TCC for 4/30/08

The Caretaker's Concern 4/30/08
Lake Temp. 47 F.
Ghetto temp. 48 F. and rising.
Island tmp. 44 F. Yesterday's L/H: 48/50 F.
Current conditions: No wind, perfectly clear star filled sky, shooting star sighted.

More Spring cleaning and organizing for today. Mid-morning the Caretaker paddled over to the mainland to pickup a rail system for the milling project. There was a bit of a headwind for much of the way over, but proved to be only a mild hinderance, the Sun was out, it was a nice paddle there and back. Over on the mainland the Caretaker learned that a couple of Swans have begun to nest in Huddle Bay swamp. As per the locals this is a first, Swans usually never make it up this far North. The Caretaker can't recall ever seeing any Swans here on the Lake, nor can he remember ever seeing any Swans up in the Saranac Lake region (where he has done a considerable amount of canoeing), hopefully the wave action here on the Great Lake of George won't prove to be too much for their nesting habits. Someday the Caretaker will have to make a point to paddle over there and give them a look see. Maybe try and poke them with a stick. Then again, if they have offspring, they might have a lot of offspring, more than the Caretaker can shake a stick at. Where did that phrase come from?

Tomorrow the Caretaker is planning to take the next turn on the Green road, he is going to jury-rig a solar cooker. He would like to be able to cook as much of his food as possible this summer via "alternative energy". He has since mastered his solar shower arrangement, so now it is time to move on to the solar panel cooker, then on to the solar oven. He doesn't really have the time right now to make a proper solar panel cooker so for the time being he will utilize a few automobile window shades he has on hand. At some point in time in the near future the Caretaker hopes to have the time to acquire the needed materials to build a proper solar cooker. The only thing he is really lacking is a large enough piece of cardboard, he suspects he might be able to get it locally, if not then the next time he goes to the "big city".

The cold snap is still hanging around, the Caretaker felt the touch of its cold fingers more so tonight than during the day. The Ghetto got down to 45 degrees when the Caretaker noticed that it was cold. So he went outside and fired up the kerosene heater, while waiting for the flame to build before bringing it inside, the Caretaker turned towards the night sky to drink in the stars. The sky was full of bright points of light, after a few moments a shooting star flashed across the sky. This is the first shooting star the Caretaker has seen in a very long while. Hopefully there will be some great meteor showers this year.

--The Caretaker