Dixon swimming ace adept at yard creations

DIXON — Caleb Carlson has gained notoriety for his exploits in a swimming pool, but he’s adept at getting things done on land as well.

A quick look around his grandmother’s place will drive that point home.

Joan Lemme and her late husband, Gene, built a house near Raynor Garage Doors in Dixon, and it includes 14 acres of trees, flowers and plants. It is called Hosta Heaven, as more than 200 varieties and 5,000 of those plants adorn the property.

“It just keeps me sane. It’s an outlet for me, just to get away and have fun. It clears my mind pretty well.”

—  Caleb Carlson

Some new additions have sprung up, in the form of creatures made from scrap metal. They are courtesy of the 22-year-old Carlson, Lemme’s grandson and a senior at Drury University in Springfield, Mo.

An exercise physiology major, Carlson took one sculpture class last semester just for fun. He decided to piece together an elk, and surprised his grandmother by bringing it back to Dixon, where it now rests next to a garden of lilies.

“We had a personal project this year, and I’ve really got into hunting the last couple of years,” Carlson said. “When [the instructor] said we could choose whatever we wanted, but had to stick with the process and go with it, I thought this would be perfect. I decided to get a bunch of scrap metal and see what I could build.”

When Carlson would come back to Dixon to visit family and friends, he’d go back to school with a vehicle full of scrap metal that had accumulated at his grandparents’ place over the years. When not swimming or doing other schoolwork, he’d toil away at piecing together the elk. He estimates it took between 40 and 50 hours to build, and weighs between 300 and 400 pounds.

Carlson has also pieced together two metal eagles, a large metal sunflower that is at the entrance to the property, and is currently working on a spider.

“It just keeps me sane,” Carlson said. “It’s an outlet for me, just to get away and have fun. It clears my mind pretty well.”

Carlson essentially has little to no game plan when piecing together his creations. For the elk, he simply looked at a picture of an elk, and off he went.

“They’re all like puzzles,” Carlson said. “You find pieces that might work, move them around, look at them, then you weld them on, see how they look and hope they’re good.”

Carlson is also adept at woodwork. In a high school shop class, he built an 8 1/2-foot surfboard, with burned-in sea turtles to give it a snazzy look. He also build a special wood box to hold his grandfather’s ashes, a box that is in Joan Lemme’s home. Gene Lemme died on Sept. 20, 2020, and a celebration of life was recently held in his honor.

“I worked on that most of the first semester and I’m glad that I did it,” Carlson said. “It was very daunting at first, wrapping my head around it. I’m glad they didn’t just go buy one. I think it’s a little bit more special that I made it.”

Joan Lemme is amazed by the things her grandson is able to do.

“He is just amazing,” Lemme said. “He does everything. He took a tractor apart that wasn’t working. My brother went out and he said, ‘The tractor is in pieces.’ Caleb put it back together and it runs now. I say Gene is channeling him.”

Swimming has taken up a lot of Carlson’s time and efforts over the years. In March at the Division II national meet in Birmingham, Alabama, he was part of two winning relays – the 400 medley and 200 freestyle.

Last month, Carlson competed at the U.S. Olympic Trials in Omaha, Nebraska. He was clocked at 23.51 seconds in the 50 freestyle.

One more season of swimming is ahead for Carlson at Drury, but after that, it will be time to get out of the water. He plans to attend Palmer College of Chiropractic in Davenport, and may eventually join the practice, Carlson Acupuncture and Chiropractic Clinic, operated by his father, Steve, in Dixon.

“With COVID, I have another eligibility year, but I’ve been swimming for so long,” Carlson said. “I made the Olympic Trials and got to experience that, and that was the one thing I really wanted to do before I ended. I have basically everything checked off, and next year is just going to be fun.”