The Caretaker's Concern can be blamed on Wreck-Loose Island Publishing.
Send all complaints to:
WLIPublishing P.O. Box 1521 Bolton Landing, N.Y. 12814

WreckLooseIsland@yahoo.com

Thursday, August 19, 2010

The Caretaker's Concern for 8/19/2010

TCC for 8/19/10:

Photos from yesterday's sunset:




The Caretaker is still under the weather, it was suggested to him that he may be experiencing allergies, "hey fever", what's up with that? If it's not an illness then it's just a "condition"? Of "the country"? When does it end? If it doesn't the Caretaker is going to have to move to the city, he's had enough of the pressure in the head, congestion, sneezing, stomach ache, etc. Oddly, the only time he gets any relief is when he gets some exercise, he doesn't need to exercise all day every day. Maybe he should start drinking and smoking heavily again, back when he led a mostly unhealthy life style he never experienced "hey fever". Ha-Ha on you Caretaker!

Before there was the blog the Caretaker sent out posts via e-mail, the following is from the Caretaker's second winter on the Island:

Island Ice Report,
Ice Out Day 5, 4/19/07:

Lake Temperature: 36 F

Today was the day the ice went out. It hasn't gone out entirely, the wind was from the direction of the Narrows (East) and so there is still plenty of ice in Bolton Bay, essentially if you draw a line in an arc from the Island towards the bridge to Green Island (Sagamore hotel) you will have marked the ice/water line. At least that was the case as of sundown, given the expected weather for tonight, cold and light winds, most of the remaining ice won't go anywhere until tomorrow. The Caretaker spent the entire day walking around the Island documenting ice out on film, digital photos, video, and recording the various ice sounds. The Caretaker even dug out his waterproof camera and took some photos of the ice from underneath it in the water. No the Caretaker did not go in the water, he just stuck his hand in the water. The waterproof camera is a disposable type and is some two to three years old, there is a good chance that the film is pretty much shot, but that won't be known until the film is developed, should anything of interest come from it the Caretaker will be sure to scan any photos of value and e-mail them out to you. All of the photos in this update (and the one from the e-mail earlier today) were taken throughout the day today. The Caretaker took 191 digital photos and about 50 film photos. Not to imply that the photos are any better because of that, but when you walk around the Island all day long you should probably have something to show for it. Most of the video shot was mostly for the audio, because of this the footage was shot in small format to conserve storage space. The Caretaker has not gone through the video footage yet but chances are there will be at least a few minutes of watch-able material. Now mind you, the standard for "watch-able" will be much higher than the "Know's Pick'in Gus's Swing" video, nor will there be any "music", the Caretaker will leave the natural sounds of ice out for you to hear. If all goes well the Caretaker will be able to provide you an idea of what it is like to watch the river of crystal as it flows by.
Today does not mark the official end of ice out because it depends on the wind. Should the wind come from the South tomorrow any ice that collected at the South end of the Lake today could blow back this way. That is of course if the ice that blew down there didn't all melt. The other possibility is that if the wind comes from the North to the North West it will blow the ice that has collected in Bolton Bay right onto the Island. So far very little ice came up on to the Island, if the wind continues from the East like it has for these past 5 days, there will be no more ice coming onto the Island. The Caretaker's prediction is that as far as the Island goes, ice out has come to an end and by the end of tomorrow most all of the ice will have gone out from the rest of the Lake.
One of the benefits of ice out is that the Lake becomes a giant cooler. In the afternoon the Caretaker decided a cocktail would be a good idea, Plum wine on the rocks. However the Caretaker was out of ice, and the Caretaker takes his Plum wine with ice, but the idea quickly occurred to him that he had an entire Lake full of ice. So the Caretaker took his wine glass down to the South dock and plunged his hand into the water and scooped out enough for his drink. When the ice flows like a river of crystal it has melted down to pieces roughly equal in volume to ice cubes from your freezer but they are long and narrow, essentially shards of ice. Being rather amused by the novelty of this the Caretaker felt the occasion merited a second glass of Plum wine, and then left it at that--he didn't need to start buzzing around the Island taking photos of an empty swing as it goes round and round blown by the wind. The Caretaker already did something like that, but for the record, the Caretaker was completely sober when he filmed the vacant swing, although that is probably a bad thing because if he was drunk he would at least have an excuse for that. Although, based on the Caretaker's antics on the internet of late he should probably start drinking heavily again so he has an excuse for all of it. Anyway...














--The Caretaker

2 comments:

vanessa said...

wow.. as in wow...

The Caretaker said...

Hello Vanessa,
Thanks for visiting my blog and becoming a follower. Thanks for the enthusiastic comment on this post, I hope you continue to find my blog entertaining. I look forward to checking out your blog soon.
Best Regards,
Jeff