St. Helena is ready!

We headed back out to St. Helena yesterday to make the last check before the Boy Scouts arrive on Saturday. 

One mooring is in and the water is up. We were able to get the little zodiac in and out to the crib dock. Just a few rocks got dinged. 

The boat house is open and a good portion of our supplies are in. The mouse traps were emptied and new water put in. Coves are on the pillows. 

We were home by five even though the fog kept us in Mackinaw Harbor until almost noon. Love that bridge! 

Water low

This  is the cider block we used to keep the end of the intake hose down for our showers. And yes, it is in the exact same place it was last year. 

We both paddled and walked around the Island. 

Look how far down the water is on the dock!

It is going to be an interesting summer. But every one is different. Come join us in  heaven on earth, St. Helena calls. 

Back to the Island

Memorial Day weekend, Jolene Michaels and I paddle out to St. Helena Light Station to see how she faired over the winter. The water is way down but things looked great. We planted the garden, shooed off a hare and saw the tail of either a fox or coyote. It was attached to the animal but we only saw the tail end.

Rather a wide beach. We found some trash but since we were kayaking we left it for the Boy Scouts due out in June. 

Looking forward to our return in late June. 

Good Bye

I said good bye to the Island yesterday as I have been there since the 25th of June.  I am back in Mackinaw City.  It has been a wonderful summer on the Island with great keepers and beautiful weather.  Susie and more keepers are out there until the 14th finishing up the summer chores.  Here are pictures (that by the way were real easy to upload as compared to from the Island) of my summer on the Island.  Enjoy!  Hope your summer will continue to bring you rest and relaxation as mine has.  

 The assistant keepers house where we lived for the summer.

Our garden that is giving fresh salads but we will have to return in September to get those tomatoes.

The big screen T.V. with available seats.

Zodiacs waiting for duty transporting keepers to and from Cake and Ice Cream not to mention our supplies.

 The bridge channel one from the big screen.

Resting kayaks that have brought many a soothing glide for the keepers.  Two complete trips around the Island too!

Our mama Merganser waiting to run across the beach to her nest next to the dock.

Something everybody learned this summer.

Standing on the dock remembering a wonderful summer.

The water was up this summer.  23" a good foot better then last summer.

Doesn't  she look like what a lighthouse is suppose to look like?

A tall ship upon return with the Mackinaw turbines as backdrop.

St. Helena as we head back to Mackinaw City.  A bitter sweet view all of us keepers experience after a wonderful stay at the St. Helena Light Station.

Thank you to all our keepers this summer.  It has been wonderful having you join us.  Your work and conversation have been invaluable.  We will be back next summer.  If you did not join us this summer or even if you did and want to join us again next summer go to WWW. GLLKA.com and sign-up.

Thanks, 

The Keepers of St. Helena Light Station.

An experiment

We are trying an alternative for our human waste disposal here on the Island this summer.  It is a sawdust composting toilet.  Ours is camo in color as seen below.

We use a five gallon bucket to do your duty in.  Then you cover it with sawdust so you can not see or smell any thing.  That keeps the flies, etc. away.  When the bucket is full it is taken out to the compost heap and buried in the middle and covered with compost grass cover.

We started this last year with the compost pile that is now closed.  But the heat from the composting does its thing to sanitize.  We have discovered a sawmill in town that gives us all the sawdust we need and it is transported to us on the Cake and Ice Cream.

We know that the heat of the compost is working because we now have snakes living in both our old compost piles.  The old compost pile will have composted for over two years before we use it.

This is the view you see when you are seated on the compost toilet.  Front...

and over head.

Yesterday it was so calm that we suspended work and all but Pan kayaked around the Island. This picture was taken through the spotting scope from the parlor.

Oh, I almost forgot, Pete the parlor bat is back.  He was detected behind the mirror in FeeBee's parlor because he leaves his dropping below on the floor.  We had lost him for awhile as his former picture home was removed from the wall to be taken to an antique road show.

Welcome home Pete!

The keepers on St. Helena light station.

Tall ships and our garden.

Now I know you are thinking, tall ships and gardens don't go together but here at St. Helena Light Station they do.  A couple of days ago I snapped this picture through out spotting scope.  This was one of two tall ships that passed us by going up bound towards Green Bay.  The first one was under non-sail power and was not as pretty.  

One thing we are allowed to understand living here on St. Helena is the incredible amount of lake traffic/commerce that goes through the Straits.  Most folks that stay a few days remark about this traffic and this year many have become involved in identifying the freighters and recording them.  When you are fixed at a spot in the Straits this is something you can appreciate.

Another is the changing of the wild flowers.  Now not all the flowers in this picture are wild but if you look through the lilies you can see purple.  The purple is wild flowers, like wild fox gloves, I think.

But to the garden I mentioned earlier.  We have been working to have a garden out here that would allow us fresh veggies for salads.  It has been slow as not only was spring late up in these parts but we did not get out to the Island until the middle of June.

This is an over view of our garden that got a good bath last night from a late night rain.  You can see the kayaks in the background as our garden sits right above the shore next to the boat house.

This is the lettuce section with the snow peas climbing the fence to the right.  Notice the Iris that planted itself right along with the lettuce.  Last night for the first time we had a salad that was completely made up of our various kinds of lettuce.

This is the tomato section and you can see that we still have to import the tomatoes for our salads.  I don't think we will ever have red tomatoes for our salads as we are not staying that long.  But maybe if they ripen after we leave and fall to the ground they will seed themselves for next year.  I have gotten all kinds of ideas on how to be more successful next year.  If you have any advice fore northern tomato growing, please pass it on.

The little herbs to the right are three plants of six we were given before we left town and are providing Basal and Parsley for our cooking.

Today is a transfer day so our friendly keepers Carol and Chuck will be packing up and heading back into town.  We are expecting four new keepers that will spend parts or all of the next five days with us.

The keepers at St. Helena Light Station.

Yet another day on the Island

We have new keepers here at St. Helena light station.  This is something that happens about every four or five days.  Folks that have spent four days here helping us put things back together and get all ready for the winter, head back into Mackinaw City.  The boat that takes them in also brings us fresh new keepers to pick up where they left off.  Chuck and Carol are from down state and are our new keepers.  Jack and Steven took the boat back after they finished the floors in

the small rose room,

the hallway upstairs

another shot of the hall way looking down the stairs.  They also did the floors in Dick's room.  Anyone that has been here in recent years or weeks remembers the paper we had taped to these floor.  What an improvement.

Susie and Carol are enjoying some of the dipping oil that was sent out to us in yesterday's drop from the Shepler  west bound cruise of the lighthouses of Mackinac Strait.  Our good friend and the librarian in Mackinaw City periodically sends us goodies via the Shepler drop.  She also sent us some wild blueberries she picked in Canada.  When I finish up blogging this morning it is off to make French Toast with our blueberries.

The summer is coming to an end as I look to coming off the Island on the 2nd of August as I head to Orangeville, Ontario for a week of Tai Chi instruction.  But I will keep up the blog until then and if I can talk someone else into continuing it after I leave there might be more.  The Island does not close up until the 14th of August.  Hope the summer of all our reads is enjoyable.

The keepers at St. Helena Light Station