Stone and Water

My stone walkway got some attention this weekend thanks to some help from Matt. He did much of the hauling from the pallet to the walkway. All the stones from one pallet are down, and I will need another pallet to finish. It looks pretty good and will look even better when the grass grows in between the stones. It has already begun to do that in the area on the right that has been there for a while.

The lake continues to drop as the drought deepens. It is quite sad, even scary, and one wonders if it will end up just being a mud puddle.

In this picture I am standing on the normal waterline.

 The deer now walk under the dock.

Even if we could get the boat out, the stumps make travel very hazardous.

The color on the map below tells it all. We need rain - lots of rain!

http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/predictions/tools/edb/sbfinal.gif

Project Progression

The weekly mowing was completed on Friday morning. I had heard that there was a 30% chance of rain, so I wanted to be ready just in case we were in the 30% zone. Thankfully, we did get a nice shower Friday afternoon that lasted about 20 minutes!

The 30% chance for remains for today with a 40% chance tomorrow, so the hope for more rain remains!

Last week's main project was getting more of the main living area painted. I don't work very fast, so everything seems to take forever! The portion that was finished last week enabled me to tackle one of this weekend's projects - hanging window shades!

Shade up                                          Shade down

Top down/bottom up cellular shades should help to keep out  the late afternoon sun and provide privacy at night.

Being an educator made me think about the skills needed to be able to hang these shades. Two primary skills involved reading/following directions and converting decimals to fractions and fractions to decimals. I was able to manage both tasks, but it helped that there were online fraction/decimal conversion sites available for reference. Following instructions required some common sense to fill in the details that were lacking.

I hope this means I am smarter than a 5th grader!

Out On A Limb

As I pulled into the driveway this afternoon, I knew there was a problem!

The neighbors on one side of our cabin are never there...it is a rather sad story and too long for this posting. There was a dead tree on the edge of their lot that I have been watching since we finished our house. I had thought about calling them to ask that they take it down or see if they would reimburse the cost if we arranged to have it removed.

My hesitation to make that call came back to bite me today!

Yes, the tree came down on my new fence!

I don't think the damage is too severe, but I've got to get some someone to remove the tree and then see if the fence guys can come back to repair the fence. It is always a challenge to get repair people to come out of town this far. I think I have managed to get it fixed up well enough so the dogs can't get out until I can get some help.

Speaking of the dogs...the placement of the tree has them stumped. They are used to flying down the ramp and then running down the fence line to the end of the fence. No chance of that - the trunk limb-its their range.

...and Frank is definitely barking up the wrong tree!

Sorry...just couldn't resist!

I'll leaf it at that.

Fourth of July at the Lake

This year's 4th at the lake is a bit different from many.

The majority of cabins on the lake are weekend getaways rather than full-time residences, so the Fourth of July weekend is typically when lots of folks are here. There are fewer boats on the lake this year, which indicates fewer weekend visitors. The lake is very low, and stumps that have been safely below water are now exposed or very near the surface.

If you look over the roof of our boat house toward the fishing platform, you can see the black dots of stumps now exposed by the low lake level. (Click on the picture for a larger view.) This poses obvious hazards for boaters and skiers.

There will be no fireworks this evening - a disappointment to many but necessary because of the severity of the drought. We can usually sit on our dock and watch folks all around the lake shooting off their own shows over the water.

Another big event is the annual boat parade. It was held this year as usual, but I was so preoccupied with watering the lawn, giving dogs much-needed baths, and getting a head start on preparing some things for a chili dog/hot dog lunch at work on Wednesday that I forgot about it!  I wouldn't have entered the parade by myself, but it is quite fun when we have visitors here! The fence guys cut the electrical line to the boathouse, so I could not have gotten the boat hoist to function anyway!

Here are some pictures from our last effort a few years ago...we did not win but had a great time!

Terry and his sister, Grace, working on the flags and streamers

...adding the pièce de résistance

We obviously did not have enough balloons on our boat! (This is one of the winning boats.)

After parading the length of the lake, the boats pass by the judge's stand in the swim and ski area of the lake and then await the announcement of the winning boats in each category.

After the parade, it is nice to do a little floating and fishing...

...followed by food and beverages. I think this "Uncle Sam" had one two many beverages and lost his top hat!

We hope that we can have a celebratory gathering next year! Here's hoping for the gift of 30-40 inches of rain between now and then!