Day 71, 27 July

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The morning started off with me giving Sac a walk completely around the house with her sling, but she was very enthusiastic. I raised the flag, got my Chai tea with a leftover donut and settled in to write Saturday’s blog. The skies were overcast and as the day worn on it got more cloudy and rougher seas. It was nice to have a relaxing morning after Saturday’s busy day. Fred decided to do his Bi-weekly poo duty and here is his first hand account:

Composting Toilet in Our Bathroom, "bin" comes out
Under the Removable Step Stool, Great view out
Window while doing One's Business

“Hi all, I have a real “crappy” subject to talk about, pun intended.  Today was my normal day to perform composting toilet maintenance on the two toilets in the keeper’s quarters.  Every two weeks you remove some of the composted waste from a lower bin and replace it with fresh stuff.  It is not as had as it sounds.  The guest quarters toilet has been smelly since the day we arrived.  So started with the smelly one in the guest quarters.  I started normally by emptying the bin underneath.  I noticed a lot of crap (literally) left in the compartment.  So I decided it would be “fun” to clean it.  I fabricated a scraper on a pole and cleaned it all out.  There was probably more in there than was in the bin I had already removed.  I used the shop-vac to completely clean the area.  Shop-vac fell over during this spraying dirt all over the bathroom, which added an hour to the job of cleaning the bathroom.  I few choice descriptive and colorful terms were uttered by me at this point.  Now back to the toilet.  Ok, I thought, this must be where the stink is coming from.  Crap not getting in the bin properly.  I put back the bin, added some composting spray, rotated the drum 6 times clockwise per instructions and once counterclockwise to empty some of the contents in the now clean lower bin.  I leveled out the stuff and thought I would check the whole area under there, and, low and behold, there was a lot of crap that missed the bin.  I cleaned up

Fred Wandering about a North Trail Visit Point

this.  So, what I think if happening is that, the release door that empties some of the contents of the main compartment always misses the removable bin.  Over time this missed crap gets pushed all the way back behind the bin and sits there.  I do not know why it misses the bin.  I would say 75% goes in the bin and 25% misses and gets left behind.   It is clean now and we will see what happens.  Until it is taken apart and hopefully fixed, I will be removing the missed stuff as part of the routine.  I did place the exhaust fan in front of the screen and it is running quite silently on medium exhausting the air.  Without the screen I could not get a good seal.  I fashioned a small piece of wood to brace the fan so strong winds won’t blow it inward, as it is just sitting there.  For good measure, I plugged one of Sue’s Air-Wick air fresheners in the bathroom too.  I also plan to keep the door shut and will suggest that to all visitors.  When I performed the routine on our toilet everything works like it is supposed to and all the contents during the counterclockwise turn went in the bin.  Ours does not smell.  I also performed the cove toilet maintenance today as well.  This one involves leveling the pile of poo with a rake, adding some composting material along with some water, and hosing down the actual stall with water.  Actually only takes about 10-15 minutes and only is done after every 100 uses or so.   The cove toilet is actually very clean and pleasant to use.  I will keep you posted on the smell of guest quarters toilet.”

View of Island Northern Tip from North Trail

On with the rest of the report of the day. For lunch I cooked up two hamburgers on the stove with garlic, onions, salt, pepper, A-1 and Worcester sauces. Then I slapped on slices of cheddar and pepper jack cheese to complete the carnage. The messy burgers were delicious on English muffins. We had coleslaw and corn on the cob to finish off the feast. We relaxed a bit in the living room since the weather was getting nasty. While I knit on my dress, Fred worked on the computer and did a bit of consulting on the phone for a chapter he is writing on rocket propulsion for a text book. At 4 pm I decided to paint the new Gift Store sign – red letters on a white board and affixed the credit card sticker symbols. I used letter stencils to outline the letters and then free-hand painted the letters. It came out very nice and looks very

Cattails in Bog on Northern Loop Trail

professional. Our visitors should be able to see this sign better from their boats and remember to bring some funds to purchase goodies from the gift shop.

After painting for about 2 hours, we decided to get out of the house and hike the North trail in the wind. We did the whole thing and went down the vista point to the end to enjoy the views. Fred brought along the clippers and pruned a bit along the way. There were 4 young seagulls at the first high vista point. They were almost as big as their parents and looking more adult like though they were grey with spots and not quite flying yet. How nice to see them progressing so well. After doing the North trail we decided to go down the South trail to see the waves even though it was about 7:30 pm. Halfway there a squall passed through and we got a little wet but continued on and the squall passed. So we sauntered down the trail to the end and saw 3 young seagulls there, including the two at the end that we have been watching for weeks. Good to see them progressing well also. We got back to the house to take down the wet flag, which we hung up in the hallway. I decided to make Rosemary Chicken for dinner and remembered to get the lettuces and herbs from the gardens for a salad before it got dark out. No tip

Three Seagull Chicks on Northern Trail

toeing through my garden in the middle of the night with a headlight this time!  So I cooked up 4 small, floured chicken breast pieces with rosemary, white wine and chives.

Close to the end of the 30-minute simmer time, I threw in a pile of freshly shucked peas and yellow and green beans that I got locally from a little stand in Phippsburg. The chicken was delectably tender and the veggies were done perfectly, just a bit firm and soaked in the wine sauce. Fred said it looked like it came from a restaurant. What a compliment! It was delicious.

After dinner I managed to get a few more rows knitted – up to 38 now – before getting too tired to continue. The foghorn started tooting in the late afternoon and was still tooting in the night with the fog. We went out before bed to see the most beautiful fog

Rosemary Chicken with Peas and Green and Yellow Green Beans

layers wavering through the light from the lens with the dramatic black spokes emanating in between. It is so mesmerizing to watch it. I can see how people might think there are ghosts flying about the lighthouse!  We think it is so beautiful. Later in the night the fog became just a thick blanket with the comforting tooting away of the horn permeating the wet, quiet night.

Finally after soothing a restless Sac I drifted off to sleep with watchful, graceful ghostlike figures dancing in my mind to keep watch on a sturdy and softly shining Beauty, guarding the night with her tooting companion – Tooter he shall be named! Yes, it’s a boy – they like to talk a lot – HA