Quick Note

Next week, the Friends of Seguin are hosting Summerfest on Friday the 29th.  Amy & I are guest speakers at this event, and will not be off the island on Wednesday but Friday instead.  Consequently, our posts will be two days late next week.  Cheers!

Nate & Amy

14 July 2011 Wreakers of Havoc

Regale me if you will with tales of hurricanes and earthquakes, of volcanoes and locusts, I will never be turned from my opinion that the greatest destructive & panic inducing force on this earth, is a mass of small children.  The Small Point Summer School made their annual trip to the island today, bringing approximately fifty people, the majority of them under the age of twelve.  We knew they were coming but in this case, forewarned was not forearmed, as nothing could have prepared Amy & I for the pandemonium that ensued when this army of benevolent devils arrived on our shore.

Murphy & his law were present with this invasion force too- I got to the beach just as a group of kids were converging on a gull chick that had fallen down the hill moments before, and mother gull was not happy with the attention her chick was getting.  Not happy at all.  Thanking Whomever is above that Hansel the seal pup wasn’t on the beach too; I got the councilors to herd the kids away from the gulls (who were strapping on kamikaze bandanas) and then extracted a promise from the kids en mass to not throw anything at or poke the gull chicks.  Also receiving a promise to stay out of the buildings until Amy & I could make it up the hill, I sent them all trooping to the top.  

And so it begins....

This is the first day this summer Amy & I have had to lock every building to ensure compliance with our rules, and to get our lunch break.  The kids….were….everywhere.   Once I began bringing them up into the tower things got even crazier, as apparently last year the Small Point Army of Darkness was allowed to throw things from the tower, which I definitely did not find a good idea.  “But Mr. Nate, last year we got to throw things!” “Maybe so, but not this year” “But why?  How about just a piece of paper?”  “I said no kid” “Why??!?!?”  “Because I said so.  Oh look, your five minutes is up, back down you go!  Have fun!”  Despite chaperoning the tower, I wasn’t even the worst off.  Poor Darcy Dog ran for cover in the house, finally just collapsing on the floor and panting until we gave him a pig’s ear, which he gnawed down to a nubbin in about a minute flat.

Uh-oh, spedoodios

Really though, they weren’t bad kids, just a ton of them at once was a bit overwhelming.  And they weren’t even the only people here; a tour boat of about twenty landed within minutes of the Small Point School armada, putting a total of over seventy visitors on the island at once.  However all storms past, and this one blew out as fast as it came, leaving Amy, Darcy, and I, with bewildered brains and an outhouse befouled in a way that only ten years olds can do.

By the time the day ended, Amy & I had hosted almost ninety folks, sold over $150 in merchandise from the gift store, and had set a speed record pounding beers once we had the place to ourselves again.  Darcy summed up his thoughts on the day by dropping a stress poo, to use Amy’s phrase, in the grass, while Amy & I enjoyed our barley sodas.  We are praying for but not expecting a slightly tamer day tomorrow, as the weather, which was nearly perfect today, is supposed to continue to be beautiful.  

15 July 2011 Serf of the Flies

Many visitors to the island remark on how few bugs there are.  While I will concede that there are not many mosquitoes to interrupt time outside, there are many bugs.  Amy & I had to fight a swarm of moths when we first arrived on island, for weeks the June Bugs sounded like hail bounding the windows, and currently we have a cloud of flies surrounding us when we step out the door.

I can already hear the jokes concerning my personal hygiene.  I’ll have you all know I shower once a day and frequently swim too; I am as clean as I can reasonably be.  Regardless, the flies own me when I exit the protection of the Keeper’s Quarters. Today was no exception- taking advantage of the beautiful, cool, weather I decided to bushwhack some more of the North Trail, and headed out with the weed whacker.  I may be the master of the grass out here, but the flies are lord of me.  I won’t take a picture of my legs, to spare the children who may be reading this, but they made a meal of them, proving that the flies are the most vicious fauna on Seguin.

Note the mast in the left corner; this is looking NNE from our front lawn

After wearing myself out on the North Trail, I had to go back to help Amy finish mowing the lawn, then eat some lunch, then give tours.  The sunny weather was bringing people out, with nearly fifty visitors trickling in over the course of the afternoon.  We also awarded the Grandest Entrance Trophy today, with a group of ten people sailing into The Cove on their 115’ yacht Tenacious, dropping their anchor in a spot safe from snagging the cable, and coming ashore in their 20’ RHIB tender.  Tenacious also holds the distinction of being the only sailboat who’s mast I have been able to see from the hill. 

Tenacious (black hull, farther out) viewed from the Cove

Tenacious was our final unannounced visitor of the day, so Amy & I repaired down to the Cove to gather mussels for dinner, in anticipation of my cousin Justin & and his wife Shannon coming to spend the night with us.  Father brought them out just as we were finishing our harvest when they arrived, so we helped land them, and the wood I need to rebuild Dory, and then trucked up the hill. 

We rounded the night off with steamed mussels, cold beer, cheeseburgers on the grill, and a tomato basil salad Shannon made (wonderfully tasty, thanks Shannon!)  We took a sunset walk up to the top of the Light, saw the sights, than hung out inside chatting until bedtime.  The weather, cool and dry, should remain the same tomorrow

16 July 2011 Reunion Day

Saturday dawned clear and beautiful with suggestions of warming up by 0700.  After breakfast the five of us (Darcy of course, is our ever-present shadow) went to the bottom of the hill to walk the rocks on the east side of the island.  Justin & Shannon took pictures while I scrambled around on rocks uncovered by the low spring tide, and hunted out fresh mussel bed to ravage for future dinners- since none of us were violently ill the night before I figured mussel collecting on Seguin is a safe activity.  Once we had made it to the Cobblestone Beach we beat feet to the top of the island, both to get water, and because the Cove was already filling up with boats.  From that point on there was a steady stream of folks coming to the top of the hill until about lunchtime.  I had broken off from the tours to make lunch, when Justin came into the galley, and told me “there is some kid looking for you outside”.  With a slight feeling of trepidation I went outside, to find my concerns were justified…

Three of my classmates from Maine Maritime I had not seen in over five years had arrived on scene with their wives & girlfriends, and beer.  Dave Goodwin, John Nadeau, and James Jeffcoat, hearing I was on Seguin, had loaded up in Dave’s go-devil (a 22’ Boston Whaler with a 300HP outboard) and come to visit.  It was a fun, but too brief visit.  I showed them the light, we all talked shop for a bit, then went to the Cove for a swim, and they departed, albeit with promises to return for another longer stay, and with a greater stock of adult beverages.

Their departure granted me only a brief reprieve from the Castine Mafia lasted only for a couple of hours, as when Father came to pick up Justin & Shannon, he brought out another two classmates, Matt Farmer & Stephanie Manning, to have a quick beer with us.  After Matt regaled us with a sea story about the rudder falling off of his ship (I though MSC was rough) they had to leave too, again with promises of returning.  If all of these promises bear out, August is going to be a raucous month out here. 

17 July 2011 Romantic Rock

Most people do not consider the Maine Coast romantic, per se.  Majestic, yes.  Awe inspiring, yes.  Romantic, you need to go far south to the Bahamas or far west to Hawai’i.  While I cannot speak for the rest of the Maine coastline, I must disagree with the majority concerning Seguin.  We have already seen one wedding out here this summer, with rumors of at least one more coming before the end of the season.  Today our local marine patrol officer used the tower to propose to his girlfriend;  forewarned of his intentions, I violated the rules & let them go up to the top alone, so I don’t know how everything went.  However after they were up there a few minutes I’m certain I heard a shriek or squeal, and they two left holding hands shortly after, so I’m thinking we can offer our congratulations!

Dalliances in the tower aside, our day was relatively benign.  I spent most of the day, ultimately successfully, dodging my weed whacking chores.  One of Amy’s old high school friends came to visit with her parents early on, and they were only the first of just under forty people we toured.  Amy also sold a ton of stuff from the gift shop bringing our weekly sales up to almost $850 (which is good, because the weather is probably going to preclude most folks from visiting Monday & Tuesday).  We wrapped up the tours by 1500, and headed down to the Cove, Amy & Darcy to nap, me to swim & work on Dory. 

By dinnertime the wind, which had be steady but gentle, began to veer to S’ly and freshen.  Also the setting sun & rising moon were partially obscured by clouds that had been absent all day.  Amy & I shut the grounds up tight and retired inside for the evening, expecting the weather to degrade throughout the night and next day.       

18 July 2011 Bugs on the Brain

For several weeks now, I have been thinking of little else besides bacteria.  Whether experimenting with sourdough starters or contemplating where the community of mold savaging my sinuses may be festering, I am near constantly considering microbial life.  However by far, the most critical microscopic bugs I have been dwelling on, are the ones that eat poop.

Laugh if you will, but when you live with two composting toilets next to your bedroom, the livelihood of these little microbes becomes a matter of the gravest concern.  The big toilet at the bottom of the hill, and the unit in the Caretaker’s Quarters, have been working just fine, which is more than I can say about the W/C in the Guest Quarters.  Call me a perfectionist if you wish- I do not think people paying $150 a night should have to sleep in a room that reeks of stale urine.

The Enemy

Consequently I have been thinking hard on ways to improve the function of the john, and tried multiple solutions, such as adding peat moss, aerating the mix more often, adding more of the canned bugs (thinking maybe the ones we had in there were dead), all to no avail.  It wasn’t until I was commenting to Amy a couple of weeks ago on the amount of food the sourdough required to remain healthy, that I realized that perhaps, with limited usage, maybe the little fellas in the Guest head were starving.  Then and there, I embarked on a campaign to make sure they had enough food, encouraging Amy to help whenever the urge struck her. 

The Weapons

The first couple of deposits produced predictable results: the museum smelled like shit.  However with perseverance, and repeated efforts, the third composting unit is working like a champion.  Who would have thought that part of being a successful caretaker would involve planning where to take your daily constitutional?          

The Results

Today was supposed to be a day of high winds and thunderstorms, according to the NOAA weather forecasters in who I am losing faith.  We had moderate winds, cool temperatures, brief showers, and fog at the end of the day.  I used the morning to weed whack, and do “maintenance” on the Guest Quarters toilet, and was almost complete with my self-assigned chores, when Jeff Jacobs, the master of window sills, came out for a visit with a friend.  I showed them the light & grounds, and discussed plans to work on the rest of the windows, and then took my leave to eat lunch.  They were our only visitors today, and on the off chance that the fellas at NOAA are right, we probably won’t have any tomorrow either.   

19 July 2011 Island Life According to Amy

Today marked a milestone in my summer on Seguin.  Until this afternoon I, at all costs, avoided entering the frigid waters of the cove that Nate and Darcy so gleefully frolic in.  It’s not that I don’t enjoy swimming, I just prefer retaining feeling in my appendages whilst doing so.  However, when you awake to a morning that is already hot and muggy before the sun has fully risen, you know it’s going to be steamy. That coupled with a cloudless sky and absolutely no breeze, one begins to understand why people generally move a littler slower in the south. It also enticed me to take one swift dive off the rocks and shock my system with a salty reprieve.  I cannot guarantee I’ll do it again, but I can assure you that it was more effective than air conditioning. 

In other news, after much anticipation, Nate and I are beginning to enjoy the fruits of our labors.  Bits of our garden are ripe for the picking and twice this week we had the satisfaction of eating spinach salads for lunch with spinach we grew ourselves. That, my friends, spells satisfaction. It also makes the war I’ve waged on weeds totally worth it.   

With July fast approaching its end, and August looming before us, Nate and I are soaking up the sun, continuing to meet ever-interesting new people, and are getting ready for what is gearing up to be crazy busy weeks ahead.  With friends and family coming out in droves to visit, we are expecting constant companions and oodles of fun.  Here’s looking forward to the second half of summer!