Tuesday, June 20, 2017
I woke up this morning to more rain and wind but not as foggy. Will this weather please break and give us a little taste of summer. We are still hoping for our day off tomorrow but the marine forecast is not looking promising. This morning was spent on the couch with the dogs knitting with a few extra cups of coffee, Brian doesn’t really need any if he is going to sleep in!
As usual, there is always a list of things to do on the island, most not very important, but it keeps us busy when there are no visitors coming out to see us, and it is not looking great for any guests today, still big swells going across the cove. The big negative of this damp foggy weather is it makes the grass and bushes growing inches overnight. I chose to go out to make my morning loop of Cove to Cobblestone to check out the new hatchlings, always something to keep me busy and happy. I have started to always have a pair of pruners in my back pocket on the walks because when we think all the trails are done, more growth occurred overnight. Today was no exception, spent over an hour cutting back the new growth on the Cove Trail before even starting out to the rocks to check on the babies.
As I was walking along the shore, I found numerous egg shells out on the path away from the nests. It was fun gathering them but a challenge to get 3 shells back along the trail without breaking. It turns out there are subtle differences in the shells in color and spots and help me learn we don’t only have herring gulls on the island but Black Back Gulls as well. Their shells are more olive than brown with small spots on the shells. I have found a larger shell that is bluish white and I am still trying to match the egg shell to a possible species on the island, still need to do a little research. After being gone for almost 2 hours, Brian called down making sure I was still alive. I didn’t realize how long I was gone for and we do normally check in with each other for safety reasons. I let him know I was on my way back for lunch and we could divide up chores then.
After lunch, Brian headed down to the cove to tinker with the push mower down there, it is not starting for me again and his job was to cut the grass around the boat house and the tram. I had to service the composting heads in both sides of the cottage. Let’s just say it isn’t a horrible job but my many years working with sick animals in a veterinary setting gave me a strong stomach for unpleasant things. We were warned about the disgusting phrase ‘poop juice’ and I was blessed to get to experience firsthand. Without going into details, a weak stomach should never be involved in the servicing of composting heads!
Around 3pm, the text from Ethan came in, our day off is postponed again. This is a tough call, we want to get a day away and stock up on provisions but we also want to be safe doing it. One of the biggest issues is we are running short on fruit and veggies, if we don’t get off island on Thursday, we will truly be meat and potato kind of people. The delay in our day off also throws off our plan to cut the grass at the top of the island to make it look good for the weekend guests. If we cut it on Wednesday, there is an excellent chance it will need another go around on Saturday to avoid a hayfield!
The sun did finally show up in the afternoon, it was nice to finally see the outline of the mainland again, it has been a while. No need to set the alarm clock for the morning to make it to the cove for 7am, another lazy morning ahead of us.
Guests today – 0
Guests total – 93
USCG – 6
