LL Buchanan Lake
Floating Island
Barney's Island.... A Floating Island.
Ongoing history of Barney's Island, most recent upgrades first. Notice the annual tree growth. The trees have only the top foot of above-water dirt in suspended 5 gallon buckets, but an unlimited supply of water and goose turd fertilizer. There is only an inch or so of soil over cloth covering heavy steel grating for the rest of the island. The steel grating is on top of various flotation devices. Every year the island produces a gaggle of Canadian goose goslings again, sometimes two gaggles. The nest is under the big tree. This is a five feather waterfowl suite.
2010, Summer (PHOTOS SOON). Barney got a larger fishing pole (found in a dumpster). It won't catch more fish, but equipment is often more popular than that for which it is used. He got a new Barney mask again, because there is no sun lotion to protect cheap rubber masks. And his island got another 500 pounds of anchor weight because the trees have become so large the wind started to drag the anchor. The island got a bit close to the shore a couple times, before the changing winds dragged the anchor back out into the lake. The new anchor adventure required pulling over 200 feet of heavy anchor cable slack back up to the island, and holding it there, so the five new concrete anchor weights would slide straight down to the cluster of original weights at the end of the cable. Then the heavy cable had to be lowered slowly to avoid loops of cable looping everywhere fast if the cable got out of control. That wore holes in the anchor guy's gloves and jeans. Well, island anchoring is yet an uncommon skill, still being learned. The goose nest was given a bit more willow trimming cover. The juniper shrub was given a wider protective fence.
2009, May. The three floating islands. Barney's Island on the right.
2009, May
The photo guy cleaned off the goose fertilizer before he took the photo.
A couple of Violet Greenback Swallows wisely nested inside Barney again this year. Their doorway is above the top button of Barney's shirt. Barney likes little birds. This is a five feather dicky bird suite.
2008, May
Barney got a new mask again. Sitting in the sun all the time is not good for rubber mask material.
2007, June
2007, February: After his shore experience because of a broken anchor cable, Barney was towed back out in the middle of the lake, a bit south of center, with an anchor made of 7 five gallon buckets of concrete, and 350 feet of cable tether.
The goose nest got a cover of branches for protection from eagles.
2007,
February: While next to the shore, Barney got 900 pounds of
new flotation capacity, lifting the sagging corner of the island.
The Island Slave was struggling in the icy water, pushing one
of the sealed 6" x 15' PVC tubes under the island while Barney
was cracking jokes and laughing. Each tube floats more than the
slave's weight, so the endeavor required the additional weight
of some heavy thinking. The advantage of being the mannequin is
that Barney did not have to help with the awkward work in the
cold water.
Barney
was next to shore because the Island Slave did not know about
the necessity of swivels on anchor cables. The wind blew the island
in enough circles over the years, to twist the cable until a stronger
wind broke it at a kink.
Barney got a new Barney mask, replacing the previous stand-in actor mask that was the only adequate mask in town at the time the new mannequin was made.
His island got new green Astro Turf. Goose-proof grass, to cover some of what the geese did to the previous natural grass.
The goose nest was upgraded.
2006, February . Barney's stand-in actor got some bright new clothes, selected from the latest men's fashions at the finer local clothiers and haberdasheries, and Goodwill Store. A can of yellow spray paint spiffied up his hat color. Yeah, try to put clothes on someone who is wired to a chair and refuses to move his arms.
A circle of willow branches was wired together for a new goose nest on the island.
Barney's island is visible on GoogleEarth.
2005, May
After sitting in the weather a long time, Barney got a complete upgrade. The bucket and PVC pipe mannequin was replaced with a 2 x 4 wood mannequin, shown below. If he does not look like Barney Rubble, it is because he hired a cheap stand-in movie actor, while we try to find another Barney mask.
2000, or there abouts, Spring
The wedding on Barney's island
Barney loaned his island to a wonderful couple, for a wedding. Barney watched from the shore.
It was a superlative wedding. The couple are fun people. The sun was shining as usual. The breeze was calm. A bagpiper played fine music. The people were smiling. The children played on the nearby piles of sand and gravel. Some of the adults did also. The geese swam by. The osprey family watched from their nearby nest on a tower. Everyone enjoyed the event, then went to the Yakima Arboretum adjacent to the south end of the lake, for the reception. Fun time.
1998, the original Barney on his island.
Barney Rubble, the rock pit equipment operator and friend of Fred Flintstone from the Flintstones TV comedy, sat in a small rowboat in the middle of the gravel pit when it was filling with water. He became rather famous. He patiently sat there with a fishing pole, like all good fishermen, while people with binoculars kept asking if he was real, as is commonly asked about fishermen. After the lake filled, he traveled a bit from time to time, to other lakes, and then returned to Buchanan Lake when he was offered his own private island. It is a modest island, 17 feet on each side, but with trees of course. The ducks and geese enjoy his island, and nest on it. The floating island floats around the lake on a cable tether anchored near the middle of the lake.
How fishermen are made........
Betty's Island-1
Betty's Island-2
Betty's Island-3
Betty's Island-4
Betty's Island-5
Aerial Photos
Pebbles Island
Neighbors
History
Swans
Birds
Trees
Trees-2
Trees-3
Lake
Links