Wednesday 19 March 2008

Concrete

8-1/2%... that's the current water level out at Carcoar Dam. I was out there today, helping lay a concrete floor in the boat shed (which went without a hitch, thankfully).

But the water level is the lowest I've ever seen it, in the 2 1/2 years since I've been going out there. I mean... literally, at the end of the pontoon (or, should I say, the launching pontoon that is now high-and-dry!!!), there are three whopping big fat fenceposts sticking up about six inches out of the water!!! Crikies! We didn't know THEY were there!!! Ian and myself managed to pull a few of the smaller exposed fenceposts out of the mud along the shoreline. But yeah... we'll have to go back when it's all dried out, with a tractor and a large length of chain, and pull about 50 of the bastards out of the mud. Bloody sailing obstacles when it's low! Not an problem when the Dam is full tho... because they'd be under 200 feet of water!!! THAT'S how low it is!
{NB. This is not Carcoar - but looks like it! :( }

Un-official word is that a certain huge gold mine downstream has 'requested' ALL the water out of the dam. So yeah... by the next month or two, Carcoar Dam will be EMPTY.

JESUS!

That's criminal.

Don't get me started on the double-standards of that certain goldmine when it comes to caring about the local environment...

So... on the one hand, while there's not water for any water-based activities, at least, when the mud dries out, we should get stuck in and start hauling out some of the old drowned trees and fenceposts with chainsaws tractors, and make for ourselves a whopping-big bonfire!

Thankfully, between six of us, we layed the concrete floor for the boatshed without any major problems this morning. Just a bit of sweat shoveling concrete around straight out of the back of a concrete truck, and all that sweat-inducing stuff. But it's done - and looks a million dollars! That's gonna make rolling boat trailers in-and-out of there a zillion percent easier.

Now all we need is water... sheesh.

Somebody joked in passing that we should be spending this money on the concrete in thinking about re-locating the whole she-bang somewhere else... we laughed, but it's not far off the mark.

I'll be honest. I was kinda hoping with the fair amount of rain we've had out that way since about November that the dam would be sitting at about (at least) 35-40%. But, here we are mid-March, and it's almost empty.

I can't see it filling-up for a few years yet - if at all.

Dammit (no pun intended).

Interesting effects these mild anti-depressants are having on me... yesterday I slept for TWELVE hours! They just make me feel so sleepy at the moment. But it'll wear off. I'm feeling fine within myself, really.

Another interesting (and rather bizarre) side-affect is that, to my mind, I can small what can only be described as "cut grass"... must be some sorta weird chemical thing going on with either my sweating or my sense of smell! Strange! But yeah... this too will pass in a few days.

On This Day...

1932 - The Sydney Harbour Bridge is opened.
1955 - Bruce Willis born, American actor
1982 - Falklands War: Argentines land on South Georgia Island, precipitating war.
1982 - Randy Rhoads died, American guitarist (Quiet Riot, Ozzy Osbourne) (b. 1956)
Peas be with ewe

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5 comments:

  1. Here in the UK we're drowning in too much water. It's only about 10 years ago that we were suffering droughts every summer; now it's deluges of rain. Last summer was particularly bad with a lot of flooding. Everyone is wondering what's going to happen this year...

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  2. Hope you get water soon...

    Wow 12 hours of sleep...i would love, love, love it...
    as long as the anti depressants help you that's all we can hope for. I love to read all the positive things in your life..
    take care...keep busy with the band, sailing, and hanging with your friends... :)

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  3. About 10 years ago one of the major rivers in Washington (the Snake River) was held back by a dam. The purpose was so in the fall they could release the water and help flush all the baby salmon to the ocean. No fishing or boating. They found TONS of interesting stuff in that river when it went so low. (old cars and such).

    I don't think it helped the salmon much - but it sure hurt local economies that year.

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  4. Mate, I'd love to send some of the excess amounts of water we had on the Central Coast down your way!

    Have a good easter!

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  5. The mines always seem to get more than their fair share of water, and it's only fro cleaning (not even for drinking or growing things), and gold mines are particularly voracious.

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