November Sunset

Tonight's sunset gave us pinks, purples, and mauves. It lit up the ice very nicely, also.

Very pretty end of the day on the banks of the Mississippi River!

The Golden Geese

A few days ago, the setting sun was just disappearing behind the pines across the river. The last rays of light shone golden under the high clouds.

Just at that moment, a small "V" of geese came from the east, over the river, heading directly into the setting sun. The sun was so low in the sky that the geese were lit from below with its golden light. The feathers of the geese reflected that light and they became shimmering golden geese flying toward the sun.

An awe inspiring magical moment!

Dock Retrieval Day plus One

Getting the dock out on Thursday (yesterday) was definitely a wise decision. It would have been a much tougher task today.

Frozen River, Falling Snow

Dock Retrieval

It's that time of year again. Actually, it's a bit past that time of year.

Time to take the dock out before the river ices over. Usually, we get this done in October. This year we hustled back from Omaha on November 16th and started working on the dock on the morning of the 17th. That's nearly a month later than we normally do this.

First step in the process is to set up the come-along and, using a tow-rope and a steel cable and a logging chain, connect it to the dock and the base of a large, strategically placed white pine.

Chaining up

Once the chains, cable, and come-along are in place, it's time to set rollers and skids. A bit of tension is then put into the system to hold it all in place.

Setting some tension

Then it's time to break up the ice that has formed near the shore. One of the rollers is a good tool for this job. First, up one side ....

Breaking the ice

... then down the other.

Good thing the ice is still thin!!

Now we're ready to get to work. Grab the handle of the come-along and in a manly way attempt to coax the dock up onto the skids and rollers and onto the shore.

"It's moving! I saw it move!"

The dock ends up resting on that patch of bare ground. The come-along is used to get the near end of the dock lifted up onto the shore. At that point, more rollers are added. The chain and cable are shifted from the big pine tree to the hitch on the back of the Odyssey. The van then hauls the dock in until the dock wheels are against the bank.

I was worried that the light snow on the grass would make it hard for the Odyssey to get sufficient traction. Worries were unfounded; it did great!