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Wednesday, January 29, 2014

What? A Snow Day?

Marti and I were out and about again, trucking through areas around Thurmond Lake, inspecting another area’s boat docks.  Even though there were quite a bit of woods we had to hike in, there were no ravines to stumble in and out of, very nice, for a change. :c)

Property owners near the lake’s shoreline can lease a spot to put a boat dock, but the dock itself has to be maintained in good condition at all times and the access through the COE’s wooded property cannot be disturbed too much, to preserve the natural beauty of the area.

Most of the docks we’ve inspected have been neat and well maintained.  We document the condition with a photograph for the lessor's file.

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Occasionally, we find some docks in flagrant violation of the requirements, like this one, broken from its moorings and washed up on shore, left to rack and ruin.

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Then there are people that also violate the rules concerning the pathways to the docks, instead of leaving thing as undisturbed and natural, they cut down trees and use the logs to line the pathways.

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Once again, our job is not to police the problems, but to identify them to the rangers, who will deal with them.  I can see why the COE needs volunteers to do these tasks, the area around Thurmond Lake is so vast that without the volunteers, many places wouldn’t be inspected for years.  Makes you wonder what kind of abuses would take place on COE government property then! 

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I should stress that most residents around the lake are very careful and fully abide by and agree with the rules.  But there is always that one percent that think the rules don’t apply to them.

We’d be doing more of the dock inspections, we have a total of twenty to inspect, photograph and document in one area, but we had to cut our work short, for the incoming winter storm.

We came South to miss winter storms, but for some reason, one has followed us here.  The ice came first, then the snow.  A predicted four to six inch snowfall.

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We were snug as the proverbial bugs in a rug in the Journey and enjoyed a nice night together reading and listening to soothing music on our radio. 

This morning we got up to this:

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Hardly a blizzard, just about two inches.  Nothing like the blizzards we’re used to, having grown up in the North. I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the folks from Northern states would look at this snowfall, proclaim a beach day and go out to get a suntan.

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  But hey, if the COE wants to give us a snow day, who are we to complain?  ;c)

Thanks for visiting and feel free to leave a comment.

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19 comments:

  1. You've had more snow than we did here at Gunter Hill in Montgomery. So you got a day off your hard work and no pay job. Hope the day was pleasant.

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  2. Paul - is that you in the lawn chair? How strange to see snow in that part of the country!

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  3. You should make a snowman before it all melts. Bet some of the Rangers haven't even seen one of those :)

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  4. Getting an ice day off was bad enough!

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  5. Beautiful snow: A fresh white blanket is so peaceful.

    Your job sounds like something I would enjoy. What kind of wildlife have you encountered? How long do you walk/hike each day?

    A very interesting blog today. Thank you.

    http://travelbug-susan.blogspot.com

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  6. Hmmm guess you did not go far enough south to avoid the snow.
    Soon be gone though.

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  7. Sounds like a job I would enjoy as well but without the snow. Going out into nature with the job of photographing something for someone would be right up my alley. And not having to police anything is the icing on the cake. Of course in your case at the moment the ice_ing is on your Motorhome:((

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  8. I bet you're glad you aren't camping in a tent! Nice to have all the comforts of home when the weather turns nasty. Stay warm.

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  9. Please be sure all that snow is gone by the time we come to visit...we do not do snow.

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  10. All I've got to say is better you than me! The weather in Arizona this winter has been the best of all ... I think Mr. Murphy has you in his scopes.

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  11. Hah! You must have thought you were back in school when you heard that you were being given a snow day.

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  12. Love Erin's comment - so true! Just wanted you to know that I tried the baking soda/vinegar trick and it worked like magic! Thank you Marti! (Well, you too, Paul...)

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  13. What you need now is a good old hurricane to blow all that snow away! I'll talk to Mr. Murphy and see if he's interested!

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  14. I hope all this weird winter weather doesn't mean weird summer weather! Must have been nice to sit and see the snow fall without worrying about driving in it.

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  15. At least you had snow with it. a few weeks ago we got ICE and more ICE.

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  16. Very glad we only got snow and no freezing rain. And the power stayed on -- Woo Hoo!!

    Aren't you glad you only have to report the dock violations and not police them? We've already had our share of stress in that other life.

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  17. You guys must really be getting into good shape with all this hiking around doing inspections. Sounds like my kind of job and no toilets to clean.

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  18. Boy this has really been a strange winter;-( Snow in South Carolina is really a once in a few year event. I'm with Mike and Terri...just glad the power stayed on!!! Stay warm and safe:o))

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  19. Amazing! Feeling very sorry for you folks who went "south" for the winter but not quite South enough!! We're in the HHH here. Hazy-hot & humid. Do you have any idea if the "police" part of the park actually does anything to/with these violators? Especially the guy cutting down trees to line his walkway. WHAT?

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