TCC for 3/26/08

The Caretaker's Concern 3/26/08
Ghetto temp. 58 F. and steady.
Island tmp. 41 F. Yesterday's L/H: 31/42 F.
Current conditions:

Most of the morning was rather blustery so the Caretaker stayed inside the Ghetto to work on some paper work. At around Noon there was some hail or sleet or something. Whatever it was the Caretaker did not go outside and look but he sure could hear it coming down on the roof of the Ghetto. Eventually the wind abated come the afternoon, at around 3 o'clock the Caretaker noticed that the sun was out so he decided to do some outside work. More cutting up of the branches that came down in the wind storm a few weekends back. However, last night the wind was gusting pretty good and so more branches came down, most of the dropped branches have been from the White Pines. If these high winds keep up the pines will be stripped of all their branches. That would be bad, very bad indeed.

--The Caretaker

TCC for 3/25/08

The Caretaker's Concern 3/25/08
Ghetto temp. 46 F. and rising.
Island tmp. 36 F. Yesterday's L/H: 20/? F.
Current conditions: Total cloud coverage, Southerly wind, 10 to 15 mph, gusting to 20/30.

The Caretaker awoke early dawn, before sunrise so he could phone a particular business owner who keeps peculiar hours. Outside was perfectly still, not a breath of wind. As the sun rose over the mountains, the Caretaker remarked that this was the first time in a while that the sun was visible at sunrise. Quite a bit of cloud cover these days, not to mention he has been getting out of bed rather late these past days.

Much of the Caretaker's day was spent in town working on finding a good home for his car. In the end his efforts paid off, he was able to find a new caregiver for his car. As much as it pains him to have to put his car up for adoption he felt he had no choice, the repair costs required to nurse it through inspection far exceeds the value of the car, not to mention that the car would still need further investment for it to operate in good health. Add to that the fact that the car is 237,000 miles old, it will most certainly continue to have further health problems over the long term. If the Caretaker had the space and time to work on the car he would do the work himself, but it would most likely be a three to six month project. With a touch of sorrow in his heart, the Caretaker will be parting ways from his beloved Volkswagen diesel Golf sometime in the next few days, but it gladdens his heart to know that the person who is adopting the car will take good care of it, provide it a good home, and will either be nursing it back to health by the end of this year, or, use it for parts so another may live on in better health. It warms the Caretaker's heart to know that even though he has had to relinquish his role as parent his child will either carry on and in a better life style than the Caretaker could provide, or contribute to the overall well being of another, thus carrying on the spirit of his car.

Not to mention he is really, really going to miss getting 45 to 50 miles per gallon. The Caretaker has a replacement car lined up. He has to go back to gasoline, which he would rather not do, but high fuel economy diesels are hard to come by these days. However, the car the Caretaker expects to be acquiring gets about 30 to 33 miles per gallon, which isn't bad.

The ice is continuing to thin out, given the weather forecast for the coming week, the ice could be in transition sometime next week. The Lake is dropping and the ice is shifting thus ice is beginning to pile up on the shoreline. The wind this night was gusting pretty good, as if it was blowing to be free, but where can the wind escape to? The ice faults are getting wider and wider, the Caretaker may need to get a longer board, or switch to the canoe method of ice travel. The Caretaker would just assume not travel the ice anymore, but he has forgotten about a minor detail, he has to pay his taxes. So, at the very least the Caretaker will be heading back to the mainland sometime this week to file his taxes. This nation has the greatest tax system in the Universe. Even if the nation fails, our tax system will live on. Great.

--The Caretaker

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