Day 70, 26 July

51 visitors

We got up early and hit the ground running this beautiful morning. Fred made three trips ferrying about 6 Navy volunteers from the USN Zumwalt crew to the shore at 7:50am along with five FOSIL’s people. I had one of our overnight guests raise the flag and greeted Mary who had brought a bunch a food to feed our volunteers. I stashed the lunchmeats, cheese, cookie mix and drinks in the fridge. 

Soon after this at 0815, Ethan brought over about 14 HAM radio operators that were having a radio contest on the island. We also had people arrive on their private boats for a tour. The island was crawling with people. I got a radio call from Ethan and he told me that the overnight guests would have leave by 2 pm today due to the impending weather predicted for the next day. If they didn’t leave they might not get off till Wednesday!  I told this to our guests who were very disappointed since they had planned and paid for 2 nights. The HAM operators were also told they needed to leave by two also and not the planned 5 pm departure. They were unhappy also with the early departure. You have to trust Ethan and rely on his expertise and knowledge, since he is very experienced and has to safely transport everyone.

Ham Radio Folks setting up Equipment and Antennas

The Navy people were busy down at the cove working away with clearing brush and painting. The HAM people got busy setting up their antennas and radio equipment. I noticed one young boy who spotted Sac who was lying in her favorite spot in the grass.

I motioned him over to say hello and he had a big smile. He gently petted her and told me about his golden retriever that he had to put to sleep two months ago due to cancer. Throughout the morning and until he left he kept doting on Sac and his mother was real kind to her also. Sac got lots of attention from all the people but the little boy was especially dear. Earlier in the week there was an older gentleman visitor that was almost in tears telling me about his doggie that he had just put down and how much he missed his buddy.

Rainbow Image from Great Lens on Tower Wall

The magic companionship of a dog, there is nothing else so special.

Cyndy had left us some donuts and I got my breakfast of Chai tea and donut in with a banana. I got a call from Cyndy asking me to spread out the lunchmeats and things for lunch at 11:15 am for the Navy people.  Other visitors occupied the picnic table, so I put the food spread out on the round plastic table on the front porch that I moved out of the sun. I laid out the meats and condiments, chopped up ¼ of a big watermelon, put chips in big bowls, brought out the big drink bottles with cups, and got a big loaf of bread ready. Ken helped with prying the sheets of cheese from the big block and laying them on a plate. I covered all food with plastic and cloths until the people came up to eat. I threw a sheet of chocolate chip cookies in the oven to bake and clipped a timer to my belt. I had to give another tour in the lighthouse, this time to the Navy guys and gals. Just as we were done my timer went off and as I ran out the door I asked Ken to do the next tour since my cookies were done. Got the cookies out of the oven and went to see what was happening at the buffet. Everyone was eating and I joined in with a sandwich. After my sandwich I got the cookies on a plate and delivered them to the buffet and went back to bake another sheet. We sat and chatted with the young Navy folks and found out that some of them were going to be the first crew on the new stealth ship that is being in Bath right now up the Kennebec River. How exciting is that for these young people? Everyone ate their fill and Cyndy helped me cleanup and washed the dishes. The 2 pm hour was approaching and everyone was packing up. The little boy still kept company with Sac not wanting to leave her. I took a picture of the HAM group with their banner when they asked me right before they all headed down. Fred was running the tram and I helped with getting stuff on it and getting the cart back up. Fred also assisted with getting people onto Ethan’s dinghy and rowed people out in our dinghy from our work crew.

We went down to the cove to say goodbye to everyone especially our overnight guests. The Navy group and our people left soon after also. I must say it somewhat of a relief to have most everyone gone and we could catch our breath! We had a few private boaters that were enjoying the solitude of Seguin and Fred lay down on a bench to relax. I for some reason, though exhausted, got Sac out from her spot and brushed her. It was very relaxing to both of us and she fell asleep so I clipped her

Mare HAM Radio Antennas, They were All Over the Place

toenails. I fed her early since I wanted to go down to the cove at low tide to look for sea glass. We looked a bit and then took our rock cliff hike around the peninsula and back to Cobblestone beach. We climbed back up to the house where I finally laid down on the couch for a nap. Fred painted the other side of the board I was going to use for a sign. We were very tired and wanted an easy dinner so I picked some lettuces, cilantro and chives from the gardens. Fred made a nice big salad while I took a shower and we munched on the salads later. I did heat up some squash soup that I had with crackers and garlic hummus to complete dinner. Sac fell asleep early and was content, which was good to see – she had a busy day too. I tried writing the day’s blog but kept falling asleep so I packed up and went to bed early at around 1 am. Hopefully Sunday would be much quieter. Off with dreams of a lonely little boy hugging an aged but sweet little retriever to give him some comfort on a special isle with a beautiful glittering lighthouse keeping watch over all.