Thursday
July 28, 2016
This morning was foggy all around Seguin early this morning but the sun was shining brightly over the island. After fruit for breakfast, we went down the hill to get five-gallons of water and then while Patty cleaned the bird droppings off the historic plaques around the island and tidied up the house following the departure of our guests yesterday, I drafted a blog post.
Later in the morning, our first visitors arrived, two couples from Georgetown named Peter, Mara, Mara, and Marris. No Joke. We kept the trend with “P” for Patty and “M” for Mitchell. Marris and one of the Mara’s visit Seguin each summer but the other Mara and Peter had never been here before. No long after, three adults and two boys visited from their own boat. The remainder of their group could be seen near the southern end of Seguin where they were fishing instead of coming ashore.
The ferry brought a group to Seguin at the regular time and we hosted those visitors for the next couple of hours. One couple from Michigan was particularly interested in the lens and quite knowledgeable about different lighthouses on the Great Lakes and elsewhere. There were especially happy to get pictures of the lens manufacturer’s name (Henry-Lepaute) stamped on the lens framework.
After the ferry group made their way downhill, we ate chicken-fried steak sandwiches. Ummmm…. Well….. If you have been reading our ‘food’ postings, you may be surprised. They were part of an Omaha Steaks package that Patty’s sister Chris brought with her to Seguin. We already had steaks, pork chops, hot dogs, potatoes and dessert during her visit and these were in the freezer. Patty had never eaten chicken fried steak, and NOTHING on the rock goes to waste so she gave it a try.
After lunch, a group of seven that lives in Brunswick visited in their own boat on the way to Monhegan Island. They stayed for an hour or so before heading off in the haze towards the island 26 miles to our northeast.
One group of visitors earlier today complimented us on our “new” dinghy that was actually purchased last year (I think) by F.O.S.I.L.S. While talking to them, I realized they had used it to ferry themselves on to the beach which is not something we want happening for a variety of reasons. These folks are actually not the first to “borrow” Hinckley and we’ve been trying to remember to remove the oars but forgot to yesterday when we returned from our day off-island. So, after our last group heading to Monhegan left, we went down the hill to check on Hinckley and to remove the oars and it’s a good thing we did. Not only was the dinghy not returned to the above high-tide spot where we normally leave it, it also wasn’t tied up. Had the tide come all the way up before we checked on Hinckley, it would have been gone. We’d be happy to let people use the dinghy if we knew everyone would take good care of it, return it to place they got it, and tie it securely but we can’t take the chance that something will happen. Oh well… I don’t think we’ll forget to remove the oars from now on.
When we came back up the hill, I changed to my weed whacking get-up and went out to work on the Lighthouse Trail while Patty got our personal books caught up on QuickBooks and cleaned shrimp that we bought at Plant’s Seafood for our dinner today. When we both finished, it was mid-afternoon and time to go back down to the cove to meet overnight guests that Ethan is bringing out. Janet works for ABC News and is staying on Seguin with her husband Scott to shoot a story about our experience caretaking Seguin for the ABC News website. Janet and Scott visited Seguin in 2014 and she’s wanted to do a story on the caretakers here since then and got the greenlight from ABC this spring.
Ethan brought them flying into the cove and I rowed out to pick them and their gear up to get ashore. Janet had been filming the ride with one camera and had a go-pro mounted to the bow during the trip out from Popham. Janet got her camera equipment stowed away and then she and Scott climbed into the dinghy and we rowed to the beach. Patty met us at the waterline and helped get their stuff up to the rocks and then we climbed up the steps from the cove after securing Hinckley.
Once we got up to the house, Janet and Scott got settled in their room for the night and then she started filming. We can’t imagine why someone would want to be on a reality show, it’s so awkward. Janet was super nice but it’s hard to “act natural” while eating or whatever when a camera is capturing every move and sound. For the day and evening, stationary and/or handheld camera followed everything we did – mowing the grass, making dinner, lowering the flag, watching sunset, and reading in the living room after dinner (with a camera pointed at us through the window from the front porch). Act natural!
We felt especially bad when Patty prepared a gorgeous and delicious 
meal of grilled shrimp and vegetables with tortilla, cheese, and diced veggies. We had some leftovers and offered some to Janet and Scott but they said no, they ate before arriving and had some ramen if they got hungry later. I did insist that she accept a cookie at least. By the time we finished dinner, it was already well after nine and we were tired but we did pose for a little additional footage of us reading but neither of us got too far in our books. I’m pretty sure I read (or more accurately, stared at) the same page the whole time.
Tomorrow until 1:30 when Janet and Scott leave on Ethan’s ferry, we’ll do more of the same plus a sit-down interview. The process is interesting and we’re enjoying Janet and Scott’s company but I don’t think I could do this for more than a couple of days. It makes us feel very self-conscious but I guess not too much so since we didn’t actually get cleaned up or better dressed.
Visitors – 51
Favorite Moment(s) – Meeting and spending time with Janet and Scott, our overnight guests from Washington, DC.
Sunrise – 5:14am
Sunset – 7:58pm
#Seguinisland #seguinislandlight #seguinislandlighthouse #maine #LifeOnTheRock
