July 14 – Finishing up projects

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Keeper’s Log 7/14/23 Friday Barb Falkenhagen reporting again
Day 7 for me. Day 14 for Tom McBride and Marty Rosalik
Today was cooler than the past couple days.
7:20am temperature 62 degrees.
Winds 5-10 mph out of the SW.
Humidity is high. And it rained this morning. We had a short but powerful thunderstorm.
After breakfast and the rain, we climbed the skeletal tower(the newer tower), and removed another battery not in use. Removed any tools we had used there and secured the door to the parapet as the lock mechanism had been removed last week for repairs or restoration. We brought the ladder down and tucked it back into it’s home in the fog signal building. It’s amazing how much longer things take you to accomplish than you think.
After lunch Marty and I worked in the lantern room again after gathering paint supplies to prime the bottom of the lantern room walls. We vacuumed, wiped down the iron then primed. Marty then began working on finding something he could use for a grab handle when you are coming up the stairs into the lantern room and caulking the gap we found between two of the panels.
Tom fixed a screen and a piece of metal siding in the cupola of the fog signal building then headed down to work on the boat landing area. He enlarged it more than originally planned, by a couple feet, then started hauling zebra muscles shells to put on top. I helped gather and level shells. One load was 8 five gallon pails of shells. I helped with 4 loads. I don’t know how many loads Tom had done before I got down there. The shells breakup finely when driven over and make a nice surface for the tractor to stage on when moving things from the keeper’s quarters or fog signal building down to the beach.
While we were up the new tower this morning we saw several herons fly over. Great Blue Herons I think.
We have begun sorting out personal tools, FILA tools and unmarked tools to get ready to leave. We have been notified that we will be picked up Sunday morning unless the weather changes. Tomorrow we will clean any messes we left in preparation to depart Sunday.
This evening-7:30pm 1-1/2 to 2 foot waves are crashing on the beach. Wind is out of the SW. Temperature is 66 degrees, but it feels cooler because it is a damp feeling. There is a haze tonight and you can barely make out any of the shoreline of the Leelanau Peninsula. The sun is out right now and things look very nice.
Prep for finishing
Primed bases
Final visit to the skeletal tower lantern room before closing it up
Tom’s trim repair

July 13 – John Deere & Generators get needed attention

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Keeper’s Log 7/13/23 Thursday
8am Temperature 62 degrees
Wind 0-5
Cloudy most of the night, but we only had a few sprinkles to start with.
After breakfast, Marty pulled the Jackery’s and the EcoFlow and hooked them up to the solar power system.
Maintenance items on the agenda today for all. Reset the intake hose for our water and moved the pump back into place. Pumped and filtered water for washing and drinking.
Changed oil in both generators and the John Deer tractor.
Rebuilt a cart for the large generator.
Finished the back door to the summer kitchen.
Mouse proofed the edge of the door.
Plugged a tire on the John Deer. It had picked up a roofing nail.
Moved 15 buckets of shells.
Ran the air compressor with thee EcoFlow to check tires and use the air nailer to finish the trim on the summer kitchen. Doors and trim are ready to paint by another work crew.
Hauled trash closer to the dock area that needs to go to the mainland dump.
Dinner was chicken wings on the grill and chicken and wild rice soup. We do eat well, but we burn a lot of calories too.
The flies were worse today than yesterday and are a pain. Long pants are mandatory as they are biters! I heard another mosquito today just before dinner.
After dinner and cleanup we took a walkabout. We saw two eagles flying high watching every step we took.
No word on the paddle boarder. He was gone when we got up. I hope he made it!
8:23pm temp 63 degrees
Light winds 5mph. It’s supposed to pick up about 11pm gusts up to 20mph, more over night.
Maintenance due at 50 hours – yes!
Workshop deck frame complete
New cart for the “old” 3000 watt generator

July 12 – Bolts out and other projects

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Keeper’s Log 7/12/23, Wednesday, Barb Falkenhagen reporting
7:30am temperature 60 degrees
Wind none.
Humidity yes, we had a high dew point last night. The bedding had that damp feel this morning.
After breakfast we started in the lantern room again. We got all but 2 bolts out, that needed to come out. Took all the tools down and will be able to clean and apply primer tomorrow. Tom moved the deck frame and we placed it on its foundation.
After lunch Marty Rosalik went back up to the lantern room and inspected the glass screws, I weed whacked and Tom McBride started working on a turn around spot for the tractor/rider, near where the boat pulls ashore to bring supplies and drop off volunteers.
There was not much wind today and the flies made an appearance again. The sky was partly cloudy most of the day, but it was quite pleasant, other than the flies, and the temperature made it to 71.
Before dinner we had a visitor. He is from Nashville TN, but has family in Charlevoix. He was dropped off by boat with a paddleboard and overnight accommodations. He will tent here tonight and will paddle back to Charlevoix tomorrow. He hopes to leave around 8am and expects it to take 10 hours.
For dinner tonight we had foil dinners/hobo dinners and baked apples stuffed with raisons, peanuts, cinnamon and maple syrup. Yum
I was up several times last night looking to see if there were northern lights but it was cloudy until about 4:30am. Tonight doesn’t look good either as we are supposed to get rain again until about 6am. I read today that the best chance to see the northern lights is Thursday night.🤞We shall see.
Tomorrow is another work day. So I need to relax and put my feet up.
8:00pm temp 64 degrees
Wind about 5mph
Humidity up as the storm will move in soon. You can feel it.
Another good day on South Fox Island.
South Fox Navy our on manuevers
Using a torch to “encourage” reluctant screws to back out (they got all but two!)
Turnaround to help with loading and unloading

July 11 – Lantern Room Coming Along

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Barb reporting in again on her, Tom & Marty’s activities:

8:30am temperature 62 degrees. barely enough wind to flutter the flag.

Humidity low.

Last night we had a nice thunderstorm between 12-4 with lots of rain. Stars were out at 4:30am but there was still a lot of wind.

This morning after a hearty pancake breakfast with sausage and Canadian bacon we worked on wire wheeling the cast iron panels in the lantern room. We worked until the batteries ran out for the tools. We cleaned up and Marty took pictures to document the work.

This afternoon I mowed and trimmed. The guys had other maintenance things to do.

Dinner was garlic parmesan pork chops and rice pilaf. Everyone is going to bed with a full belly. I took a solar shower after dinner and it felt so nice, I was so dirty and dusty.

8:30pm temperature 62 degrees F

Wind on this part of the island-none. But you can hear the waves breaking on the other side of the island.

Life if good on South Fox Island.


Wind-driven waves


Exploring the condition of the frames needed to hold the lantern room glass


Results of wire-brushing the cast iron lantern room

July 10 – Progress and weather

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Another log from Keeper Barb

“Temp at 7:30am 64 degrees

Wind SSW about 15 mph
Humidity “up there”

The flag was “just a flying” most of the night. We had a couple of shutter dogs on the lighthouse that were loose and several shutters banged most of the night. Those were adjusted later today as we are expecting winds up to 40 mph tonight.

Currently, 7:30pm. Winds are about 23mph out of the SSW. Temp is 72 degrees and it is comfortable.

This morning we finished pulling panels in the lantern room. This afternoon we lowered them down from the lantern room. The sun had come out at lunchtime and it was brutally hot up there this afternoon. Slow and steady wins the race.

Tom finished the summer kitchen back deck. He started setting the foundation with crushed zebra muscles and flat rocks.

Dinner tonight was Venison steaks, fingerling potatoes and pickled veggies with taffy cracks for desert.

The waves are so big today we had to pull the pump we use to draw water way back off the shoreline. This morning we started with a few waves rolling in. Tonight we have 3-4 footers. They look and sound great.

Everyone is tired after a very labor intensive day. Hopefully we all can be rocked to sleep by the sound of the waves crashing on the beach.”


July 9 – Initial reflections from Barb

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Keeper’s Log 7/9/23. Day 2 for me. (Author Barb Falkenhagen)
Temp this morning, 64 degrees.
Winds, none.
Humidity, tolerable
This morning we replaced the missing plexiglass in the new structural tower.
After lunch I worked with Marty Rosalik doing demolition in the lantern room of the 1867 tower. They are checking the rust jacking on the cast iron. This multi year task has begun and will continue one step at a time to restore the longevity of the tower. So far it looks pretty good.

Thomas McBride worked on the summer kitchen fitting framing for a deck and the screen door that Catherine brought out yesterday.

7pm temp is 69 and the wind is enough to gently fly the flag.

Life is good at the South Fox Island lighthouse. Looks like the weather may change tonight.


July 8 – Team Turnover

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Bear the boat is on the way. Dan and Jeffrey are leaving and Barb is coming out. The solar installation was a great success. Now we need to write up an operation manual. Tom & Marty stay on for their second week.
In week one we used gasoline in the John Deere, water pump, and a half hour of generator for the power saws in Fog Signal (shop).
All the battery powered tools, cell phones, and portable inverter boxes have been solely charged by the sun.

July 5 – Solar Success!

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Per Marty Rosalik “South Fox major project number one is complete.

Solar panels are charging the eight 100-pound batteries. The 4000 Watt inverter is running. A. Couple small details and an operation manual to do.

In the morning we set up the big ladder and go after the Skeleton Tower. Some old solar equipment up there. Going to see what is still good.”

June – Portico Roof Repaired!

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The slate roof has been failing on this Assistant Keepers Quarter’s portico for some years. The flashing was damaged, tiles missing, wood exposed. With the eventual reroof of the building remaining TBD, the State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) approved using asphalt shingles as an interim solution.

Volunteer Jim Greenwall took on this job on his recent stay. Thanks Jim, Mike & James for your work this week.

     

June – Season underway

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Teams have been out removing stone from around the boathouse, clearing brush in anticipation of solar panel installation, painting and doing a variety of carpentry projects. In the photo below, Jim Greenwell installed a trellis recreated by Doug Noren over the winter.

This is the front of the Assistant Keeper’s Quarters and one of a number of projects to return the building to its historic appearance.