TCC for 11/21/08

The Caretaker's Concern 11/21/08

Lake Temp. 46 F.
Ghetto temp. 52 F.
Island tmp. 23 F. Yesterday's L/H: 24/32.5 F.

Current conditions: Crystal clear star filled night, just after dusk the galaxy was rather visible, late into the night it was still visible but not as distinct. At dusk a planet was illuminated brightly enough for its light to be reflected on the water. Wind is from the North, mostly mild, less than 5 mph. The wind was from the North all day, not too strong but strong enough to make you cold pretty quick. Mostly sunny day, out of the wind and in the sunlight it was rather pleasant.

11/21/08


11/21/08


11/21/08


11/21/08


The first half of the day was rather uneventful, the second half of the day was a time for packages, the Caretaker received two packages which made him happy. Unfortunately the one package he is waiting on still has not arrived, this made him at touch displeased. Chances are this one package he is looking to arrive won't come tomorrow, Saturday, he is hoping it will come Monday, if not, then he will be rather displeased. Of the two packages that did arrive one was a replacement for a part of his "no running water, water system". The Caretaker knows that he had mentioned in the past that he would have posted an explanation of his water system by now but he his schedule has kept him too busy and since one of the key parts of his water system has totally failed he has decided he will hold off on the explanation until he can work out a replacement. Speaking of a replacement, he did hear back from one of the manufacturers that he was hoping to patronize, turns out their product won't work for the Caretaker unless he gets hold of a water pump. The Caretaker would rather not do that, he would much rather have a gravity fed system. It's looking more and more like the Caretaker will have to build his own tankless water heater, however he won't be able to get started on that until after the weekend and possibly not until the end of next week.

The replacement for a part of his water system that arrived today was definitely a plus, especially since he no longer has his tankless water heater. For the past three Winters the Caretaker used an enameled pot that held about three gallons of water and had a spigot. He would use this for rinse water to do dishes, being a metal pot he would fill it with warm water and then run the soapy dishes underneath the water from the spigot, it makes rinsing very convenient. However his enameled pot has started to rust on the inside, so he decided it was high time to upgrade to a stainless steel pot with a spigot. Last week he had picked up a spigoted pot but it was made of aluminum, which certainly would have worked but not wanting to run the risk of contaminating himself with aluminum he decided he should return it and splurge on a stainless steel one. He found one on the internet that wasn't all too expensive, he figures it's worth the investment, he doesn't want to get Alzheimer's in his old age, well, at least do as little as possible to contribute towards it. The only draw back of the stainless steel pot is that it is really much larger than he needs, it holds about 8 gallons, but that is a minor trouble that the Caretaker can certainly live with. Regardless of its size it certainly made his shower this evening much easier to get together than to do with out it. The spigot makes filling his shower bag a breeze, to do it otherwise requires a funnel and pipe which often times ends up making a mess of water on the floor. As easy as the pot makes getting water into the bag, it doesn't make getting the temperature correct any easier, the Caretaker is quite out of practice and so will have to work on getting back in the groove. Yesterday's shower using this method was a touch on the cool side, around 92 degrees Fahrenheit, which isn't insufferable, but he prefers his shower water at around 104. Tonight's shower water temperature? It was decidedly warmer. Not wanting to take a cool shower again the Caretaker overcompensated a bit too much, tonight's shower water was above 128 degrees Fahrenheit. The Caretaker waited a bit for the water to cool down but he didn't feel like waiting too long so he went with it as it was. Hopefully the third time will be the charm and tomorrow night's shower will be like the last bowl of porridge--just right.

The Caretaker's other package was from Campmor, it had a few things that will make his winter camping more pleasurable, one of which is a down sleeping bag rated for zero degrees Fahrenheit. The Caretaker will be testing it out tonight, it isn't supposed to go down to zero tonight but it is supposed to be one of the coldest nights on record for this time of year. Conveniently enough the Caretaker won't have to sleep outside to test his new sleeping bag, instead he'll just shut off all the heat in the Ghetto. If it turns out that the sleeping bag is not as effective as it claims to be rated for he'll just turn the heat back on and sleep in the usual pleasurable 40 degrees Fahrenheit.

The Caretaker is thinking of writing a book:
"The Joy of Winter:
How to enjoy living in the cold... but why?"

--The Caretaker

P.S. The photo of the rock is of the first ice from the Lake on the Island, it has been so cold that when the waves splash on to the rock the water has frozen to it (the ice may not be too visible in the photo given its size.