Tuwood.....working the land, part 2

The dam is about 200 yards long.....in the last few days we have gotten it to here...

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When I went down yesterday afternoon, I discovered that the beavers are already back to work.  I spend an hour opening it back up so we can drain it down and get some rock in there....

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After I got it draining again I sat in a brush pile for 3 hours.....waiting.  By dark I had killed 2 beavers and spotted at least 2 more. 

The war will continue this weekend. 

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You can be jealous that I have a place to go and get dirty, but I can't claim any of the work that came to own it.  My folks retired there.  And they died there this past December.  It got neglected for years while they slid off into a journey of pain pill addiction.  I'm just putting it back together as a way to put a decent end to a good story that went horribly sideways.  I feel that responsibility as their oldest.  And then I'm selling it.

It was their dream to own a piece of property,  build their retirement estate, and enjoy their "golden years".  They did it right,  until addiction got them.  It's pretty crazy watching your parents fall off the cliff.  It's easy to worry about your kids and work to keep them away from things that can harm them......but your parents is a whole different animal.

Here's their p-lace from the road.....they own as far back as you can see in the pic.

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Dad died in 2013.  Left a '93 Toyota not worth selling.  VA covered cremation and a marker and we chipped in for the base and internment on Grandma's plot.  Lucky (for me) my older brother was physically closer and got tasked with closing out the estate.  

So.....picture that the dam runs north and south....north being the top of your screen.  You'll notice that the dam slopes from east to west.  It didn't used to do that.  It was level on the top, a road.  Now look at the pic of the spillway.  That is AFTER we knocked down a 3 foot tall beaver dam with the bulldozer(that was crazy stupid fun).  What happened is the beavers got into the lake and dammed up the spillway.  As the water rose over the years, a big rain would cause water to actually overtop the main dam.  The beavers then started to work to build the dam up.....along the entire length, wherever water was running.  In time, as they put more and more mud and debris on top of the dam, willows began to grow, along with other trees.  After 10 years or so the road over the dam was completely gone.....hell, you couldn't even walk over it. We'll get it graded level again in the next week or so.

One of the consequences, is that the dam basically splits the property in half longways.  So you have about 25 acres in front of the lake, where the home is, and another 70 or so acres "behind"the lake.....accessible only by the road than was on top of the dam. To the west is thick woods and a creek (the spillway), and to the east is the neighbors property.  So now 70 acres go neglected for 10 years of so.  Another consequence of the beavers raising the level of the lake is that it flooded about 3 acres of the neighbors property......and they don't want it and claim my dad always told him that before he ever sold it he would fix it.......maybe he did and maybe he didn't, but it's one of the things I feel the need to set right after their death.  It's important to me that their name is not sullied by the things they screwed up and neglected when they became addicts.  Why?  Hell, I don't really know other than I carry that name as well.

As for the "inheritance"......lol.....it's mostly alot of bills....and memories of good days hunting and fishing there.

You also asked where all of the water drains to....ultimately.  The spillway connects to a creek that runs at the base of the woods.  That creek eventually feeds another small lake, then another, and maybe a couple more (all man made from collecting runoff......this is cattle country).....and a couple other spillways join in as well.  It drains into the Bourbeous river in about 5 miles.  The Bourbeous drains into the Meramec River in another 10 - 12 miles.  The Meramec drains into the Mississippi in 115 miles.

IN times of heavy rains or floods, beavers move up that waterway as young beavers find new territory.  When they find a place like ours, where they are not disturbed, they can cause catastrophic damage in just a few years.  When I was younger we trapped them quite a bit and even sold a few hides.  Now I just shoot them and leave them for the turtles.

Yep......the ramp leading to the dock became the roof of the beaver lodge.....and eventually it just got swallowed up in the lodge.  At some point the cables broke and a small v-bottom aluminum boat sunk in the boat well.....but still tied to the dock with a single ratchet strap.  Recovering that boat and straightening the dock will be the last thing on my list for the lake rehab......unless the place sells first.

Here's a pic of the beaver lodge that ate the dock. LOL

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It's a lot of work....but not all bad....and some of it I'll hold forever.  There was 1949 8N Ford tractor and an old brush hog.  I spent a couple weeks replacing the fuel lines, rebuilding the carb, having new tires mounted.....and basically rehabbing it to workable condition.  It ended up with me being able to give my grandson a ride the way my dad used to ride my kids around. 

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Better pic of rehab...

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Grandma & Grandpa had one of those!

Yeah, it's pretty interesting.  They only made that model for 4 years, but they sold hundreds of thousands.....and many of them are still around, the design is so simple and reliable.  I did a bit of research and found that they were about 1350.00 new....and that's about what one like the one I fixed up is worth.  They can be worth more with a full restoration, about double what they were new. 

I'm not really much of a mechanic.  But these tractors are nothing more then fuel supply, fuel regulation, and spark.....they just WANT to run.  They were so popular and there are so many of them still around that you can find parts almost anywhere.....any farm store will have them.

I didn't dig far enough to find out why they quit making them, but it's hard to imagine why something that reliable didn't stay in production.