Only 190 Feet To Go!

  Son and I started doing the heavy repairs on the pier.  Of course, he is doing most of the work and I am there to simply lend a hand lifting the heavy planks or running back up the hillside to get a different tool.  First thing was to replace some of the long stringers on which the planks sit.  This is not an easy job as we have to first remove all of the planks, knock out the broken 3 x 12s then replace those and start anew with planking.  Needless to say, this is a time-consuming and now very hot job.  There is no shade and for the past few days, our temperatures have been in the mid 90s.   Hot and hard work, for sure!  It is times like this that make me want to put the pier completely off limits to those who wish to come  fishing.  All of the folks who have used the pier in the past are sure not coming around to lend a helping hand when it is needed.  But...we are used to that.  We will get it repaired.  After all, we only have about 190 feet left to rebuild!  Not too bad.

  Along about noontime, a loud splashing in the shallows alerted us to some critter making a quick escape.  We have yet to figure out just what darted, swam or fluttered through the small inlet cut and across the tidepool.  Whatever it was, it made a hasty retreat under the marsh mats left by the storm.  These mats are a good foot deep and some twenty to thirty feet across.  They are floating on about 10 inches of water making a nice covering for the critters.  During one water break, Son and I sat talking about those mats.  "You know, if we had some way of pouring resin on the mats, they would make a great outdoor rug." he said.  I stared at him and pondered if his musings were serious or simply a way of confusing his old mom.  He then went further..."We could actually put enough resin on them and make floating piers!"  Ok, with that, I knew that he was joking as I cannot imagine pouring that much resin on anything...but...maybe??  Floating piers may be easier to take care of during storms.  We could tie it off to the large oak trees in the yard and let it float right on up in the yard with the storm surge.  Getting it back out may be a problem but if the size of these mats is any indication, we could always just make new piers.  Whoa!  Ideas were flowing until Son started laughing and said "Back to work."

  The pier work started again and we finally got one section ripped up and the underparts repaired.  It is surprising how Cristobal, as a tropical storm, did so much damage to the piers in the area.  Ours has been racked from one side to the other, end platform broken loose and shattered and nigh on a hundred planks will need to be replaced.  We might as well be building a new pier.  (At least the posts are reasonably sound.)