I got the boat in earlier this year than ever before.

My son and his junior high friends have been spending a lot of time at our Country Club Property Owners Property Owners Association’s Beach 7. Lots of sand, a raft, pretty warm days.

Zebra Mussels on a stick near Beach 7 on the south side of Crystal Lake.

Before launch date, he told me kids were getting their feet cut on zebra mussels.

I found my first zebra mussels while we had our pontoon boat anchored near the North Shore, where the bottom is rocky. That was July of 2008.

It’s pretty near the Crystal Lake Park District’s boat ramp, so I figured someone who doesn’t keep his boat on the lake had had it in Lake Michigan and decided to bring it into Crystal Lake for day.

How sad that he used such poor judgment.

A month later, they were on the south side of the lake. My son found them.

When I took the boat out last fall, I saw zebra mussels all over the pier poles.

And the photo you see here shows how the sharp-edged creatures covered a stick on the bottom of the lake.

The Crystal Lake City Council has certainly displayed good judgment in not allowing any boats to be brought onto Vulcan Lakes.