TCC for 3/24/08

The Caretaker's Concern 3/24/08
Ghetto temp. 37 F. and rising.
Island tmp. Low 30's F. Yesterday's L/H: ?/? F.
Current conditions: Mostly clear, wind from the East, 10 to 15 mph.

The Caretaker was away for Easter, had a good time on the mainland visiting with family. He returned to the Island today and spent most of the remaining daylight hours cutting up fallen tree branches. He expects to be spending a few more days cutting up branches. If all goes well the Caretaker will make it into town tomorrow to address his car issues, and if he is lucky, tomorrow will be his last trip to the mainland until after ice-out. The ice is continuing to thin out around the shoreline but what remains of the ice is still about 8 or so inches thick.

The Caretaker is looking forward to being Island bound for a few weeks, he has a number of things in the works that he would like to bring to fruition so as that he may share it all with you. The Caretaker just now realized that he left his Easter Basket behind at his father and step-mother's house, shucks.

--The Caretaker

TCC for 3/21/08

The Caretaker's Concern 3/21/08
Ghetto temp. 49.5 F. and mostly steady.
Island tmp. 29.5 F. Yesterday's L/H: 22/35 F.
Current conditions: Mostly clear sky, bright full moon, wind from the North, North West 5 to 10 mph, gusting up to 15/20 mph.

The wind from yesterday never really let up all last night nor for today, if anything today's wind was even stronger and gustier than yesterday. The resulting wind chill kept the Caretaker inside for most all of the day, he didn't feel like being out in the cold. The combination of the wind and sun has broken up the ice between the Island and Little Recluse, this makes getting off the Island a bit more difficult for the Caretaker. This morning the Caretaker heard the Fire Department's air-boat racing around out on the ice. It turns out they were on a rescue mission and not just out for practice. Someone went through the ice over in Huddle Bay, at least that is what the Caretaker was told in a phone conversation this past afternoon. Today was not a good day to go through the ice, with the wind, when you get out if you can't get to shelter soon you'd probably be better off staying in the water.

--The Caretaker

TCC for 3/20/08

The Caretaker's Concern 3/20/08
Ghetto temp. 41 F. and steady.
Island tmp. 37 F. Yesterday's L/H: ?/? F.
Current conditions: Complete cloud coverage, windy from the North, North West, 10 to 15 mph, gusting up to 20/25.

Today is the first day of Spring, as far as the Caretaker is concerned it could not have come too soon. For the most part, this past winter has been a wash, as far the Caretaker's rating of the snow this winter: crummy, the ice: crummy, opportunities for photography: crummy, winter overall: crummy. However, there is still hope for ice-out and the Spring bloom. The ice around the shoreline has begun to thin-out, when will ice-out proper begin? Who knows, but the Caretaker is certainly looking forward to it.

The Caretaker spent the afternoon breaking up and burning tree branches that came down during the storm of March 8th. If the Island was a Christmas tree farm, it would look like it had been blown up, there are piles of branches all over the place and pine needles everywhere. Most all of the branches are green so they don't burn very well, however, with the help of today's strong wind fanning the flames the Caretaker was quite successful at getting the branches to burn.

If all goes well tomorrow the Caretaker will finish cutting up what remains of the birch tree that fell over on to the ice. Other than that, not much else to report.

--The Caretaker

TCC for 3/18/08

The Caretaker's Concern 3/18/08
Ghetto temp. 46 F. and rising.
Island tmp. ? F. Yesterday's L/H: ?/? F. No temperatures, the Caretaker hasn't been paying attention, but he will start tomorrow.
Current conditions: Wind from the South about 10 mph, total cloud coverage.

The Caretaker's hiatus has gone on for a wee bit longer than he originally intended. Not much exciting has gone on in his own life, but plenty has gone on here on the Island while he was away. While the Caretaker was in Vermont over the weekend of the 8th/9th a big wind and freezing rain storm came through knocking down a ton of limbs and a big birch tree. The power was out until the following Monday, or so the Caretaker was told, he didn't get back to the Island until the following Thursday. The Caretaker should have picked things up again but he was busy messing with his wreck of a car, and trying to clean up the tree limbs. Most all of today was spent working on removing the birch that came down on the ice. The day before he pulled out the large Willow limb from the water and the rest of the Willow limbs. There is plenty more to still cut up. Other than that not much to report, or at least nothing worth bothering about. Since the Caretaker is waiting for the Ghetto to get a little warmer so he can take a shower in some relative comfort he decided he should take this time to start up the blog again. Hopefully tomorrow's report will be more interesting.

--The Caretaker