TCC for 3/3/08

The Caretaker's Concern 3/3/08
Ghetto temp. 50 F. and steady.
Island tmp. 35 F. Yesterday's L/H: 20/32 F.
Current conditions: Mostly clear night with a slight bit of haze, little to no wind.

The ski over to the mainland today was rather pleasant, it was the first time that the Caretaker was actually able to kick and glide. The return trip, due to the warm weather, was not so good--top layer of crusty snow, below mostly mush. If this warm weather keeps up ice-out will come much sooner than the Caretaker would like, at this rate there will be pleasure swimming in April and the Caretaker will switch from hot tea to iced.

--The Caretaker

TCC for 3/2/08

The Caretaker's Concern 3/02/08
Ghetto temp. 58 F. and steady.
Island tmp. 22 F. Yesterday's L/H: 21/30 F.
Current conditions: Mostly clear, little to no wind.

It was a clear bright morning with very little wind, some occasional gusts, the Caretaker skied out to Dome Island to finish up the project he started the other day. For those who are interested you may now view what it is the Caretaker has been working on over at Dome. Under "Favorite Links" to the left, at the bottom you will see a link labeled "YouTube", if you click on that you will be taken to the video that the Caretaker made, and for those of you who have not seen the Caretaker's previous work put up on YouTube you will be able to do so by clicking on the link for other videos by the Caretaker, it is labeled "Other Videos by WreckLooseIsland" or something like that.

Also, the Caretaker noticed that he had provided the wrong web address for the company that makes the alcohol stove he is so fond of, just above the YouTube link is a link to the company Brasslite, if lightweight backpacking is your thing you might want to check out their product.

The x-c skiing on the ice today was not much better than it has been these past few days, however, with the bright sun, it was rather warm. Eventually the Caretaker had to take off his jacket to keep from getting too hot--it was much like Spring skiing which is always nice. Other than skiing over by Dome the Caretaker went to the mainland to shovel out his car. The weather report calls for a mix of rain and freezing rain tomorrow, the Caretaker did not want the snow around his car to freeze in, especially since he has to go to Albany yet again. If he can he will go tomorrow, if not then hopefully Tuesday. Other than that not much else worth reporting on for today.

--The Caretaker

TCC for 3/1/08

The Caretaker's Concern 3/01/08
Ghetto temp. 50 F. and steady.
Island tmp. 20 F. Yesterday's L/H: Missed the low, not as cold as the previous two nights, but certainly not hot/17 F.
Current conditions: Mostly cloudy with occasional breaks into night sky, mostly mild wind from the South with occasional gusts to 20 mph.

A mostly uneventful day for the Caretaker. The weather was mild for the most part. Snow fall from last night accumulated about 4 to 6 inches. The snow stopped early in the morning, most of the clouds still hung around but not so much to make the day dark. However at one point a front rolled through bringing strong winds and snow, it only lasted some 5 to 10 minutes. The Caretaker stepped outside during it to shut a door he knew was left open, while returning to the Ghetto he saw a group of ice-fishermen some 300 yards off of Cocktail point getting caught in the front, the Caretaker was glad to be able to take shelter in the Ghetto as the front passed through.

Being a Saturday night (not that the day of the week matters), the Caretaker decided to have himself a drink this evening. After realizing that he had depleted most all of his stock of preferred libations the Caretaker turned to a bottle of Jagermeister, which T. was kind enough to make a gift of to the Caretaker last winter. Back when he was in college "Jager" was rather popular, the Caretaker never really saw the attraction, however, the Caretaker doesn't really care for doing shots of any sort except those that come with olives and are sipped and not downed in one gulp. So, to be honest, when the Caretaker was presented with this bottle of Jagermeister as a gift, the Caretaker wasn't quite sure what to do with it. Well, now his. T. had said that it was good for sipping when out in the cold. So, given that the bar where the "Jeger" is stored is about 20 degrees Fahrenheit the Caretaker figured that would be sufficiently cold enough to drink. He opened the bottle and took a small sip directly, and you know what, he found it to be not so bad. Put it in a martini glass, drop in some olives and there might be something there. However, not wanting to risk the loss of any of the martini olives on hand the Caretaker decided he would pass on that experiment for now. After taking another sip, the Caretaker misread the label on the bottle as reading "Serve Cold-On Ice", so the Caretaker got himself a glass and went for some ice in the freezer. Unfortunately he only had half of one ice cube in the trays. When many of your beverages are taken in a room that is often below freezing, ice is not a commodity in high demand. But not to be deterred the Caretaker grabbed a small glass put the half ice cube in it and poured in a little bit of the "liqueur". Sipping that he found it also to be not bad. Then the Caretaker got himself an idea, he went outside, cleared off the top layer of some snow, grabbed two handfuls and brought it inside, put it in a bowl and poured some Jagermeister over it, thus making a "Jager snow cone", and you know what, it's pretty good. However, shaved ice as opposed to snow would be the proper way to go. Perhaps someday, liquor stores will have a freezer section and we'll be able to buy "Jager Snow Cones", maybe somebody ought to contact the Goodhumor people--could be quite a way to expand their market.

Anyway, as the night wore on, the Caretaker continued to sip Jagermeister from the bottle, it is definitely the way to drink the stuff, pounding shots of it is a bad idea. And thus concludes the Public Service Announcement.

--The Caretaker

P.S. The previous two day's reports have been posted.

TCC for 2/29/08

The Caretaker's Concern 2/29/08
Ghetto temp. 41 F. and rising.
Island tmp. 14 F. Yesterday's L/H: -6/21 F.
Current conditions: Light snow, little t no wind.

Today was a mostly uneventful day for the Caretaker, he made it to the mainland to do his laundry. Today the Caretaker decided he would try walking through the snow to the mainland in just his boots. This was not such a good idea, he should have turned back and put his snowshoes on but he was running late and so did without them. Upon his return trip to the Island the going was a bit easier because he could follow his tracks back. There is certainly something to be said for walking in someone else's footprints, perhaps that is the attraction of civilization.

The Caretaker had more laundry than his sled could hold so he had to do two trips. For the second one he put on his snowshoes, it proved to be a good idea. After loading up his sled with the remains of his laundry he stopped in to say hi to G. The Caretaker ended up getting involved with helping G. with his computer. By the time the Caretaker left for the Island snow had begun to fall. It was a pleasant walk in a gentle snowfall. Unfortunately the Caretaker did not close up his laundry back properly and so the falling snow collected inside it. By the time he got his laundry into the Ghetto, much of it needed to be hung up to dry for a second time, luckily for him his sleeping clothes managed to stay dry.

--The Caretaker

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