TCC for 4/16/08

The Caretaker's Concern 4/16/08
Lake Temp. 40.5F.
Ghetto temp. 59 F. and dropping.
Island tmp. 54 F. Yesterday's L/H: 35/58 F.
Current conditions: Mostly clear, little to no wind.

The Sunrises of late have been rather colorful, there must be an increase of particulate pollution in the atmosphere, which could just be pollen, but it is probably a bit too early in the season for that, more likely it is from what we humans belch into the atmosphere.

Today's photo is of the Caretaker's new outdoor shower arrangement, he slapped it together in no time, and it shows, but it works, and best of all it is mobile. When he gets the time the Caretaker will work on improvements for his outdoor shower, but for now what he has will suffice. Now that the air temperature is much warmer, the Caretaker is able to shower outside in general comfort. He could have set up his shower system in the outdoor shower stall, but why bother? There are very few people on the Lake these days, and the Caretaker doesn't care if they see him taking a shower. Besides, you can't beat the view, a hot shower while looking up the Narrows of Lake George, does it get any better than that?

The Caretaker has also stopped using his portable propane hot water heater to heat the water for his shower. He is now using his sun-shower as it was intended by filling it in the morning and leaving it out in the Sun to warm throughout the day. However he won't be putting his water heater away until after the water comes back on, chances are not everyday between now and then will be sunny, and the Caretaker will still want a hot shower, so when he can't heat his water via the Sun he will use his water heater. One of the Caretaker's goals for this Summer is to live as Green as possible, by relying mostly on his sun-shower he has started down the Green Brick Road.

--The Caretaker

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