TCC for 2/24/08

The Caretaker's Concern 2/24/08
Ghetto temp. 51 F. and rising.
Island tmp. 25 F. Yesterday's L/H: 9.5/26 F.
Current conditions: mostly clear. wind from the South, 5 to 10 mph.

For those who are interested the Caretaker has finally gotten around to writing and posting the reports for the past 8 or 9 days. He apologizes for not getting them out in a timely manner. It is highly suggested that if you are interested in reading these late reports that you begin with the report from February 14th and work your way forward. To the left is an archive, by clicking on the date the corresponding report will open.

Here are a few of the "highlights" from some of the reports from the 14th to today:

Caretaker spends 5 to 6 hours getting his car out of the snow and running.
Caretaker stays inside most of the day to avoid the ice raining from trees.
Caretaker stays inside most of the day to work on his portfolio.
Caretaker runs mild risk of being blown by the wind across the ice.
Caretaker tromps around in water soaked boots, car battery goes dead again.
Caretaker pulled over by police; sees a man get tazered; lunch with S.
Caretaker watches Moonrise from mainland, Eclipse from the ice.
Caretaker fails to repair car for inspection, successful at repairing phone line.

All of the above and more can be read about in the reports from 2/14/08 to 2/23/08. And now, without further adieu, today's report:

It seems as though the phone line has repaired itself over night, thus the Caretaker is able to send out new reports. How soon until the phone line breaks itself again? Who knows? Who cares? The phone company's automated system did call the Caretaker's cell phone to confirm the appointment for tomorrow is still on. The Caretaker has decided to cancel it, he needs to get down to Albany tomorrow. After tomorrow the phone company can repair (or not repair) the line whenever they see fit. Just to note, in the future, should the line breakdown again, the Caretaker will try and make a point to write the reports on a daily basis and put them up on the blog en masse whenever he gets on-line on the mainland. Also, the Caretaker has received some comments on the blog, he apologizes for not being able to respond right away to those asking for a response. The Caretaker has been busy of late, but once this report goes up he will provide a response, at least try to, to be honest, he is not completely sure how to respond, but he'll figure it out. As far as comments go, the Caretaker does appreciate them and he encourages you fine readers to make them, but please do not be offended if you do not receive a response right away.

The Caretaker woke up this morning to a Ghetto temperature of 37 degrees F. It seems as though 3000 btu's is not enough heat to keep the Ghetto warm, at least not on a night with a low of 9 F. For tonight the Caretaker has switched heaters thus boosting the btu's, this should keep the Ghetto at a warmer temperature, if not, he will have to go back to kerosene, which means he will have to come up with permanent solutions to the problems he has been having with the kerosene heater. Stupid heater.

The Caretaker stepped out of the Ghetto this morning to Lake effect snow falling from the sky. The combination of cold air, high humidity, and open water around the docks resulted in a mild dusting of snow crystals, each about a quarter inch in size, give or take, blanketing the trees and the Island. The Caretaker had intended on getting some photos of these sizable crystals, but he was side tracked by a phone call and by the time he got back outside, the sunlight had melted all of the new fallen snow.

The Caretaker skied over to the mainland to drop off one last empty propane tank at his car and install a battery kill switch to his car battery. The kill switch will make it much easier for the Caretaker to manage the car's electrical problem until he can get it fixed properly. Before heading back to the Island the Caretaker got involved in a political discussion of sorts with G., this went on for at least a half an hour or so. The overall consensus seems to be that choices for Vice President is going to have a large impact upon who people will vote for, at least as far as the Caretaker is concerned.

It was a sunny clear day, a bit of wind out of the South but nothing too chilling. Quite a number of people out ice fishing and others snowmobiling or AtV-ing. As a child the Caretaker did his fair share of snowmobiling, now a days he does not care for the noise, at least not the noise of the 2-stroke's, the 4-stroke's seem to be much quieter, which is a good thing, however the Caretaker would want one that has no engine noise, until then, the Caretaker will continue to enjoy his cross-country skis. Today's photos are of the North end of Dome island, the bottom photo is of the ice pile up, it is about 6 feet high, unfortunately it is covered with an inch or so of snow so the ice is not all too visible. It's looking like the Caretaker will now be able to ski over to the East shore, yipp-ee. After tomorrow he will make a point to get over there and start going through the mountains there. Then again, if he gets back from Albany early enough, perhaps he'll ski over there tomorrow.

--The Caretaker