Bayou Fountain — The Lost Posts — February 7, 2015

It was back to normal water levels for another trip out on the bayou, and while it was 38°F in the morning, it was going to be a wonderful day (as The Lost Posts continues).

Mike was along again as we decided to head out for a wonderful springlike work day.  With the work we did last time, we knew that it was going to be a fairly easy day, so we decided to attack some of the relatively minor problem spots that gradually accumulate over time.

First up was a downed tree that, while cut off, was still catching too many logs and branches.  Mike started fishing and metering logs, while I paddled over to the (naturally) forked trunk(s) and started to saw them down a yard at a time.  Turns out, there were a lot more and longer pieces under the water than I’d figured, but that certainly explained how it kept catching things.  It wasn’t too hard to part everything out, and then it was on down the bayou.

There really wasn’t much work to do.  Old number 15, which had called for a bit of remediation the last couple trips, was wide, wide open and unimpaired.  (There *is* a bit of litter that’s accumulated, so we ought to do another cleanup once it gets warmer.)  Everything else was pretty much the same, with just a smattering of branches or vines catching things here and there.

We pulled up and metered out quite a few logs, but that’s just standard preventative maintenance on a normal bayou.  It’s nice to take the logs down to length before they can collect into big jams.  Much less strenuous work that way, and it tends to leave you with more sawdust and less muck in the boats.  (Okay, cleanliness of my canoes has never been a high priority for me, except when touring VIPs.)

It was a fairly easy day, and it actually made it up to 70°F.  Spring is practically upon us, although we’ll always have those last one or two crazy cold snaps.  We even saw a person out kayaking shirtless (which would not have been the case at 30-something degrees).  It was another good day on the bayou, and there’s another of The Lost Posts for you.