Removing Aquatic Weeds:  DAY 3 · · PAGE 7.

April 22, 2020: The third day continues with the lake water level very low due to the recent drought in this area.  You can see where the Caterpillar scoop shovel got down on the lake floor by the sea wall.  All the extra wood from hurricane damage has been put here to allow the Cat to get up past the sea wall with minimum damage to the wall.

The CAT gets parked by the sea wall as the crew breaks out some rakes to move the debris into the water deep enough for the work boat to continue to build the wall.

The yellow "light" on the back of the CAT is a reflection of the flash on my camera.

The CAT stays put for a while.

Both men in the water are now using rakes to get the floating debris to the work boat lift basket  The CAT operator is the man in the water with the baseball cap..

The CAT gets moved to the south side of the dock and starts to clean the area of reeds and root balls.

It is the same song, second verse, pull the debris out of the mud and put it in the water for the work boat to move it to the barge when able.

The barge has been moved to the south side of the dock and is getting more debris piled on top.

The movable JAW on the scoop shovel makes this easy work to move the debris closer to the work boat.

The CAT is in the water to a point where the tracks are covered by the water.

The routine is to reach "behind" the CAT and bring the debris around to the front toward the water and the work boat.

Dig behind, swing around, dump near the water.  The picture above looks very much like the one below, but they really are different.

Here you can see where the cat came down from the sea wall and went to work.

The CAT operator still has that blade on the front to push lots of debris into the water.  You can see the work boat behind the reeds for the adjacent property.  I heard him bump into one of the submerged pilings over there.  He backed away from the piling with no hull damage and continued working the open area clear of the pilings over there.  Some of the reeds from this work area were drifting away and were captured and place on top of the barge.

This photo was taken looking west giving the scene the look of darkness coming soon.  The CAT operator is trying to get as much work done getting ready for the rakes to be used on this side of the dock.

This image taken does not look so dark as the camera is pointed toward the north side work area.  The debris wall is just about complete as it nears the north edge of the work area behind our neighbor's house.

This image was taken with the camera looking south, not toward the sun.  The CAT is ready to climb the steel tracks over the sea wall on the south side of the dock.

This image was taken after the CAT is up on dry land.  The view toward the sun gives the high contrast.  The work boats are tied up for the night.

This side view photo was taken at 6:18 PM right after the operator put some grease in the appropriate fittings on the track mechanism after being in the water all day.

The CAT will spend the night here in the back yard.