TCC for 3/30/08

The Caretaker's Concern 3/30/08
Ghetto temp. 55F. and rising.
Island tmp. 36 F. Yesterday's L/H: 22/33.5 F.
Current conditions:

Internet Connection Problems.

--The Caretaker

TCC for 3/29/08

The Caretaker's Concern 3/29/08
Ghetto temp. 53 F. and steady.
Island tmp. 28 F. Yesterday's L/H: 28/32 F.
Current conditions: Mostly clear sky, wind from the North, 5 to 10 mph, gusting to 15/20.

In honor of "Earth Hour" today, the Caretaker not only turned off the lights, he shut off all electrical equipment, however, he did keep a radio on, but he used his wind-up radio which he cranked the energy for, also, he didn't wait until 8 o'clock local time, he shut off the electricity at sunset, about 7 o'clock. He figured why wait? Since 9 o'clock the only electrical device he has turned on is his computer, thus today's report. If you happened to have missed "Earth Hour" today, you can certainly celebrate it on another day. If you don't know what "Earth Hour" is: shut off the lights from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. local time. "Earth Hour" was founded by Andy Ridley and some "371 cities, towns or local governments from..." around the globe have signed up for "Earth Hour". The point of it is to promote awareness of the environment and energy consumption.

It was certainly a sunny day today, but rather windy and cold, the Caretaker stayed inside for most of the day. Much of the open water around the Island froze over last night, not thick enough to walk on, but froze over none the less. Some of the new ice was lost today, but most of the new freeze stayed ice throughout the day. Tonight is supposed to be even colder than last night, looks like the ice is going to be building a bit, which won't help the Caretaker much towards getting off the Island, he will still need to use the canoe method, but overall it will make it safer for him when he has to travel the ice on Monday for his court date--the dreaded traffic court date.

With the electric lights out in the Ghetto the Caretaker turned to his many oil lamps for illumination. Overhead was his large hurricane lantern, on the top of his roll-top desk was his small hurricane lantern, at desk level was two of his wine lamps, all of which run on soot-free liquid wax paraffin. The nice thing about the wine lamps is that they give off a flame the same size as a candle, and so produce the same type of light, but without any of the dripping wax issues of candles. Anyway, the point of this is that while at his desk basking in lamp light at dusk, the Caretaker looked out the North West window of the Ghetto and noticed the reflection of the dusk sky painting the newly formed black-ice a deep blue azure, the ice seemed to almost glow from the waning light of the early evening light. Had the Caretaker been using the electric lights at this time of day, as he usually does when inside, he would have never noticed this coloring of the ice and sky. Sometimes, there can be too much light, preventing us from seeing all that there is to see.

--The Caretaker

TCC for 3/28/08

The Caretaker's Concern 3/28/08
Ghetto temp. 49 F. and steady.
Island tmp. 30 F. Yesterday's L/H: 27/39 F.
Current conditions: Blowing snow, wind from the East, 10 to 15 mph.

The snow began last night, it has been off and on through out the day with an occasional mix of sleet and rain, but mostly snow. Accumulation on the Island is about 3 inches with drifts up to 6 or 8 inches. The wind has been blowing from the Narrows since the dark hours of this morning. It has not exactly been early Spring weather today. As a result of the constant wind, the Island is currently encircled with water. The gap between the ice and the Island is now wide enough to completely rule out the use of a board to reach the ice. The Caretaker could use the extension ladder, but that would be stupid and the Caretaker already knows an awful lot about stupid. Instead he will return to using the canoe to get to the ice to get off of the Island from here on until ice-out is complete.

The day was cold, windy, and snowy, the Caretaker spent the day inside the Ghetto working on his taxes, or at least tried to, and rewriting his letter to the Judge regarding his traffic violation. Tomorrow is supposed to be sunny, a bit windy but sunny, the Caretaker is hopeful that he will be able to get out and about. If not tomorrow, most certainly Sunday. Not to say that a day inside the Ghetto is all bad, he does have the means to cook tea to drink, but the Caretaker is looking forward to a day or two outside, after Monday these may be his last.

--The Caretaker

TCC for 3/27/08

The Caretaker's Concern 3/27/08
Ghetto temp. 45 F. and steady.
Island tmp. 39 F. Yesterday's L/H: 30/48 F.
Current conditions: Total cloud coverage, still night of little to no wind.

The Caretaker was up and out the door and on the ice at dawn, before sunrise. He delivered his car to its new owner. Then the Caretaker went down to Queensbury to the courthouse to settle a ticket.

Not so fast Caretaker.

The Caretaker was hoping to be done with the mainland for a while, his hopes have been dashed. It turns out the Caretaker will have to appear before the judge in traffic court come this Monday evening. If all goes well the Caretaker will plead his case well and not have to pay any fines. Unfortunately for the Caretaker traffic court doesn't begin until 4 p.m., chances are he won't be getting out of there well after dark. Depending on the conditions of the ice the Caretaker may have to make arrangements to stay over night on the mainland until Tuesday morning so he can travel the ice during daylight. Then again, the Caretaker may wind up in the clink and so he need not worry about the ice. Hm, county lock-up versus traveling the ice at night during early transition, it is safe to say that the Caretaker would much rather take his chances with the ice than the clink. You know who's in the clink? Mother rapers, Father rapers! The Caretaker doesn't want a pickle, he just wants to ride his motor-sickle.

After learning the great news from the courthouse clerk the Caretaker returned to the Island where he promptly began to break up more tree branches and had himself a big burn-off of the two piles he has accumulated so far. Although he was successful at burning off the two piles, there are still plenty more branches to go. While breaking up tree limbs for the fire it occurred to the Caretaker that if all these limbs had come down at the beginning of the Winter, he could have built himself a wigwam over the fire-pit and lived in there for the Winter, keeping warm by burning up all the wood-chips from the red pines. Oh, well, maybe next Winter--HA!

--The Caretaker

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