9:58 am

Yess, we're going to the beach! Granby Lake is dried up! We wet there 2 years back, but now with the drought, it's down 15 or twenty feet! Old islands are connected to the mainland by solid SAND, that we saw being driven across by trucks and things! Docks were 200 feet from the shore and everything. Imagine having this island you could get to by boat, but being able to drive to it, later.

1:02 pm

I just got back from the 'beach.' it definitely wasn't sandy, it was mostly sun-cracked clay in the dry areas, and muddy clay in the shoreline area. We made this dam, see: first we tossed in chunks of dry clay and made 'rapids.' then we stuck in this plank that Dave found. Dave and Nick were the supply-line, along the 'river express,' everything was floated to us. Then they brought more boards + poles, providing foundation.

That broke. The water upstream receded to the banks, providing us with fresh, sticky, clay-mud! We used this technique to strengthen the rebuilt dam. The creek flooded, needless to say, by the time our dam was good + solid. The excess water, far from being a hindrance, provided us with more mud, which we used to create side spill-ways.

Then Dave hit the mother lode. He brought two wheels with tires, and a four-foot square piece of plywood! the plywood we stuck vertically into the mud upstream of the dam to stop the central spillway, and the tires we used, one on the side (because the very banks were flooding) and one in the middle to cull the flow underneath the plywood. Then Dave destroyed it by releasing the plywood.. Cause we had to go to the campsite cause of thunder.

1:23 pm

Now, mom is cooking up ham bbq for us. My socks are all wet. They're itchy and uncomfortable; not because of the dam; it's because i washed my shoes at the water pump, while still on my feet.

My hands are still filthy, you know. I'd better wash up before lunch.

2:05 pm

Well, I ate and went to the bathroom.... They allegedly are supposed to close it from 2-4 pm for cleaning. They may be late..

After Ramen + Sandwiches, a freak strong wind picked up, and we went rushing around grabbing things; I think it all scared Bradley... If i write a hexagon, it means Jack just called me to play horseshoes. He invited me a minute ago, but i'm jotting this down real quick. He's pounding the stakes in... Hmm, I'm suprised he hasn't called me over. Okay, i'm just gonna go play... I think I'll also hang out my socks to dry ;)

3:02 pm

Everyone else went off to take a walk except Bradley, Mom, and I. Dave was busy smashing a penny for a while there; smashed pennies get disfigured easily but they are hard to bend properly.

Ooo, I hear that mosquito again. I hear the rain some more too. Yeah, It's been sprinkling for an hour now. I swatted at the mosquito, but mercifully I let it live by accidentally missing it. Something landed on top of our van, most likely a pine cone. I hear that mosquito again, man, I wanna kill it! I think I will read Silas Marner, then. Aha! I have killed the mosquito! As to whether there are more, I cannot say.