Silt

Well, today's blogs are going to have a bit of a theme to them. I love the variety in my work, I never quite know what the day will bring. Today's adventures included walking along the waterline of the lake to pick up the rubbish that is blatantly obvious now that the water level has dropped.

So, with waders on, I strolled casually round the edge of the lake with pickers in hand, removing what I could. Using gloves on the bigger stuff. I took this photo while I was under the bridge in the middle of the lake, enjoying the shade, and figured Id wander out and get the two stakes from out of the silt. Now, around the edge of the lake, its quite solid, but as you get further in, the silt is like the cartoon version of quicksand. I wish I had known this. I managed to walk out to the stakes, but once I had retrieved them, the boots on the bottom of my waders had become stuck in the silt and wouldnt move. It took me a good 10 minutes to work one of them loose, and I was very grateful for the stakes as a support. I can officially say that in that specific spot, a person can sink to knee depth in the silt, and mid thigh depth if you include the layer of water on top.

I managed to get stuck one more time in the lake, while retrieving a bottle that was a little bit off the ankle deep shoreline. The silt became soft very quickly and I was stuck, this time I didnt have a stake nearby and had to call my coworker for help. He came with a couple of stakes so I could repeat the same trick. He was greatly amused. Oh well, least he came to bail me out, otherwise Id still be out there.