and business is starting to pick up again. More inquiries, potential deals in the works, it is a great time to buy. Remember, we may be low in density population wise here in northern Michigan, but we make up for it in style. I wouldn't trade our Michigan shoreline for any condo in Phoenix....even when the wind is gusting at 50 miles an hour and it's 5 degrees outside. (Ok, it hasn't been that bad, but we have had a record amount of snow.)

By the way Onekama is having a festival out on Portage Lake on January 31st. I'll update you with details later.

Fire in the Sky

I LOVE MY HOUSE IN THE WOODS. Welcome to January 2009 - and this lovely picture was taken of the morning sunrise while I was fixing my coffee....I only wish you could see it in person.

Yesterday was my first full day back at the office. After 6 showings to 3 different customers, wading through snow drifts I'm THRILLED to discover the buyers are testing the waters once again.....

For those of you that put up with me - here is a quick up-date Tom and Max. Both my husband and dog had the same cold. Both had been wheezing, coughing, sneezing, aching, etc. Husband Tom is sticking to taking his Alka-seltzer Plus. Max, the 9 pound toy poodle went to see Dr. Jeff, our Vet. After listening to Max's chest, Dr. Jeff said, "I agree with you, Max has a bad cold, I'm hearing some sounds that ought not to be here." A shot, some pills and we headed home. Both are recovering nicely. We have the best Vet in the world.
Tom and I are headed out to see Marley and Me at the Movies in the great city of Ludington.
For those of you who fish, the steelhead are in and there are some VERY happy fishermen running around.