August 21 – Painting and more

Lovely weather for our trip out to South Fox on Saturday morning–fun to see the Langs, long-time camper-keepers, experience a new way to arrive on the island via tall ship–with an experience to steer along the way. Enjoyed having the riding mower and cart to transport our gear up from the landing site to the buildings–what a difference that has made! We opened the buildings and settled in, finding the new bedding luxurious, although Keith and Ally opted to camp up by the Fog Signal Building–they love the sunsets and the lapping of the waves lullabies! Following our usual fabulous food (thanks, “Cookie” Kathy Sanders for organizing and cooking), we sat and shared island stories until dusk.

A bright and early start to Sunday began with Cookie’s breakfast of eggs, sausage, fruit, yogurt, and croissants–to say nothing of enough coffee even for me!–we dispersed to our various plans of attack. The Langs cleared the path down to West Beach (for the intrepid only, as my ankle will attest), Cathy Allchin and Linda Posler painted the front room in the 1867, and Kathy Sanders, Pete Koeppen, and Naomi Stadt tackled the parlor–first, moving all the furnishings to the kitchen and then generating vast quantities of paint scrapings.

After lunch, the team continued with lead remediating paint to the walls and part of the ceiling, while Linda braved spraying the poison ivy and Cathy cleared the new path and beach obstructions. Can you say tired and hot? What else to do but don the bathing suits and head down to the remains of the dock, finding a new “hot tub” pool perfect for a bracing dip. Several of us ventured down the newly cleared path to the West Beach (sliding down the dune at the end), and Kathy Sanders cooled off on that sandy beach. We convinced her not to cook, so we had a lovely “pick-up” supper of crackers, spreads, and fruits, followed by an early bedtime. Lots of activities for the team with a median age of … <ahem> 68 or so?

Sunday morning was devoted to closing the station, buttoning up the assistant keeper’s quarters while Keith and Ally worked on the bulkhead door (christened “Dorothy’s door”). (Incidentally, while they were clearing brush Sunday, they located Leader’s grave marker, which had gone missing during the winter storms.) We found and attached the shutters for the lean-to (with only minor cursing), put away our tools, cleared up the kitchen, and covered the bags of cement. A calm day on the bay, with a very easy transit to the dinghy and Champion for the homeward journey.