Day 30, 30 June 2015

23 visitors

We will Miss Her!

Our last full day here opened up in the fog. I raised the flag and fed the seagulls. Since the tide was still out for a bit I crossed over and looked for agates. I looked for 45 minutes till the tide started to cover up the dragon’s back. They weren’t easy to find but when the skies brightened with the sun I was able to finally see the yellow-orange, jelly-clear agates and found about 8 very small ones.

I crossed on the dragon’s back and went on up the hill to the lighthouse. We had a breakfast of leftover popovers and biscuits with fruit. We started some packing and gathering up of possessions.

We took a break and caught up on the soap operas. I got some good knitting in and we had a lunch of French bread pizzas. A shower and more packing was done.

The Lighthouse Caught with its Light On

At 3pm we decided to open up and give a few tours since there were people about. We were posted as closed on the schedules but when we opened the door and asked people if the wanted tours they were so excited and happy. The first group was a family of 4 from Massachusetts and were so grateful for a tour. Dottie’s neighbor showed up with family and were very happy to get a tour also. I got a phone call from the incoming RVer’s and they asked if they could come over to look around with some family and I told them that I could give them a tour. So the new RVer’s got to hear the tour twice from bottom to top and would be more comfortable and ready to give tours themselves. Fred mowed all the lawns and did some weed whacking to clean up the grounds for the next keepers.  We closed up at 6 pm and got some leftover rosemary chicken with yellow rice for dinner. We boiled two ears of corn after the chicken and had those. I took down the flag and decided to repair her and sewed on it for about 3 hours while watching Erin Brockovich movie on TV and the news. I wanted to get that done before I left, since she was a bit tattered. Hopefully this will make her last a bit more. I repaired the flag at New Dungeness one evening a few years ago – another duty for a lighthouse keeper to do, lovingly for Old Glory.  It was getting late and I fell asleep in the comfy lazy boy upstairs. I awoke at 3am!  Yikes, I washed up and crawled into bed at 5am for some much needed sleep. It was very foggy outside when I looked out the windows. The night before I took a walk around the lighthouse and gazed upon the light as she came on for her brief 3.5 seconds. I could see the dark lines in the fog from the supports in the lantern room. There was the undulating fog wavering through the light for that brief time and it was the same as I had seen at Seguin in Maine. I love that view of the eerie fog passing through the emitted light – like ghosts flying about. I captured it in a painting I did while on Seguin.  So off to sleep I went seeing the faint glow of the dutiful little lens reflected out the window when she came on. Soon daylight started to emerge as I spent my last night’s sleep on this special spot in the sea. How we will miss her and look forward to taking care of her in the future.

The Double Barrel Sixth Order Lens

Day 29, 29 June 2015

90 Visitors

After my fitful sleep I got up just after 7 am to make my popovers for a nice breakfast to send Kim off for home. It takes 40 minutes to cook them plus time to prepare them. They turned out pretty good and we enjoyed the popovers with butter, honey and jam. We needed to get Kim off before 9 am so she wouldn’t get her feet wet. We walked her over to the parking lot and Fred got her car that was parked down at a local hotel. After hugs goodbye Kim left us and we walked back to the beach and we looked for some of those jelly looking agates before the tide covered up the beginning of the dragon’s back. I did manage to find one tiny agate – success!  We climbed back up the hill with people milling about as usual trying to see the lighthouse and snap pictures. Right at 9 am the Japanese tour bus showed up for it’s usual stop. They all came piling out of the bus and wandered down to the dragon’s back to cross over. They obviously didn’t know the tide was coming in. We got back to clean up the dishes and for me to finish my Chai tea. Our view of St George lighthouse was the clearest yet and through binoculars we could see details of the lonely sentinel. I could see she needed a new coat of paint, remnants of the boom, light through the lantern room and even waves splashing up at her rock base. It was as if you could reach out and touch her.  We did a few chores and watched as the busload milled about taking pictures. There were a few other visitors as well and we chatted with one couple that were going up the coast and looking at lighthouses.  The lady asked about getting a stamp in her lighthouse passport for Battery Point and we said sure. Fred brought them into the gift store and stamped Battery Point and St. George into her passport. The tide was really coming in now and everyone went down to cross over. We sat and watched the show. The dragon’s back was getting covered up and there was soon a long line on it to get across. Most people were taking their shoes and socks off since it was almost knee deep at the other end. We watched everyone get across safely and returned to the house.

Asian Tourists trying to get back to the Mainland, Tide comes in Very Fast

Our tours wouldn’t start till 2:30 pm and we did a few more things before taking naps. I laid down for ½ hour and couldn’t sleep so I got up and took a shower and got ready for the afternoon tours. For lunch we had leftovers of my mango pork and chicken broccoli casserole. We decided to open at 2 pm since we were ready and people were milling about.

I handled the gift shop and Fred started the tours. Multiple groups started to form immediately and Leon and Terrie showed up just in time to help us with the crowds. We went non-stop through 6 pm. We got to say goodbye with hugs to Leon and Terrie when they left at 4pm since this was our last day to work together. They had to pack up their RV and leave first thing the next morning.  They left us a card and little gift and I gave them a baggie with two cheese biscuits and popovers to enjoy. We were a good team and worked hard for our month duty together. We have exchanged addresses and hope to visit each other in the future. We are less than two hours away from each other in southern California. They left about 5pm and we finished up the final tours. Whew, our month of tours was done. Tomorrow we are closed due to tides and have the entire day to pack up and get ready to leave this beloved place. The time has passed so quickly and we will have our wonderful memories of our time here. We are looking forward to returning in another season to experience different weather conditions.

St. George Lighthouse in the Distance

Photo of St. George Lighthouse Taken from the Web

After closing shop we relaxed outside and looked to the north to see St. George still clear and beautiful. How we would love to go out there and see her. After reading and looking at pictures in a book about her, I really have a better understanding of her and would like a visit to complete the pictures in my mind and the yearning in my heart to experience this mysterious and forbidding place. We took our walk down to the isthmus and poked around the gravel patches for agates and interesting stones. The sun was beginning to set but there was a thick massive cloudbank that obscured our orange ball of life. All we had was a thin layer of orange light that was between the cloudbank and sea which lasted for just a bit. Later there was bit more color but for only a few moments.

The Thin Red Line of Sunset

I watered my plants and found a cute little Banana Slug by my Forget-me-notes.  It was the official end of yet another day in paradise. We came back inside and I worked on two blogs while Fred tallied the day’s sales and made a nice salad that was our dinner. Later we had some chocolate ice cream and off to bed. How melancholy we feel as our last days are upon us and we dread the sad packing and collecting of our things to leave. We can only imagine what the Jeffrey’s felt after spending 39 years upon this indelible rock in their beloved lighthouse home. We now have an inkling of what they might have felt to be a part of history in this tiny adored sanctuary of both incredible beauty and serious duty.

Slug and Forget-Me-Notes

Day 28, 28 June 2015

132 Visitors

The "Dragon's Back," the Last thing to be Covered as the Tide comes in

The morning was the usual overcast and fog but it brightened up quickly. I decided to make the cheese biscuits from Red Lobster. I brought one batch and added the cheese and water to make the delectable pillows of delight. What makes them perfect is the herb/salt packet that you mix with butter and slather all over the biscuits. As we were eating our delicious biscuits we noticed someone ran down to just below our window of our old radio room where we have our personnel space. We both stood up at the same time to see a young boy taking a leak. Fred rapped on the window and we yelled at the little brat. He looked up at us in udder surprise, zipped his fly and ran off. We hope he peed on himself. We can imagine where people relieve themselves on the island since we have no public bathrooms, which is clearly stated in signs before people reach the lighthouse. Some don’t seem to use the bathrooms in the parking lot before they come over here and others can’t read.

Kim let us know she would show up shortly after our opening time of 1 pm. She had lots of reminiscing to do at her alma mater. We started our tours just a bit before 1pm with the help of Terrie and Leon, our faithful assistants. It was a very busy day with the glorious sunshine and I organized the groups with military fashion and humor and politeness. Even though Terry and Leon left at 4pm, we stayed open till till past 5 pm to accommodate everyone. We had good sales on merchandise and we were exhausted at the end of our duty.  In the middle of it, all our dear friend Kim showed up and I couldn’t give her a welcome hug for awhile. She entertained herself and explored the tiny island and even helped with the crowds. Mike, a local dedicated volunteer, popped over to check about an air mattress he wanted to use while he would be here the beginning of next month filling in for the keepers until they show up. When he came to briefly chat with me he handed my 3 pretty little agates that he found on the beach when he crossed over. We have been looking but didn’t find any. He seems to have a keen eye to spot them. He came to work on our days off and we never got to work with him. I told him the next time we were here we would work with him. 

Surf Scoter (Picture Taken by Drew)

Everyone was out by 5:30 pm and we got to finally chat with Kim.  We were starving but snacked a bit and started happy hour. Kim and I went to the lantern room to watch the views. The last stragglers were crossing over on the dragon’s back (sewer line) and Kim and I watched them while Fred watched them from a bench outside. They were trickling back when we noticed a couple sitting down on the rocks and just milling about. Fred went down to check on them and came back to his bench. He motioned to us that they were drinkers. After everyone had crossed they were still there hanging around. We then watched as the woman tried walking over the dragon’s back, which was half covered by the tide now. She fell down into the deeper water a few times and her male partner just stood and watched and didn’t try to help. By this time Fred had called 911 and they connected him to the Sherriff’s office and he explained who he was and where and what was going on with these two. We were concerned about them hurting themselves as well as others if they got into a car and drove off so intoxicated. The woman finally got across but was soaked from falling multiple times. A good Samaritan tried to help the man across and by then the police had shown up and were waiting for the couple to cross. When they crossed over, we saw the man being handcuffed and police escorted the woman to their squad cars in the parking lot. Fred told us that they were very drunk with very slurred speech and they had multiple bottles of alcohol. Just one other thing we had to deal with out here to keep people safe and our lighthouse secure. Its just part of our job out here.

24 inch Thick Granite Block Walls of the Lighthouse

After the show with the drunks we went back inside and I started dinner. I cooked up rosemary chicken with mushrooms, garlic, onion and white wine.  I also cooked up some of that yummy yellow rice that Cathy had with her fish tacos. It sure tasted good with rosemary chicken piled on top. After dinner we relaxed upstairs and chatted a bit.  Fred showed pictures of when we first arrived here and up to the present. We lasted about an hour and off everyone went to sleep while I stayed up to catch up on the blog. I wrote one day’s blog before getting too tired to continue. Off to sleep I went but couldn’t sleep well since I knew I had to get up at 7 am to bake my popovers. I wanted a nice breakfast to send Kim off on her way. She could only stay one night with us and she needed to get back home to Denver. We wished she could have stayed longer but treasured her precious time with us. I finally fell asleep thinking of puffy, buttery popovers that I hoped would come out perfect and not get stuck in the pan like last time when I didn’t have any Pam to use.

Unusual Sunset

Day 27, 27 June 2015

96 Visitors

Stairway from 1870 that leads up to the Cape Blanco Lighthouse

Today was our day off but we had to get up early in the cool overcast conditions and get off the island by 8 am before tides came in. The water was ankle deep at the very end of the sewer line walkway and I put on my Keene sandals to get across and saved my sneakers from getting wet. We went to the Apple Peddler in town for breakfast and we got their senior French toast breakfast combo. It was a nice smaller serving which was perfect for us. We took off north for Oregon and headed for the Point Blanco Lighthouse near Port Orford. We had camped here a few years ago but the lighthouse was closed at the time.

Cape Blanco 2nd Order Lens, It is 6 to 7 feet tall

It is the tallest lighthouse above sea level in Oregon and has a beautiful 2^nd order Fresnel lens. We were lucky to get a tour with just the 2 of us. They gave us a little history at the bottom of the lighthouse and then we climbed the wrought iron steps to get to the base of the great lens and then we continued up to see her up close. She was very pretty and slightly smaller than the 1^st order lens on Seguin. This rotating lens was installed in 1936 and operated with electricity. The lighthouse was built in 1870 and initially used an oil lamp to light a different 2^nd order lens, which didn’t rotate. This light is still run by the Coast Guard and has been in continuous operation since 1870.  Except for the light, a local non-profit group maintains all the buildings and grounds.  This is the way it was at Seguin Island last summer.  It was fun to see her and chat with the volunteers who worked there.

The Paris Made Lens was Produced in 1935.  Germans in WWII destroyed the
Lens Factory and it Never Reopened

We got some things in the gift shop and went on down the road to tour the Hughes house, which was where one of the keepers lived. It was decorated in the Victorian style and was very interesting to see. We got a phone call from Kim that she was in LA and trying to get up to Arcata via San Francisco. We went to the small fishing dock at Port Orford and had lunch a tiny restaurant, Griffs on the Dock, where I had a yummy crab melt sandwich as we gazed out the windows at the sea. We drove on south where we stopped for a half hour walk on the beach where we saw a nice arch not too far from shore and other neat rocks. A stop for adult beverages was made just over the border at a discount liquor store (it claimed to be the 8^th wonder of the world on its billboard) and onward we went to Crescent City where we made a stop at Safeway for a few groceries.

Cynthia by the Lens, It was Great they let you get that Close, Look but don't Touch

We got to our lighthouse crossing at 5:15 pm and the end of the sewer line was just out of the rising tide. People were leaving and teetering across the line and we made it across without getting our feet wet. People were still coming and going for a short while but it was nice to slip back into our historic abode and unpack our groceries and check on things. From the record of sales, it seemed to be a lighter crowd that showed up for tours and we think the weather stayed cloudy all day. We did get sunshine eventually in Oregon. I restocked a little in the gift shop and we had some cheese and crackers while we watched two episodes of our soap opera to catch up. The sunset wasn’t much and we relaxed in the evening with a bit of TV. Kim finally called us to tell us she made it to Arcata – yea!! She would drive up to the lighthouse tomorrow after getting a rental car. She had a few other things to do since this was where she went to college at Humboldt State. It was great to hear that she would be coming for a short visit. We were tired again from getting up early and our fun day. Off to sleep with dreams of rainbow prisms from a giant sparkling gem, turning gently to keep a guiding eye upon a foggy point and give quiet guidance to all who need her in a turbulent and unforgiving sea.

Cape Blanco Lighthouse after the Fog had Lifted

Day 26, 26 June 2015

159 Visitors

Bruno

We had a sunny start to our morning, which was nice to see for a change. Fred cleaned the lantern room windows and told me how warm it was up there. Since I had planned to be in the tower today I decided to wear a thin linen summer top and shorts. It will be a long and busy day since the sunshine will bring in lots of visitors and we will be open from 11am to 3:30 pm. I had my Coco Puffs and strawberries for breakfast and grapefruit and banana. I wouldn’t be able to eat again till about 5 pm. I had finished breakfast when I got a call from my friend Kim and she told me she was trying to get up here for a short visit. She wasn’t sure when she would get here and it might be for only one night. We hope she does make it here since she would love it. She visited us last year on Seguin and we had a real fun time. We opened a few minutes early to let some visitors in and Terrie and Leon showed up to assist us with the tours. Fred was in the gift shop, Leon on the first floor, Terrie on the 2^nd floor and I was in the tower. Fred was right about the lantern room being warm and I was glad about the choice of my clothes. The visitors started and they didn’t let up till we closed. I looked down from the tower and noticed all the people waiting and all about the island. There were lots of families with kids and they were all behaved and adorable as they came up the hatch and saw the views from the top. The adults were smitten by the views also. It was such a pretty day with the nice weather, the nicest one in a long time. It was nice to wear summer clothes and not be bundled up. It was tiring though being on our feet for that long and our feet were aching. My right foot still gets sore before the left one and I try to ice it down. We finally had something to eat at around 5 pm but as I was preparing two French bread pizzas I looked out the window and saw Fred talking to a young couple and with them was a big yellow lab dog. We know dogs are not supposed to be on the island but I just had to go out and meet him. Since our beloved Sacatar was put to sleep on January 16, we have been dogless and really miss having a dog. I went out and greeted the couple but made a beeline for the dog. What a sweetheart Bruno was and he just leaned against me as I pet him. So gentle and calm he was. The young couple was fascinated with us being keepers and we had a nice chat. Fred then offered to take them to the tower top for a look. I sat with Bruno and took some photos of him since was so handsome and well behaved.  When he heard his master’s voice from the tower he looked up and was very interested where dad was. Dad waved to him and talked to him from up there. Bruno then went around to the front and sat down intently looking for dad up in the tower. I stayed with him and then leashed him up and walked him back to the back door area and sat down on the picnic table.  Soon after, mom and dad came out the door and he was so happy to see them. Since the tide was coming in they said their goodbyes and I was sorry to see Bruno go. Turns out he is part golden lab and part bloodhound even though he looked like pure lab. He was a real nice dog and I got a good dog fix. 

Churning Ocean Blow

We finally got to eat our pizzas and since we were still hungry I made up some chocolate chip cookies, which we had fresh out of the oven. The afternoon was still sunny and warm and we headed outside. Fred relaxed at the picnic table near the boathouse, which was more out of the breeze.  I proceeded to my pedicure place where the old outhouse bases are in the rock cliffs. I polished my toenails and enjoyed the ocean views in between coats of forest green polish. How I will miss sitting in the sun and gazing out to the soothing ocean. I was just above the swirling pool in a little side canyon where the swells come up and hit with a resounding boom from the wave impacting on the rock cliffs. Sometimes it hit hard enough for the spray to really go flying high. At one point far below I saw a group of 8 seals swim by all in one close group. It was fun so see them porpoise along all in unison. The sun went behind some thin high clouds and it felt cool until the sun came back in full force. I completed my pedicure and moved down a little bit more to get some photos of the swirling pool. Near the pool was a layer of white foam that had puffs right in the center that looked like a soft mattress. Fred joined me for a bit and we watched the pool and ocean and enjoyed our serene little isle. We then went down to the isthmus to see high tide and beach comb the gravel. I did find a pretty little piece of aquamarine glass that was special.

Beautiful clouds in the Late Day Sun 

I climbed back up the hill to the house and stopped and watered some of the flowers.  There was still a few minutes before sundown and we took various pictures with the cloud scudded skies. The sunset was beautiful with the clouds lighting up as the great red orb sank into a distant fogbank. We saw it splinter apart and send soft god rays subtly from its core. A thin sliver of intense orange was all that was left of the sun as it found a slit in the fog and had one last brilliant gleam before it slipped into the sea. Our raccoon friend was nowhere to be seen and we wondered where he was, maybe he smelled Bruno and stayed away. Fred had made salad earlier and we ate that and retired to our bedroom to relax a bit. I surfed the web and worked on the blog. Fred worked on the day’s sales summary and grilled some salmon for dinner. Another beautiful tiring day was in the bag and off to sleep we went. I laid down thinking about sleeping on a puffy soft mattress of sea foam that would carry me away to other far off lighthouses where I could continue a peaceful and soothing path of contentment. 

Not Bad!