WEBVTT - Short Stuff: Disappearing Dirty Dancing Lake

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<v Speaker 1>Hey, and welcome to the short Stuff. I'm Josh, there's Chuck.

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<v Speaker 1>Jerry's over there. This is short stuff. Getty up now,

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<v Speaker 1>I've and the time of our lives. That's pretty good.

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<v Speaker 1>I can't even sing that without thinking of the great

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<v Speaker 1>Simpsons jokes. Same here the halftime of Our Life with

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<v Speaker 1>Dolly Parton and Snoopy. Oh that's right, yeah, so the

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<v Speaker 1>good one. So we're talking about Dirty Dancing and specifically

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<v Speaker 1>uh Mountain Lake outside of Blacksburg, Virginia, where that was

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<v Speaker 1>the location of Kellerman's lodge. Mountain Lake Lodge doubled as

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<v Speaker 1>Kellerman's for the eighty seven classic film Dirty Dancing. It

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<v Speaker 1>did um and that lake actually was a character in

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<v Speaker 1>the film because they practiced. In a little bit of foreshadowing,

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<v Speaker 1>Johnny Castle and Baby practice their dance move where he

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<v Speaker 1>lifts her up over his head, which is basically the

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<v Speaker 1>thing that brings the whole house down in the movie.

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<v Speaker 1>It's like the climax of the movie is this dance

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<v Speaker 1>move and they practice it in the lake. That's right,

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<v Speaker 1>quick shout out. Jennifer Gray is still around in great

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<v Speaker 1>She was in that TV show that I've binged, red Oaks.

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<v Speaker 1>That is so fantastic that our buddy John Hodgman is

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<v Speaker 1>and she's she plays the mom and she's wonderful. That's great.

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<v Speaker 1>I gotta check that show out. Patrick Swayzy has leftist R.

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<v Speaker 1>I P Yeah, he was wonderful man. Hell of a dancer,

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<v Speaker 1>great fighter. It's pretty good actor, great singer, She's like

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<v Speaker 1>the wind. Okay, I thought it was a good so

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<v Speaker 1>I get chills every time I hear it. Still, well,

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<v Speaker 1>I say, I know this is a short stuff, but

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<v Speaker 1>I'll rank it as dancer, fighter, actor, singer in order

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<v Speaker 1>of his best you know, his talents. I won't do

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<v Speaker 1>spute that order. But it's just a spectrum of greatness. Okay.

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<v Speaker 1>I loved him in He's great, So that's what I say.

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<v Speaker 1>So the actual name of that lake, like you said,

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<v Speaker 1>is Mountain Lake. Um. And the actual name of the

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<v Speaker 1>resort that's that was supposedly Kellerman's resort, which I think

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<v Speaker 1>it was supposed to be in like the Poconos, wasn't

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<v Speaker 1>it not Virginia? But um there's the resort is actually

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<v Speaker 1>in reality called Mountain Lake Lodge. And the people who

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<v Speaker 1>own Mountain Lake Lodge and the people who are investors

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<v Speaker 1>in Mountain Lake Lodge. They're not very happy about things

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<v Speaker 1>these days because Mountain Lake keeps draining, and it keeps draining,

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<v Speaker 1>and what was once a lodge and a resort that

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<v Speaker 1>was based on fun and the sun on this lake

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<v Speaker 1>in Virginia is now turning to things like archery and

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<v Speaker 1>horseback rides and telling guests exactly why the lake is

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<v Speaker 1>about at thirty five pc of its normal capacity. Yeah.

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<v Speaker 1>If you just google dirty dan Sing Lake today or

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<v Speaker 1>gazebo or boardwalk and you will see that that gazebo

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<v Speaker 1>and doc boardwalk um or then in the middle of

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<v Speaker 1>the field. Yeah, it's really creepy. Yeah, it's very weird.

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<v Speaker 1>And we're gonna tell you why right now. Uh. Mountain

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<v Speaker 1>Lake is one of two only two natural lakes in Virginia.

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<v Speaker 1>Georgia has zero. They have to in the southern Appalachian Mountains.

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<v Speaker 1>And over the years, and we're talking every few hundred years,

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<v Speaker 1>this lake empties and fills back up again naturally. Yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>which is kind of weird. And over the course of

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<v Speaker 1>the six thousand years that this lake has been around,

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<v Speaker 1>which I just find that so fascinating, don't you that

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<v Speaker 1>a lake has only been around for six thousand years. Yeah, yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>I love that. But anyway, the six thousand years it's

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<v Speaker 1>been around, it's actually empty three different times, chuck like

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<v Speaker 1>completely emptied. Yeah. So there's two guys that figure heavily

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<v Speaker 1>and sort of why the uh Mountain Lake is like

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<v Speaker 1>it is. There's this one guy, what's his named Chester

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<v Speaker 1>Watts Chester Skip Watts Skip is derivative of Chester obviously,

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<v Speaker 1>so he's a geologist and he knows a lot about it.

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<v Speaker 1>And there's this other guy, John Collie c A. W. L. E.

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<v Speaker 1>Y that wrote his doctoral thesis on Mountain Lake in

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<v Speaker 1>and they have explained that Mountain Lake has holes that

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<v Speaker 1>has little holes on the bottom, a lot of them

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<v Speaker 1>that continually drain this water out. And they've done die test.

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<v Speaker 1>I think Watts did the die test and found that

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<v Speaker 1>this water is coming out about a mile from here

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<v Speaker 1>and it's been doing this for six thousand years. They

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<v Speaker 1>literally got to the bottom of it. So, um, that's it.

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<v Speaker 1>I mean, that's the mystery holes. But the thing is

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<v Speaker 1>is the people over at Mountain Lake Lodge want to

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<v Speaker 1>know why is it getting worse? Like why would this

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<v Speaker 1>if if these holes have been here for all six

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<v Speaker 1>thousand years. First of all, why didn't we start to

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<v Speaker 1>notice this until like two thousand two? And secondly, like,

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<v Speaker 1>why isn't it filling back up? Why does it just

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<v Speaker 1>keep going down and down and down? And so how

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<v Speaker 1>I think was it Cowley who explained it as a

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<v Speaker 1>water budget. Yeah, he said, if you think of it

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<v Speaker 1>like a bank account, you got you got money coming in,

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<v Speaker 1>you've got money coming out. You want more money coming in,

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<v Speaker 1>so that bank account gets bigger. And it's the same

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<v Speaker 1>with this lake. You have inflow and outflow, and at

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<v Speaker 1>various times throughout the history of this lake, there's been

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<v Speaker 1>more outflow than inflow, right, And so there was a

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<v Speaker 1>drought that actually started in the nineties, um that that

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<v Speaker 1>led to this this lower inflow and which meant that

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<v Speaker 1>there was more outflow, which explains it partially, but it

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<v Speaker 1>doesn't fully explain it. We'll get real really, like reveal

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<v Speaker 1>what's going on with this mystery? After these messages just

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<v Speaker 1>up starts so much. Okay, chuck. So there was a drought,

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<v Speaker 1>which means that there's more water going out than this's

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<v Speaker 1>coming in. That's great because the drought ended. But the

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<v Speaker 1>people at Mountain Lake Lodge said, well, the drought ended everybody,

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<v Speaker 1>and this lake is still not filling up. What is

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<v Speaker 1>the deal? They actually were so upset about this they

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<v Speaker 1>paid Jerry Seinfeld to come get on the phone and

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<v Speaker 1>ask what the deal was about it. That was a

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<v Speaker 1>lot of money too, but it got everyone's attention. So

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<v Speaker 1>he said, there's a few reasons. Uh, he said, it's

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<v Speaker 1>not just one thing. You can't say it's even these

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<v Speaker 1>two things. It's sort of Multifaceted's three, it's only three.

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<v Speaker 1>So you've got the drought, which did not help. You've

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<v Speaker 1>got um when Mountain Lake Lodge was built, a conference

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<v Speaker 1>center above the lake, and to comply with building this thing,

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<v Speaker 1>they had to construct stormwater management basins. And they said,

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<v Speaker 1>you know what will probably happen is I don't know

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<v Speaker 1>if they said that, but what they assumed. I guess

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<v Speaker 1>what happened was that water would still get to the

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<v Speaker 1>lake as groundwater. But they found out that wasn't happening.

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<v Speaker 1>It was going to a creek. Yeah, is that what

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<v Speaker 1>you say? You call it a creek. It's a creek. Boy,

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<v Speaker 1>you just threw me off. Some people say creek though,

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<v Speaker 1>right sure. I think you know country country folk who

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<v Speaker 1>say warsh exactly. So um, that was kind of a

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<v Speaker 1>big surprise that that water wasn't going where they thought

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<v Speaker 1>it would because it's I guess these things are fairly

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<v Speaker 1>close to the lake, and since it's above it, they

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<v Speaker 1>just assumed to trickle down. So that's a big problem, right,

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<v Speaker 1>And so the geologists are saying, well, I guess one

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<v Speaker 1>thing you could do is plug the holes if you want,

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<v Speaker 1>and then hopefully uh rainfall will kind of raise the levels.

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<v Speaker 1>But you want to plug these holes one at a time,

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<v Speaker 1>and Mountain Lake Live said too late, and they plugged

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<v Speaker 1>them all at once, and he stared to scared the

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<v Speaker 1>Jesus out of the geologists. Well, and the reason they

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<v Speaker 1>did this was because they knew that one of the

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<v Speaker 1>other facets of why it was draining was the sediment cycle.

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<v Speaker 1>And it's just like something gets stuck in your sink, drain,

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<v Speaker 1>it's gonna drain slower. And at various times throughout the

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<v Speaker 1>history of this lake there might be things either stuck

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<v Speaker 1>in or not stuck in. So it just happened that

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<v Speaker 1>after dirty dancing that was not much stuck and so

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<v Speaker 1>it was draining out a lot quicker than it normally

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<v Speaker 1>might have. Yeah, Jennifer Gray was like, thank god, Patrick

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<v Speaker 1>Swayzy wasn't alive to see this shameful thing. So how

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<v Speaker 1>did they plug these holes? M While at first and

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<v Speaker 1>the first apparently they were aware, I don't know if

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<v Speaker 1>they lost memory of it or thought it was an

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<v Speaker 1>anomaly or thought it would just go away. But in

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<v Speaker 1>the first half of the twentie entry, at some point

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<v Speaker 1>the Mountain Lake Lodge used mattresses to stuff into the holes.

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<v Speaker 1>How big are these I tried to find it. I

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<v Speaker 1>I don't know. Um, I'm not sure how big they are,

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<v Speaker 1>but from what I understand, there's more there than they thought.

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<v Speaker 1>So one few mattresses isn't going to help. But also,

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<v Speaker 1>like what poor bell Hop did they send down there

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<v Speaker 1>to drag a mattress down to the bottom of a

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<v Speaker 1>lake and try to stuff it in a hole, because

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<v Speaker 1>you know, you know, that's who did it, of course,

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<v Speaker 1>So that was it. That was their first attempt, um,

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<v Speaker 1>and the second attempt was much more technologically advanced. They

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<v Speaker 1>stuffed dirt and clay into it. Yeah dirt, Uh clay?

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<v Speaker 1>Is that what what the bent tonight is? Yeah, it's

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<v Speaker 1>like expanding clay. Yeah, that makes sense. They should have

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<v Speaker 1>got some of that foam stuff that you spray in mouseholes.

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<v Speaker 1>They basically just sped up the great stuff. They basically

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<v Speaker 1>just sped up the sentiment cycle. But they they overdid

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<v Speaker 1>it because the lake said nature will find a way

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<v Speaker 1>and just started popping new holes. Yeah, it's crazy. This

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<v Speaker 1>reminds me of the Exploding Lakes episode way back when.

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<v Speaker 1>But yeah, the water level never got to full pond

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<v Speaker 1>or for a full pool is what you can call it.

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<v Speaker 1>That full pool, and they there is water there. There's

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<v Speaker 1>more than there was in two thousand eight. Like if

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<v Speaker 1>you look at pictures from two thousand and eight, that's

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<v Speaker 1>when it was literally a field. Uh there's a little

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<v Speaker 1>bit of water, but you can't canue or anything. You

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<v Speaker 1>can't swim. It's kind of sad, to be honest, to

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<v Speaker 1>look at it. But there's something to be said for

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<v Speaker 1>archery and horseback riding. Sure, yeah, especially orchery. Archery on horseback.

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<v Speaker 1>Oh wow, yeah, you get some you can level up

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<v Speaker 1>if you do that stuff. Yeah, they comp your room

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<v Speaker 1>for the night. But what said that, You know what,

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<v Speaker 1>they could redirect water from another local watershed just gravity

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<v Speaker 1>feed it down in there. He said that would probably

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<v Speaker 1>do it. But you've got to be really careful because

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<v Speaker 1>like we've seen, like the domino effect when you start

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<v Speaker 1>messing with nature like that. But he said that would

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<v Speaker 1>probably work if they want to explore that. I don't

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<v Speaker 1>know if they are or not, but we'll see. I

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<v Speaker 1>don't know. The Mountain Lake Lodge board clearly does not

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<v Speaker 1>bow before nature. It does not know. Well, that's it.

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<v Speaker 1>I guess we'll have to revisit this in a few

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<v Speaker 1>years to see what happens to Mountain Lake. Hopefully it'll

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<v Speaker 1>come back, not just for Mountain Lake Lodge, but for

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<v Speaker 1>the culture as a whole, the culture that loves dirty dancing.

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<v Speaker 1>That's right. Uh, that means everybody that short stuff is out.

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<v Speaker 1>Stuff you should know is a production of iHeart Radios

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