Flood Relief

Last week on Tuesday we received about 9 inches of snow.  Over the weekend, we added a little more than an inch of rain.  An inch of rain in July, no problem.  In mid March when the ground is frozen, we flood.  Jose and I had the pumps running for about 7 hours each day to get ride of the water.  In July, this would have soaked in.  Since we had cool temps, the turf should be fine.

 

Monday

 

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

 

RIP Dad

RIP dad.  My father, Dennis Augdahl passed away yesterday after a long battle with pancreatic cancer.  You will be missed.  I was able to see him several times the last couple of months.

 

 

My dad and daughter a couple of years ago.

 

 

I don't think we'll match the March 8th opening we had last year.  About 9 inches fell yesterday.  With warmer temperatures expected by the weekend, it should melt quickly.  I made my first order for chemicals and fertilizers today.  We'll be teeing it up soon.

 

Tree Removal

 

This cottonwood was rotting and became a safety concern.  All 3 trees had health issues and needed to be removed.  A Stihl saw donated by Bill Corbett made it much easier.  The larger saw made this an in house project.  We still have a couple of days of clean up.

First Snow of the Year

 

 

I had to do some plowing this morning.  We had about an inch of snow.  The last snow we had was back in early March.  The lake is starting to freeze.  Before anyone thinks about ice fishing, please check in with Dave.  He keeps track of ice depth.

 

I would like to wish a everyone a Happy New Year.  Jose, Butch and I are busy getting everything ready for another season.  In about 3 months, we'll be out cutting greens, tees, fairways and rough, raking bunkers and changing cups.

Golf in mid December

 

December 14?  Many LCC members snuck out of work and got 18 holes in today.  This is the latest I've ever let cart go out.  This may be the end of the season if we get the predicted rain on Saturday.

 

Jose and I have been cutting problem trees this week.  Several are in the ditch and a few more are on #16.  The ditch trees are cottonwoods while the others are green ash trees infected wit emerald ash borer.

 

Butch has been working on carts until this week when he switched to our equipment.  The walkers are first of his list.

Irrigation Blowout

 

Jose and Juan pulled in the irrigation intake pipe last week.  It was easy this year.  Usually the guys are standing in water to disconnect the pipe.

 

Last Thursday, we blew out the irrigation system.  We rented a 375 CFM air compressor.  It takes Jose and myself about 8 hours.  It's always nice to get this job done.  Again, we got lucky and had a fairly warm day without rain.

 

Jose started painting course accessories this week.

 

We had a swan make a visit today.

 

This November, we have a trapper help us with our muskrat problem.  He is licensed in both Illinois and Indiana.  In one week he caught 14. 

Winter Prep

 

On Thursday, we are blowing out the irigation system.  I watered tees and greens this morning and maybe 1 more time on Monday.

 

After the last watering, Jose, Juan and I will bring in the intake pipe.  As you can see, the lake level is way down because of the drought this summer.  I checked the meter in the pump house.  It showed that we used 15 million gallons this summer.  Average for the last 3 years was about 7 million.

 

It takes several days, but I've been mowing down the wild areas.  It's much easier to do with the dry conditions.

 

 

We have been using demo rough mowers the last couple of weeks.  This one show's stripping which is the result of a mower with a roller system.

 

Over the next week, we will continue bringing in ball washers, water coolers, and hazzard stakes.  We are down to 1 seasonal worker until Thanksgiving.  We then go into winter mode.  This involves working on all machines, tree work, plowing and painting.