Day 10, 27 May

0 visitors

The day opened up as grey, overcast and a cold wind blowing as predicted with a cold front that moved in. I got the flag up with help from Fred since the wind was blowing strong and the flag was tugging hard on the wet cold rope, which hurt my delicate hands.

We had pancakes for breakfast that Fred cooked up on the stove. We had to try our Vermont maple syrup that we got in a little jug in a tiny market in the beautiful countryside of Vermont as we came through there on our way out to Maine. The pancakes turned out good especially with the syrup.

We had our first hummingbird this morning in the blustery winds. The poor little guy was hanging on the feeder we bought trying to get a drink. Hopefully he will return on calmer days.  In regards to the bat sighting   At about 12:30 am Monday night I was getting ready for bed and saw a dark shadow move across the dresser – I thought WTF? - I looked about and saw a 10-12 inch bat silently winging its way around the room. It flew out into the sitting area and hallway. I closed the doors to the two bedrooms and bathroom. It kept flying around the sitting area in total silence. I slipped into the bathroom to wash up and peeked a few times out the door and he was still there flying about. He didn’t seem to go downstairs since Fred didn’t notice him. I finished washing up and when I left the bathroom he was no where to be seen. We went to bed wondering where our little Count Chocula wandered off to - hopefully flew back out the way he came in. We didn’t see him last night.
last night here is a little more info.

Worked on my knitted sleeve a bit and watching some TV.  I called Kathryn in the office and left her a message about showing up tomorrow and the few things we needed to get from her. We kept updating our lists of supplies to get in town for ourselves.

The light of the great lens

Cynthia cleaning the Fresnel lens with great care

For lunch I cooked up the chicken that finally defrosted from last night. We were too tired to eat it last night and I had a pop tart with my salad instead. So I stuffed the chicken with garlic white chees and sprinkled more garlic in them and cinnamon. Then salt and peppered the outsides with a bit of olive oil and baked them in the oven for 30 minutes. They turned out great and we put a Hawaiian sweet and sour sauce on them with a touch of maple syrup.  I also baked some brownies with the last egg and butter that we had for desert. We managed to watch an episode of my soap opera on TV and caught up on what was happening. So finally off to work we went. Fred set the oven to self clean and heat up the kitchen. He then proceeded to check out the North trail in the nasty weather. I opted to go into the tower and clean the great lens from her insides next to the brilliant light. Since the wind and rain were blowing it wasn’t very warm in there even being inside the light with the hot bulb. I’m glad I had my cashmere scarf wrapped around my neck and had long sleeves and capris on. So I gently cleaned her insides listening to my classical music on my Ipod that was safely tucked away under my shirt. The eight great big bulls eyes at the focal point of the lens made me think that this was her belly insides.  They are big and smooth and easy to clean though I have to make sure there are no streaks, as on all the glass pieces. At one point I did hear a strange eerie cry from a seagull that came through the vent ball atop the lantern room. I have noticed while out hiking the sometimes startling and almost human sounding voices of the seagulls at times. So after cleaning and wiping down both sides I swept up the small white paint chips that fell from the sides as I was cleaning. So now the lens bottom portion looks all shiny and clean. I did manage to wipe the 3 rows of glass prisms above the main lens. It was all I could safely reach and they were the most dirty and grimy from stuff falling from above. One side of the lantern room had condensation on the glass windows, which is disconcerting since the lens can’t shine through and be seen properly. This was the side the wind and rain was hitting more harshly and directly. In our WA lighthouse we kept a heater on just below the lantern room and the heat rose and kept condensation off the glass windows. Not sure if that would work here with the much bigger lantern room.  Checked my phone to see I got a text from Ethan, that he will get us Thursday since there are small craft warnings for Wednesday, that is fine with us. My birthday Thai lunch and shopping will have to wait a day.

Lighthouse in the rain

We then took a walk down to the cove and looked at a pretty white sailboat that was moored there. We proceeded to go down the Cove and Cobblestone beach trails to check out the ocean in the rain. Back to the house to get warm and dry and relax. A big salad for dinner and more brownies.  Got a lot done on my sleeve and will finish it tomorrow. No Count Chocula tonight – sweet dreams little bat.

Day 9, 26 May

2 visitors  (Blog tip:  if you click on the pictures they get bigger)

This warm sunny Memorial Day morning we had visitors at 10 am that Ethan brought out, a nice young couple that just graduated from college. He came from San Diego and she from New York. We gave them a tour of the tower and they had toured the museum. The weather got more cloudy and cooler as the day went on with some rain and then brightened up again. I managed to get my toenails painted the same shade of turquoise that my fingernails are. So that should hold me for a few weeks. I worked on getting our blog site out to more friends and family. After a shower and lobster lunch – forth day in a row I’ve had lobster- I opted to fertilize the juniper bushes with some fertilizer beads I got at Ace. Did the bush near the keeper’s house and the one near the Whistle House. Hopefully this will help them green up and look and feel better. Then I decided to hike the North trail again for exercise and brought along the shears to snip any brush that needed it especially near the end that I did not get to earlier in the week. Already I could see the grass growing back where Fred had whacked it earlier. So happily snipping I went and this time went to the left at the loop and down the side trail to the ocean. There I saw a pair of Canadian geese with about 6 fuzzy babies. They saw me and waddled away down on the rock cliffs. I turned away from them and kept still, watching the waves crash onto the rocks and enjoying the north end . They eventually came back up a little and I snapped a number of pictures – hopefully getting them all in focus. I then

Canadian Geese with chicks

quickly ducked down and went back up the trail so I wouldn’t disturb them any further. Went down around and through the bog snipping away and eventually back to the trail junction where I found a seagull nest right smack in the trail with two precious eggs, I took a real close up picture of the speckled eggs and then an over all nest shot and continued back to the lighthouse. A slight rain started as I went snipping back. Fred was finishing up the mowing.  He uses the riding mower for most of it and a push mower for the steep hills and around obstacles.  He finishes with some raking to get rid of the thick cut grass which can damage the lawn. Takes about 3 hrs to mow.  The lawn looks like a thick rich carpet. Looks like a golf course with the granite outcroppings acting as the sand traps.  Fred took a call from Cyndy whom he called earlier with a few questions. Took Sac for a little walk and decided to relax and defrost some chicken instead of working on the lens since it

Close-up of Seagull eggs, they are bigger then x-large chicken eggs

 was late – 8:15 Pm. My back was aching a bit and the rain and wind started so I’ll work on the lens tomorrow. Depending on the weather I’d like to start on my garden also – planting my veggie and flower seeds. I hope to grown my own spinach, lettuces, cilantro, herbs, carrots, beets and some pretty flowers for the birds, bees and butterflies. We did hang up a hummingbird feeder and hope to see some of these tiny marvels appear for some dining pleasure. Time to start the last sleeve on my sweater tonight and relax at our lighthouse home and maybe watch the Kings play hockey.  Just before bed Cyn spotted a bat in the bedroom.  Buzzed her dressing table.  We don't know where he his now.  Hopefully he is eating the moths.  If we have a problem with daylight in the morning we will know it was "that kind of bat!"

Day 8, 25 May

14 vistors

A beautiful day opened up for us and we puttered around doing little chores. I managed to finally do my nails after about 3 weeks and they sorely needed a manicure. So with a fresh coat of turquoise polish, I could start the day. In the early afternoon we just had finished lunch of lobster for me and chicken chili for Fred, when we had we had visitors. Ethan brought out 6 people and an adorable, 14 week old puppy.  Caswell is a Nova Scotia Duck Trolling Retriever with pale gold eyes and red eyelashes and cute as can be! His daddy set up a bat monitoring station on the tower, it records the high frequencies the bats emit. I had a nice chat with his mommy and gave her a tour of the tower and museum. We also had a young lady and her mother and a young oriental couple. We gave them all tours. Later in the afternoon, we had a lone kayaker, Sue and Dave Patton showed up with their powerboat with their son and his girlfriend and her dog Fitz, and a young couple arrived on their sailboat with their adorable baby boy Felix in his knit bear cub hat and their dog Bella. They all got tours.

Seguin Island Cove with Sail Boat

Later in the glorious afternoon when everyone left, we took a hike down South Trail and down onto the rocky cliffs to look at the various little pools and the ocean crashing into the rocks in the distance. We did come across one seagull nest with 3 speckled eggs in it. We came back up South Trail and then continued on down to the cove where the sailboat with the young couple was still moored in the cove. They soon left and we waved goodbye to each other. We relaxed at the boat house after poking around the beach for a little bit and then hiked down the Cove trail to sit at the rocks and watch some waves coming in. Looked like they might be nice for surfing. Hiked back to the house and had a nice snack of cookies that Sue brought us. They also brought us some fresh blueberries and a bottle of wine to welcome us to the island.  I went up to the tower and resumed cleaning the outside of the lens, finishing the job even the precarious entry way to the light, getting each halfway side from the safety of the floor that went close to it. Tomorrow I’ll tackle cleaning the inside of the great lens where the 1000 watt light bulb resides, be so very careful of the cramped space within and the heat generated from that powerful bulb. I can’t wait to see her clean and shiny inside and out. I cleaned for just over another 2 hours, watching as the sun began to set. This is my favorite time in a lighthouse – just as the sun is going down and dusk starts to present itself. An ideal soothing and peaceful time to spend alone with the light.

Fred on the rocks at the South End of Seguin Island

Onto dinner of crab cakes and corn on the cob with a green salad. Fred continued on working on getting the blog setup and I finished the collar on my sweater that I was knitting. Just the other sleeve to knit and sew them on and I’ll be done that sweater.

Heard the foghorn sound 5 times at about 4 am. Sweet dreams.

Day 7, 24 May

12 visitors

This morning started off with a special visitor – a Minke whale!  She was swimming about, diving and surfacing. You could clearly see her dorsal fin shining in the morning sun. The 6 of us had a big breakfast together and then they packed up and left us at about 9 am. We shall miss greatly the company and good cooking of Cyndy and Michael at the lighthouse.  Michael will be returning to Manhattan and we will be seeing Cyndy, Ethan, Lindsey and Pepper again throughout the summer on our Wednesday transfers.
Fred mowed the lawn around the tram and cove buildings and also fixed the lawn mower so it pushed a little easier.  He also retied the some of the many lobster buoys.  They are always washing ashore and are collected if they look in pretty good shop.  Adds color.

Buoys hanging from tram down by the cove

So here we are all alone on this pretty little island with a magnificent lighthouse. I washed all the dishes while Fred mowed the lower areas. Cleaned out the silverware drawer and rearranged the silverware. Lined some more kitchen shelves with shelf liners. We moved a little bit of furniture to our liking and had a late lunch of leftover yummy lobster, corn on the cob and tabooli mixture with the last of Michael’s blueberry muffins. I found a wonderful classical radio station to listen to in the house and it sounded glorious playing all day permeating every brick with classical music. At around 3 PM we had visitors! Our first ones of the season! We had 8 kayakers that came over from Hermit Island about 8 miles away. They all piled onto the picnic table outside our back door in the sunshine to eat their lunches. We let Sacatar sit out with them and she got a few pats and treats. Fred took them up in two groups to see the lighthouse and I chatted with the others. They didn’t go into the museum but I dragged out the log book so they could sign in. They needed to get back to kayaking to make it back in good time.  A bit later we had 4 gentlemen show up from a pretty sailboat moored in the cove and we had a nice time chatting with them. They loved seeing Sacatar and took pictures with her. Both groups seemed to love seeing a dog at the lighthouse. I gave the 4 guys a tour up in the tower which they enjoyed immensely. They didn’t want to go into the museum either and opted to take a hike on South trail.  We were disappointed that they too didn’t want to see the museum and gift shop. Got them signed in and thanked everyone for coming to visit. The afternoon was sunny and gorgeous. I started the next

Beautiful Fresnel Lens!

big job – cleaning the lens. I took off all jewelry so I wouldn’t scratch the precious glass and wore t-shirt and shorts since it is quite warm in the glass lantern room with the huge glass lens in the sunlight. I used a partial white vinegar and water mixture with rags cut from a clean old sheet. I found it best to spray a small amount of the mixture on the cloth and then carefully and gently wipe each surface of each prism and then wipe down with a clean dry cloth. My small hands and fingers fit well into the small areas on and between the prisms. There were some chips and cracks in some of the prisms and I was careful to be extra gentle in these areas. I could feel the little hurts the great lens felt with these damages. It was so very nice to touch her and see her shine and sparkle.  Here I was
caring for this huge breathtaking work of art over 150 years old, following in the footsteps of a long line of keepers that did the very same thing so long ago. It is a first order Fresnel lens, 9 feet high and 6 feet wide that is so rare and priceless today. I got half of the lens on the outside surfaces cleaned and will probably take 1-2 days more to complete.  Fred was able to receive a number of TV stations via an antenna and his computer and we watched some shows via the computer screen. Just a good sized salad for dinner and cozy relaxation in the living room to complete the day.

Day 6, 23 May

Got to sleep in today and awoke to overcast and cool temps. I pulled out my violin to see how it faired. The two bows were extremely loose with the hairs very flaccid. I tightened them up a little bit. The violin had three strings higher than normal and the pegs hard to turn from being swelled in the humidity. Got them loosened and tuned my violin. I did play about 5 pieces to work my hands and fingers – so good to play a bit again especially after listening to classical music the past few days on my Ipod as I was doing trail maintenance.

Seagull nest with three just laid eggs

Fred worked on getting a blog setup so I can send my reports out to the world on our experiences. We all went down to the cove to help retrieve lobster that Jackson Percy left for us in a holding trap on a buoy in our little cove. Fred and Michael rowed out to get them. We put them in a bucket with some sea water and seaweed on top. It was low tide and the sand exposed on the beach like yesterday. Found a few more beach glass pieces. Fred and I went on a little hike with Cyndy along the shoreline from the end of Cove Trail to Cobblestone beach and up that trail back to the lighthouse. Along the way we found two seagull’s nests each with 3 spotted eggs. It was fun to go along the rocks with their wild patterns and pick our way along the coastline. Got back for a small lunch and then Cyndy and I set up the gift shop. We didn’t have all the merchandise but set up with what we had and it looked nice for any visitors that may show up for the holiday weekend.

10 Lobsters left by Jackson Percy in a Keeper in the Cove

Fred worked on setting up some TV channels that he could get via his devices and played them on his computer. He also went back down the north trail to spray for poison ivy and discovered 2 more nests right in the trail. We then got ready for our special guest visitors – Ethan and Lindsey and Pepper who arrived around 6:30 with some nice wine selections. Sacatar and Pepper got along just fine and we had a very nice evening talking and getting to know each other.

We had a wonderful fresh cooked lobster dinner in the dining room with all 6 of us ripping apart the lobsters that we retrieved in the morning – talk about divinely delicious! 

More socializing around the dining room table before we all were so tired and went to bed. They will all be leaving us at 9 tomorrow morning and we will finally be on our own. We will greatly miss our mentors and guides and their wonderful companionship. Time for us to do what we came out here for – to take loving good care of this very special lighthouse and station.  We still are amazed that we are really out here!