TCC for 2/2/08

The Caretaker's Concern 2/2/08
Ghetto temp. 55 F. and steady.
Island tmp. 32 F. Yesterday's L/H: 26/32.5 F.
Current conditions: Cloud covered sky, no wind.

Mostly a quiet day on the Island today. The sky was completely cloud covered, many were rather low. Overall a gray day, the kind of day when it might as well have rained but it didn't. The rain of late is certainly out of place for this time of year, but then again perhaps it is the beginning of a new trend. How long will the trend last? Hopefully not long. It would be a shame if these Northern parts became the place of retreat for snowbirds. Then again, China seems to be getting whacked pretty hard these days. Are there any ski resorts in China? Do the Chinese ski? Based on their transportation problems of late they would probably be better off if they did. The Caretaker was expecting to be cross-country skiing by now, take a few steps from the Ghetto, slap on the skis and head out on to the Lake. Unfortunately that hasn't been an option yet. Perhaps later in February the weather will begin to cooperate.

--The Caretaker

TCC for 2/1/08

The Caretaker's Concern 2/1/08
Ghetto temp. 58 F. and steady.
Island tmp. 28 F. Yesterday's L/H: 27/26 F.
Cloud covered, light rain/sleet.

The day started out with rain, it then turned to sleet, then snow for a while, about two to three inches and then went on to become freezing rain. The ice is now snow covered, which won't help it get any thicker. It also means that the Caretaker will not be able to scoot across the ice in the canoe, sliding across the ice in a canoe is not much work, pushing through the snow in a canoe is utterly miserable. Most likely the rain will eventually wash away the snow, but until it does, the Caretaker won't be making any trips to the mainland any time soon.

Due to the precipitation today the Caretaker spent most all of the day in the Ghetto. He didn't even get out during the day to take a photo. Originally he was thinking of using a photo from his back-stock, but in keeping with a photo a day he took one of the rain at night. Not much to look at, however, while the Caretaker was out on the water in the canoe yesterday, he did shoot a short video, it is now posted on youtube, here's the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyN-RP9k9kg

Unfortunately due to the Caretaker's very slow internet connection he had to reduce the size so he could upload it in a reasonable amount of time, sorry for the poor quality.

--The Caretaker

TCC for 1/31/08

The Caretaker's Concern 1/31/08
Ghetto temp. 50 F. and rising.
Island tmp. 26 F. Yesterday's L/H: 20/35 F.
Cloud covered sky, little to no wind.

The Caretaker needed to get into town today so he grabbed his life vest, two canoe paddles, and two sets of ski poles. He brought the canoe out to the ice at the shoreline, hopped in and began pushing himself across the ice. Given the uncertainty of the thickness of the ice, the Caretaker decided that pushing across in a canoe would be the safest way across. The ice was clear of snow and very smooth. There was no wind so he had no worries of being blown across the Lake. He made it over to the mainland in no time. Once you build momentum it is very quick going. The only thing you don't want to do is stop. Once you do the canoe sticks to the ice, not that it freezes to the ice permanently, but you do have to do a touch of extra work to get going again. While crossing the ice the Caretaker noticed that the ice was about two to three inches thick, he probably could have just walked across, but why take the chance? Ice-in so far has been rather, slow.

After getting to the mainland the Caretaker had to walk to his car, the ice on the roads was more treacherous than the ice on the Lake. After avoiding to fall a few times the Caretaker made it to his car. Hopped in, drove to town, did what he needed to do, then went back to the Island. After returning to the Island, the Caretaker grabbed his camera and then hopped back into the canoe. A large swath of the Lake, just off of the North East shore of the Island, was all open water. With no wind, it was almost perfect glass. The Caretaker pushed himself out to the open water, slipped in, and then began to paddle. He wanted to take advantage of the opportunity for reflection shots. He paddled around a bit then began to take photos. The water was open all the way over to Dome, so he paddled over there too and took some shoreline shots. Eventually the Caretaker paddled around to the East shore of Dome, the Lake appeared to be open all the way to Pilot Knob. The sun was on its way down so he had little interest in trying to paddle over to the Knob, there isn't much over there anyway. As the Caretaker was paddling back he noticed the water was starting to ice over. Small thin layers of ice were beginning to form, some formations looked like feathers, others looked like bird wings. The Caretaker tried to photograph some of the ice formations but wasn't all too successful, with the sun going down and falling behind thick clouds, it didn't provide too much in the way of bright light.

Overall, a nice day on the Lake.

--The Caretaker

TCC for 1/30/08

The Caretaker's Concern 1/30/08
Ghetto temp. 58 F. and rising.
Island tmp. 23 F. Yesterday's L/H: 32/35 F.
Mostly clear night sky, occasional clouds. Mild wind from the West shore, with occasional gusts.

Both of today's photos were taken today. The one on top was taken early in the morning, the one below was taken around mid-day. The morning started with freezing rain and some hale, mostly light and intermittent with occasional down-pours. By mid-day it became snow, briefly, then stopped. The wind was not as forecasted, but there were plenty of good gusts. The ice has opened up more. The wind pushed it around quite a bit, the ice made all sorts of noises today. The ice has been quite active these past few days, between the lowering of the Lake and the wind, the ice has been quite a symphony. As the Lake lowers, due to a lack of precipitation, it usually cracks and booms as the ice drops. A few times the drop was enough to shake the Island and rattle the Ghetto, almost like a very, very small Earth quake--it is often a touch jarring. When the wind pushes on the ice, today especially, the ice gurgles, pops, and pings. Sometimes it sounds like a slide-whistle as the air pockets move rapidly beneath the ice. Many of the noises from the ice sound as though they are from a Science Fiction movie. Overall the sounds of the ice are not exactly easy to describe, but the Caretaker will make a point to try to do so in the future.

While the Caretaker was at the shoreline he watched the ice move up and down and shift around as the wind gusted. Occasional ice sheets would grind together, their edges breaking up into small shards of what looked like crystal, glistening in the sun. With the warm weather and the thinning ice, it almost seemed like the Spring thaw. However we will be getting some cold weather again, but not for long. Next week's temperature is expected to be rather mild as far as the ice goes. This is not so good for the Caretaker, at least as far as getting to the mainland. The Caretaker will be trying for the mainland tomorrow. His hope is that he will be able to scoot himself along top the ice in a kayak. If it works well he could be over to the mainland in no time. If it doesn't work so well he could be over in a long while, and if it goes utterly terrible he will be pulling himself out of the Lake minus the kayak--or he decides not to go at all. Unfortunately not going to the mainland tomorrow isn't really an option.

--The Caretaker

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