Chris,
Nice to hear you enjoyed reading it.
There is very little alge in there. I can see some growing around the shoreline, but it's very light and not really noticable. I don't know if it's because the water is cloudy from the clay in the runoff, or if it's because my shoreline drops so quickly and the conditions are not ideal for alge to grow. Either way, I'm fortunate to not have to deal with that issue and hope that it remains this way.
In my small pond, I added a bunch of sheetrock scraps to neutralize the clay particles that were suspended in the water. That pond has water that is always brown in color. The gypson in sheetrock is perfect for this, and sure enough, in just a few days, the water cleared right up. It was amazing to see the difference and astonishing at how quickly it worked. Then about a week or so later, it all turned green!!! Then the green grew into a lumpy mess. It was disgusting looking and I was wishing for that brown colored water again. The green mess remained until winter, when it froze to death. Since then, the water has remained brown and the alge is kept to a bare minimum.
With our current rains, Lake Marabou is overflowing the spillway. It started earlier in the week, and is the earliest in the year that it's happened. I expect that I'll have a full pond now and until the spring rains end!!!
A few weeks ago, I sprayed the grass around the dam with 2,4-d at a 2% solution. I went to a class to get my private applicators license so I could buy this stuff. It has been a miracle at killing off the Nutsedge that was taking over. The Bermuda grass that I like was loosing the battle to the Nutsedge, and I was in a panic that the dame and my grassy areas would all become Nutsedge. This was my second application. The first was back in early summer. The first time really did a number of killing off the Nutsedge. This time, it was more maintenance and follow up to make sure it doesn't get going again. I'm going to do it every spring and fall just to make sure it never comes back again!!!
Since then, I let it set for a couple weeks to make sure the poison worked it way to the roots. Now that it's all dead, I'm wanting to mow, but have not had an chance because of the rains. It's either raining, just stoped raining or I'm doing something else. The grass is at calf height and kind of scarry to walk through with all my snakes.
I shot one a few weeks ago that I'm pretty sure was a cotton mouth. I saw a HUGE, fat one, that might have been a cotton mouth too. I didn't see it's head, just the body as it went into some brush. My brother has killed 9 or ten in the last week and a half. Lately, with the cooler weather, they are out more then normal. These are all dark colored snakes, and they are all around the water, but not in the water. I also have water snakes in the pond, but from I'm told, if their body is under the surface of the water, they are harmless. If they are floating on top of the water, then they are cotton mouth, or water mocisin snakes. Same snake, two names.
I also have a beaver problem again. I see the trails from the creek, going across the dam, and into Lake Marabou, going through the grass. I've also found a few trees that have recently been chewed off by the beaver. So the reason I'm out shooting snakes, is that I'm really out hunting beavers. I can't let them get established just in case they start digging into my dam. If that happens, then the dam could fail. Beavers digging into dams and levies is very common and a big reason that they fail.
The wood ducks are back. I've been kicking out a pair or two almost every time I go along the shoreline. If I'm home early to meet the school bus, my son and I go for a four wheeler ride around the shoreline while exploring our roads. Lately, I've been flushing out pairs of wood ducks from the reeds and plants growing right at the edge of the water. I've also seen quite a few pairs of them flying overhead at last light. I'm still unsure if I'm scaring them off and they want to land in Lake Marabou, or if they are just flying along the path of the creek. My brother has been flushing out groups of six and ten from the creek several times a week, for the past two weeks. I like wood ducks and enjoy seeing them. Hopefully they get used to us and will just stay in the water when we're around.
Hogs are all over that area right now. I think we're having a poor acorn crop this year. It was very dry in July and August, which I think has affected the amount of acorns that we normally get. The last few years, there were places that you couldn't walk around the pond without stepping on layers of acorns. They were piling up on top of each other. This year, I'm out searching for acorns and having trouble finding them. Maybe because of that, the hogs are really tearing things up along the creek. They are also causing some damage at the shoreline, but I'm undecided if it's bad or good. They tear out some of the reeds, so that's good, but they muddy up the water, so that's bad.
I'm also clearing out some of the trees between Lake Marabou and my deer blind. When I built the blind, I could barely see the water. Now I can see most of the dam, and when the leaves all drop, I should have a fair view of it from the blind. If nothing else, it's just nice to be able to see the water while in the deer blind. It's my happy place. LOL
Eddie
