TCC 2/19/08

The Caretaker's Concern 2/19/08
Ghetto temp. 51 F. and rising slowly
Island tmp. 26 F. Yesterday's L/H: ?/45 F. Caretaker missed the low.
Current conditions: Mostly clear, occasional clouds, occasional wind from the West.

The day started out well enough for the Caretaker, then it went South, then it got weird, then it got good, and then it got quiet. The Caretaker had to go to the big city of Albany to drop off a ton images at the photo printer he uses for prints to be made so he can fill out his portfolio. After that he was to meet up with S. for lunch at Justin's. The Caretaker had dropped a memory card in S.'s car the last time he was down in Albany, luckily S. found it. The Caretaker also had to give S. a belated birthday gift for L. and so lunch at Justin's is where the exchange would take place. After lunch the Caretaker would head back North, take care of a few errands and then return to the Island. At least that was the plan for the day.

The Caretaker woke up very early, took a shower, got his things together and skied over to the mainland, reattached his car battery and bumped on down the road. In less then 10 seconds of turning onto the main road a police officer drove by in the opposite direction. Just before the officer passed a piece of ice from the Caretaker's windshield flew off towards the path of the officer's car. The officer passed without incident. However, the Caretaker expected the officer to turn around, so the Caretaker didn't go racing down the road and sure enough, in a few minutes the officer was behind the Caretaker with his lights flashing. The Caretaker pulled over. The Caretaker is not omniscient.

This piece of ice that flew off of the Caretaker's windshield was placed there strategically, the intent was to cover up the car's out of date inspection sticker. However, as stated above, it probably worked the exact opposite and ended up drawing attention to the out of date inspection sticker rather than concealing it. The Caretaker was hoping to pull off the Albany trip and then take care of his car's inspection problem. In the end the officer was kind enough to let the Caretaker go without giving him a ticket. The Caretaker then decided that perhaps it would be best to pop into the closest garage, have the car go through inspection, (knowing it will fail), get a failed inspection sticker and then continue on down to Albany. The Caretaker was born an raised in New Jersey, he has only been a legal resident of New York for three years, this is the first time he has had to deal with his car not passing inspection. After the car went through inspection the Caretaker learned that unlike New Jersey, New York state no longer issues failed inspection stickers, instead they just scrape your old inspection sticker leaving you with nothing.

Ha-ha.

Ah, but it gets better, the Caretaker expected his car to fail inspection because his exterior door handle does not work. After learning that his out of date inspection sticker had been removed, leaving him with nothing, the Caretaker was informed that his car would have passed inspection if only the door handle was broken. Apparently working door handles are not a part of the safety inspection, which would have been great if that was all that was wrong with the Caretaker's car. Instead the mechanic produced a list of some 6 items that needed to be repaired before the car could pass inspection--none of which could be accomplished in a short period of time. So the Caretaker paid his 10 bucks, said thank you and went on his way. He figured that if he got pulled over again on his way to Albany he would show the officer the paperwork on why his car failed and that he just learned of it today, blah, blah, blah. Luckily the Caretaker never got pulled over again this day. This might have been in part because after meeting with S. for lunch he drove straight back to the Island foregoing his other errands.

After the Caretaker dropped off the images at the printer, he decided he would stop in at a repair shop that specialized in German cars, the shop is behind the Honest Weight Food Co-op, so after looking into the Car he would be able to pick up a few things from the Co-op. En route, just after passing the Armory on Lark street the Caretaker saw a collection of police cars parked at the side of the road. Behind him an officer had his lights on to pass, the Caretaker pulled over, while stopped two or three more police cars came whipping around corners all converging at this one spot. The Caretaker was quite sure that there would not be this much show of force just because he was driving with no inspection sticker, so when it looked safe to pass he pulled around the collection of police cars to continue on his way. While passing he noticed that three or four police officers were in the middle of subduing a man. Two of the officers had the man's arms behind his back seemingly trying to work him to the ground. Then the Caretaker heard a loud buzzing sound, immediately followed by loud painful screams from the man. The Caretaker quickly realized that while driving by in his car he saw a man get tazered by the police. It neither looked nor sounded like fun. The Caretaker then brought his attention back to driving. Going down the road, life became surreal. Stunned, he kept going straight. It never occurred to him to turn around and watch the rest of the events unfold on these mean streets of Albany.

Lunch went well. It was good to see S. and some of his friends. After lunch the Caretaker drove back to the Island. After disconnecting the battery of his car he skied back to the Island. It was nightfall by this time and the moon had risen. The Caretaker dropped off his gear in the Ghetto and headed out on to the ice with his camera and tripod. It was mostly a quiet night but the ice was a bit unsettled. There was one crack that buckled his knees. This made the Caretaker smile at his insignificance.

--The Caretaker

TCC for 2/18/08

The Caretaker's Concern 2/18/08
Ghetto temp. 54 F. and steady.
Island tmp. 35 F. Yesterday's L/H: 27/30 F.
Current conditions: Calm at Island level, steady West winds aloft, mix of clouds and stars. Bright moon light.

Given the blast of warm weather today the Caretaker spent much of the morning working on things outside that are all that much more difficult when it is below freezing out. It was like a day right out of early spring. The one important thing the Caretaker was able to do in the morning was to remove most all of the ice from the steps to the main house, due to the mix of snow and freezing rain of late the steps had long since ceased being steps, rather they had become an icy ramp. Granted it was a ramp of just two steps, but they had become difficult to navigate and rather treacherous.

In the afternoon the Caretaker threw on his skis and went over to the mainland to shovel out some of the snow from around his car so he could then make his way to the Post Office and take care of a few things in town. Due to the warm weather there was an immense amount of water and slush on the ice, at times it was three inches deep, it was more like water skiing than x-c skiing. About halfway across the Caretaker realized that he needed to waterproof his ski boots again. His feet were pretty well soaked by the time he made it to the mainland, however given the warm weather his feet weren't so cold to be uncomfortable. After removing his skis the Caretaker sloshed in his boots to his car. After he messed around with the snow shovel for a while he got in his car and started it up. Unfortunately he made it about 20 feet and then got stuck. He had backed into the neighbors driveway so he could face forward while driving out of the main drive to the road, unfortunately the driveway was icy and there was a hump that the Caretaker backed over, when he went to drive forward his car would not come back over the hump, his tires just spun uselessly. The Caretaker turned the wheels in the direction he wanted the car to go and then got out to try and push, this was much less effective than he had hoped. So he got back in the car, then the engine died. Why that happened he wasn't sure so he turned the key to start the engine, nothing.

Silence. The Caretaker having already gone through this a few days ago, was not too pleased, especially now that his car was blocking the neighbors driveway. The Caretaker knocked on G.'s door but received no answer, since all his cars were there the Caretaker figured that G. was out on the ice. Having no other alternative the Caretaker let himself into G.'s garage to look for a come-a-long. The Caretaker found one and then returned to his car to winch it over the hump. After getting things set up, he worked the winch a few times, then it occurred to him that perhaps this wasn't such a good idea. At the moment the Caretaker's car was blocking a driveway, but not the main drive to the road, if he winched his car over the hump and into the main drive but couldn't move it from there his car would then be blocking all traffic. This would be bad in more way's than one. Getting over the hump wasn't the only dilemma, he also had to contend with a dead battery. So the Caretaker stopped working the winch and allowed the car to return to where it started. He then walked down the neighbor's driveway to see if anyone was there, no one was, so at least the Caretaker knew he wasn't blocking anyone in. Perhaps out but at least not in. With that settled the Caretaker returned to his car to figure out what to do next. In the end he decided there wasn't much else he could do other then try G.'s again to see if he was home, if not he would head out on to the ice to find him. The Caretaker needed to borrow his battery again. As it would turn out G. was home and had been the entire time, he was in the shower when the Caretaker first knocked. They chatted for a bit and then the Caretaker grabbed G.'s battery from the basement and repeated the process he used on Valentine's day. Once the Caretaker got his engine running and the batteries swapped, G. pulled his car passed the Caretaker's so he could tow the Caretaker's car out via a strap. This worked right quick. Then the Caretaker backed his car back into its usually parking space and shut it off. The Caretaker decided to pass on his trip to town, he had forgotten that it was President's day so the Post Office would be closed and the other errands he was going to do weren't all that important, besides, by this time his wet feet in his wet boots were starting to not feel so warm.

The Caretaker disconnected his battery and brought it into G.'s garage to put it on charge for the night. This way it would be good to go for his trip to Albany tomorrow. The return trip to the Island across the ice was even wetter than the trip to the mainland, upon arrival to the Island the Caretaker immediately changed his socks and boots--dry socks and boots never felt so good. Aside from getting things ready for his trip to Albany tomorrow, not much else happened.

Happy President's day! Gooooooo Presidents!

--The Caretaker

TCC for 2/17/08

The Caretaker's Concern 2/17/08
Ghetto temp. 50 F. and steady.
Island tmp. 32 F. Yesterday's L/H: 13/24.5 F.
Current conditions: Windy from the South and cold, but not cold enough--it's raining.

Today was mostly uneventful. The Caretaker spent much of the day in the Ghetto doing further work on images for his portfolio. Late afternoon the Caretaker skied over to the mainland to help G. hook up his new printer. Not far from the mainland the Caretaker noticed that some weather had rolled in, a bit of a mix of rain and sleet. After some heavy wrangling with G.'s somewhat antiquated computers the Caretaker was able to get the printer to work. After a few printouts the Caretaker decided it was time to head back to the Island, skiing in rain and sleet is not much fun.

By the time the Caretaker hit the ice for his return trip, the precipitation had stopped, but the wind had picked up considerably from the South. If the Caretaker wasn't careful he ran the risk of being blown down the Lake, which given the condition of the ice that would have most likely ended up being a rather wet and cold experience. Although there were a few times when the Caretaker did a bit of side-sliding due to the wind, he was able to either keep his position or make some headway and eventually made it back to the Island without incident. The Caretaker wasn't all that worried about being swept down the Lake. For those who are interested, should one ever find oneself in such a predicament as being swept down a frozen Lake here is what you do: If you have ski poles or ice spikes, fall to the ice, drive them into the ice to get ahold and lay flat until the wind lets up. If you have no poles or ice spikes, fall to the ice, splay yourself out flat and try catching an edge with both your boots and your elbows, drive the inside edge of your elbows into the ice--unless you can catch an edge with your hands, do not try to stop yourself with your hands. If neither of the above things work, well then the wind is blowing so strong that you're pretty much out of luck, so think pleasant thoughts and enjoy the ride for as long as you can.

Back at the Island, the Caretaker notices during his walk across the Island to the Ghetto that if the rain of late keeps up he won't have to worry about trying to skate on the Lake, he can just skate around on the Island. Meh.

--The Caretaker

TCC for 2/16/08

The Caretaker's Concern 2/16/08
Ghetto temp. 45 F. and steady.
Island tmp. 18 F. Yesterday's L/H: 14/32 F.
Current conditions: Still clear night.

The Caretaker spent much of the day inside the Ghetto doing further work on his portfolio. It was a mostly sunny day, but a bit of wind at times. Come the night the wind stopped and the sky remained clear. The Moon was out and bright, if there was more snow on the ice it would have been a great night for a moonlit ski. Conversely, if there was less snow on the ice it would have been a great night for ice skating by moonlight. It's looking like the Caretaker will have to clear off some snow to create a ice rink so he can go skating, maybe after the coming rain passes.

--The Caretaker

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