Finally, the Lake of the Woods water level appears to be on the way down. Let the dock repairs begin. ☹️
Author: Garry
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Pause
Pause in His presence.
These words really impacted me this morning as I’m reading Psalm 44, right between v8 and v9 in The Passion Translation, “Pause in His Presence”, and I did!
Time stopped for a few minutes. I just stared and the words and took the time to pause and really feel His presence. It’s quiet here in the basement as I sip coffee and read devotions and scripture. Always a special time of the day and sometimes an extra special moment with God.
His is always present but sometimes I really just need to pause to make it more of a reality in my life.
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Here today, gone tomorrow
We’re back at the lake and this is the view that greeted me when I went down to the dock.
Hmmm, there is something missing here. For those in the know there should be a 20’ section of dock with an 8×16’ floating dock attached to it over where those two random looking posts are in the water and connecting to the far left site of the dock that is still holding on, barely.
Yes, the lake level is high and thanks to some recent torrential downpours in the area it continues to go up.
The dock was there last weekend but I suspect due to a violent storm that went through the area on Tuesday July 19th and the ongoing wave action that has been rocking the whole dock system for a couple of months now, it just couldn’t hang on any longer.
Thankfully, the dock segment didn’t go too far away and it’s just around the corner to the north of us in a small bay next to our neighbours dock. I’ve tied it up there and I guess it will remain there until the lake levels go down to a point where repair efforts can be made.
Runaway dock The lounge chairs that were on the dock also went missing. I did my best “Mike Nelson” impersonation and looked underwater along the shore line between our dock and the neighbours where the runaway dock is currently residing. Turns out they were in front of the floating section at it’s current resting position in about 8’ of water. One by one I dove down, attached a rope and then hauled them back up. The are now tied to the dock to prevent any further underwater recovery efforts.
Lake life, the best life. ?
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Shift focus
n worship, a lens shift happens. A beautiful shift, where the focus moves from our problems in the moment to His presence. You could be having a terrible day. You could be focusing too hard on the past. But the moment you enter worship, you start to see things more clearly through the highs and lows of life.
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Enduring Peace
The immediate facts of the situation created turmoil. The unchanging truth about God created peace.
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Peak?
Has Lake of the Woods reached it’s peak level yet? Perhaps. Signs are encouraging as a recent report indicates a 1/2″ drop in a week.
After a very rapid rise it’s starting to decrease To say the lake is a little high is an understatement. It passed the 2014 high water level by a long way and our dock is holding on by a thread at this point. No loss of lumber but going up and down like a yo-yo with the waves and wakes.
Buckets and garbage cans full of water trying to hold the dock top from breaking up Inflow to Lake of the Woods is decreasing as the major upstream lakes in the basin have peaked and are dropping.
These much drier conditions have caused all tributary flows across the basin to drop considerably and return to high-normal or normal flow rates for this time of year. All major lake inflows have also peaked and have returned to a high-normal range for this time of year. Finally, with these drier conditions being sustained and allowing inflows to continue to trend downward, all major lakes have also peaked. Lac Seul and Namakan Lake levels are very close to their normal range for this time of year. Rainy Lake and Lake of the Woods levels remain exceptionally high, but significant reductions in level are expected for the months of July and August on these two lakes should dry conditions persist.
http://lwcb.ca/noticeboard/2022/07/07/2022-07-07-june-precipitation/Estimates are that if the weather is dry that levels may return to normal by mid-august. What is normal? Well, that’s a 2 1/2 foot drop from the current levels to what is considered the top end of the operating range for the lake. That drop would be just right for our dock situation.
Outflows from the Lake of the Woods are at maximum as the Norman dam remains fully open.
July 4, 2022 at the Norman Dam -
Dealing with the Deck
On the May long weekend as I was checking on various cottage systems during the opening process I noticed a problem with our deck. A fairly significant issue where wood rot on one of the beams is causing it to collapse.
This beam has some serious rot right above the post which is also in rough shape This issue is at the front (lake side) left corner of the deck that wraps around the entire cottage. This is also the point where the cottage and deck are highest off the ground as the ground is sloping downwards to the lake quite rapidly in this area.
I wasn’t around when the deck was being built and my dad and his friends did it all. There were some interesting decisions made in places and this is one of them. The ground right under this corner of the deck is quite uneven and has some large vertical rocks right where you would normally have the post to support the corner. A decision was made to insert two posts away from this corner and cantilever the deck out away from these two posts.
Far corner just hanging in the air So the plan I came up with is to build a temporary beam, support the beam on several temporary posts and to use the temporary beam and jacks to lift the deck a bit and cut out the damaged beam. A new permanent beam would be inserted into place onto some new posts and improved footings. The temporary beam would be lowered and removed to complete the repair.
Step one was to tackle the far corner where there is currently is no post by pouring a concrete footing over the vertical rock structure using the rock to anchor the concrete.
The area is pressure washed and as much loose material as possible is removed. Then a sono tube is customized to fit over and around the rock.
Three 30kg bags of ready mix concrete were used and mixed by hand in a wheelbarrow 
Custom shaping to sono tube to surround the rock One thing I didn’t anticipate was that cutting the sono tube like this (above) on both sides weakened the structural integrity of the tube. As the concrete was added the weight caused the bottom of the tube to flair out. Several rocks were used to hold it together preventing a blowout.
The resulting shape is a little interesting but it should do the job.
New concrete footing, a little splayed out around the bottom for extra support. The new temporary beam is quite an engineering feat that I’m hoping will do the job. The main piece is a 2×10 – 12’ with a 2×6 – 6’ stacked on the front end to account for lack of joists in this area because of the direction of the deck boards across the front. A notch is cut in the 2×12 to allow it to fit into some other deck members.
As I’m working alone getting this 2×10-12’ up in the air about 8’ at the far end is a bit of a challenge. I create some slings from some wire and attach the sling to the deck boards above. This way I can lift one end at a time into the slings and then tighten them up to bring the beam up to the underside of the deck. With the temporary beam hanging in it’s rough position I create several footings and posts with jacks on top in preparation for lifting the deck. Did I mention this is a two story deck?
Temporary posts are installed and braced and some existing bracing is repaired on a few other near by posts. 40+ years is tough on the wood that is exposed to the elements.
One of the temporary posts next to the rotted post to be replaced and the temporary beam suspended overhead. 
My temporary Franken-beam hanging in it’s rough position The beam being replaced is 16’, my temporary is 12’, what to do? Making good use of various bits and pieces of lumber that have accumulated around the cottage from other building projects I manage to extend the 12’ by an additional 4’. I use two 2×6-6’ and a 2×6-4’ to scab onto the 12’
The back of the beam with 3 2×6’s laminated together supported by a post and a classic screw jack that was my grampa’s
In the middle of the temporary beam is another post with a telepost on top 
At the front end another post that was salvaged and in rough shape on top of a footing that is also a bit sketchy with a nice telepost on top. Just over 8’ to the ground in this corner. All of this so far has taken four days. Not exactly full working days as I start between 9 and 10am by fogging for mosquitoes, applying insect repellent and gathering the tools. I work straight through until 2-3 pm when the insect repellant is wearing off and the mosquitoes are becoming annoying and I’m getting tired. ? Things are slow as the ground is quite uneven and you’re always hunched over under the deck. With extra beams, posts, bracing etc. it’s getting to be quite the obstacle course and I’ve still managed to bang my head on various things several times.
At this point I’m ready to cut all the nails holding the old beam in place and start to lift the deck to free the old beam.
Part 2. -
22 Mile Miracle
Don’t lose heart. Believe God. Trust His word. Keep moving. Keep walking. If Jesus spoke it, you can believe it.
Also, https://www.jordandanielchitwood.com/post/22-mile-miracle
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Higher Ground
If this gets any more interesting we may be looking for higher ground. The lake level was high on the May long weekend and it’s been getting higher ever since. When we arrived at the lake last night we were greeted by some changes in our dock situation.
Since May 3, 2022 the lake has gone up 37.8 inches, over 3 feet! On about May 24th it surpassed the most recent high level reached in 2014. Before that you have to go back to 1950 before the lake was ever this high.
This morning it was down to the dock for some remedial action to clean things up and perhaps weigh things down a bit so there is no more damage or hopefully minimal damage. The garbage cans were nice more loaded with water and a few buckets I found floating around the shore line were all pressed into service. All the accumulated debris was cleared up. Big pieces were gathered on shore for future re-use or burning and the smaller gunk was pushed into the water and sent on it’s way further down the lake.
After the cleanup 
Thankfully our dock is in a sheltered area on the east side of the point. The neighbours across the road have a huge dock under water and exposed to the prevailing west winds which blow across a 5 mile open expanse before hitting their dock. Lots of fun wave action.
They have 12 of those large water filled containers holding their dock down and even then there is some movement with the wave action.
