TCC for 1/29/08

The Caretaker's Concern 1/29/08
Ghetto temp. 60 F. and Steady
Island tmp. 28.5 F. Yesterday's L/H: 19/25 F.
Cloud covered night sky, little to no wind.

Not much excitement here on the Island, there was a bit of hail and freezing rain today, not a lot but enough to make some surfaces very slippery. The Caretaker thought about going for a stroll on the South dock to see if he could keep from slipping off the dock, falling onto the thin ice and then breaking through to the water. The Caretaker didn't think about this long, he doesn't really feel the need to have anything exciting to report. Besides, if tomorrow's weather report holds true, with the amount of wind forecasted, things might end up being rather exciting tomorrow without the Caretaker trying to come up with something on his own. Outside of that, if nothing else, Thursday could prove to be interesting when the Caretaker makes a try for the mainland. We'll just have to wait and see.

Other than not trying to do something stupid the Caretaker spent most all of the day in the Ghetto working on formatting protocols for a printer. Not very thrilling, but now that they are finished the Caretaker can go on to other exciting things like organizing the kitchen. Tomorrow the Caretaker will provide an in depth blow by blow report of all the thrills of organizing the kitchen.

--The Caretaker

TCC for 1/28/08

The Caretaker's Concern 1/28/08
Ghetto temp. 54 F. and steady.
Island tmp. 23.5 F. Yesterday's L/H: 22/25 F.
Currently a sky filled clear night, little to no wind from the East.

The wind was from the Narrows today, blowing rather well throughout much of the day. It was a mostly sunny day, on the South Boathouse dock, which was in the lee, it was rather pleasant. The Caretaker didn't sunbathe today, he was busy cleaning and sanitizing potable water buckets and waste water buckets. Other than that, not much excitement on the Island, however, the Caretaker did decide to pamper himself a bit, he took a four gallon shower. Usually he takes a 3 gallon shower, but today he decided to pamper himself with an extra gallon of water. When the Caretaker wants to go all out, and give himself a "spa day" he takes a 5 gallon shower. Today wasn't a spa day, maybe tomorrow.

--The Caretaker

TCC for 1/27/08

The Caretaker's Concern 1/27/08
Ghetto temp. 55 F. and rising.
Island tmp. 28 F. Yesterday's L/H: 22/31 F.
Mostly clear night, a few clouds, little to no wind. Slight bit of snow in the afternoon, just a few flurries.

It was a quiet day on the Lake, little to no wind at all. For much of the day the sun was shining with little interruption from the clouds, the snow on the roofs began to melt. The dripping snow melt was a day long plink-plink, much like after a brief rain storm in the woods when the remaining moisture on the leaves slowly drops down from leaf to leaf finally to the forest floor. Today was the sort of day that the Caretaker thought about doing some sunbathing, but that is as far as he got, he kept busy with other things. However, it probably would have been a good thing to do so he could get some vitamin D, but given tomorrow's forecast, he should have another opportunity to sunbathe. The downside is that the Lake will most likely be thinning out tomorrow and the next day. It has certainly been a curious winter/ice-in so far, but then again, the past two winters have had nothing predictable about them either so the Caretaker should expect no less this time around.

A thought occurred to the Caretaker today: is the sky still blue at night? Just because there is no light from the Sun at night to show us the sky, would it not still be blue? Or, if the sky is not blue at night, is the sky really blue during the day? Perhaps a better question is: does the sky have any color at all? The Caretaker seems to remember hearing somewhere that the color in the sky, blue, is a result of the reflection of the oceans and other such large bodies of water. Which if that is the case then the sky is merely acting as a mirror, and so the sky would have no color. Does a mirror have color? If a mirror reflects color and light, without color or light in front of a mirror would it have no color? If we were to create such conditions, no color in front of a mirror, we wouldn't be able to see it if it were in front of us. But to do that would require a space with no light, because the moment we look into the mirror with light we would see the color of ourselves, but in a light-less environment we can't see anything so not only is the mirror invisible but so is everything else, except the color of no light. Is a light-less space colorless or just dark? Eyes open in darkness see black, black is a color, black is all the colors combined. However, for light, black is the absence of light. So there is color without light, but is there no light without color? What?

As you can see, not a very busy day here on the Island. Perhaps even a bit of mind-rot is seeping in, hm.

--The Caretaker

TCC for 1/26/08

The Caretaker's Concern 1/26/08
Ghetto temp. 53 F. and rising
Island tmp. 25 F. Yesterday's L/H: 22/22 F. Lake tmp. 32 F.
No wind, thin layer of clouds, enough to lightly obscure the stars.

This evening finished up with dish washing. After all was done, the Caretaker put his water supplies back in the pot closet so they wouldn't freeze up over night, he then took the bucket of waste water out to the fire pit to dispose of. One of the joys, if there are any, of no running water is that it brings you outside. Upon dumping the water the Caretaker noticed that there wasn't a breath of wind. So after returning the waste water bucket to the kitchen of the main house the Caretaker went for a walk around the Island.

Without the wind in the cold of winter, the quiet is grand. In the summer time the Lake is always making a sound. When the wind blows the crash of the waves on the shore can be heard from all points on the Island; when there is no wind, the Lake still makes a sound, a gentle lapping. Come the ice in the winter, when there is no wind, the Lake is quiet. Especially now with the Lake in transition, the ice being so thin. There is the occasional pop or ping or rare times when it sings, but over all, the Lake is mostly quiet. The crunch of snow under foot while walking seems to reverberate. Standing still, at the shoreline of the Island, the only sound to be heard is the quiet murmuring of ice eaters off in the distance. Given the rise in temperature the Caretaker has shut down the Island ice eaters, for now there is no need for them. Given the thin layer of clouds the stars are not so brilliant but their light still shines down, adding to the silence. Quite a bit of water has opened up, which will be good if it freezes in again as black ice. At night while out on the frozen Lake, in the black ice the reflection of the stars on a clear night can make you feel like you are walking on the night sky. If the ice is thick enough to skate on, you can look down and watch as the star light rushes by.

The ice is not strong enough to skate on, so the Caretaker has remained on shore, taking in the quiet of the night.

--The Caretaker

TCC for 1/25/08

The Caretaker's Concern 1/25/08
Ghetto temp. 55 F. and dropping (Heater is shut down for maintenance).
Island tmp. 21.5 F. Yesterday's L/H: 13/22.5 F.
Cloudy, occasional wind from the south.

With ice-in it was a rather slow day on the Island. One of today's highlights for the Caretaker was that he rearranged his sock drawer, literally. Well, not just his sock drawer but the entire bureau which is something that has been long over do. Other than that not much else to report as far as what the Caretaker has been up to today, at least nothing worth mentioning.

The Lake kept a solid layer of ice for most of the day but by around 2 in the afternoon a large spot opened up just off of Cocktail Point. The opening in the ice continued to expand as the wind and sun continued to work it open, which now appears to reach all the way to the Sagamore. So technically, if the Caretaker wanted to he could take the canoe over the Island, make his way across/through about 100 yards of ice to the open water and then paddle to the mainland via the Sagamore, but he has no need to do so. This opening is actually a good thing, when it freezes over again tonight it will be black ice thus replacing the snow crusted ice that was originally there. This should provide a substantial amount of black ice for skating, at least hopefully. To be honest the Caretaker was mildly surprised by the ice opening up, in the morning while out and about on the Island the Caretaker could here the ice ping. The ice makes all sorts of noises once it has reached about an inch in thickness, more or less. The variety of sounds that come from the ice are not exactly easy to describe, but perhaps the Caretaker will do so at a later date. In the meantime the Caretaker will share the cause of these noises. The Lake "sings" as a result of air pockets moving around underneath the ice, it is also a result of the wind pushing on the ice. There are probably some other causes but the Caretaker doesn't know what they are--he is by no means an expert on the science behind ice. He does know of someone who is, perhaps he will track this person down to get the proper low down behind why the ice sings.

Given today is such a slow day the Caretaker will take this time to explain a bit about the photos that accompany these entries. The first photo, on the top, will be a photo from the day of the entry. The second photo, the one on the bottom, will be from the Caretaker's back stock of photography. The first photo is to serve as a documentation of the day, the second photo is to serve as just something nice, or interesting, or odd, or what have you, to look at.

--The Caretaker

TCC for 1/24/08

The Caretaker's Concern 1/24/08
Ghetto temp. 49 F. and rising
Island temp. 20 F. Yesterday's L/H: 18/25 F. Lake condition: iced over.
Clear star filled sky, light to no wind.

The Caretaker's trip to the mainland today was mostly successful. He did not accomplish everything he would have wanted to but he did get to do what was most important: drop off prints to be sold, or probably just looked at but it's worth a shot. Last night the Lake iced over, not enough to walk on but nor was it thick enough to keep the Caretaker from making his way over to the mainland in a canoe. "Ice canoeing" is rather slow going so the Caretaker decided it would be best to trim his errands to only the most important. He did not want to have to try ice canoeing back to the Island in the dark, which would have been nearly impossible. The Caretaker decided to pass on getting more fuel, he should have enough to make it through ice-in, which he can officially say started last night. given tonight's expected temperature and for the next few days the ice will continue to build. Unfortunately the ice formed while it was snowing so there is a thin layer of snow frozen into the ice. Chances are that this will prevent proper black ice from forming, however there is still hope that once this ice is up it will still be good for ice skating. The forecasted weather through the weekend looks good for ice, however next week it is expected to warm above freezing, not by much but it could make for a long ice-in.

The going over was pretty quick, the ice was about a quarter inch thick at the most and there wasn't any wind. Coming back wasn't so easy. The ice got thicker during the day, but the Caretaker was able to ice canoe back most of the way along the route he took in the morning which had iced over but wasn't as thick or was slush. He did lose the "path" for a little while, which made for harder paddling but not too bad. Oddly enough, where he lost his path was right around the spot where the Caretaker went for a swim in February two winter's ago. It was when he was coming back from the mainland in the middle of ice-in, and it was his first attempt at ice canoeing. Needless to say, after having to swim/break through the ice to dry land he learned his lesson well. The Caretaker is by no means an expert at ice canoeing, for the most part he prefers not to do it. The one bit of advice the Caretaker can pass on about ice canoeing, other than that he does not recommend it, is to bring two paddles. Losing a paddle in the summer is not such a problem, you can always paddle with your hands or jump out and swim, in the winter, that is not such a viable option. Also, before getting into the boat always put one paddle in and then bring the other one with you when you get in, that way if you forget to bring the second when you get in, which the Caretaker did today, you can use the other paddle to get you back to where you left the second. Also, ski poles are helpful too. These come in handy when you need to push yourself on the ice while in the canoe. If you want to learn the finer points of ice canoeing the Caretaker would direct you towards the two experts he knows, D & P, they have been ice canoeing for some 20 years or so.

Returning to the Island the ice was thicker and there was a bit of a wind, thankfully the wind was coming from the Narrows so most of it was blocked by the Island. However, the Caretaker's gloves had been left in the car and so they got cold, warming up cold gloves while on your hands, while holding an ice cold canoe paddle does not exactly result in warmth for the fingers. But it certainly beats the alternative: to be marooned on the mainland. This trip to the mainland was the first time the Caretaker had seen people for a week, now with ice-in it will probably be another week before he sees anyone again. Hopefully the ice will come swift and thick, not that he wants to see people rather so he can start ice skating. Ice skating out on the Lake, in the open air, with the surrounding beautiful scenery is one of the many great pleasures this Lake has to offer. Once you do it, you'll never want to skate in an indoor rink again. Much like swimming in the Lake, once you do it you'll never want to bother with swimming in a pool. Now a mixing of the two, swimming in the Lake in the winter, not so much fun.

TCC for 1/23/08

The Caretaker's Concern 1/23/08
Ghetto temp. 58 F. and rising.
Island tmp. 25 F. Yesterday's L/H: 17/29 F. Lake tmp. 32 F.
Mix of Sun & Clouds, light South breeze.

For most of the day, the wind was blowing with gusto, it was rather strong all of last night too. However since around 3 p.m. it has calmed. The Caretaker was hoping to be able to canoe over to the mainland this morning to drop off empty propane tanks and kerosene cans at his car but the wind was such that the paddle would have been less than fun. He could certainly do it now but at this point it wouldn't be a good use of his time, he'll just bring them over when he goes to the mainland tomorrow. The Caretaker is hoping to take care of a few errands tomorrow, that is if the Lake doesn't ice in tonight. He is currently down to only 100 pounds of propane which could very well last him all the way through ice-in (whenever that is) but since he has to go the mainland for other reasons he figures he might as well get fuel too. Pretty much every time the Caretaker goes to the mainland in the winter he picks up as much fuel as he can. The Ghetto gets cold without it, and food cooked under the arm is usually less than palatable.

Today on the Island wasn't all that exciting, the Caretaker has spent most of the day matting prints to bring to the mainland tomorrow, if all goes well the sleeves he ordered will arrive tomorrow as expected and thus the prints can go up for sale. This is assuming the Lake will be open. Aside from getting fuel there are a few other things he would like to take care of but he will no longer bore you with his list or errands, he'll save that for another update, perhaps when things are really slow on the Island.

On the radio (VPR) yesterday the Caretaker heard someone refer to himself as a "Gardening Coach". This made the Caretaker laugh when he heard this, and it still makes him laugh now. However, he did learn that a Gardening Coach does actually exist, apparently they are unlicensed/uncertified "Gardening Councilors". Both of these so called "professions" have given the Caretaker an idea, he is thinking of referring to himself as a "Property Management Advisor". Granted that doesn't exactly roll off the tongue as a blog title, but hey, if it lends a sense of professionalism to what he does maybe he should give it a try:

Deep in the back country, late at night in a small town bar, the Property Management Advisor decides it might be a good idea to try and strike up a conversation with one of the local lady folk standing by the Jukebox.

"Hi. Does the Jukebox work?"
"Do you hear music?"
"Well, yes. But it sounds as if it is coming from the bar stereo."
"Perceptive. You must be a Property Management Advisor."
"Why yes I am, how did you know?"
"My father's one too, but he isn't dumb enough to call himself that, he just calls himself a Caretaker."
"Right. So. Uh, may I buy you a drink?"
"Sure..."

And so for the rest of the drink the Property Management Advisor and the Lady spoke about a number of subjects, what they were he couldn't remember, but in the end he decided that calling himself a Property Management Advisor is about as useful as a Gardening Coach (I mean come on, they are neither licensed nor certified), so he has gone back to just calling himself the Caretaker.

Anyway, the Caretaker has been on the Island since last Thursday, if all goes well he'll make it to the mainland tomorrow--look out mainland, here comes the Property Management Advisor! Yeah, that just doesn't work does it? The Caretaker thought he'd give it one last try.