Ben & Jim, from South Bend, IN planned to head out this morning for a weeklong stay at the station.  One of their projects will be to install windows that had been restored over the winter.

The 3-light sash belong to the 1867  Lighthouse basement, among the final sash to be restored on the building. The stained and varnished ones will be reinstalled in the Assistant Keeper’s large apartment kitchen. (As an aside, the latter were an experiment in using water-based varnish to see if we could get an acceptable historically consistent finish. We have a lot of woodwork to restore in the beautiful Assistant Keepers Quarters and providing proper disposal for paint thinner needed for oil-based finishes is difficult. While it took extra coats to get a nice finish, yes, water-based varnish may well work for “on island” finishing work!)

For another project, wood will be coming out to complete the workshop rear deck.

Also headed out is 250 foot of donated line plus and blocks with the objective of suspending the emergency dinghy in the boathouse (freeing up space in the Fog Signal for the intended workshop and future interpretive panels, while making the dinghy more accessible.)

They have a long list of other projects too that we’ll report on later

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

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.