LL Buchanan Lake
Floating islands
Betty's Island - 3, a floating island...
The ongoing story of a floating island.
First the Spring 2008 Report.
Then the completion of the island story in Spring 2007 below...
Betty's Island First Year Status Report: Two of the 32 trees on Betty's Island survived the year. Not bad. If we can maintain such sterling success, in only 16 years the island will be a forest. Well, the Weight and Balance Engineer got the balance correct but goofed up the weight calculation so slaunchwise that the soil dried out during the hot summer just enough to reduce the island weight just enough to lift the bottom of the soil off the water just enough to then toast the dry soil entirely enough in the hot sun to parch the seedlings right down to crispy. How the two trees survived is known only to the fish. The grass under the anti-goose hardware cloth survived, and thrived with the goose fertilizer. The grass exposed to the grass-eating geese was reduced to its roots.
12 May 2008 Report: The island regreening is finished except for the arrival of Betty with her computer. You might notice the green screen over the grass and around the small trees to protect them from what geese do to anything green. The flowering crabapple survived last summer's adventure. Yes, that is a resident domestic goose sitting near the corner. She likes the island.
On shore around the lake the trees got a significant trim. The time came to remove most of the fast growing native locust, Russian olive and slippery elm. They did well to establish a tree line at the new lake shore, but now they are competing with the better planted trees. Locust and Russian olive are thorny trees. Handling them enhanced tree cutter's sense of humor and ability to evoke magnificent arrays of descriptive phrases.
8 May 2008: Well now, anyone else comes home from work and mentions some barely interesting thing that happened during the day. The web and tree slave goes to Bob's Keg and Cork, for the same reason you would recommend it to your friends, sets his top hat on the window sill, orders the usual, a classic hamburger, pulls out his embroidered Japanese red silk covered iBook, writes and uploads to the whole world, some barely interesting thing that happened during the day. Same effect.
So today, Tobi at Macy's said that when people walk out of the store caring a naked mannequin that such stores sell on rare occasion, the people walking into the store always smile or laugh. I looked at the door, waited until nobody was coming in, and walked out of the store carrying a naked female mannequin the very moment that most of the world suddenly appeared and walked up to the door, looked at the mannequin, looked at me, smiled or laughed, and walked past turning to their friends with suddenly changed conversation that caused yet more modest laughter.
And therefore, Betty, sitting at her computer on Betty's Island, is one process (of many) closer to sitting at her computer on Betty's Island. Well, as it is with these things people do while trying to be economically frugal after learning the hard way how much work it is to make a mannequin from 2x4's, as shown on the Barney's Island web page, the best deal on a mannequin was not one in a sitting position working on a computer. So the torso with straight arms, without legs or a head, is still going to require some innovative adjustments. The further report will be reported only if it is successful.
The surviving flowering crabapple from last year, on Betty's Island, is in full bloom and beautiful. Another pine tree was planted on each of Barney's and Pebbles Islands today. Another pair of geese are nesting on each island, so if successful those islands will each produce two clutches this year. Some later nesting ducks are waiting for the guy working on Betty's Island to get the work done, with a few duck comments on the mannequin project.
Oh, do not ever attempt to save money buying a Poulan chainsaw. A little tree trimming work today, after a lot of Poulan chainsaw work. New words were invented and introduced to the wind. If the wind is blowing where you are, listen, but not in mixed company.
7 May: Finished planting trees around the lake shore. The list is on the the Trees page.
6 May: The bare root flowering crabapple finally came out of dormancy (buds opened), and one was planted on the island. That was the last new tree to be planted on the island this spring. Then more trees were planted around the lake shore. Tedious process planting trees in cobble size rocks, with a hand shovel and some 5 gallon buckets of good soil to feed each sapling. Then bucket some water on, from the lake, while stumbling on those rocks and slopping the water everywhere but near the tree while therefore practicing innovative vocabulary. If all does not go awry the tree planting will be finished tomorrow. Then trimming the native trees, and adding certain accouterments to Betty's Island for a few days, if all does not go awry with those plans. Then relaunch the island, and off to the next adventure in a row. There are governments to overthrow, planets to visit and fine Yakima Valley wines to sample.
3 May: Betty's Island now has a Nanking Cherry tree. Is that not snappy or what? Ask your favorite presidential candidate if his or her yard has a Nanking Cherry tree. Well, that is about as useful a question as news journalists ask politicians and other government sorts. You will never hear a US news journalist ask a politician... "Does the office you seek (or hold) hold any power? Is there any power that does not corrupt?" Would that not be amusing? Of course there is a process to not be corrupted by power, but that process is unknowable to anyone, such as news journalists who obviously hold greatly corrupted power, and politicians, who cannot ask or answer the obvious questions of power, by design of power. Planting another group of trees around the lake shore.
2 May: Added grass sod from the good folks at WestTurf in Yakima, and put protective screen over most of it so it survives the geese.
1 May: Planted 30 more trees on Betty's Island. Various varieties of juniper, spruce, fir, cedar, pine, a couple giant sequoia, two Katsura trees of course, and a couple flowering crabapples, of all things. Oh, and a cluster of Serviceberries, or some foofoo shrub like that, by the goose nest.
30 April: Towed Betty's Island to shore.
Floating Island Towing Rules:
1. Do not disconnect the island from the anchor cable before you are ready to immediately tow, because a stiff wind may immediately start, in the wrong direction.
2. Have a tow rope attachment centered behind the motor, not sitting in the middle of the boat, laughing.
3. Have a larger boat with a larger motor.
4. Failing the rules, have patience and a superlative sense of humor.
Finally got island to shore. Added more dirt. Straightened the osprey perch snag.
Barney on Barney's Island got a new face lift (new mask).
Fuzz-ball goslings are paddling-about, clustering around their parents. The ospreys are in their nest, doing nesting things.
Back to the original launching of Betty's Island, with less soil back then..............
6 June 2007: The completed floating island was towed to its anchor in the lake, with bagpipe and trumpet music, and wine of course.
The island towing crew.
The music. Rod MackIntosh with his bag pipes, playing traditional old Scottish Floating Island Anchoring tunes. That was in between several Scots on board telling old Scottish stories and such things.
Bob Allgaier the kayaker, of Pacific River Sports, with his pocket trumpet, heralding all that needed to be heralded.
And that is Betty, of Betty's Island. She may have seen all the island building tools, materials and other stuff in the back of her previously clean station wagon she has been loaning to the island slave. Her sense of humor has served the island well.
The wine. Joel Tefft the wine maker at Tefft Cellars, with Laurel, and fine wine.
The Tefft Cellars great blue heron on the label, residing at the Tefft winery flower and frog pond, well known among the local herons, is rumored to occasionally visit the resident great blue heron at LL Buchanan Lake, or at least a heron who looks just like him, or her.
Betty's Island upscale goose nest.
Betty's Island is close to Pebbles Island when the beeze is from the northwest. Floating islands congregate.
The earlier photos
are on the other Betty's Island pages.
Betty's Island
Betty's Island-2
Barney's Island
Pebbles Island
Aerial Photos
Neighbors
History
Swans
Birds
Trees
Trees-2
Trees-3
Lake
Links