Board member Kathy Sanders arrived on island Saturday and has been hard at work with her assistants Jack & Jeanne. Here, they are scraping and wire brushing more of the entry hall in preparation for applying lead remediating primer. It’s hot, tiring and messy work Kudos to this team for taking this on!
Going forward, let’s not wait 70ish years before painting again.
Photo credit: Kathy Sanders & team
The team left the island today. A painting team is scheduled next in a couple of weeks.
We’ll post again when we have volunteers present and buildings open.
Photo credit: Sandra White
Barb reported “This morning at 7am it was 47°. The 9:45pm temperature was 51, barometer is 29.88 and steady. It likely never got above 60.”
Much of the area between the boathouse and the hill was brush hogged with areas around the landing cleared by hand. Poison ivy was sprayed around paths for the safety of visitors and volunteers.
A cover was built for the water system.
The proposed paint stripper was tested on one of the Assistant Keeper’s doors. We often try to test things ahead of time so a team doesn’t plan on doing something with a product that doesn’t work….there’s no chance to run to the hardware store and get something else!
Here’s our team winding down and warming up.
Photo credit: Sandra White
Here’s a shot of the looking back at the lighthouse, courtesy of Barb Falkenhagen.
Today marked the mid-point of our season opening trip.
Traditional keeper’s logs often reported on the weather and volunteer Barb Falkenhagen does it well with these entries she recorded:
“6 am 48° and cloudy but no wind…..
Temp at lunch was 66° with no wind, but the weatherman predicted thunderstorms between 2 and 4. We got the thunder, but nothing more than a few sprinkles. About 3 pm the temp started to drop. By 6 pm it was 60° and very windy…..
It is now 9:42pm. The outside temp is 51, the barometer is 29.90 and steady and it is pouring. It’s supposed to rain until midnight.
It is almost a full moon, but we can’t see it because of the clouds.”
The team continued with brush work, repairing the workshop/summer kitchen door and covered the broken tower window.
Flowers abound this time of year. Here’s a sample of what’s currently blossoming. 
Photo credit: Sandra White
It was hot in the sun (the thermometer registered 108, a reminder of the extremes the buildings must endure) but was 70 degrees in the shade.
The team continued clearing downed trees, hauling brush, weed whacking, edging, cleaning and repairs on the workshop.
Photo credit: Sandra White
A late afternoon rain chased dinner inside and made for an early night.
P.S. The station continues to lose its ash trees. Here are two more who’ve succumbed.
Our first team headed out to open up for the season accompanied by a number of day visitors. There’s clean up to be done from winter storm damage: a downed tree damaged the rear door of the workshop/summer kitchen and a loose shutter broke a window pane in the 1867 tower — unplanned projects to add to the usual season’s opening activities (water system, solar, landing, etc.)
Here’s what things looked like on arrival:
Volunteer Tom McBride began repair on the damaged door and trim and set up the water system. Barb & Linda limbed the downed tree. Sandra mowed. Cathy provided an update to Historical Architect Rob McKay from the DNR. Board President/Volunteer Linda Posler adds: “Many thanks to the NPS Manitou staff — Jen, Hailey, and Jay—as well as our founder president, John, and Rob McKay for helping get started on the detritus from the storm….”
The 1867 lighthouse is open for the season….
A long, tiring & productive day to start the season.
Photos courtesy of Board Member/Volunteer Sandra White.
P.S. Sandra maintains a FB blog here if you’d care to follow her posts directly: Diary of a Lighthouse Keeper.
The “close up” team returned yesterday after yet another weather-shortened trip…a theme that permeated the season more than usual this year.
Here’s the 1867 light before things were closed up.
…and a view from the water
Photos courtesy volunteer Tom McBride
The seasonal wrap is tentatively planned for this coming week end, with a plan to head out Saturday, returning Monday. As with all trips, weather will be a determining factor. We’ll try to provide an update if things change, but otherwise Sunday will be the last day buildings are open for visiting boaters. The grounds remain open year round. This signage next to the workshop provides a brief history of the station for those arriving pre- or post-season.
The team of Jack, Tom, Jim & Chris will do this season’s close up.
Last week’s repair of the water-damaged floor joists in the Assistant Keeper’s quarters started us on planning for next year….restoring the damaged flooring and baseboard above the repair.
In a day before plywood, diagonal planks were laid across the joists. We’ll need true dimension lumber to repair properly. The hardwood flooring will similarly need to be “right-sized.” One of our volunteers has black locust and connections with a local mill; that’s a potential avenue for replicating the needed wood.
Another challenge will be to replace this section of damaged baseboard.
Reproducing the exact trim design may be difficult without commissioning a custom tool, which is likely to be prohibitively expensive with only a small section to do. If we can come close to replicating but not exact, would it be better to replace the entire section along this wall to make any difference less obvious?
Fortunately, we have a sample of the material so will run this past some of our “winter” carpentry volunteers to determine an appropriate approach.
Here’s a sample of the molding from one of the apartments where the woodwork remains natural. It’s quite elegant!
This raises another issue for the project at hand. The woodwork originally had a shellac/varnish finish. This apartment, however, had its woodwork painted over. Should we finish the wood with varnish? Varnish, then paint over? If we paint directly, it will, of course, be difficult to reverse should we later decide to return to a natural wood finish.
Here’s an image of the parlor. Interestingly, the floor is natural in the center of the room where it was likely covered by a rug/carpet and painted only around the exterior.
Any thoughts?