TCC for 4/12/08

The Caretaker's Concern 4/12/08
Lake Temp. 38 F.
Ghetto temp. 52 F. and dropping.
Island tmp. 48 F. Yesterday's L/H: 40.5/38 F.
Current conditions: A few snow flakes, wind from the East 10 to 15 mph, bringing down the stench of the paper mill.

It was a rather windy morning, even a few snow flakes, but the rest of the day was mostly calm and mostly sunny, a mix of sun and clouds, another nice quiet day on the Lake, just the way the Caretaker likes it, unless of course he wants to go sailing, then he would much prefer it be windy. The Caretaker should make a point to get the sailboat up and in the water sometime soon.

Another sign of Spring has arrived, the house-flies have begun to hatch. These aren't exactly house flies, at least not the typical kind, these are larger, but not as large as black flies. Whatever they are, they are mostly annoying, they don't bite but they do make a lot of noise, all they really seem to want is to get out of enclosed spaces. The Caretaker does his best to prevent that, the Caretaker makes a point to keep them inside so he can give them the old whap-whap! with the fly-swatter. The Caretaker is not exactly expert at this, as will soon be revealed, however he has had much practice at the swatting of flies, so much so that he long since grew tired of the typical plastic type fly-swatter which often breaks in short order. He owns a fly-swatter made of metal and leather, this one has performed many a kill and is still giving out the good old whap-whap! with deadly results.

While at his desk doing something or other, occasionally reaching for his trusty fly-swatter dispensing with a fly here and there, the Caretaker noticed one particular fly that was rather cunning and evasive. Not willing to stand for this the Caretaker directed all of his attention to the destruction of this fly. After a number of near hits, the Caretaker finally lined up a shot that he was certain would not miss. The fly was dead center on a pane of glass of the East window, the Caretaker did not dally, he immediately let fly with the swatter--WHAM!

Clink, clink.
...
Bzzzzzzzzzzzz...

The Caretaker missed the fly, but he sure gave it good to the window pane, no mercy there. A long time ago, sometime before the current Caretaker was in residence on the Island, this particular pane of glass had suffered a hit causing a star that spidered out towards some of the edges. All of the glass was intact and seemed rather sturdy so there was never a move to replace the pane, it had a sort of decorative look to it. Such beauty is no more, a piece of the window pane clinked out of it and fell to the ground, it was no match for the might of the Caretaker's fly-swatter. Soon this pane of glass will be pulled and replaced with a new one, in the mean time, the Caretaker has papered over the pane, hopefully it won't rain soon.

Some may ask why not let the flies live, just let them out a window or door. The Caretaker will hear none of this poppycock. To let them out is to let them multiply. One female fly can lay up to 500 eggs at a time. Now some people are against contraception, and perhaps even more so of a type as brutal as practiced by the Caretaker, but as far as the Caretaker is concerned, if you want the flies, by all means do what you can to protect them, however to do so in the presence of the Caretaker will result in only one thing--a sharp rebuke from his fly-swatter, WHAP!WHAP!

--The Caretaker

TCC for 4/11/08

The Caretaker's Concern 4/11/08
Lake Temp. 37 F.
Ghetto temp. 40 F. and dropping.
Island tmp. 38 F. Yesterday's L/H: 41/59 F.
Current conditions: Total cloud coverage with low lying clouds along both shorelines, little to no wind.

The morning was covered in rain, but by the afternoon the rain clouds washed away from the sky. At some point during the day, the Caretaker doesn't remember exactly when, he saw a Blue Heron fly up the Lake towards the Narrows. That is the first Heron the Caretaker has seen since last Autumn. With long broad wings flapping patiently, their wings paint upon the sky a flight of grace rare amongst most all of the other area birds. However, the call of the Heron is in sharp contrast to their majestic flight and their graceful walk amongst reeds, the call of the Heron is... disgusting on the ears. Not that it takes any of the beauty away from the bird, for the most part they don't seem to give call all too often, thankfully. If you think the caws from a murder of crows in your tree is bad; if there was a flock of Herons on your lawn making constant calls to each other it wouldn't take long for you to either quickly depart, or let fly with some buckshot.

In the evening the Caretaker went for a paddle over towards Clay Island just to take in the sights, the water being calm, why not? The water is also high, it is about 5 to 6 inches from the top of the South dock, hopefully it won't go much higher, a few more inches and the boathouse will begin to flood. The boathouse flooding isn't so bad, it is more annoying than anything, mostly because the tin boat will float away. That would be bad.

--The Caretaker

TCC for 4/10/08

The Caretaker's Concern 4/10/08
Lake Temp. 38.5 F.
Ghetto temp. 51 F. and dropping.
Island tmp. 51 F. Yesterday's L/H: 39/42 F.
Current conditions: Mostly clear sky, starlight dimmed by subtle haze, a few solitary clouds, wind from the East 5 to 10 mph.

It was a mostly calm day today, a nice day for a paddle, when the water is flat and the wind is scarce one would be a fool to not take advantage of such paddling conditions . Today is the second day after ice-out, the Caretaker had been doing a bit of paddling back and forth to the mainland during ice-out, but now, with no ice to have to be mindful of, the paddling is that much more pleasant. Well, except for the motorboats, not so much the congestion, the Caretaker only heard two boats on the Lake today, but just the fact that he heard them, and he will continue to hear more of them as time goes on. In the meantime the Caretaker will just watch the Lake level get increasingly higher.

--The Caretaker

TCC for 4/9/08

The Caretaker's Concern 4/9/08
Lake Temp. 38 F.
Ghetto temp. 55 F. and dropping.
Island tmp. 39.5 F. Yesterday's L/H: 36/53 F.
Current conditions: Mostly clear, a few clouds. Wind from the South, 5 to 10 mph.

Ice-out is over.

The ice went out today, there is nothing but open water now, well, perhaps there is some ice hidden somewhere in some of the bays but overall, ice-out is over. This makes the Caretaker both happy and sad.

Sad because it marks the end of Winter here on the Island, no more chances to go skating, nor snowshoeing, nor cross-country skiing, no more chances to do any Winter activity from the Island. It also marks an end to the sounds of the ice. No more the general quiet, soon there will be motor boats a plenty. And then there are the hordes, they too will be coming soon.

Happy because it means that it will be getting noticeably warmer and thus everything is that much easier to do. Once the Lake warms up there will be swimming, canoeing, kayaking, and if the Caretaker gets his act together he'll bring the sailboat up for the summer, wouldn't that be grand? All sorts of wonderful Summer activities, hiking, camping, tourist trapping, you name it, all sorts of fun to be had. With the warmer weather means a return to showering outside, and eventually running water again, ahhh running water. The open water also brings the sounds of the waves, generally a constant but always varying, and always reminding us of the Lake's presence, not that it is easily forgotten, but when the ice is up the general silence of the Lake allows one to forget about it from time to time. The Summer also means that there will be more people here on the Island and the Lake in general, the Caretaker enjoys the solitude of Winter but he is not a full blown troglodyte. He likes to see people enjoy themselves here on the Lake. And then there is the coming of the Green: soon the buds, then young leaves, which will grow broad as the Season continues to warm, coloring the landscape. The dark, stark browns amongst the pine needle greens of Winter have a beauty of their own, but to never change would eventually ugly the scenery.

The Caretaker looks forward to this change of Season: Spring will soon be afoot all around, amongst the sky and trees, in warmer winds and greening leaves, bird songs will sound, life rises forth from the ground. Sun's love warms once more, joy of a smile brought forth by this vibrant forest floor.

--The Caretaker

TCC for 4/8/08

The Caretaker's Concern 4/8/08
Ghetto temp. 51 F. and dropping slowly.
Island tmp. 55 F. Yesterday's L/H: 30's/58 F.
Current conditions: Clear night, little to no wind.

It was a mostly quiet day on the Lake today, there was a light wind at times, it moved the ice a bit, but more of it just melted from the heat of the sun. With the Lake in transition, neither ice-fishermen nor boats can utilize the Lake, at least not that easily, so the Caretaker pretty much had the Lake to himself for the entire day. Given the light to no wind for much of the day, it was a rather relaxing day, much of the Caretaker's time was spent raking and burning.

The Caretaker needed something from his car over on the mainland so he hopped in the canoe and went for a night time paddle. The water was perfectly flat, the reflection of the stars on the water was an almost perfect image. Without paying attention one could almost lose track of which way was up and which way was down. The sky clear, the water flat, stars seemed to shimmer from all around. The Moon provided pleasant company amongst the stars, a waxing thumbnail, reflecting enough light to be seen, but not so much to shadow the stars. A Moon just right, it socialized well with the stars, mingling amongst them all through the night. Not so noisy to be rude, nor too quiet to be missed, a pleasant night time guest.

--The Caretaker

TCC for 4/7/08

The Caretaker's Concern 4/07/08
Ghetto temp. 49.5 F. and dropping slowly.
Island tmp. 50 F. Yesterday's L/H: 30ish/50ish F.
Current conditions: Mostly clear night, occasional wind gusts from the South East.

The Caretaker awoke this morning with the light of the Sun shining through the East window of the Ghetto. The average temperatures are high enough to allow for the window shutters to remain open throughout the day and night with an acceptable amount of heat loss, this is good. Looking out the window, prior to getting up, the Caretaker noticed a pile of branches with strings of webs glistening in the early morning sunlight, this work of spiders is another sign of Spring, this too is good.

Today was a day of rake and burn, much of the Caretaker's time was spent raking up branches and burning them. Throughout the morning there was little to no wind, with the Sun shining combined with the Caretaker's exertion he had to remove his under-layer of clothing, this was a first since last October. Throughout the entire winter here on the Island, long underwear day and night is an absolute necessity, a second skin of sorts. Well, maybe not a necessity, but who wants to be cold? The Caretaker hopes the current warming trend continues with little to no steps backward. A further sign of Spring is that the warmth of the Sun is pleasantly easier to feel.

As the afternoon rolled around the wind began to pick-up, two days in a row the wind has come directly from the East shore, the Caretaker can count on one hand how many times the wind comes from the East shore in a year, rare indeed. It has made for a marginally interesting ice-out so far, the wind has been pushing the ice in the exact wrong direction that the Caretaker would want it to go, at least for photography purposes, most all of the open water has now become ice covered thus preventing reflections. However, the current ice flow is perfect for the docks, they are well protected by the Island, not that this Ice would do any damage, it has thawed such that it is mostly just slush. If the Caretaker had himself a bunch of corn syrup, artificial flavoring, artificial coloring, and whatever other toxins the industrial food complex uses to make slush drinks--if the Caretaker had all these he could probably get himself into the "Guinness Book of World Records" for having created the World's largest slushy drink. He would also probably get into the record books for having caused the largest fish die-off in Lake history. Good think the Caretaker doesn't have any ties to the industrial food complex.

--The Caretaker

TCC for 4/6/08

The Caretaker's Concern 4/6/08
Ghetto temp. 45 F. and steady.
Island tmp. 35 F. Yesterday's L/H: ?/? F.
Current conditions: Clear sky, light South East wind, directly from the East shore.

Not much has happened to the Caretaker while he has been off-line these past few days. At first he was not able to connect to the internet via his internet provider, eventually that was resolved but not long after that the phone-line went dead. Now it seems as though all is well again in cyberspace.

A few of the highlights from the Caretaker's life these past few days are that he spent one afternoon rolling around on the ground in the mud fixing the exhaust of his replacement car ("new car" would most certainly be misleading). Initially he thought there was just the one hole in the exhaust, but after patching it and starting up the car he noticed that there was still quite a bit of noise. Upon further inspection he noticed that the noise was coming from the clean break of a weld just before the muffler. So back on to the ground and more rolling in the mud for the Caretaker, in the end he managed to fix the problems, however, he has still not put the car through inspection, perhaps next week, hopefully it will pass. Either way, the Caretaker's hope is that the car will last him through the Summer, after the Summer he will most likely be looking to get rid of it. Enough about the car.

As to his traffic ticket, the Caretaker managed to get it dismissed. Which was good for the Caretaker because if he didn't he stood to win 4 points on his license, a score he is most interested in keeping as low as possible--the only game where zero points keeps you a winner. The Caretaker had big plans for his April Fool's day report that would have involved his experience in court, unfortunately due to his lack of access to the internet he was not able to put out the report in a timely manner, and now it is far too late to be worth doing.

The Caretaker also managed to get all of his tax paper work filled out, which has taken a bit of weight of his shoulders. The Caretaker hopes to live to see the day our Nation rids itself of this totally inefficient tax system, if the Caretaker was in charge he would work towards a combination flat tax/consumption tax system.

The ice is thinning out more and more around the shorelines, and the main ice sheet is moving around more and more depending on the wind. Ice-out has begun, however it is in the very early stages. From the looks of things so far it may be a rather mundane ice-out, the type where the ice just slowly melts away with little to no ice-piling up on the shoreline. Although this makes for a rather unexciting ice-out it is great for photography and more importantly it is great for the docks--when the ice moves whatever is in its way does not usually stay so for long.

Spring has definitely arrived, the songs of birds are on the increase in number and variety. More and more Geese are migrating north. The other evening, late dusk, the Caretaker saw two bats flying for bugs and drinking water from the Lake. The sight of the bats pleased the Caretaker for two reasons, one is that it means they are already starting to reduce the bug population, second is that the bat colonies here in New York (and perhaps also much of New England in general) have been suffering from a facial fungus of some sort that has been killing off the bats during their winter hibernation. The sight of these two bats means that at least some of the bats in the area have survived. Lastly, the pan-ultimate sign of Spring: early the other morning the Caretaker heard the call of a Loon. Unfortunately this Lake does not provide enough protected waters for Loons to nest so the only time the Loons' call is heard is during their migrations. Passing through twice a year for only a brief amount of time, they formally mark the beginning of Spring and the end of Autumn here on the Lake--at least as far as the Caretaker is concerned.

--The Caretaker