I'm Back, Not That I Really Went Anywhere.......

Well, I did go on my honeymoon.

It was great, everything is great, but work has been incredibly busy. Good, but busy. Karen's back in school, Julia started at Tewksbury Elementary and seems to be adjusting.

So what's happened in the last two weeks or so? Lots, but I don't have time for all of it now. Just wanted to post something so you knew I was still breathing.

The big news right now is that my favorite river, The Madison in Montana, is experiencing the effects of aging. Specifically, the almost 100 year old dam at Hebgen Lake that's made of timbers, steel and concrete. Two of the four head gates failed last Sunday, releasing copious amounts of water into the river below creating spring run-off like conditions. Serious stuff for a number of reasons for both the river and the lake above - the lake is already down 3.5 feet since the gate failure. Here's a couple of reports from yonder.........

http://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/articles/2008/09/01/breaking_news/09hebgen.txt

And this update from Madison River Fishing Company.......

September 8th, 2008

The news now is grim. The bulkhead plan did not work. There was to much turbulence at the dam intake for them to place the steel plates and stem the flow. At the moment there does not seem to be a “plan B”. The flow is still at springtime level. They are losing more than 5 inches of reservoir water elevation every 24 hours and this will accelerate as the level drops due to the cone shape nature of the reservoir bed. By Wednesday of this week the lake will be at it’s March 1st water level. There are two scenarios that are scaring us at the moment. First; they decide they need to drain the lake to fix the problem and there is no other choice. Second; they cannot get a handle on the flows and the lake drains either completely or to the point that it will take years to refill. Either way the outcome has the potential to be tragic.

Yes, there are much bigger problems in this world, but this one's close to home for me. Everytime I set foot in that valley or the ribbon of water teeming with life, I'm home.

Let's hope they get it fixed without too much damage to the environment or the economy.

Life is good. Just don't expect it to always be smooth................