LL Buchanan Lake
Floating islands.
Barney's Island.... A floating island.
Ongoing history of Barney's Island, most recent upgrades first.
6 June 07: Two dwarf Alberta Spruce trees were added.
4 March 07. Two small juniper trees were added.
25 February 2007 - Barney is 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. We got tired of listening to his complaints about sitting next to the boring shore. Now the ducks and geese out on the lake have to listen to him. But they say that he tells some great stories about humans. When you think you are watching Barney, he is watching you. The brush above the nest is for nesting visual cover from eagles and hawks. A goose mentioned that preference to Barney, who relayed it during conversation. This is a five feather waterfowl facility.
Barney and colleague being towed from the shore to the middle of the lake.
Getting the concrete anchors and cable ready to drop.
That is Jim Tucker waving, Captain of the tow boat. Nice guy. He returned to give us a ride to shore. Nice guy. Barney decided to stay. Boats bump into things, and sink. Islands do not normally bump into things or sink. Normally.
22 February - Barney got a real uplift, with 900 pounds of new flotation capacity, lifting the sagging corner of the island. The island slave was struggling in the icy water, pushing 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 he did not have to help with the awkward work in the cold water.
9 February - Wow, new green astro turf.
Well, some people do not have enough water for real grass, and some people have too many geese for real grass.
Barney may be a mannequin, but he has an ego, and he thinks his island should look as upscale as he can afford. It will look more natural when it is in the middle of the lake, too far away to see the detail.
Notice the tree growth over the years, in the scant soil of 5 gallon buckets suspended in a lake full of water, and the best goose turd fertilizer delivered fresh, often.
January 2007...
For
the first time in its history the lake froze over, except for
a small area in the middle where all the ducks and geese hung
out. In fact, a gentleman of questionable intellectual acumen
walked all the way across the lake, and back, and lived, for the
story of course. Do not do such things on such thin ice over such
deep water, without all the safety precautions that said individual
of marginal mental wherewithal took.
Barney Rubble, in person, is back. The stand-in actor of the last few years was called back to Hollywood for another movie. He had a nice fishing vacation, but life is more than a vacation. Barney, with his new Barney mask, demanded and received a new white shirt and nice pants. New boots too.
The goose nest was upgraded. The geese did to the island grass what geese do to grass.
Barney's island is next to the shore, and frozen there for awhile, because the anchor cable broke in a major wind. Really major.
February 2006. Barney's stand-in actor sat out in the sun all year because the trees are not yet big enough to give him some shade, so his clothes got a bit faded, if you can imagine that, and people commented about that, because they figure that Barney deserves a bit of respect for the arduous task of commanding his island and all the geese and ducks on the lake. The Island Slave agreed, so he examined the latest men's fashions at the finer local clothing stores and haberdasheries, and selected a nice red shirt and orange wind pants from the Goodwill Store, and purchased a can of yellow spray paint to spiffy up his hat color. So Barney has some new duds that are noticeable. 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. The Island Slave precariously rowed out to the island in a little blowup raft that was almost large enough to sit in, with the goose nest across his legs and the raft sides.
Barney's island is visible on GoogleEarth.
2005 Upgrade
After sitting in the weather a long time, Barney got upgraded. 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.
Floating
Island The title, Floating Island, and the new image
name of FloatingIsland.jpg for one of the photos, is the result
of discovering that there are very few floating islands of this
nature, on the internet, as of February 2006. Google may therefore
notice this floating island. There are probably a lot of
islands floating on water, but not many floating on search engines.
In that regard I mean a floating island that is human made,
with soil for trees, and sturdy enough for several people to walk
on it, of the home-built sort rather than big industrial models
on barges or concrete pads. Barney's Island is made of a steel
framework, with various sorts of second hand pontoons and foam
filled barrels under it. The sod is not in contact with the water,
due to a design screw-up, so the grass is anguished a bit. The
trees are growing in suspended 5 gallon buckets of dirt, offering
a marginal foothold, but 120 feet of thirst-quenching water.
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. The 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.
The original Barney on his island, 1998.
Barney Rubble, the rock pit equipment operator from the Flintstones, sat in a boat in the middle of the gravel pit when it was filling with water, and became a bit known. 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 all fishermen. After the lake filled, he traveled a bit from time to time, and then returned to the lake, with his own floating island. It is a modest sized 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........
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