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Tuesday, April 5, 2016

Needs Stabilizing



If I were to rate our current lifestyle, as opposed to our previous lifestyle, the one we enjoyed when I turned sixtyfive and started this blog, (my husband and I are the same age, btw.), the phrase I would use is:

"Needs Stabilizing."


After a series of storms the previous winter, Lake Garrison breached, or rather, the Pacific Ocean breached the lake, and we, those of us living on the lake by the ocean were now facing the mighty Pacific. The dunes had been washed over and property owners whose houses were on lower grounds took the task of forming canals that opened up the lake so it could drain into the ocean, not the other way around. These home owners hired machinery and in the middle of night took it upon themselves to drain the lake. Yes, it drained, down to a few feet of water. We could walk around the perimeter and visit each other lakeside and know, at a glance where reeds, boulders and other landmarks were scattered about.

The project of stabilizing the lake took a few years to complete, involved many agencies, and it has worked well in maintaining the level of the lake, most winters, at a steady level. Even after this winter's series of major storms, and a few incidents of lake rising, for the most part, the engineering project worked.

On the next post I will continue to reveal how our lifestyle needs an engineering feat like the one put in place at Lake Garrison.






2 comments:

#1Nana said...

When I first read the post I thought that you were referring to this past winter. I'm so glad the lake is still standing and is stabilized. Looking forward to seeing you...and the lake next month. We are in Coos Bay this month and are enjoying getting to know this new location.

the walking man said...

I read this yesterday Rosaria and have thought about stability and making something or self stable. I understand wanting to drain "the ocean" out of a lake but I don't think it can be done, the waters will be a hundred years to be without salt. Rather than cause the instability I think I'd prefer to let evaporation try to stabilize the lake as opposed to ruining the shores.