Lighthouse caretaking

Goodbye Seguin

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All good things must end. Our two week stint is over and it was a great one. We had all sorts of weather, nice visitors and completed lots of projects. It is also starting to get cold in a house  without central heat: 47 degrees f this am as the sun rose.    

 I donned a hat and gloves (both knit by me of course), and every sweater and jacket I had, and we carried our gear down the hill to meet Capt Ethan with the dinghy. 

   
 It was seamless trip ashore despite the cold wind and we met up with several friends before we left. I had my first meal out and used a flush toilet. Woohoo. 

I write this from the comfort of my own couch, looking forward to our next trip to Seguin.    

Paint chicken

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You knitters are familiar with this concept – yarn chicken. I wasn’t sure if I had enough stain left to finish the fourth porch. So I played paint chicken. Not sure if there would be enough. By the end, I was practically licking the paint can. But they are finished and look spiffy. 

We had a wind shift today from SW to N and the flag got its knickers in a twist. 

  
 Tim was covering the battery for the new solar panel and I went down to caulk a window. He kept looking at me and laughing. I wonder why.  
  
There has always been a Davis weather station on the island. I liked it so much, Tim bought me one for home.  

  I was reviewing this year’s numbers. Maximum wind speed, 68mph, lowest outside temperature -7•f, highest outside temperature 81•f, highest inside temperature 135•f!!! Someone must have had a candle nearby. 

And tonight’s sunset seen from a different perspective. 

   
 
And to all a good night. 

  

Full gear

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It took a little while to acclimate, reassess and see what needs to be done on Seguin. There’s always something. 

My door is finished and I’m very happy with it. I had to replace the board to the right of the door. I got to rip and cut wood on the first power saws I ever used, back in 2008. Here’s the reveal:

  
Once again I had a garter snake encounter but this was more of a stand off. It coiled and hissed at me because I disturbed its peaceful rest: around, under, and probably inside the pump house. 

  It got foggy.  Tim turned on the fog horn to lull me back to sleep – vhf 83, click 5 times. 

   
    
 We’ve had visitors this fall including some we’ve met on the island before. 

The Wednesday warriors arrived, just after sunrise, with a solar set up for the Clivus composting toilet down at the cove. It’s a good thing because without the fan the outhouse was less than its usual pristine self. Guess who got to install it? The support person at Clivus was awesome. I called him several times throughout the process. And we’re back in “business”.

  
   
 After the fog cleared, painting began. 3 porches and one to go. We had overnight guests; visitors can arrange to stay here through Friends of Seguin, who really appreciated and took in the whole island. 

In the meantime, Tim mowed, weed trimmed and kept the place in shape. We’ve run out of data on our plan so we spend the evenings reading, knitting or weaving (me) and playing cards and trivial pursuit. 

Here are my island creations so far. 

   
    
   
Shoelaces!

And then of course, there is always lots of sky watching. 

   
   

 

Almost visitors

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We were prepared to receive overnight guests yesterday, but the weather forecast for today kept them away. And rightly so. Wind and waves; Maine in October.  

Tim set off to change the oil in the various motors. I tackled 2 home improvement projects and one weaving project. The best advice we heard from caretakers we met in Tasmania was, “Every day do at least three things: one for the island; one creative endeavor; and I can’t remember the third – I think it was a fitness activity”.

So I improved upon my fly trap. A penny in a plastic bag with water. I hung one in the kitchen and, for the first time since we arrived, the flies seem to have skedaddled. Here’s my porch version. 

  
We had to fill the cistern yesterday and I noticed the pump house entrance had deteriorated since Tim’s brother, Bill, repaired it eight years ago.   

I chopped, cut and ripped wood I found, primed it, put it up and caulked the heck out of it. It will save it for a few years. Finished photos to follow when the weather improves and I can paint.

I’m relearning tablet weaving using sewing thread. Not the pattern I anticipated but pretty nonetheless. 

  
I’ve covered 2 of 3 but my trips down the hill to the cove keep me fit!  

Then there’s always a sunset. 

   
    
 

Eeeeeekkk!

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Not for the squeamish. 

I wanted to finish painting the trim on the window that needed the extension ladder. 

  
The window on the lower left surprisingly needed a huge ladder. I thought I’d get a head start. There was a garter snake sunning itself near the water outlets yesterday and I thought I’d give it a heads up that I would be working nearby and it would be OK to leave. 

I had left the extension ladder on the ground the day before. As I stood there I heard the sound of something  rubbing on metal. THEN THE SNAKE SLITHERED OUT OF THE RUNG’s HOLLOW TUBE !!!!

  
And I got on with my painting. 

Since I am already discussing yucky things, here’s my fly trap, whose bait is getting tastier by the day. I think I caught a fruit fly. 

  
On a happier note, all days end the same. 

  

High pressure job

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A cold front moved through yesterday and swept everything clean. The fly population was down for a while and the outhouse smelled like roses. 

With the dry air and clear skies, today was a beautiful day to work outside. Tim took to the trails and I painted some trim. My project was interrupted when the Coast Guard arrived to replace the ground wire on the tower and borrowed my extension ladder. When they finished, they toured the museum to get a glimpse of what life use to be like in the Coast Guard and Lighthouse Service on Seguin. 

I heard them talking about the ghost story associated with Seguin. A piano plays a key role. Tim has a keyboard in the caretaker’s quarters and I couldn’t resist.  I played a few notes, which caught their attention. 

Yesterday,I built a fly trap in an effort to at least keep them out of the kitchen.  Tim thought it was a huge success until I confessed that the two flies in the trap had been caught and deposited there – by me. 

We watched a whale swim offshore for about an hour before dinner.  We spotted it from the south trail then returned to the lighthouse and watched it with binoculars and a scope. Island life!

   
    
   
See the new copper wire from the catwalk to the ground. 

New toys

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The rider mower at Seguin may have been driven off the bluff – that’s how they used to get rid of elderly equipment. Tim loves its replacement. 

  
The island is in great shape. We got reacquainted yesterday and hosted several visitors. I even convinced Tim to take a brief, brain freezing swim after we finished our work. 

   
Small craft warning and rain today. Last night’s wind speed reached 34 miles per hour. Almost blew me right out of bed. To quote a little five year old I saw at the beach last weekend, “Shiver me timbers”.

 What we won’t hear is the fog horn! Maine switched to a VHF activated system. We, and any mariner, can turn it on on channel 83. Click 5 times and the fog horn turns on.  Then click your heels and say,”I want to go home, I want to…”.

Island hopping

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We are on the road again. We headed to Long Island to go to my son and daughter-in-law’s baby shower. That kept me busy before-hand finishing up lots of projects.

There’s nothing more fun than working on baby items and imagining the soon to be, new little bundle.

I made a quilt, crocheted a blanket, knit a sweater, and a Halloween costume, and wove a 6 yard baby wrap.

   
    
  
 
We wrapped it all up and started our journey  south. Our first stop was Long Island. We headed out to Fire Island where we lived one winter.

  
After the baby shower festivities and a nice visit with family, we hopped on a ferry and started our journey north.

  We spent a night with “old” friends at a camp on a lake in Maine. Wonderful. Heard a loon, canoed in the dark, swam in the morning and ate challah bread french toast. 

Then off to Seguin Island after provisioning at the local Shaw’s. Luckily we packed light because the tram isn’t running. We got everything ashore and up the hill without a hitch and had lobster for dinner. 

   

  

 I slept like a baby to the sounds of wind, the bell buoy and waves breaking.  

Island hopping

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We had a chance this fall to return to two lighthouses we tended in the past. First we headed off to Bakers a Island in Salem, MA.  We knew it when.  Now the grounds are cleared, the lighthouse is freshly painted,  both keepers’ houses have been renovated and the public can once again visit the island thanks to Essex National Heritage Trust, the National Park Service and volunteer caretakers.

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Next we headed north to Seguin Island, Maine.  We arrived as the summer caretakers departed and the foghorn was mistakenly blowing.  We settled in and hiked the trails with good friends. After dinner, as we got ready to play a rousing game of Trivial Pursuit,  we lost all power to the island.  The light went out! And the backup lights didn’t come on.

After checking out the boathouse at the bottom of the hill, the whistle house at the top of the hill and all their circuit breakers,  we made calls to find out which power company supplied the island and contacted them. In minutes, coincidentally (?), the power returned.  You can imagine the phone call.  We don’t know our zip code, account number or name.   They were impressed we were calling from a lighthouse though.

But the light never came back on.  So we contacted the Coast Guard, who maintains the light, left a message and went to bed.  This morning, while volunteers arrived in pea soup fog to tackle several projects, the Coast Guard walked us through some troubleshooting to no avail. They stopped by  for a visit today and got things working again. Now we can rest easy and enjoy the sunset.

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Deal Island: parting shots

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We greeted the next caretakers, Graham and Leonie, helped them unload and get settled, and then made a pasta dinner. It was a lively evening and our first glass of wine in 6 weeks!

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I know the feeling when you wave goodbye to your last visitors for the next few months. Bittersweet, but mostly sweet.

We arose early Thursday and departed Deal Island on the Strait Lady. It was the calmest and fastest crossing to Flinders Island we ever had. We saw the sun rise on the cliffs of Deal,

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a last view of the compound,

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sunrise to the east of Bass Strait,

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And sunset from Flinders Island looking west.

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A perfect ending to a fabulous three months. We met lots of interesting, hearty, brave people, took good care of the island and each other, didn’t break anything nor have to be airlifted for emergencies.

Maybe we’ll be back again.