As some of you may know, we have dropped our lake's water level to do some shoreline clean-up. The spillway is basically a pair of 6' x 6' elevator shafts. To lower the water I have to go inside the spillway and jack out wooden plugs a little smaller that a 5 gal. bucket in diameter about every4 foot down.
It had been a couple of days since the heavy rain but I thought the water that had run into the lake was not dropping fast enough and it was still covering the second plug I had removed. Thinking there might be a log blocking the hole, I took a boat out to inspect. As I neared the spillway I could see what looked like a half a moss covered stump mostly plugging the hole. I took a shovel and poked at it. It rocked some but sort of pivoted. "Good" I thought. "It's only a few inches under water. I can reach it." The log was tapered so it appeared that the first several inches were in the hole but it was to wide at the center to be pushed on through. I reached down into the somewhat muddy water and tried to grab the exposed wood when I felt something under the log move! I jerked my hand back wondering what the hell could be hiding under that log and not get sucked through the water discharging into the spillway.
Reaching for the shovel I stuck it between the wood and the top of the hole and started trying to wedge it out agents the 12" + jet of water rushing through. You can guess the shock I had when first a spiny tail then a big back leg of the snapping turtle popped free of the suction!
His shell was so moss covered I completely missed it. I had grabbed his back leg! After several attempts, I was finally able to get him far enough away that he wouldn't get sucked back into the drain.
Had it been his back end stuck instead of the front, I could have reached right into his big old mouth and lost a finger or two.
I had chills all the way back home thinking how badly it could have turned out.
( Stand-in for effect. Not the snapper mentioned above)
It had been a couple of days since the heavy rain but I thought the water that had run into the lake was not dropping fast enough and it was still covering the second plug I had removed. Thinking there might be a log blocking the hole, I took a boat out to inspect. As I neared the spillway I could see what looked like a half a moss covered stump mostly plugging the hole. I took a shovel and poked at it. It rocked some but sort of pivoted. "Good" I thought. "It's only a few inches under water. I can reach it." The log was tapered so it appeared that the first several inches were in the hole but it was to wide at the center to be pushed on through. I reached down into the somewhat muddy water and tried to grab the exposed wood when I felt something under the log move! I jerked my hand back wondering what the hell could be hiding under that log and not get sucked through the water discharging into the spillway.
Reaching for the shovel I stuck it between the wood and the top of the hole and started trying to wedge it out agents the 12" + jet of water rushing through. You can guess the shock I had when first a spiny tail then a big back leg of the snapping turtle popped free of the suction!
His shell was so moss covered I completely missed it. I had grabbed his back leg! After several attempts, I was finally able to get him far enough away that he wouldn't get sucked back into the drain.
Had it been his back end stuck instead of the front, I could have reached right into his big old mouth and lost a finger or two.
I had chills all the way back home thinking how badly it could have turned out.
( Stand-in for effect. Not the snapper mentioned above)
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