The Finally Dock

"My name is Gretchen and I have a story to tell you. Once upon a real time, three brothers lived on a lake with their dog named Nicky. They loved to fish and trap beavers and find pheasants. In the winter when there was ice on the lake they would build a sail boat-sled and glide across the lake.

But those three brothers always wished they had a dock on the lake. They wished they could sit on the dock dangling their feet into the water on a hot day, or stand on the dock throwing their fishing lines in, or just lying around feeling the wind off the water and reading books.

Now the three brothers are all grown up. They have children and dogs who love that same lake. And I am one of those children! My dog’s name is Jack because he is like a donkey. (Get it? Jack ___!!!) Jack and I love to play in the water and fish and track animals, too. And I want to learn to sail a boat and watch the birds with binoculars and catch fish and dangle my feet off the edge of a dock.

Today, just in time for Easter and just in time for the first day of trout season, we all worked together to build a dock. It was very hard to build. The reason I know is that I helped a lot. Here is how we did it:

First my uncle John bought big barrels and we filled them with 5 gallons of water. Then we screwed in the caps with silicone glue that makes it water proof. Then we rolled the barrels down the hill to the lake. I was getting hot and very tired of working so I asked my dad, “Can Ruthie and I go swimming?” My dad said, “It is too cold, Gretchen!" I begged, "P-L-E-A-S-E, Da-a-a-d?" "OK, go check the water and then tell me if you still want to go swimming.” We ran down the hill to test the water. We ran back to my dad and said, ”It’s fine, Dad!” My dad and my uncle Steve laughed. They said, “Go ahead!” They did not believe we would swim because it was a cold April day and because they did not think we were working very hard to get so hot. But we ran to the water and dove in with all our clothes on! My dad and my uncle Steve were so surprised they stood with their mouths hanging open instead of taking our pictures! They made us wait in the cold for a photo op! So we had to take a bath and wrap up in blanket and learn to finger knit.

The dad’s, who are really uncles and brothers, made a frame from long boards and screwed down the planks that made the floor of the dock. Then they strapped the big barrels underneath. Then we came out to see how it was going. We wanted to help some more, but we had a hard time getting the dock down into the water.

We made a big loop of metal rope (coated cable) so that we could pull it, like horses in a harness.

Finally the dock was in the water and it wanted to float away. We thought it would be good to anchor it to the shore, so we dug holes in the ground with a post hole digger. But Jack thought it was a game and he kept dropping his slimy tennis ball into the hole for us to fetch. Finally we got the posts in the ground and we tied the metal rope to the posts in the ground.

Then we wondered what would happen if it rains hard and the lake swells up. That is why we put square holes in the four corners of the dock and made four posts slide into each hole. Those posts stab down under the water into the mud. The dock can rise with the water and slide up the posts. Then when the water level drops the dock can slide down the posts.

This whole time we worked on the dock, we used a log as a stepping stone to get out on to it. But the log kept floating away and it was wobbly when we stepped on to it. So we wanted to make a ramp. The ramp had to rise and drop with the water level too. So we put hinges on the place where the ramp holds onto the dock. Where it touches the ground it is not attached; it will slide down the bank and slide back-up the bank again.

Now all we have to do is take our boat down to the dock, tie it up to the dock, and make a sign that says “Private” so that all people always have to ASK FIRST before they go on to our dock. Finally we will be done and finally we will be so happy that we finally have our “Finally Dock!”

"What did Ruthie learn from

The Endless Mountain Man today?

He has a very spunky niece who is

Endless amounts of fun!"

(!Go Endless!)

ASAP!

Ruthie and Gretchen All Dressed Up