Soggy May

Typical for the region, May has had little sun and lots of rain.  The course is quite saturated and soft, but we continue to get ready for the season.  Most of the course has been cut once and the bunkers have been repaired from the winter wash outs.  We have keep busy with setting up the sundry equipment (ball washers, garbage cans, signs, etc.) cleaning out the gardens, repairing the bunkers and topping them up with sand,  starting up the irrigation system and mowing the rough.  Aside from the daily routine of keeping the course maintained we also have taken on other projects.  One of these is the rock wall garden built for Chef Darrell, so that he can provide fresh herbs with meals.



Herb Garden



 Another project in motion is Operation: Scarecrow.

This has three facets designed to dissuade geese from using the golf course as a home. The first part includes an installation of fencing around the pond in the 12 green, 13 tee and 13 green area.  The theory is that the fence will prevent the goslings from been able to climb ashore.  The mothers will not leave the goslings and therefore also not come ashore.  It remains to be seen if this will work, but in the very least, it may help you folks from losing some golf balls.  Our intention is to keep the fence up until the goslings are able to fly, at which point the fence will no longer hinder their movement.  (Remember you can click on these pictures to make them larger.)  In conjunction with the fence, there will be the installation of four eagle shaped silhouettes that are mounted on 20 foot tall poles.  These are designed to fool the geese into believing that the area is the habitated by eagles and therefore undesirable.  The final defense mechanism will be the "predator flags" which were in use last year.  These flags, which are spread throughout the course, are shaped to look like predators from above so as the geese fly in they find the area undesirable.

The Pump house installation is going well.  ECL, the contractors hired to install the system have been working hard in the wet conditions. Since our last post, the ten inch main line running from the course had been tied in and buried at the five foot depth, and there shouldn't be conflict with play.

The next step of the project is perhaps the most sensitive as it involves crossing the rail way tracks.  C.N. requires that the water pipe crossing under the tracks be encased in a larger pipe.  This is to prevent erosion in the event that the water pipe was to rupture.  In order to do this without disrupting the rail line, the casement pipe must "rammed" under the tracks from one side to the other. A pit is dug on the driving side of the track, long enough to encompass the 45 foot pipe section and the 8 foot tool used to drive the pipe.  The pit has to be at a deep enough grade for the pipe to traverse safely under the tracks and fiber optic cables. On the other side of the tracks is a receiving pit dug to "catch" the pipe as it comes through. 

The driving pit.

 Complicating the project is a fiber optic line that runs adjacent to the rail road track, under ground.  These cables are very expensive to repair and required special attention to avoid.   The fiber optic line is exposed using a vacuum truck.  The high powered suction hose removes the gravel and soil from the above and below the conduit containing the fiber optic cables.  All of this must be done under the watchful eye of C.N.'s wire locating company as well as a flagman from C.N. to control train traffic. 

The next step is to lower the casement pipe and driving tool into the driving pit and level both so that the pipe travels in the correct direction.  The driving tool is basically a giant pneumatic hammer that pounds the hollow pipe through the soil.  The soil is not pushed out of the way but rather allowed to fill the pipe.  This reduces friction and provides some stability for the walls of the casement pipe as it travels through the ground.  Here's a video of the tool, pipe and pit in action. Pardon the shaky footage.

The entire run of pipe from one end to the other is roughly 135 feet. The lengths of pipe are only 45 feet long, so as one section is driven into the ground, the driving tool must be remove and another section is added.  The second section (and eventually a third) is lowered into the driving pit and welded to the first, then the driving tool reattached and process begins again.  As of today, two sections have been rammed through and the last is being welded in place.  Below is another video of the Jack Eisnor, the owner of ECL (centre) and the C.N. representative (right)  keeping an eye on the fibre optic cable as the casement pipe approaches it's location, all while a train whistles by.