TCC for 4/20/08

The Caretaker's Concern 4/20/08
Lake Temp. 43.5 F.
Ghetto temp. 63 F. and dropping.
Island tmp. 63 F. Yesterday's L/H: 48.5/79.5 F.
Current conditions: Mild cloud coverage, little to no wind.

Ever more birds passing through, at Sunrise the bird noise was quite a cacophony, however overall rather pleasant, it sure is a nice change from the mostly silent Winter mornings, at least silent of most bird calls.

It was another calm day today, the wind last night was a nice change of pace, these constantly calm days are starting to get a little stale. Not that the Caretaker is complaining, it has sure made for some great paddling, but if there was more wind more often he would be a lot further along on the burning that needs to be done.

The Caretaker was in town today, it is getting busier, so too the Lake. There were more boats out tonight, the Caretaker still thinks it is crazy to be out on the Lake at night racing around. Not only is debris still floating, none of the lighted buoys are afloat, so if you don't know the Lake very well, you are really looking for trouble. Oh well, to each their own.

--The Caretaker

TCC for 4/19/08

The Caretaker's Concern 4/19/08
Lake Temp. 46 F.
Ghetto temp. 66 F. and dropping.
Island tmp. 62 F. Yesterday's L/H: 50/67.5 F.
Current conditions: A few clouds and some light haze, moonlit night, wind from the South, 5 to 10 mph, occasionally gusting to 15/20

Yet again a calm day on the Lake, mostly dry, little to no humidity, but there was a slight touch of haze from the heat of the Sun. While out and about on the Island the Caretaker saw a bat flying around a couple times during the day. Hopefully the bat was just disturbed from its resting place and not rabid, it didn't appear to by flying anymore or less erratically than would be expected of a bat trying to fly in day light hours.

In the evening the Caretaker, while walking the Island, heard a distinct buzzing, he looked up and saw a huge herd of May Flies, what their particular breed was the Caretaker couldn't say, but he sure did hear them.

Come nightfall the wind began to pickup from the South, it couldn't have come too soon, the air in the Lake George Basin needed to be changed out. Not that the Caretaker helped this, given the strength of the wind the Caretaker did not hesitate to get some burning done. In fact given the total lack of wind the Caretaker didn't want to waste the opportunity so he stayed up late feeding pine needles, dead branches, and wood chips into the fire as it was fanned by the Southern wind.
Eventually he got tired, so he went to sleep, however there is still plenty more to burn off. Too bad the Caretaker doesn't have any tree taps, with all the burning that needs to be done if he had some Maple sap he could boil it down to syrup. Oh well.

--The Caretaker

TCC for 4/18/08

The Caretaker's Concern 4/18/08
Lake Temp. 42.5F.
Ghetto temp. 59.5 F. and steady.
Island tmp. 60.5 F. Yesterday's L/H: 40/72 F.
Current conditions: Little to no wind, mostly clear night.


There was wind from the East today, about 10 miles per hour or so, this is probably the first decent wind all week. At the time the Caretaker wanted to have his shower the wind was still coming down from the Narrows, this would have blown a cool wind up his towel, which would have been less than welcome. So, deciding to take advantage of the relative portability of his outdoor shower set up the Caretaker moved his shower to the South end of the Island in the lee of the wind. This evening's shower provided the Caretaker with a nice view of the valley between Buck Mt. and Pilot Knob. The slow coloring up of the Eastern sky at Sunset was rather pleasant to watch from under the stream of Sun heated hot water.

At night the Caretaker heard a few boats out racing around on the Lake, the Caretaker thinks these people are crazy, there is still quite a bit of stuff floating around in the Lake, tree branches, logs, tree trunks, you name it. When the ice is up whatever falls onto it usually stays there until the Lake opens up and then it floats around in the Lake for a while. With the general absence of wind since ice-out much of what is floating around is still doing so. Because of this, racing around in a powerboat in the day time is not all that wise, to do so at night is just plain stupid, then again, these people might be outlanders and so they are just ignorant, hopefully for their sake they won't get wise the hard way.

--The Caretaker

TCC for 4/17/08

The Caretaker's Concern 4/17/08
Lake Temp. 45.5F.
Ghetto temp. 65 F. and dropping, slowly.
Island tmp. 65 F. Yesterday's L/H: 36/58 F.
Current conditions: Mostly clear, moonlight night, little to no wind.

Another quiet day on the Lake, while out paddling, and what a fine paddle it was, the Caretaker noted that given the general constant calm these past few days he could have canoed the entire Lake without ever having to battle the wind and resulting waves. If the Caretaker gets his act together come this Summer he will make a point to allocate time for a canoe trip along the entire shoreline of the Lake. His hopes would be to do it all in one trip, but if need be he will do it piecemeal. The Caretaker has been up and down the entire Lake, and has seen much of its shoreline, but not all of it, at least not up close and personal as can only be had by a canoe or rowboat or kayak or what have you.

There were more motorboats sighted and heard on the Lake today, the congestion is increasing ever so slightly, but it is increasing. All sorts of birds are passing through on their great migration Northwards. The Ghetto almost got up to 70 degrees Fahrenheit. Spring is inching closer and closer, Summer is off in the distance, but not too far away.

--The Caretaker

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