TCC for 2/10/09

TCC for 2/10/09

Posting of the Caretaker’s Journal entries from 2003 began on the 2nd of February 2009, if you’ve missed the earlier posts click on “TCC for Feb 02” on the left in the “Blog Archive” and begin reading from there.

Unfortunately the Caretaker is currently having some trouble uploading photos, not that he took any today, and there really isn't much to report, so instead the Caretaker has decided to dig out his journal from when he first started working again at the Island. His first stint was during the mid-nineties, then he returned for the Summer of 2003, the text that follows has been edited only for spelling, it is basically a verbatim transcription from his journal (thus unedited except for coherency), this ninth entry is from his ninth day back at the Island. It is as follows:

June 2nd, 2003, Sunday

Did not sleep too well which is probably the first time ever that I did not get a good night’s sleep on the Island. It was very cold last night and my sheets and blankets were tucked too tight leaving a gap on both sides of me. I pretty quickly realized that I would be cold, I tried to remedy the situation while still in bed, I could only improve it a little. So I decided to give it a go as the bed was. I continually woke up throughout the night. Now I know I should have gotten out of bed and fixed the problem, but as cold as it was in bed it was all the more colder outside of the bed and who would want to go out in the cold? Not me of course—rather stupid.

Overall the day was a success. Went to town to do some errands which was most of the morning, was back on the Island by noon. In the afternoon when opening up the North doors to the dining room of the main house a humming bird came up to the breezeway entrance to the North patio and inspected a large pink candle shaped like a flower. The bird quickly realized it was not a flower and so then flew off. It was nice to see a humming bird.

I am quite certain I heard the call of a loon this morning, I hope to hear it more often.

After dinner I went for a kayak following the West shore around Fish point following the shoreline all the way around Basin Bay to Cotton point, then returned to the Island coming up along the East side of Three Brother Islands. Just this morning on my way into town I noted to myself how where the boat is docked on Green Island is very well protected, the only time it faces the wind is when the wind comes from a Westerly direction and how the wind so rarely comes from a Westerly direction. In my experience I have only seen it happen a couple of times at most, and sure enough which direction does the wind come from for the day but the West. So now my couple have become a few. It was for this reason, the wind coming from the West, that I chose to paddle down to Basin Bay. I don’t usually go South on the Lake. Basin Bay is quite sandy. While paddling along the shore of Basin Bay, the South West corner to be exact, I was looking East when I then looked down to see there on the Lake floor the sand made a drastic change in composition, more pebbly than sandy, and these pebbles formed a distinct shape, a “V”, well that signaled none other than the silt from a stream, so I immediately looked West to shore and sure enough there was a current coming from the mouth of a stream.

Lake George is filled from underground springs, and streams and rivers, the former contributing 40%, the latter 60%, give or take. So far I have seen at least three possibly four of the streams and rivers that contribute to George. On my trip around the Lake I shall make a point of noting the rest.

While kayaking I noticed that parts of Basin bay afford a nice view of Pilot Knob Mountain and its surrounding mountains. Also, the view up the lake from Cotton Point is very nice too.

After kayaking I did dishes then burned brush and pine needles for two hours during the night. The pile is so big I may very well end up burning needles for the entire summer.

End Journal Entry for 6/1/2003
Coming tomorrow the Caretaker’s journal entry for 6/2/2003.