TCC for 2/28/08

The Caretaker's Concern 2/28/08
Ghetto temp. 42 F. and rising.
Island tmp. 14 F. (as of 7 p.m.) Yesterday's L/H: 11.5/No high, it just got colder.
Current conditions: Clear star filled sky, wind from the Narrows 5 to 10 mph.

The Caretaker awoke this morning to a Ghetto at 60 degrees F. which was quite a surprise to him given the cold temperature the night before. Luckily for the Caretaker there was little to no wind so there was little to no heat loss. Given that the Ghetto is like a sieve, well, there's no simile about it, if you turned the Ghetto upside down and dumped a bucket of pasta in it all you'd have is the pasta, the water would strain out. In the Summer months the draftiness of the Ghetto is great, and since the Ghetto was originally built to be occupied only in the Summer months the Caretaker has nothing to complain about, and so he doesn't.

The plan for today was to go hike up Shelving Rock, however the Caretaker got a later start than he originally planned. Before embarking on the Shelving Rock field-trip the Caretaker skied out to Dome to get started on a project involving that Island. Due to the need for Sunlight he was only able to complete half of the project, the rest would have to wait for the afternoon. The Caretaker returned to the Island to pack up his gear for the trip up Shelving. While out on skis in the morning he took note of the poor snow conditions for x-c skis, the snow was a super fine powder providing little to no float for his x-c skis. Much of the time his skis were completely below the ice moving across the slush layer which provides little to no glide. The powder would have been great on a ski hill, but the Lake is decidedly flat, so the Caretaker decided that snowshoes would be the better option for Shelving Rock. After packing up his gear and sled the Caretaker hit the ice and headed across to the East shore. Having to cut his own trail the entire way across, it was rather slow going, the float on the snow for his snowshoes was certainly an improvement over his skis, but nothing too spectacular. The wind was at his back most of the way over, so that at least was in his favor. By the time the Caretaker made it to the East shore he was already a bit tuckered out, truth be told, the snow conditions are not solely to blame for the slow going, the Caretaker is woefully out of shape.

After taking a break of water and some trail-mix the Caretaker headed up to Shelving Falls, given his late start he decided it would be a good idea to time himself getting up to the falls. Once at the falls and after doing the math, the Caretaker realized that if he was going to make it to the top of Shelving Rock he would have to continue nonstop and by the time he got there he would have to immediately turn around and come back in order to make it back to the Island before nightfall. Not that the Caretaker has a problem with traveling the ice at night, but to go to the top only to have to immediately come down, with no time to relax at the top and enjoy the view seemed rather pointless so the Caretaker instead decided to hang around a bit at the Falls and see what photos could be taken. After boiling water for a cup of tea (Spicy Ginger Mate), which he then consumed and enjoyed thoroughly, he started tromping around the Shelving Falls area. The Caretaker took a few photos but nothing of real value.

The return trip was a little bit easier going because the Caretaker could follow his tracks back, however with the wind blowing the snow all day, much of his tracks were filled in with snow by the time he started back to the Island. The wind had shifted and so again it was at his back, mostly, and so he did have that in his favor. It never hurts to have the wind at your back both coming and going.

At times the wind was blowing pretty good taking a lot of snow with it. Many times the Caretaker would stop and watch the drifting snow race across the surface. In some ways it was rather hypnotizing, this river of snow crystals, a river as broad as the Lake. The snow following the currents of the wind, wispping left at times, right at times, creating long continuous "S's". Watching at his feet as one racing snow crystal is stopped by another at rest, sending the one at rest on its way, the one now at rest not long to be so as another from behind collides with it, a process repeating over and over all across the Lake. Small piles of snow building at windward and diminishing at the lee, the wind building up and breaking down these snow piles all across the Lake, all at the same time. A continually moving and changing work of snow sculpture, carved by the wind. As the Caretaker neared the Island, the Sun was just beginning to set, casting a golden glow over this wind blown river of snow.

By the time the Caretaker returned to the Island the Sun had fallen behind the hills of the West shore. The Caretaker entered the Ghetto at a temperature of 25 degrees F. By the time he finally turned in for the night, he was only able to get the Ghetto up to about 45 degrees, too bad he had no pasta.

--The Caretaker

TCC for 2/27/08

The Caretaker's Concern 2/27/08
Ghetto temp. 50 F. and rising, for now.
Island tmp. low teens. Yesterday's L/H: 30/31.5 F.
Current conditions: Cloud covered sky, occasional wind gusts varying from the North and East. Cold and getting colder.

The Caretaker does not have the current temperature because he does not want to go outside to check the thermometer. It is probably somewhere in the teens, it is due to go down to around Zero F. The Ghetto is not insulated, and drafty, the Caretaker would prefer to retain as much heat as possible by not opening the door to go outside and check the temperature. Also, there is no photo from today, the above photos are from days past. It has been a driving snow all day long, the wind coming from the Narrows, blowing at a pretty good clip non-stop. The Caretaker did not feel like taking his camera out in the snow storm. However, if all goes well he will make up for today's lack of daily photo tomorrow. The first photo is of the top of Shelving Rock, the Caretaker's plan is to cross the Lake to the East shore and snowshoe to the top, tomorrow is forecast to be a clear sunny day, hopefully some good photos will be taken.

Not much to report today, the Caretaker dragged a ton of laundry over to his car this afternoon. He decided not to go to town to do laundry today. Instead he dropped it off at his car and then shoveled out the snow from around his car. While skiing over to the mainland the Caretaker saw a ice fisherman, well, technically it could have been a ice fisherwoman, but not likely. Not that women don't go ice fishing, but usually they have enough sense to not go sit on the ice over an ice hole in a snowstorm with winds of 10 to 20 mph, so, most likely it was a ice fisherman that the Caretaker saw while skiing over to the mainland. Some may say that the Caretaker is crazy for living on an Island in the Winter with no running water and marginal heat, but ice fishing in a snowstorm? Either that guy was very hungry, has very, very few chances to go ice fishing, or he and his wife don't get along all that much, then again, it may just be the the guy is about as crazy as the Caretaker. Whatever the case may have been the Caretaker did not go find out, his only plan was to keep moving until he got to his destination. After dropping off his laundry and shoveling out his car the Caretaker skied back to the Island and began making preparations for his field trip tomorrow.

--The Caretaker

TCC for 2/26/08

The Caretaker's Concern 2/26/08
Ghetto temp. 43 F. and rising.
Island tmp. 29 F. Yesterday's L/H: 27/34 F.
Current conditions: Dense cloud coverage, snowing mildly, subtle wind from the East.

The snow began this morning and has been going pretty much nonstop, varying in intensity but overall it's been nothing but snow. In the afternoon the Caretaker decided he was in need of some exercise so he slapped on his skis and headed out on to the ice, he didn't get very far. After about 30 yards or so he turned back. Much of the snow from this storm is the damp heavy kind which is the one type of snow that sticks to the Caretaker's wax-less x-c skis. When the snow sticks to the skis it is no longer x-c skiing, instead it is walking with two heavy boards on your feet. Fun? Not so much. However, the Caretaker was not going out on the ice just to for exercise, his plan was to head over to his car to get a jump on snow removal. So, not wanting to have to walk, which is much slower than x-c skiing, the Caretaker decided he would try to slick his skis, not having any proper wax he thought he'd try spraying them with vegetable oil. Unfortunately the spray oil from the kitchen was too cold to flow through the nozzle. Not to be deterred the Caretaker grabbed a tub of vegetable shortening and a paper towel and headed out to his skis. After rubbing them down with the shortening the Caretaker headed back out on to the ice. The shortening was quite effective, unfortunately at about half the distance to the mainland the shortening wore away leaving the Caretaker with no other option but to walk the rest of the way with two boards on his feet.

Hopefully this snow will freeze up tonight making for better skiing conditions tomorrow. The Caretaker is hoping to be able to ski to town tomorrow to do some laundry. It has been awhile since the Caretaker has washed his clothes and he is starting to run low on long underwear.

--The Caretaker

TCC for 2/25/08

The Caretaker's Concern 2/25/08
Ghetto temp. 52 F. and rising.
Island tmp. 28 F. Yesterday's L/H: 12/27 F.
Current conditions: Mostly clear night, light bit of haze, rather dark. Mild wind from the South.

Mostly an uneventful day for the Caretaker, which is a good thing, his trip to Albany came off without a hitch, more or less. It was a two Martini lunch with S. and friends, when the Caretaker got back to the office his coworkers were a touch less than pleased with his performance at the monthly meeting, but the Caretaker doesn't care what the board thinks. Office politics, who needs 'em? Then again, when the board consists of a member of one, the office politics are rather easy to manage. Overall not much to report, the Caretaker pretty much spent the entire day on the mainland. However, he did score 105 pounds of propane, that should keep the Ghetto warm for awhile.

Today's top photo was taken at night with the use of a flashlight, the technic is called "painting with light", at least the is what the Caretaker read in a photography magazine awhile back. Weather report calls for a good amount of snow tomorrow--goody, goody, gumdrops. If all goes well the Caretaker will be skiing around on the East shore come Wednesday. Then again, most of the weather reports for this area this season have been less than accurate. So, tomorrow will be what tomorrow will be.

--The Caretaker

TCC for 2/24/08

The Caretaker's Concern 2/24/08
Ghetto temp. 51 F. and rising.
Island tmp. 25 F. Yesterday's L/H: 9.5/26 F.
Current conditions: mostly clear. wind from the South, 5 to 10 mph.

For those who are interested the Caretaker has finally gotten around to writing and posting the reports for the past 8 or 9 days. He apologizes for not getting them out in a timely manner. It is highly suggested that if you are interested in reading these late reports that you begin with the report from February 14th and work your way forward. To the left is an archive, by clicking on the date the corresponding report will open.

Here are a few of the "highlights" from some of the reports from the 14th to today:

Caretaker spends 5 to 6 hours getting his car out of the snow and running.
Caretaker stays inside most of the day to avoid the ice raining from trees.
Caretaker stays inside most of the day to work on his portfolio.
Caretaker runs mild risk of being blown by the wind across the ice.
Caretaker tromps around in water soaked boots, car battery goes dead again.
Caretaker pulled over by police; sees a man get tazered; lunch with S.
Caretaker watches Moonrise from mainland, Eclipse from the ice.
Caretaker fails to repair car for inspection, successful at repairing phone line.

All of the above and more can be read about in the reports from 2/14/08 to 2/23/08. And now, without further adieu, today's report:

It seems as though the phone line has repaired itself over night, thus the Caretaker is able to send out new reports. How soon until the phone line breaks itself again? Who knows? Who cares? The phone company's automated system did call the Caretaker's cell phone to confirm the appointment for tomorrow is still on. The Caretaker has decided to cancel it, he needs to get down to Albany tomorrow. After tomorrow the phone company can repair (or not repair) the line whenever they see fit. Just to note, in the future, should the line breakdown again, the Caretaker will try and make a point to write the reports on a daily basis and put them up on the blog en masse whenever he gets on-line on the mainland. Also, the Caretaker has received some comments on the blog, he apologizes for not being able to respond right away to those asking for a response. The Caretaker has been busy of late, but once this report goes up he will provide a response, at least try to, to be honest, he is not completely sure how to respond, but he'll figure it out. As far as comments go, the Caretaker does appreciate them and he encourages you fine readers to make them, but please do not be offended if you do not receive a response right away.

The Caretaker woke up this morning to a Ghetto temperature of 37 degrees F. It seems as though 3000 btu's is not enough heat to keep the Ghetto warm, at least not on a night with a low of 9 F. For tonight the Caretaker has switched heaters thus boosting the btu's, this should keep the Ghetto at a warmer temperature, if not, he will have to go back to kerosene, which means he will have to come up with permanent solutions to the problems he has been having with the kerosene heater. Stupid heater.

The Caretaker stepped out of the Ghetto this morning to Lake effect snow falling from the sky. The combination of cold air, high humidity, and open water around the docks resulted in a mild dusting of snow crystals, each about a quarter inch in size, give or take, blanketing the trees and the Island. The Caretaker had intended on getting some photos of these sizable crystals, but he was side tracked by a phone call and by the time he got back outside, the sunlight had melted all of the new fallen snow.

The Caretaker skied over to the mainland to drop off one last empty propane tank at his car and install a battery kill switch to his car battery. The kill switch will make it much easier for the Caretaker to manage the car's electrical problem until he can get it fixed properly. Before heading back to the Island the Caretaker got involved in a political discussion of sorts with G., this went on for at least a half an hour or so. The overall consensus seems to be that choices for Vice President is going to have a large impact upon who people will vote for, at least as far as the Caretaker is concerned.

It was a sunny clear day, a bit of wind out of the South but nothing too chilling. Quite a number of people out ice fishing and others snowmobiling or AtV-ing. As a child the Caretaker did his fair share of snowmobiling, now a days he does not care for the noise, at least not the noise of the 2-stroke's, the 4-stroke's seem to be much quieter, which is a good thing, however the Caretaker would want one that has no engine noise, until then, the Caretaker will continue to enjoy his cross-country skis. Today's photos are of the North end of Dome island, the bottom photo is of the ice pile up, it is about 6 feet high, unfortunately it is covered with an inch or so of snow so the ice is not all too visible. It's looking like the Caretaker will now be able to ski over to the East shore, yipp-ee. After tomorrow he will make a point to get over there and start going through the mountains there. Then again, if he gets back from Albany early enough, perhaps he'll ski over there tomorrow.

--The Caretaker

TCC for 2/23/08

The Caretaker's Concern 2/23/08
Ghetto temp. 40 F. and rising, slowly
Island tmp. 23 F. Yesterday's L/H: 21.5/23 F.
Current conditions: Mostly clear night, some clouds off to the East. Mild wind from the North East.

It turns out that the Caretaker did not fix the phone line, that is why this report did not go out in a timely manner (the same for yesterday's report). The phone company's automated phone service claims a repair person will be here Monday, the Caretaker is not holding his breath. There is a strong possibility that the phone company may not be willing to send a repair person across the ice to the Island, which would mean that the Caretaker will be without internet service on the Island for either a little while, or for the duration of the winter. If such is the case, the Caretaker will not be able to send out reports everyday, however, he will still make a point to write the reports and put them up on the blog whenever he can get on line.

The day started out very dense with clouds, much of the morning was rather dark with a bit of wind from the Narrows making for a cold feeling morning. Come the afternoon the clouds began to give way, and so too the wind. The Caretaker spent the day on the Island doing a bit of tidying up, he thought about going out on the ice on his x-c skis, but thinking about it is as far as he got. Come nightfall the Caretaker did walk out on to the ice to check the conditions, the snow has caused a slush layer in some places, hopefully the slush layer is not wide spread on the ice.

--The Caretaker

TCC for 2/22/08

The Caretaker's Concern 2/22/08
Ghetto temp. 47 F. and rising, hopefully.
Island tmp. 22 F. Yesterday's L/H: 20/24 F.
Current conditions: Sky completely cloud covered, no wind.

Today's snow storm that seemed to cause a bit of trouble in NYC and the tri-state area, only brought about 3 inches of snow here on the Island and Lake. It is a super fine powder that will probably blow away in the wind. It snowed all day, at times creating total whiteout conditions. Nothing too severe for too long, but for the most part the East shore was not visible for most if not all of the day. It's good to have the snow, too bad there isn't more of it. The Caretaker thought about going out for a ski on the Ice, but not knowing where is compass was and not feeling like looking for it he decided to pass on going for a ski. During snow storms it is always good to have a compass while out on the Lake, when you can't see either shore, you don't know where you are nor which direction you are going in. Sure you can follow your tracks back, but if it is snowing hard enough to fill in your tracks or the wind is blowing enough to wipe away your tracks you won't be going anywhere fast. So the Caretaker decided to save x-c skiing on the Ice for another day.

The Caretaker has still not picked up more fuel, he is running low on both propane and kerosene. The low quantity of kerosene does not bother him because he is seriously thinking about abandoning his kerosene heater, he is having too many problems with it. Although, to do this he must then rely more on propane, he is down to two 40 pound tanks, which should give him at least another week of heat, perhaps more. If all goes well, the Caretaker will be able to pick up more propane this coming Monday. In the meantime the Caretaker has switched over from his propane stove to his alcohol stove for heating tea-water in the Ghetto. This switch has not resulted in a compromise of the Caretaker's living situation. For those of you who are familiar with the traditional style alcohol burning backpacking stoves, you are well aware of the rather middling performance of such stoves. The Caretaker does not own one of those, if you are interested in ultra-light hiking, or just like to keep things simple, the Caretaker highly recommends the Brasslight brand of alcohol backpacking stove. It is a brilliant little device, the model that the Caretaker owns has just one moving part, and if it breaks or breaks off, the stove is still highly functional. The Caretaker won't go into further detail about this stove, you can find out all you want about it at the company's website:

http://www.brasslite.com

The Caretaker will share this about the stove, essentially it burns alcohol in a blowtorch fashion, thus burning much hotter (or at least much more effective) than traditional alcohol stoves. The Caretaker has owned this stove for some 5 or 6 years and it has yet to fail him. So, other than shifting around his heat sources and use of fuels, the Caretaker spent much of the day doing little else of interest.

--The Caretaker