TCC for 2/15/08

The Caretaker's Concern 2/15/08
Ghetto temp. 47 F. and rising.
Island tmp. 27 F. Yesterday's L/H: 24/30.5 F.
Current conditions:

Since yesterday went a touch less than smoothly, the Caretaker decided it would be best to remain on the Island today. It wasn't exactly safe outside so the Caretaker decided it would be best to remain indoors. The day was mostly sunny and windy, so all the ice that had accumulated on the trees began to give way. Essentially it was raining ice for much of the day. It sounds nice, but it is decidedly not nice when it falls on your head. Because the Caretaker was thwarted from showing his portfolio to all but one shop owner he decided that since the portfolio was made up of just the images he had on hand he should take the time to put together a proper portfolio, one that can showcase most all of his work. Well, at least most all of what he thinks is marketable to the general public. And so as the sounds of tinkling crystal and breaking glass, and even the occasional boom and bang, all from the ice falling off the trees, the Caretaker spent the day inside finalizing images to be brought to the printer at a later date.

Just after sunset, early dusk, the Caretaker brought his camera down to the South boathouse dock looking to see if there was any color in the Southern sky. There wasn't, at least not much that was in anyway remarkable. Walking back to the Ghetto he noticed that the sound of each step through the crusted snow sounded like shattering glass. The recent rain on top of the snow had frozen over the snow such that at times the Caretaker wasn't breaking through, he walked right on top, but when he did break through it was curious to hear the sound of breaking glass.

Here is a "bonus" poem from the archive for the day after Valentine's Day:

"Never Forget The Moon"

Whenever we are apart,
My love so true,
We will always have the moon.

The warmth we will feel start
In the champagne silver glow,
Stems from the heart,
As only moonlight can sew.

But no matter if it's last, full, first, or new,
Or even when eclipsed of light,
We will be amongst one another in the night.

While others look for the man in the moon,
I'll see no one but you.
For in the moon I will see
The reflection of you.
And you too, in the moon you will see,
The reflection of me.

No matter the distance,
We will always be together
In the reflection of the moon.

So as I part from you now,
It always seems too soon,
Sharing moonlight tears,
You whisper to me how,
And I say to you:
Never forget the moon.

--The Caretaker

TCC for 2/14/08

The Caretaker's Concern 2/14/08
Ghetto temp. 43 F. and rising.
Island tmp. 25 F. Yesterday's L/H: 20.5/30 F.
Current conditions: Sky clouding over, light wind form the South.

The Caretaker had put together a small portfolio of some of his photography with the intention of getting over to the mainland to show it to a number of shop owners to see if they would be interested in photo-cards, and of course he intended to do some other errands, like fuel, etc. as stated yesterday. It was mostly a good idea--for a little while at least. The Caretaker got a much later start on the day than he had originally planned, this wasn't much of a surprise. By the time the Caretaker was ready to leave the Island he decided that the best plan would be to cut everything from his errand list except for trying to hock some of his photography via his portfolio. He knew that he would have to spend some time shoveling his car out so wasn't expecting to be able to just ski over, hop in the car and go. He figured on at least a half an hour maybe an hour tops. In the end it took the Caretaker some 5 hours or so to get his car out.

Due to the freezing rain the snow on his car was well crusted with a good layer of ice. It was almost like carving a car out of ice. Breaking up the ice on his car took way longer than he expected. Shoveling out the ice, snow, and frozen snow from around his car took way longer than he expected, about two or more hours. Eventually he cleared a path for his car , he got in it, put the key in the ignition, turned it to get the glow plugs hot, after the glow plug light went out he turned his key further to start the engine, nothing.

Silence. The car's starter motor wouldn't turn over. The Caretaker was already late on his schedule, now he was going to be even more so, but still he pressed on. After getting a few extension chords and a battery charger from G. he went about setting up the charger for his battery. The charger showed that it was in need of a charge. The charger also had a jump start function, but that didn't prove fruitful. Now there was nothing for the Caretaker to do but wait for the charger to charge his car battery. In the meantime the Caretaker helped G. shovel out one of his cars. Eventually they were able to get G.'s car out. The Caretaker went back to his car to try to start it again. No luck. However, the charger showed that the battery should be pretty close to fully charged. This wasn't the first time that the Caretaker's car battery had gone dead, thus he had a feeling that perhaps his car battery was shot. Luckily G. had an extra car battery that he recovered from the dump. G. recovers a lot from the dump, this find most certainly proved useful. However the battery was too big for the battery compartment on the Caretaker's car, the Caretaker was able to get the battery in, but was not able to jury-rig it in any sort of way that would be safe. Also, the negative lead from the car wouldn't reach the negative terminal on the battery. There was no way that the Caretaker was going to be able to drive down the road with this battery. Yet the Caretaker pressed on .

The Caretaker tilted the battery nearly 90 degrees so he could attach the positive lead to the battery. He then put the battery in the battery compartment as much as possible. The Caretaker then went to the back of his car for his jumper wire. This is a moderate gauge wire with clips on both ends, it is intended to be used for jumping his glow plugs incase they stop heating from the ignition. He returned to the battery and attached one clip to the negative lead and the other end to the negative battery terminal. The Caretaker hopped in the car, turned the key and got it to start. He then got out of the car to remove the battery. The Caretaker owns a '86 Volkswagen diesel golf, technically the engine does not need the battery connected to keep running. The Caretaker's plan was to get the car started, swap the batteries and then drive directly to an auto-parts store to buy a replacement battery, and this is exactly what he did. He disconnected the negative lead, then the positive lead then swapped the batteries and quickly attached the leads in reverse order of how he removed them. Tightened down the terminals and got on his way, that is after returning G.'s battery, etc. By the time the Caretaker finished installing a new battery in his car he figured that he had missed his chance to visit with any shop owners regarding his photography, well, all but one. She saw his work, liked some of it, expressed an interest. And with that the Caretaker turned towards home to make his way back to the Island for the night.

Happy Valentine's Day:

"Even If It's Just for a Little While"

Hold me again, she says,
Don't let me go.
Love me again,
You're all I know.
Lonely as friends,
I want you so...

In my arms,
No one else around us.
Cross my heart,
You're the one who's found it.
On my mind,
So much so I've lost it.

Hating
The time,
I'm all alone.
Waiting
For you,
To come home.

If only I could,
Let you know.
If only I could,
Let you go.

Hold me again, she says,
Don't let me go.
Love me again,
You're all I know.
Lonely as friends,
I want you so...

In my arms,
'Til there is no sorrow.
In my heart,
Is all the love you borrowed.
If my thoughts,
Could only change
Could only change tomorrow.

Hold me again, she says,
Don't let me go.

--The Caretaker

TCC for 2/13/08

The Caretaker's Concern 2/13/08
Ghetto temp. 50 F. and steady.
Island tmp. 29 F. Yesterday's L/H: 13/24 F.
Current conditions: Occasional snow/sleet/freezing rain. Mild wind from somewhere...

It started as snow last night, come the morning it switch to sleet, eventually going on to freezing rain. Come the evening it switched around between the three. Quite a bit of freezing rain though, the Caretaker spent most of the day in the Ghetto trying to get caught up on thank you notes that are long overdo. When the wind would pick up, ice from the tree limbs over the Ghetto would come crashing down on the roof. He did get out and about on the Island for a while to take some photos of the freezing rain build up on the trees, bushes, etc. The freezing rain brought down a few branches. While the Caretaker was out taking photographs, one rather large tree limb came down from the maple on the South East shoreline of the Island. The Caretaker was glad to not be under it. However, the Caretaker was not glad about the loss of this limb from the maple, this tree has been taking quite a beating over the years. At the rate it's going, it may only have a few years left, that is if it keeps losing limbs. It would be a real shame for this tree to go, its splay of foliage is quite nice in the Summer, and come the Autumn, it is quite gorgeous. The Caretaker would describe it to you, but instead he has decided to rely on a photograph:


Quite a smash of red.

In other news, the Caretaker is gearing up to make his way to the mainland tomorrow, hopefully the ice will cooperate and not break apart. He's running low on both kerosene and propane, it would be good if he could pick some up tomorrow. The only hurdle, if there is one, is getting from the Island to the ice, that is where it is most likely to be the thinest. Once away from the Island, some four to eight feet, the ice should be plenty thick. It has been about two weeks since the Caretaker has been to the mainland. However, he can't say he hasn't seen anyone since then, two weekends ago he saw some Ice-fishermen, they were about 500 yards or so away from the Island on the ice, the Caretaker didn't speak to them or anything, but he did notice that they were out on the ice fishing. Aside from that he hasn't seen anyone, he has spoken to a few people on the phone, but other than that no other contact with people. The longest the Caretaker has gone without seeing anyone was during ice-out of his first Winter here on the Island, he went three and a half weeks without seeing anyone, that was two Winters ago. Anyway, and now for today's poem in honor of the coming Valentine's Day holiday:

"The Presence of Absence"

I need to know,
What it means
To let you go,
Through that door
For a while,
'Til you return my smile.

Heart grows dark when we part.
I miss you more and more,
By my side through the night,
I love to hear you sigh,
It's okay it's alright,
It's okay it's alright,

Until we say
Goodbye.

--The Caretaker

TCC for 2/12/08

The Caretaker's Concern 2/12/08
Ghetto temp. 54 F. and steady-ish.
Island tmp. 24 F. Yesterday's L/H: 7/20 F.
Current conditions: Snowing, little to no wind.

Last night might have been the coldest night on the Island this Winter, finally. As far as the Caretaker's eye can see (which isn't very far) the Lake has iced over, finally. How long will it last? Who knows. In honor of the Lake fully freezing over (at least freezing over local to the Island, there are probably parts North on the Lake that have still not iced over, anyway), the Caretaker has attached a few extra photos to this update. When the Caretaker first got out of bed this morning he took a peek out the door of the Ghetto and saw a lot of steam rising from the Lake. Steam means that the air is colder than the water, which meant that there was still open water. This did not please the Caretaker. So, instead of immediately getting dressed and going out and about on the Island the Caretaker went back to bed for a short while. Eventually the Caretaker got out of bed, did his 20 minute regiment of Free-form T'ai-Chi in the Ghetto, then got dressed to go for breakfast. He stepped outside of the Ghetto, glanced at the Lake then turned to go into the main house to gather his breakfast. Before he did so the message from his eyes got through to his brain, he took another look at the Lake--little to no steam. AH-HA! No steam means no open water. So instead of going for breakfast the Caretaker went back into the Ghetto for his camera, and thus the attached photos. The light wasn't so hot for photography but at least you can finally see the Lake iced over. When the photos were taken this morning there was still a little bit of steaming rising off the Lake, this was fresh ice.

This last part to freeze over probably won't be safe to travel on for at least another day so the Caretaker will not be heading over to the East shore just yet. Also, the weather report for Wednesday calls for snow, then sleet, possibly freezing rain, then snow again. Friday doesn't look so good for the ice either. Either way, hopefully the Caretaker will be able to ski over to the East shore by the end of this weekend or early next week.

Originally the Caretaker was thinking of going over to the mainland today, but decided to put it off until Thursday which is supposed to be a clear sunny day. So instead of going to the mainland today the Caretaker stayed in the Ghetto working on his photography portfolio of photo-cards, hopefully he will make some sales this Thursday.

In other news, for those of you who are into both The Grateful Dead and Jazz music, you might want to check out this week's broadcast of the radio program "The Grateful Dead Hour" they will be broadcasting Sabertooth's version of a Grateful Dead song. What that song is the Caretaker can't remember and he doesn't have handy the album of the Sabertooth album the song is listed on. For those who don't know, Sabertooth is a jazz band thus the song is a jazz version of a Grateful Dead song. To see if the Grateful Dead hour is broadcast in your area use the following link:

http://www.gdhour.com/stations.html

If the show is not broadcast in your area it can probably be heard via the internet from the above website or something. For those of you who are not familiar with Sabertooth, you can learn a bit about the band by clicking on their link on the left side of this blog, it's listed under "Favorite Links". For those not interested in clicking on the link, the following is an excerpt from a review of Sabertooth's latest CD "Dr. Midnight..."

"I don't think I've ever experienced a live recording where I've become as directly involved in the music as I did on this disc. When it comes right down to it Sabertooth's Dr. Midnight Live At The Green Mill is an exhilarating jazz party. Everybody, including the band, are having such a good time that it's impossible not to get caught up in the excitement of the moment. There's nothing quite like listening to live jazz until the sun comes up, and if you can't be there in person, this disc is the next best thing."

To read the full review:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/music/chi-ovn_1130gemsnov30,0,4586712.story

At least this is where the Caretaker thinks the full review is, if you haven't noticed by now, the Caretaker's filing system is lacking, to say the least. Why is the Caretaker offering up this information about Sabertooth? First and foremost they're a dang good Jazz band, secondly the Caretaker's cousin plays sax in Sabertooth, info on the Caretaker's cousin can be found under Favorite Links, he's the "Jazz Sax Master", which, for the record, is a moniker that the Caretaker gave him, his cousin is way too modest to run around calling himself that. The Caretaker thinks it's funny, but it is also true, don't believe it? Go to The Green Mill in Chicago any Saturday night and you can find out for yourself.

Lastly, today's poem in honor of Valentine's Day is actually an excerpt from a song that the Caretaker came up with sometime last summer, someday he'll get around to recording it and posting it on his myspace page.

"Growing Growing"

Know that the weather is only getting better
As the rain pours down.
We're still together and that's all that matters
While we wait it out.

Stormy hearts, can blow it all away.
Feel the calm, sure to make us safe.

Know that it's better when we are together
As life carries on.
We're still together and that's all that matters
And growing strong.

Hard at times, nothing we can't take.
Made in love, a bond we should not break.

Hold me now,
Say that I should,
Lay me down,
Show how Love
Is growing now
And always, all ways growing
Growing strong.

--The Caretaker

TCC for 2/11/08

The Caretaker's Concern 2/11/08
Ghetto temp. 55 F. and steady, mostly.
Island tmp. 16 F. Yesterday's L/H: 10/32 F.
Current conditions: Light East wind from up the Narrows. Clear star filled sky.

Quite a bit of wind today from the North, it has mostly died down now. The night is bright with stars, only about a quarter of the moon is aglow, quite a bit of light but not enough to drown out the brilliance of the stars. The recent cold has been good for the ice, but not so good for the Caretaker's feet, the floor of the Ghetto gets cold and it reaches through his boots. It is but a small price to pay if it means that someday soon he will be able to ski across the ice to the East shore--which will hopefully happen someday soon. Still a large swath of open water off the North East corner of the Island. The Caretaker was originally planning to make his way over to the mainland tomorrow and get behind the wheel of his car (assuming it starts) to take care of some errands, but given the forecast for snow he may hold off until Thursday. Also, much of the ice immediately surrounding the Island is either still a bit dicey or the open water cuts off access to the mainland. Hopefully come tomorrow morning the ice will be more willing to hold.

Not much else to report from here on the Island. In other news, today's Valentine's Day poem is perhaps best described as experimental.

"Sweet My Sweet"

Sweet My Sweet,
How does the wind blow a lilly,
When the heart weeps for a scent
That catches the mind in a dream?

Always across oceans
Love is spent on rings and roses,
Feelings and whispers, serious and silly.

Your love casts a line that reaches deep,
Draws in tight to my heart,
Making feelings complete.

Together we swim in and out of,
Over and under, above and below,
And all around each other
In the eternal joys we reap.

--The Caretaker

TCC for 2/10/08

The Caretaker's Concern 2/10/08
Ghetto temp. 47 F. and rising.
Island tmp. 20 F. Yesterday's L/H: 28/31 F.
Current conditions: Light snow, wind from the South mostly mild, occasional gusts from the West to North West.

The day started out mostly mild, even quite a bit of sun and sky, but then the wind began to pick up from the West shore. Blustery at times. Occasional snow falls, late afternoon there was a snow squall. Dark, thick clouds, high winds, blowing snow, etc. Overall a quiet day for the Caretaker, some outside work in the morning, some inside work in the afternoon. In the morning before the wind picked up, out on the Boathouse South dock in the sun it was rather pleasant, such that the Caretaker decided to engage in some Free-Form T'ai-Chi Ch'uan. This is the Caretaker's own brand of T'ai-Chi, unlike traditional methods of T'ai-Chi; Free-Form is not intended to be meditative, not that it can't be, but the focus of Free-Form T'ai-Chi is activity for both the body and the mind. What is Free-Form T'ai-Chi? The movements of Free-Form are similar to traditional in execution but that is about it. There are no set moves, you continually make them up as you go along. Having to continually make up the moves serves to stimulate the mind, thus not just providing exercise to the body, but also the mind. The Caretaker will expand upon this at another time.

In honor of Valentine's Day this week, the Caretaker has decided to include some "poems" in the posts leading up to the holiday. Some of the poems are from year's past, others will be new. The intent will be to cover some of the many aspects of love, this first one dwells on a cynical view of love. Should you be in need of some nice sentiments for the one you love, and have yet to come up with something, by all means, feel free to make use of what you read here over the next few days--that is if you should find them worthy enough to repeat. If you'd like, use them whole or in part, or as inspiration. If you'd like, pass them off as your own (for personal use only), or perhaps, the more likely, for comic relief. Whatever you do, be sure to have a happy Valentine's day and do whatever it takes to make it special. The Caretaker does not recommend the following poem as a "sweet nothing" to share with your loved one, but being the first of the week today he decided it would be best to dispense with it at the beginning.

"Love Is So"

Love is language,
debated.
Love is bondage,
overrated.

Love is so erogenous,
so fluid.
Love is so ambiguous,
so stupid.

Love is joy,
all the anger.
Love is coy,
all the stranger.

Love is so plenty when new.
Love is so much to so many.
Love true,
Happens so few.

--The Caretaker

TCC for 2/9/08

The Caretaker's Concern 2/9/08
Ghetto temp. 44 F. and rising.
Island tmp. 31 F. Yesterday's L/H: 23/29 F.
Current conditions: mild breeze from the South 5 to 10 mph, light sleet.

Colder temperatures of late have iced over much of the open water. Hopefully the trend will continue. For the first half of the day the Caretaker spent his time organizing and cleaning things up outside. For the later half of the day he spent his time cooking. One of the things he did was to do some cleaning out of the refrigerator. He came across a tub of crumbled blue cheese. The Caretaker rarely if ever eats real blue cheese by choice, big fan of the dressing with hot foods, etc. but the real deal? Eh. Soooo, obviously this blue cheese is left over from some time in the Summer, chances are the "freshest" it could be is from late September. The Caretaker's first thought was to just throw it out, he wouldn't be too inclined to eat "fresh" blue cheese, even less inclined to eat "aged" blue cheese. Then a question came to him, does blue cheese go bad? or does it just get "bluer"? Doesn't blue cheese start out "bad"? So this blue cheese, at least 5 months old is actually better? The Caretaker has yet to come up with an answer to this, and so he has decided to keep the blue cheese. He doesn't anticipate getting a hankering for blue cheese anytime soon, however, if it does prove to be safe to eat, and should things here on the Island get dire, the blue cheese might not be such a bad thing after all. It could prove to be quite handy for flavoring rice.

"When things GET dire?" you ask. No running water, marginal heat, sequestered on an Island during ice-in, when do things GET dire? When the Caretaker, in desperate need of something for dessert, and nothing else is left but cool-aid and rice, cooks some rice in cool-aid and eats it as dessert, which would probably follow a meal of rice cooked with "aged" blue cheese. However, the Caretaker is a long way off from being that desperate. In fact, just today the Caretaker cooked up a big batch of potato, corn chowder. Well, he was only mildly desperate today, not for having to make chowder from corn and potatoes, in fact it was a soup base that his step-mother was kind enough to give him, thank you, rather he was mildly desperate because one of the ingredients needed for the chowder was milk. The Caretaker has no milk on the Island, so in it's place the Caretaker whipped up some rice milk from scratch and used that instead. Certainly not as creamy as dairy milk, but the rice milk certainly worked well enough. If he wanted something creamier, he could have made soy milk from scratch, if he had planned ahead, but he didn't, and he didn't want to wait the 8 hours it takes to soak the soybeans before the soy milk can be made. So, he made rice milk and made the chowder with that, the Caretaker will be enjoying this chowder for the next few days, it should keep him from having to try the blue cheese.

So after the Caretaker finished cleaning up from his cooking and mealing, mealing? Why not? "Eating" is so... the last some odd thousand years or so. Now a days, those who really enjoyed their food: "mealed"

For example, the phone rings:
"Hi, I'm calling from the United Divided Workers for the Gainfully Unemployed, are you familiar with our cause?"
"Can you call back at another time? I'm mealing."
"Oh, sorry to interrupt, please enjoy your meal. I'll call at another time. Good-bye."

Or:

"So, how was dinner at your in-laws?"
"Good."
"Good? How good?"
"It was mealy."

Anyway, you get the point, not sure if the Caretaker does, but that's for another time. So the Caretaker finished with the dishes, was he dishing? Meh. Right. After cleaning up the Caretaker replenished his kitchen water supply, then got rid of the waste water. While out for the water it had begun to snow. There was little to no wind and it was a light to moderate snow, what the Caretaker would call a pleasant snow. It almost seems to give off a warmth.
A maker of quiet moments,
Beautiful white, blankets the ground.
This most pleasant downfall
Wonderfully surrounds.

--The Caretaker