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May 17th, We got a late start this year. It's been cold, and we had a few house projects to get going. |
| I forgot the rope, so I shoved the dredge in the water, now we have to row out in the rain and get it back to shore. |  |
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The next day was warm and sunny. I changed the oil in Dumpy and in the dredge too. That engine takes over 6 gallons of oil!
I changed gear lube in crane too, then I started to stack the spoils in a pile to dry. |
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I tried to move some of the muck with the dozer, that's when I got stuck.
I had to bug the neighbor, he drove the dozer, while I tugged with the crane. It took an hour, but we got it out. |
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 Now we're ready to get her on the cable, and get the pumping started! |
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I spent the rest of the day cabling the traverse cable for the dredge. I plan to open up the west (left) side of the lake. I finished the weekend with everything rigged to go, and about 30 minutes of dredge time, gotta get home! |
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May 28th: We're back for the holiday weekend. Mark and Colin take the dozer for a spin. While we were there, we got the
hose for the dredge unplugged, and thanks to Pops and Mark for getting it floating on the surface.
We fixed a few spots on the road. We also planted raspberies and some feed crops too. |
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June 9th: I took a weekday trip to pump some mud, it was very hot and humid. The discharge hose is floating now. It's much easier to see what's going on with it. |
| It's hard to tell, but I took most of the material out along the west lake side. It was slow going with all of the sticks from the beavers clogging the pump. |  |
 July 15th: The water is way down, I think we're going to try and use Helga, like we did in 2003 |
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The berries are starting to show, we used the Rover to scoot around the property and pick a few |
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We checked with the DEQ, it's okay to use the crane in the lake.
August 15th: Here is a shot of the South West side of the lake. Our plan is to build a path out to the beaver lodge, and remove it. |
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We team up Helga and Dumpy to strip off the top layer of organic, down to the firm sand.
Then we use the sand to build up a pad to stand the Helga on, and a road for Dumpy. |
| Things are going good, nothing is breaking, and the truck isn't getting stuck either! |  |
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September 4th: We're getting close to the beaver lodge. The pad extends out a bit further than it looks, but it was too soft to stand on just yet.
A rain will consolidate the sand and make it useable. The water level is dropping slightly. |
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September 15th: We're out a bit further, but a bit of an issue.
We ran the dozer off the soft edge of the road extension, and it's stuck bad! |
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We dug around the area, and then chained to the bucket of the crane to help pull and lift the dozer, it wouldn't move!
The crane lift cable finally snapped, dropping the 3,500 lb. bucket right next to me on the dozer. I think we'll call it a day! |
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The next day we replaced the crane cable, and finished digging the dozer out by hand.
We had to repair the damage done, and finish grading the road, it's almost out to the beaver lodge! I have the dredge over by the landing, ready to pull out next trip |
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About another 30 feet, and we'll be there. I think I can toss the bucket far enough to rip it apart next trip up.
I sure hope I don't get the crane stuck! |
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October 20th: We finally took a break from working on the tractor to dig.
The first thing we did was march Helga right to the edge of the new road. Pray she doesn't take a bath trying to reach that beaver lodge! |
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Not much wiggle room out there! |
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A driver's view of the (now gone) beaver lodge. We took out 10 truckloads of logs, sticks, and mud from the area.
It promptly filled with water, but the road held fast! |
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We just couldn't reach out enough to connect the new area to the lake.
I didn't want to push my luck this late in the season.
On the 10 truck load, the tailgate lever broke on Dumpy so we're done loading for the year! |
| I crawled Helga off the lake, and dropped the bucket. It's time to haul out the dredge! |  |
 The leaves are at the peak on a cool crisp fall day. That's it for this season, see ya in the spring! |
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