TCC for 4/15/08

The Caretaker's Concern 4/15/08
Lake Temp. 38.5 F.
Ghetto temp. 54F. and dropping
Island tmp. 51 F. Yesterday's L/H: 38/58.5 F.
Current conditions: clear sky, little to no wind

Ah the Moon, waxing its way towards this month's bloom on the 20th. April's full Moon is the "Grass Moon". Why it has this name the Caretaker knows not, but such ignorance won't keep the Caretaker from enjoying this month's full Moon, only the clouds can do that. Pretty soon the Caretaker will begin performing his Full Moon Dance. Much like a rain dance, but instead of trying to bring clouds with rain; the Full Moon Dance encourages the dispersal of clouds and rain. Maybe someday the Caretaker will film the Full Moon Dance and put it up on Youtube, then again, maybe not.

--The Caretaker

TCC for 4/14/08

The Caretaker's Concern 4/14/08
Lake Temp. 38 F.
Ghetto temp. 50 F. and dropping
Island tmp. 54 F. Yesterday's L/H: 38/48 F.
Current conditions: occasional clouds, winds from the north, 5 mph.

Ah the Loons, here on the Lake for such a short while. So far the sightings have been few, and the call heard much less than the Caretaker would like. If he gets his act together by the Summer the Caretaker will make a trip up to the High Peaks region so he can hear the call of the Loons.

--The Caretaker

TCC for 4/13/08

The Caretaker's Concern 4/13/08
Lake Temp. 37 F.
Ghetto temp. 43 F. and dropping.
Island tmp. 40 F. Yesterday's L/H: 39/60 F.
Current conditions: Mostly cloudy, North wind, 5 to 10 mph.

It has been a rather blustery day, the wind started out coming from the South, then it shifted to the East, eventually shifting to the North. It snowed for a little while in the morning, but there was no accumulation. The Lake is continuing to rise, with the wave action some water splashed up through the dock at the back of the boathouse. So far the tin-boat is still secure, but the Caretaker will be keeping it in the back of his mind so he can be ready to keep it from floating away.

The Lake is at a height were the Boathouse starts to keep rhythm. The boathouse docks have some open ended steel beams in them that when the water gets high enough and with the right amount of wave action, the covering and uncovering of the ends with water creates a sound sort of like the sound of a rototom that is being turned when hit, it is a deep slow sound that follows the random rhythm of the waves on the Lake. If the Caretaker had the time, he would have spent some of it meditating on the sound, perhaps next time.

--The Caretaker

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