TCC for 4/26/08

The Caretaker's Concern 4/26/08
Lake Temp. 46F.
Ghetto temp. 60.5 F. and dropping.
Island tmp. 58 F. Yesterday's L/H: 53.5/73 F.
Current conditions: Mostly cloud covered, wind from the South, 5 to 10 mph.

Quite a bit of color in the sky this morning, the Caretaker almost missed it. After a bit of breakfast the Caretaker paddled in to town to post some letters and pickup some things from the hardware store. On his way to the mainland the Caretaker noticed that the mountain sides have begun to cover themselves with the Spring bloom of baby green. The Lake was mostly flat, just an occasional breath of wind. While paddling the Caretaker's attention was drawn to the reflection of the sky on the water, he found it rather mesmerizing, watching the clouds pass below, almost as if riding atop them in a canoe.

After posting his letter the Caretaker had to wait for the hardware store to open, to fill his time he went for a walk about town. Early on his walk he saw K. and said hello, they chatted for a few moments and then parted ways. Town proper is not exactly large, so the Caretaker was able to see most all of it just in time for the hardware store to open. Curious to see what people have and have not down with their homes, great to see the various flowers that have started to smile.

The wind had begun to pick up a bit when the Caretaker started his paddle back to the Island, coming from the South it provided a headwind most all of the way. Every once in a while the Caretaker would come across a patch of water that was agitated by the wind but not being directly hit by it, this resulted in the water forming constantly moving bumps but not waves. This action of the water distorted the reflection of the sky, it looked sort of like a broad, horizontal lava lamp, it also reminded the Caretaker of a fun-house mirror, except this one was constantly changing its distortion effect. 

The Caretaker spent much of the rest of his day working with a chain saw cutting up more branches. However, before he could do so he had to "fix" the chain saw, to make a boring story short the chain saw worked quite well the last time he used it, cut wood, consumed fuel, made noise, the usual. The next time he went to use it he filled the tanks, fuel and bar oil, and then went to start it. It wouldn't start, he pulled it over a number of times with choke and without to no avail. After trying all that he could think of he decided it would require a professional, that was sometime last week. Today, over the phone, the Caretaker located a local professional who would be able to take a look at the machine. The Caretaker's plan was to bring it in sometime during the coming week. Since the Caretaker had filled both tanks full he decided it would be wise to drain off some of the fluids to reduce the chances of them leaking during transit. He opened up the fuel tank and within an instant he saw what the problem was, when filling the tanks the last time, he had switched them up, putting bar oil in the fuel tank and fuel in the bar oil tank. Stupid Caretaker.

The Caretaker promptly drained both tanks, cleaned them out, refilled them properly, started the chain saw and had a merry day of cutting and noise making.

Come nightfall, the wind, having blown from the South at around 5 miles per hour for much of the day, continued to do so through the night at an increased speed. The Caretaker decided to take advantage of the opportunity to further rid the Island of pine needles, branches, tree bark, etc. It was a late night for the Caretaker, when he finally did turn in, he slept well.

--The Caretaker

TCC for 4/25/08

The Caretaker's Concern 4/25/08
Lake Temp. 50.5 F.
Ghetto temp. 62 F. and dropping.
Island tmp. 64 F. Yesterday's L/H: 60/64.5 F.
Current conditions: Total cloud coverage, wind from the Narrows, 5 to 10 mph.

For much of the day the Lake was mostly calm. Late morning the Caretaker saw someone going down the Lake on a jet-ski, the Lake is certainly warming up but the Caretaker is of the opinion that it is probably too cold to be out on a jet-ski, perhaps the Lake will get lucky and this person will get pneumonia from their jet-ski ride and they'll be kept out of commission for the rest of the Summer. Historically the Caretaker has been on the anti-jet-ski side, however since the powers that be have banned people from driving them without either a license or a hired guide they have become much less of a nuisance. In addition, now that most of the Jet-skis on the Lake are 4 stroke and not 2 stroke their noise is a lot more tolerable. Overall the Caretaker is of the opinion that everyone has a right to enjoy the Lake as they see fit, but no one has a right to be a general nuisance. On average, the typical jet-ski operator knows nothing about the rules of the water, nor do they seem to care, unfortunately this also seems to apply to many of the power-boaters. The Caretaker thinks that operating licenses should be required, and a strong knowledge of the rules of way on the water should be mandatory before a license will be issued.

Currently on the Caretaker's radio: China Radio International, a guy is singing in Chinese. The Caretaker has grown a bit tired of NPR and so has pressed his short-wave radio into service again, the previous hour it was Radio Netherlands. Next hour he will probably tune in Radio Havana Cuba. Now CRI is playing a guy rapping in Chinese, funny, other than the language difference, it sounds pretty much the same as most all other rap music. Talk about the beating of a dead horse of a music genre, the same goes for new country too. The Caretaker can't say he is waiting around for innovation in either of these two music genres because he has long since stopped listening.

The Caretaker spent a bit of time today working on a pulley system for his outdoor-shower setup, if this posting had a title it would probably be called "The Caretaker's Cockamamy Concern". The pulley system he has set up does make for a "cleaner" looking arrangement, and it does a great job of getting the shower bag up to the proper height, however, it's portability and ease of set up does not really compare to that of the Caretaker's ladder and 2x4 arrangement. Then again, the initial set-up of this new system may have taken a while, but perhaps further set-ups will go quicker, either way, the Caretaker will be sure to keep you posted on this oh-so important issue. For the record, there was a nice view of Black Mt. from his shower this early evening.

--The Caretaker

TCC for 4/24/08

The Caretaker's Concern 4/24/08
Lake Temp. 49F.
Ghetto temp. 60 F. and dropping.
Island tmp. 59 F. Yesterday's L/H: 54/76 F.
Current conditions: Little to no wind, mostly clear sky, a few wisps of clouds here and there.

The wind was blowing from the Narrows today, and blowing pretty good, perhaps the strongest day time wind since ice-out. The Caretaker found his "Beaufort-ometer" and went down to Cocktail Point to get a reading, it showed a sustained wind of 15 miles per hour, gusting up to 20. It would have been a great day for sailing, a good heavy, steady wind. Too bad the wind was not from the South or North, then the Caretaker could have had the big burn-off, unless of course there is a burn ban, there seems to be burn bans in all the area counties but the Caretaker has yet to hear about Warren county. He could call and find out, but since he can't do any burning anyway he won't bother. There is talk of rain for the weekend, the Caretaker hopes it does rain so he can get some burning done.

The strong wind from the Narrows prompted the Caretaker to move his shower set-up again, the view isn't so hot in comparison to the previous spots but it still "ain't" bad, it sure beats the view from the washtub in the Ghetto.

A tinge of read is starting to appear upon the Mountains of the East shore, the buds of the trees are starting to come out. Hippity-Hoppity Spring is on its way!

--The Caretaker

TCC for 4/23/08

The Caretaker's Concern 4/23/08
Lake Temp. 49F.
Ghetto temp. 67 F. and dropping.
Island tmp. 67 F. Yesterday's L/H: 53/74 F.
Current conditions: Partly clear sky, little to no wind.

The Channel markers were installed today, which means that now the boaters have something to ignore, not that it matters with the current Lake height, but as time goes on and the Lake level drops, the shallow spots as marked by rock buoys will begin to take out the props of the less mindful boaters out on the water. Ha-Ha on them, stupid boaters.

There was a strong wind mostly from the South East then switching to the North, it was the first in a long while for day time wind. It was a good thing that it came, there has been a bit of a build up of a film upon the Lake's surface, thankfully the wind came and moved it away. Today's photo looking South down the Lake is to show the total cloud coverage of the sky, this is also a first in quite a while.

The fuel pumps at the Marina were a bit off in their pricing, they pumped at .36 cents a gallon, too bad that wasn't the actual price, if it were the Caretaker would have figured out a way to float his car over to the pump to gas up.

In the evening, there was such a large May fly hatch that the buzzing could be heard throughout much of the Island. Were they actually "May" flies? The Caretaker doesn't know, to be honest he is not even sure what a May fly is, but he uses the term loosely to refer to any non-biting fly that seems to hatch from the water only to return to the water often times via the mouth and belly of a fish.

Later at night, when the Caretaker went out to check the temperature of the Lake he could hear the sound of "peepers" from over on Clay Island. Spring is definitely afoot here on this Great Lake of George.

--The Caretaker

TCC for 4/22/08

The Caretaker's Concern 4/22/08
Lake Temp. 50F.
Ghetto temp. 65 F. and dropping.
Island tmp. 66 F. Yesterday's L/H: 54/74 F.
Current conditions: Little to no wind, light cloud coverage.

The ice-eaters were removed today, chances are pretty slim that this was done prematurely, it would take a serious cold snap for the Lake to ice-over this Spring. If this were the Autumn the Lake being at 50 degrees Fahrenheit would be just becoming too cold to swim in, however in the Spring time, the Caretaker usually won't go in until it is at least 60. In the Spring the top foot or so may be at 50 degrees, but below that it is colder, it is a little tough to keep one's body in but a foot of water while swimming, at least it is for the Caretaker. So he will wait, at the current rate though, it won't be long before the Caretaker will be taking a pleasurable swim this Great Lake of George.

The Caretaker is happy to announce that his assumption about the bats was correct, at least for now, there were no bats surrounding him during his shower this evening. In fact, he didn't see much in the way of bats at all, perhaps the bats have stayed in, perhaps it is date night for all the married bats.

Happy Earth Day--don't ruin it.

--The Caretaker

TCC for 4/21/08

The Caretaker's Concern 4/21/08
Lake Temp. 48F.
Ghetto temp. 64 F. and dropping
Island tmp. 64 F. Yesterday's L/H: 54/73 F.
Current conditions: No wind, mostly clear with wisps of clouds.

Still great paddling water for today. During Sunset the Caretaker went pole walking around the Island for some exercise, by default pole walking is something that the Caretaker does all Winter long, but he has now taken to doing it in the Spring. It makes for the perfect Island exercise while the water is too cold to swim. The "experts" claim that it increases the effectiveness of one's walking by some 40 to 60%, whatever it may or may not be it works well for here on the Island. It is not only good for the Caretaker, it is good for the Island, without the road caps over the pole spikes the poles serve to aerate the lawn. So with this in his mind, bringing much mirth, in combination with the quiet of the day at sunset, the Caretaker rather enjoyed watching the color slowly slip from the Western sky.

While taking a shower at dusk some bats were out, a few had taken to circling around the Caretaker while he was trying to get clean, AND a few of the cheeky rogues took to dive bombing the Caretaker. It made for a rather amusing shower time, the Caretaker suspects that the sight/sound of the Caretaker taking a shower in the open was a novelty for the bats and that once they get accustomed to it they will pay little notice in the future. What is appropriate in reference to a bat and its sonar, do they see or hear? If their vision is accomplished through hearing, do they also notice auditory noises like we do? Hm...

After the Sun had long since set, and the Moon had just begun to rise, the Caretaker took himself and his camera out to Cocktail point to try and do some night photography of the Moon. Having noticed the rise of the Moon unexpectedly he wasn't exactly prepared, not to be deterred he threw on his robe, grabbed his camera and tripod and went out in his sandals. It took a few moments to find a spot on the rocks that wasn't too uncomfortable on his feet, he got his tripod set up and started to take photos. Since it was dark the Caretaker had to use rather long exposure times, sometimes up to a minute which was then followed by a processing time of up to a minute. At these times the Caretaker waited patiently absorbing his surroundings.

A rather large fish seemed to be jumping the water for fly's not too far off of Cocktail point. It sound much like a canoe paddle being slapped on to the water. While perched on the rocks trying to remain mostly still the Caretaker would occasionally feel the mild tickle of something crawling on his feet, not wanting to laugh and run the risk of disturbing his camera while it was operating, the Caretaker would quickly swipe the bugs off his feet. Far off towards the East shore the solitary call of a Loon was heard. Much closer afoot the Caretaker could hear a quiet turning of leaves, there wasn't any wind to speak off so the Caretaker was curious as to what could be causing this gentle rustling. On with the flashlight and what did he see? a number of Stone Fly nymphs crawling about, these were probably the same breed that was crawling on the Caretakers feet. In the light they scurried for cover. Off towards the North some geese could be heard making a bit of noise, it sounded like there was an attempt to put a pee-pee in a po-po.

--The Caretaker

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