Removing Aquatic Weeds:  DAY 6 · · PAGE 10.

April 27, 2020: Monday afternoon at 5:32 PM has the full crew on the south side of the dock raking the floating debris for one of the workboats to load the barge again.

A view on the south side of the dock at the edge of  the work zone.  One work boat is picking up some of the raked debris before turning to put this load on the barge out of this photo to the right just south of the dock as seen in the photo above.

Keep going as the end is happening soon.

One of the work boats is using its prop thrusters to push floating debris toward the other boat and barge.

Here is the front view of the work boat with his loader basket in the mud to keep the boat from moving when generating the flow of water and debris toward the barge.

Here is the other boat doing the same thing to set up a current in the water from the north edge of the work zone.  This image below is the last one showing the Aquatic Weeds crew finishing up the job at our site.  Here is the web site for Aquatic Weeds, Inc. about the services they offer.  http://www.aquaticweeds.com/ 

Another Neighbor was also Removing Aquatic Weeds

April 28, 2020: With all the activity on our behalf by Aquatic Weeds, Inc., one of the neighbors to the north hired a competitor using the same model of work boats to remove their weeds.  I did not take any photos of their boats which had the company name on a sign behind the operator's seat.

During the time all this work was going on, a pair of Sand Hill Cranes had a nest nearby where they hatched an egg.  The family of three have been walking along this area since they abandoned the nest.

Aquatic Weeds Observations.

May 30, 2020:   A walk along the dock a month after Aquatic Weeds, Inc. cleared the weeds from behind the house reveals a smaller weed is moving into the work zone.  I took this image about half way down the dock on the south side looking down with a polarizing filter on my camera to see the details below the surface of the water which is about a foot deep here.

We can see Bass and Gar Fish in this area now.

There are two pairs of mated Coots that still live here in the weeds on the north and south side of the cleared work area.

Here is what remains of the tall reeds north of the work zone.  A pair of Sand Hill Cranes had their nest in that thicket not far from the shoreline.

The water level is still low at the end of May.

May 30, 2020:  This image was when the water was at its lowest level, I managed to make the final repair to the sagging dock section.  It is seen here after the repair as I did not take any photos when I was doing the work.  A couple of those reeds survived the work from Aquatic Weeds.

Here is the side view of the repair.  I drilled a second bolt hole into the long beam and pulled it up with that long bolt on top of the board seen down and to the left of the words FINAL REPAIR.  I then drilled through one of the holes in the beam to fasten it to the 4x4 post as seen in the photo below.  I went under the dock to drill a new hole in the cross beam and secured that on the side face of the 4x4 post.

The cross brace seen below has two long lag bolts into the 4x4 post that holds up this section of the dock.  The bolts are visible at the far right side of this image.  I took this photo well before the rains brought the high water to the shore.  When I completed the repairs in the photo above, I came back down to remove the two bolts seen here.  I placed a wooden brace in the mud under the cross beam to raise it into the proper alignment.  I drilled through the existing holes in the brace and into the side of the 4x4 post that holds up everything here.  The same two bolts were now secured to the 4x4 post at its new position to hold the boards at their proper position.

The entire sea wall is now exposed with the water in the lake this low.

Our next door neighbor on the south has been clearing the weeds around their dock.  He did the work himself with hand tools.

May 31, 2020:  We had some heavy rains that brought the water up against the sea wall as seen here.  There were some nearby lightning strikes last night.  The water level up against the sea wall gives proof to the heavy rainfall.

The bottom of the lake is covered with water up to the sea wall.  The water is smooth as glass up here today.