Geese are a little like the goats, @Nancy Hart but they take on much smaller weeds and such. They also do not tolerate snakes, which may be a plus in your area.
There used to be an old commercial about wax build up. Was it Pledge? There is red clay soil in West Virginia, but nothing like North Georgia. Under just the right weather conditions, a light drizzle that keeps the ground just the right dampness all day, the red clay will build up on the bottoms of your shoes, and you get several inches taller walking around on it. My father was amazed when he discovered this about Georgia, and used to call it "red clay build up." Today was one of those weather days. A trip over the new road.
I remember clay in North Carolina, too,@Nancy Hart, but where I lived in Georgia (south) it was all sand. Gardening in sand was easy; in clay, not so much.
John Anderson / Red Georgia Clay "when they arrested the dude for those murders he wrote this song in prison and sent it to john anderson and two month later this song came out but he is still sittin in jacksonville prison right here in georgia"
A second life for trees in lakes "Ten thousand years ago, a tree grew on the shore of a lake somewhere in North America. For 140 years or more, fish swam in its shade and insects hatched on its branches and leaves; some were eaten by birds, some fell into the water to be eaten by fish, some survived to continue the cycle of life. Birds nested and foraged in its branches, perhaps kingfishers dropped like rocks, propelled by gravity to their next meal and eagles perched among its highest branches. A wood frog chorus would start each evening in spring near the first crotch, and often red squirrels would chatter for whatever reason red squirrels chatter. " "Then one day it happened: after years of increasing decay near the end of its life, the tree snapped at the butt during a windstorm, and fell with a thunderous crash into the lake; 140 years of silence and quiet rustling, punctuated by a single quick, loud finale. Within a minute, the waves that had acknowledged the tree’s entry into the water subsided, and all was quiet again." "Now the tree began its second life…in the lake......."
That is a great article, Joe. Thanks. Two pictures below of the west side of the lake before and after the new construction. The contractor got a bit carried away with the landscaping. He can't seem to stop until he gets it perfect (in his opinion). I did ask him to dump some stumps in the water. I used to worry about trees falling in the lake. It depends on what you want to do. If you want to maintain a lake of fish (for pets in my case ), it's best to let it go rather natural. If you are selling it, then the new look is likely the best. It's kind of like "curb appeal" in selling a house, only applied to land. Curb appeal never affected me, because I would want to improve things to suit me, but most buyers don't have much imagination, or the inclination to put any work into property.
@Ken Anderson made me feel guilty in a post in another thread because he thought I was working, when I wasn't, so I cut down the maple tree in the back yard this afternoon. It was on the to do list. The pole on the left was for half an old clothesline. It should come down too, but I keep thinking I'll need a clothesline one day in a emergency. Two or 3 leaning red tips behind it, in the second picture, are coming down before summer. I think they are almost dead, choked out by English ivy, my fault. Cleaned up and loaded the truck to haul off.