Diver rescues Slinky, Details next spring
Ok, I won’t wait ‘till next spring. Last weekend I went down to Lake George to help the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum (LCMM) fulfill one of its many grant requirements. Loosely translated I got to appreciate the efforts of manual labor for a couple of days. The work centered on the eradication of an aquatic nuisance known as the Eurasian Clam. It’s a small white clam that breeds faster than rabbits and eventually chokes out everything in the surrounding area. It lives in the shallows and the control process is to put down tarps to block sunlight and reduce O2. After the hurricane the tarps were covered in silt and there was a need for extra divers to speed up the process.
Day one was tarp removal day. The tarps were held down with lengths of rebar. Because of the silt, visibility was none so we walked around the bay with our toes feeling for the metal. There were about 20 pieces per mat. Once located the rebar was pulled out and carried to the awaiting barge. Then we went to work on the tarps. Because of the silt, yanking them was like wrestling the magic carpet from Aladdin. Then we dragged the 50 foot sections back to the shore to be piled up.
For lunch they brought us ham and cheese panini . I tried to tell them that it was a grilled cheese sandwich but no one was listening.
Day two we moved up the next beach and proceeded to put the tarps into place. Four regular mats placed side by side with a fifth that had a sample tube to test water. Believe it or not, but putting these things in the water was a heck of a lot easier. We finished up by lunch time.
More grilled cheese, er, Panini.
After lunch we moved to the next area and searched for rebar missed by the last team. There was a lot. We filled two barges worth and scored some interesting treasures. My dive buddy Turtle found some old Coke bottles. I found a black slinky which is diving off my desk right now.
As you can imagine, I’m exhausted by my efforts. Oddly enough because pulling rebar off the lake bed requires little though, my head feels clear and ready to go. The body is not so much. Today they are still arguing.
Head: I would like to read a book
Body: That would require getting up and going to a bookshelf. That aint gonna happen. You will be notified via interoffice memo when motor skills are functioning again.
Day one was tarp removal day. The tarps were held down with lengths of rebar. Because of the silt, visibility was none so we walked around the bay with our toes feeling for the metal. There were about 20 pieces per mat. Once located the rebar was pulled out and carried to the awaiting barge. Then we went to work on the tarps. Because of the silt, yanking them was like wrestling the magic carpet from Aladdin. Then we dragged the 50 foot sections back to the shore to be piled up.
For lunch they brought us ham and cheese panini . I tried to tell them that it was a grilled cheese sandwich but no one was listening.
Day two we moved up the next beach and proceeded to put the tarps into place. Four regular mats placed side by side with a fifth that had a sample tube to test water. Believe it or not, but putting these things in the water was a heck of a lot easier. We finished up by lunch time.
More grilled cheese, er, Panini.
After lunch we moved to the next area and searched for rebar missed by the last team. There was a lot. We filled two barges worth and scored some interesting treasures. My dive buddy Turtle found some old Coke bottles. I found a black slinky which is diving off my desk right now.
As you can imagine, I’m exhausted by my efforts. Oddly enough because pulling rebar off the lake bed requires little though, my head feels clear and ready to go. The body is not so much. Today they are still arguing.
Head: I would like to read a book
Body: That would require getting up and going to a bookshelf. That aint gonna happen. You will be notified via interoffice memo when motor skills are functioning again.