Flood Waters Going on Down - Slowly

The flood waters are slowly receding.  Yeah!  We took a ride to Kentucky Dam to check it out.  This parking lot was still really flooded...

Here are the tennis courts. Tennis anyone?

The metal bridge in the distance goes across to an island and we can usually go underneath it with our pontoon boat...

This is Kentucky Dam at the Tennessee River.  All 24 dam gates are open and spilling water.  Notice all the flooded construction equipment to the right....

This is the canal that links Lake Barkley to Kentucky Lake.  Those steps go down another flight yet...

I feel so bad for all the people who have to sand bag their homes and hope for the best..

More flooded fields underneath the wires....

Then we drove over to Barkley Dam.  We were able to take an access road and get right up next to it. The water on the back side of the dam was less than a foot higher than what was on the spilled side of the dam.

We came home and it had stopped raining, so we went fishing for awhile.  We caught another nice bunch of bluegill and redear...

While we were fishing we enjoyed the antics of a pair of purple martins as they worked on their nest inside the house.  They did not like us fishing so closely to their home and kept dive bombing us!  Can you see the female peeking out of the hole behind the male?

I was rewarded for a job well done for all the fish I caught...

And then we had some friends over for a fish fry for dinner...

The good news is that when we got here on friday, our snug harbor sign was 2 ft. under water.  Today the top of it is peeking out, so the end is in sight!

Flood Waters and Bluegill

Southern Illinois and Kentucky are flooded - badly.  The huge amounts of rain the past several weeks have forced Kentucky Lake to rise to record levels.  I believe it topped out at 373.5 ft. on Thursday.  They're slowly releasing water, but the Tennessee River, the Ohio River and the Cumberland River are all overflowing their banks and it's a huge mess. 

As we crossed the Ohio River into Kentucky, this scene didn't look too bad, until we realized that this is NOT part of the river, but is farmland that is badly flooded.... Yes, you read that right - that is flooded farmland!

We drove down to one of the marinas and we were shocked to see the high water levels there.  That's the roof of a band pavillion sticking up out of the water.... I'm guessing the water is at least 10 ft. deep right there.

This is the view from our back deck....

And that's our dock on the right....

We breezed thru the house and made sure that the sump pumps were properly working and then went back out on the deck. I mean, you just cannot help but stare at that water!

Louie, "Hmmm, I bet if we could get to the back of our bay, we could find some bluegill."

Me, "Do ya think?"

Louie, "Yep."  Now, mind you we had not been there 10 minutes total yet and the bluegill were calling to us.  Bluegill are my ABSOLUTE favorite fish to catch.  Some people call them Bream.

We hurried over to the shed and dragged out my sons little 8 ft. boat.  We tied it to the back of our golf cart and dragged it down to the water.  When we tried to start the trolling motor we discovered that the battery went dead over the winter.  So my McGyver husband just took the battery out of the golf cart, hooked it up to the trolling motor and off we went....

Louie caught one first....

A nice little bluegill - not huge, but a promising start...

Then I hooked into a Redear.... Also known as a Shell Cracker.  I prefer Redear, because of their red ears!

Not that anyone is paying attention, but did you notice who got the bigger fish????

While we were out there, we saw tons of turtles enjoying the beautiful, sunny day...

And a crane stalking his dinner....

This was an amazing thing to see.  There is usually a dock here and we can walk under it at winter pool, which is when the water is low.  So the pier is about 6 ft. high, and then this light is on a pole about 10 ft. higher than the pier.  This is what you can see now....

Once we had about 40 bluegill we headed back to shore.  We usually clean our fish at the table on our dock, but since the flood, our electric out to the dock isn't working.  Louie needs electric because he cleans our fish with an electric knife.   So in true fisherman fashion, we did the next best thing...

We dragged a table outside, ran an extension cord out the front door, grabbed 2 of our hunting chairs and proceeded to clean our fish in the front yard.  Works for me!

But the thing that really cracked me up is a sight I will never forget and that is the 2 bass fishermen who came thru and were fishing on our LAWN.  They trolled right up over our sea wall and fished in our grass.  I am so glad I was able to get a picture of it!

Now that is something you don't see everyday!  Tomorrow we are driving to the dam to see how bad it looks and how much water is spilling out.  See you later!

What is an Earthcache?

I like to go to Earthcaches because I usually learn something new in addition to getting credit for finding a cache and getting another smiley under my belt.  (getting credit for finding a cache is called a smiley)  This particular earthcache was cool because we found crystals.  It is located in Iowa.

According to the official geocaching website  http://www.geocaching.com/  an earthcache is described as follows:

EarthCache

An EarthCache is a special place that people can visit to learn about a unique geoscience feature or aspect of our Earth. EarthCaches include a set of educational notes and the details about where to find the location (latitude and longitude). Visitors to EarthCaches can see how our planet has been shaped by geological processes, how we manage the resources and how scientists gather evidence to learn about the Earth. For more information about EarthCaches, visit http://www.earthcache.org/.

First we had to find the crystal field....

According to the cache page at http://www.geocaching.com/:
This Earthcache is Classified as a Mineral Feature. Looks like Lou and Barb found some already....

Gypsum crystals form in several varieties:
Alabaster is a fine-grained massive material. It is an ornamental stone that has been used in fine carvings for centuries.
Satin spar is a compact fibrous aggregate that has a satin-like look that gives a play of light up and down the crystals.
Selenite is the colorless and transparent variety of gypsum crystal. The word selenite comes from the Greek for Moon and means moon rock. Selenite crystals can form as a conglomerate of several connected crystals, as crystals attached to limestone or other mineral bases, or as free-floating individual crystals that are not attached to anything.
Darryl found some too....

The selenite crystals that you find at this site are loose and located on the ground. On a sunny day, you will see the bright flashes of the sun reflecting from the surface of the crystals. They often have other minerals locked in them that produce a dark or clouded area within the crystal.
Can you see any in the photo below?

Gypsum is a major rock formed from precipitation from highly saline waters.
Saline water occurs when salt water becomes land locked and some of the water evaporates. You can see this today in the Great Salt Lake in Utah. The salts become highly concentrated as evaporation continues. At some point, the water can’t hold the salts and they start to recombine into solids. These solids are then heavier than the water and they settle, or precipitate, to the bottom producing a layer of gypsum.
Gypsum is used as sheet rock for ceilings and walls in our homes. It’s also used for many other industrial purposes. Gypsum is found in many of the sedimentation layers of rock formed during many of the ages back in time.
The chemical name for gypsum is Hydrated Calcium Sulfate. The chemistry formula is CaSO4-2(H2O). Gypsum, along with its associated crystals, has a hardness of 2 mohs. This means that it is so soft that you can scratch it with your fingernail.

Yes, I put my camera down long enough to find a few myself.

The view on the way down.....

Afterwards we stopped at the Crystal Lake Cave.  We didn't have enough time to do a cave tour, but we walked around inside the gift shop.  I want to go back another day for the tour.

So now you have a good example of what an Earthcache is.  We spent a wonderful day out with good friends, poking around a crystal field, finding crystals and even learned something new!

Caching, Lake Michigan and Hot Dogs

Look at the title of my post and what's not to love?  It's a gorgeous day here in Chicago - deep blue skies, a stiff breeze and temperatures hovering around 60.  We had to meet a client who lived near the lake this morning, so I grabbed my caching bag as we breezed out the door, hoping   insisting, that we hit the lake front for some caching afterwards.

I love unusual or big art, and the first place we stopped provided plenty of interesting things to look at.  This was at the park entrance.

I don't understand the big pencil, but it sure was different.

I don't know if these were cement benches or a breakwater wall, but I loved how they were painted.

We had to walk out to the end of this pier....

And find the cache on this search light.....

The views of downtown Chicago were wonderful....

The next cache was hidden on this sailboat...

I would love to own this house overlooking the lake.  What a view!

Hey, is there a cache hidden in here???

Lou finally spotted this nicely hidden cache.  You can't see it in this picture, but I promise you it's there...

This was a great beach because we found some sea glass and a really pretty rock.

As we were headed for home, we spotted a street vendor selling hot dogs.  There is just something really yummy about a Chicago style hot dog with a steamed bun, so of course we had to stop.

If you are ever in Chicago, you HAVE to get a Chicago style hot dog.  They are the best!  I know I cheat and put ketchup on my dog, but then, I put ketchup on a lot of stuff.  You can read all about the history of Chicago style hot dogs here   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago-style_hot_dog
Be sure to get them with a dash of celery salt - it just adds a little something extra. 

One of my favorite hot dogs are at Gene & Judes in River Grove, IL.  I actually like the fries better than the hot dog.  They are nice and greasy and they dump them right on top of the hot dog.  Read about them here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gene_%26_Jude's

Another favorite of mine is Superdawg in Chicago.  I have been going there since I was a kid.  The top of their building sports 2 giant hot dogs and people from all over the world have taken a picture of them.
http://www.superdawg.com/    They have 1950's style car hop service there and it's just a fun place to visit.

Who has a taste for hot dogs tonight?